Pseudovirus-Based Strategies for Understanding and Controlling Viral Infections

A special issue of Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817). This special issue belongs to the section "Viral Pathogens".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 243

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Division of HIV/AIDS and Sex-Transmitted Virus Vaccines, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing 102629, China
Interests: SARS-CoV-2; HIV-1; HPV; vaccine development; vaccine evaluation; immune response; neutralizing antibody; standardization of assay
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Pseudoviruses have become indispensable tools in biomedical research, serving as vital surrogates for authentic viruses across multiple applications. In broad terms, these recombinant constructs are defined by their incorporation of foreign genetic material, regardless of whether they display exogenous surface proteins. This versatile category has application in understanding the infectivity mechanisms, gene therapy delivery systems, vaccine vector development, and diagnostic control materials for nucleic acid assays.

Despite significant progress in pseudovirus development for emerging pathogens, substantial technical challenges persist. Current limitations include a lack of universal construction strategies, persistent technical barriers for certain virus families (e.g., flaviviruses), and inconsistent standardization across research groups.

Hence, this Special Issue, titled “Pseudovirus-Based Strategies for Understanding and Controlling Viral Infections”, promotes studies that focus on advanced pseudovirus packaging strategies; their use in studies of virus life cycles; emerging applications in vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics; and any other fields related to pseudovirses.

Dr. Jianhui Nie
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • pseudovirus
  • infectivity
  • neutralization
  • antigenicity
  • immunogenicity

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 4204 KB  
Article
Establishment of a Pseudovirus-Based Golden Hamster Model for the Attachment and Entry Stages of Hendra Virus Infection and Evaluation of Protective Immunity
by Tao Li, Binfan Liao, Danfeng Li, Jie Zhang, Chunhui Zhao, Yunfei Pei, Liping Chen, Meng Wang, Yawen Liu, Xi Wu, Weijin Huang and Jianhui Nie
Pathogens 2025, 14(9), 910; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens14090910 - 10 Sep 2025
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Abstract
Objective: Establish an in vivo evaluation model focused on the attachment and entry stages of Hendra virus infection for protective immunity assessment. Methods: A golden hamster infection model based on recombinant Hendra-F/G pseudovirus was developed, and a luciferase luminescence assay was used to [...] Read more.
Objective: Establish an in vivo evaluation model focused on the attachment and entry stages of Hendra virus infection for protective immunity assessment. Methods: A golden hamster infection model based on recombinant Hendra-F/G pseudovirus was developed, and a luciferase luminescence assay was used to assess the optimal pseudoviral challenge in terms of route of infection, dose and detection time. The biodistribution of the pseudovirus in infected organs was evaluated using the IVIS spectral CT system. The protective effect of antibody prophylaxis was evaluated by measuring the luminescence intensity of pseudoviruses. Results: Intraperitoneal injection was identified as the optimal route of infection, and the optimal time of detection was 6 h post-challenge. Our model simulates the infection of the brain and lungs by live viruses, with the strongest infection occurring in the abdomen, especially in the intestinal organs. The dose of pseudovirus was linearly correlated with luminescence intensity. The infection model was able to differentiate the protective effect of monoclonal antibodies, with complete protection in the high-dose group. Conclusions: The recombinant Hendra-F/G pseudovirus hamster model allows the effective evaluation of prophylactic monoclonal antibodies, providing a crucial tool for studying Hendra virus infection and control strategies. Full article
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