Category: the Journal of Virology
A search through decades-old frozen infant stool samples has yielded rich dividends for scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. The team customized a laboratory technique to screen thousands of samples for norovirus, a major cause of acute gastroenteritis outbreaks in people of all ages.
The June cover of the Journal of Virology features a photograph of the unusual effects on a cell infected by a virus. Montana State University researchers were the first to view the virus, which they collected from a boiling, acidic spring in Yellowstone.
Researchers have successfully tested first the first time a computer simulation of major portions of the body's immune reaction to influenza type A, with implications for treatment design and preparation ahead of future pandemics, according to work accepted for publication, and posted online, by the Journal of Virology.
Grand Rapids, Mich. (March 25, 2009) - Researchers at Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) have determined that the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) does not require transcriptional coactivators for viral gene expression early in the infection process.
NEW YORK (March 5, 2009) -- Two highly lethal viruses that have emerged in recent outbreaks are susceptible to chloroquine, an established drug used to prevent and treat malaria, according to a new basic science study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in the Journal of Virology.
Researchers report success in monkeys of an innovative triple-vaccine strategy aimed at creating an effective anti-HIV vaccine regimen. In a test of the new approach, the scientists sought to maximize the immune response to a truncated HIV gene called Gag and succeeded in dramatically stimulating the production of CD8+ T cells responsive to Gag. Many scientists believe that CD8+ T cells will be an important key to creating an effective HIV vaccine.
The mouse immune system develops antibodies capable of single-handedly neutralizing the SARS virus, researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) report in the April 1 issue of the Journal of Virology, available online March 12. NIAID is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This discovery affirms that researchers developing vaccines that trigger antibodies to the SARS virus are heading in the right direction. Vaccines can stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies or specialized cells or both to stop invading viruses.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is formed by a combination of mammalian and avian viruses, says a new study from the University of Toronto. The study, published in the January issue of the Journal of Virology, sheds light on the SARS coronavirus, a deadly form of pneumonia caused by the same viral family as the common cold. By tracing its evolutionary history, researchers theorize that SARS is likely the result of a rare recombination of viruses from both mammalian and avian hosts. This, they believe, forms an entirely new virus unrecognizable to human immune systems.
When exposed to high levels of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cells lining the mouth can develop a low-level infection, a finding that increases our understanding of the risks of oral transmission of the disease. Researchers from Charles R. Drew University and the University of California, Los Angeles, report their findings in the March 2003 issue of the Journal of Virology. "The majority of HIV type 1 infections occur via mucosal contact, and there are several reports indicating that the oral mucosa may be one route of exposure," say the researchers. "It is difficult to confirm that oral mucosa is a major transmission portal because of the correlation between oral-genital contact and other transmission risk behaviors."
Researchers have found that immune cells called B cells and the antibodies they produce play a critical early role in defending the body against West Nile Virus. The results are published in the February issue of the Journal of Virology. Mice that lacked B cells and antibodies were completely unable to combat the virus. They developed serious brain and spinal-cord infection and ultimately died.
Researchers are using a herpes virus that produces a firefly enzyme to illuminate the virus's course of infection in mice and to help monitor the infection's response to therapy. "This study demonstrates the feasibility of monitoring microbial infections in living animals in real time," says study leader David A. Leib. "The technique enables us to follow an infection over time as it progresses and resolves, and we can do this repeatedly using the same animal."
