Viruses, Volume 7, Issue 3

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) encodes four accessory genes: vif, vpu, vpr, and nef. Recent investigations using in vitro cell culture systems have shed light on the roles of these HIV-1 accessory proteins, Vif, Vpr, Vpu, and Nef, in cou...

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from anti-cytomegalovirus immunoglobulin G (anti-CMV-IgG) positive donors facilitated immunological recovery post-transplant, which may indicate that chronic CMV infection has an effect on the immune system. Th...

Adenovirus infections of immunocompromised pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients can develop into serious and often deadly multi-organ disease. There are no drugs approved for adenovirus infections. Cidofovir (an analog of 2-deoxycyt...

Signaling through the Fas/Apo-1/CD95 death receptor is known to affect virus-specific cell-mediated immune (CMI) responses. We tested whether modulating the Fas-apoptotic pathway can enhance immune responses to DNA vaccination or lymphocytic chorio...

ern rice black streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV) causes severe harm to rice production. Unfortunately, studies on effective antiviral drugs against SRBSDV and interaction mechanism of antiviral molecule targeting on SRBSDV have not been reported. This st...

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is a birnavirus that causes a highly contagious immunosuppressive disease in young chickens. The capsid protein VP2 of IBDV plays multiple roles in its life cycle. To more comprehensively understand the function...

The small brown planthopper (SBPH) is the main vector for rice stripe virus (RSV), which causes serious rice stripe disease in East Asia. To characterize the virus-vector interactions, the SBPH cDNA library was screened with RSV ribonucleoprotein (RN...

Orf virus is the type species of the Parapoxvirus genus of the family Poxviridae. It induces acute pustular skin lesions in sheep and goats and is transmissible to humans. The genome is G+C rich, 138 kbp and encodes 132 genes. It shares many essenti...

The receptor tyrosine phosphatase CD45 is expressed on the surface of almost all cells of hematopoietic origin. CD45 functions are central to the development of T cells and determine the threshold at which T and B lymphocytes can become activated. Gi...

One of the main characteristics of the human immunodeficiency virus is its genetic variability and rapid adaptation to changing environmental conditions. This variability, resulting from the lack of proofreading activity of the viral reverse transcri...

In 2007, human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 was recognized as a risk factor by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), where tonsillar and base of tongue cancer (TSCC and BOTSCC) dominate. Fu...

It has been demonstrated that MEK1, one of the two MEK isoforms in Raf-MEK-ERK1/2 pathway, is essential for successful EV71 propagation. However, the distinct function of ERK1 and ERK2 isoforms, the downstream kinases of MEKs, remains unclear in EV...

In the current study, we investigate changes in CD4+CD25+ cells in chickens during infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) infection. The percentage of CD4+CD25+ cells in lymph organs, e.g., the thymus, spleen, bursa of Fabricius and peripheral blood,...

In the last 15 years, extensive work on the Cryptophlebia leucotreta granulovirus (CrleGV) has been conducted in South Africa, initially in the laboratory, but subsequently also in the field. This culminated in the registration of the first CrleGV-ba...

The smaller tea tortrix, Adoxophyes honmai (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is an economically important pest of tea in Japan. Previous work showed that a fast-killing nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) isolated from A. orana (AdorNPV) and a slow-killing NPV isol...

Genetic diversity, attributable to the low fidelity of reverse transcription, recombination and mutation, is an important feature of infectious retroviruses. Under selective pressure, such as that imposed by superinfection interference, gammaretrovi...

Vaccinia virus (VACV) has had an important role for humanity because of its use during the smallpox eradication campaign. VACV is the etiologic agent of the bovine vaccinia (BV), an emerging zoonosis that has been associated with economic, social, ve...

Human endogenous retrovirus group E (HERV-E) elements are stably integrated into the human genome, transmitted vertically in a Mendelian manner, and are endowed with transcriptional activity as alternative promoters or enhancers. Such effects are und...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an important public health problem worldwide. HCV exploits complex molecular mechanisms, which result in a high degree of intrahost genetic heterogeneity. This high degree of variability represents a challenge for...

Upon infection of a new host, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replicates in the mucosal tissues and is generally undetectable in circulation for 1–2 weeks post-infection. Several interventions against HIV including vaccines and antiretroviral prop...

Rabies remains an important public health threat in most developing countries. To develop a more effective and safe vaccine against rabies, we have constructed a chimeric rabies virus-like particle (VLP), which containing glycoprotein (G) and matrix...

The question of the origin of smallpox, one of the major menaces to humankind, is a constant concern for the scientific community. Smallpox is caused by the agent referred to as the variola virus (VARV), which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. In t...

Introduction: Comprehensive evaluation of measles-specific humoral immunity after vaccination is important for determining new and/or additional correlates of vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy. Methods: We used a novel proteome microarray technolog...

Japan has only three registered baculovirus biopesticides despite its long history of studies on insect viruses. High production cost is one of the main hindrances for practical use of baculoviruses. Enhancement of insecticidal effect is one possible...

We developed an innovative strategy to induce a cytotoxic T cell (CTL) immune response against protein antigens of choice. It relies on the production of exosomes, i.e., nanovesicles spontaneously released by all cell types. We engineered the upload...

The rapid advancement of molecular tools in the past 15 years has allowed for the retrospective discovery of several new respiratory viruses as well as the characterization of novel emergent strains. The inability to characterize the etiological orig...

Myxoma virus (MYXV) is the type species of the Leporipoxviruses, a genus of Chordopoxvirinae, double stranded DNA viruses, whose members infect leporids and squirrels, inducing cutaneous fibromas from which virus is mechanically transmitted by biting...

Higher plants use RNA silencing to defend against viral infections. As a counter defense, plant viruses have evolved proteins that suppress RNA silencing. Mealybug wilt of pineapple (MWP), an important disease of pineapple, has been associated with a...

Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1), like all herpesviruses, is a large complex DNA virus containing up to 16 different viral membrane proteins in its envelope. The assembly of HSV-1 particles occurs by budding/wrapping at intracellular membranes producin...

Human endogenous retrovirus (HERV-K (HML-2)) proviruses are among the few endogenous retroviral elements in the human genome that retain coding sequence. HML-2 expression has been widely associated with human disease states, including different types...

Assembly of herpesvirus nucleocapsids shares significant similarities with the assembly of tailed dsDNA bacteriophages; however, important differences exist. A unique feature of herpesviruses is the presence of different mature capsid forms in the ho...

Infection of poultry with diverse lineages of H5N2 avian influenza viruses has been documented for over three decades in different parts of the world, with limited outbreaks caused by this highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. In the present study...

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is currently one of the most important viruses affecting the swine industry worldwide. Despite the large number of papers published each year, the participation of non-structural proteins (n...

Development and evaluation of medical countermeasures for diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics requires production of standardized, reproducible, and well characterized virus preparations. For filoviruses this includes plaque assay for quantitatio...