XML Feed for RxPG News   Add RxPG News Headlines to My Yahoo!   Javascript Syndication for RxPG News

Research Health World General
 
  Home
 
 Latest Research
 Cancer
 Psychiatry
 Genetics
 Surgery
 Aging
 Ophthalmology
 Gynaecology
 Neurosciences
 Pharmacology
 Cardiology
 Obstetrics
 Infectious Diseases
 Respiratory Medicine
 Pathology
 Endocrinology
 Immunology
 Nephrology
 Gastroenterology
 Biotechnology
 Radiology
 Dermatology
 Microbiology
  Virology
   West Nile Virus
  Bacteriology
 Haematology
 Dental
 ENT
 Environment
 Embryology
 Orthopedics
 Metabolism
 Anaethesia
 Paediatrics
 Public Health
 Urology
 Musculoskeletal
 Clinical Trials
 Physiology
 Biochemistry
 Cytology
 Traumatology
 Rheumatology
 
 Medical News
 Health
 Opinion
 Healthcare
 Professionals
 Launch
 Awards & Prizes
 
 Careers
 Medical
 Nursing
 Dental
 
 Special Topics
 Euthanasia
 Ethics
 Evolution
 Odd Medical News
 Feature
 
 World News
 Tsunami
 Epidemics
 Climate
 Business
Search

Last Updated: Nov 17th, 2006 - 22:35:04

Virology Channel
subscribe to Virology newsletter

Latest Research : Microbiology : Virology

   DISCUSS   |   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Research team isolates receptor for deadly viruses
Jul 31, 2005, 14:13, Reviewed by: Dr.

"In addition to our concern about Nipah and Hendra viruses as emerging global health and economic threats, we worry about their potential use as bioterror agents," stated Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the arm of NIH that funded the research, in an NIH news release. "This work, funded through our biodefense research program, is a major step towards developing countermeasures to prevent and treat Nipah and Hendra viruses."

 
A collaborative research team from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have made a major breakthrough in efforts to combat two deadly viruses that could be engineered for use as bioweapons. The team isolated the functional receptor for the Nipah and Hendra viruses--naturally occurring and highly pathogenic paramyxoviruses for which no treatments or vaccines are currently available.

Christopher C. Broder, Ph.D., associate professor in USU's Department of Microbiology, and his NIH-funded team of researchers and investigators demonstrated that a cell surface protein called Ephrin-B2 is a functional receptor for both the Hendra and Nipah viruses. Many animal species are vulnerable to these viruses, making the potential for amplification in intermediate hosts and transmission greater. Ephrin-B2 is highly conserved in animals, and this finding sheds light on how these viruses can infest such a wide range of hosts.

"In addition to our concern about Nipah and Hendra viruses as emerging global health and economic threats, we worry about their potential use as bioterror agents," stated Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the arm of NIH that funded the research, in an NIH news release. "This work, funded through our biodefense research program, is a major step towards developing countermeasures to prevent and treat Nipah and Hendra viruses."

"Now that we've identified the cell receptor, we have a new target for activity, hopefully blocking the viruses from infecting cells," Dr. Broder explained. Team members Matthew Bonaparte, Ph.D., and Anthony Dimitrov, Ph.D., both at USU, identified the cell receptor by analyzing a human cell line that was resistant to virus infection against two susceptible cell lines. The results of the research were published in the July 26 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We identified genes that are coded for known and predicted cell surface proteins that were missing from the resistant cell line," Dr. Broder said. "The genes were put into cells that were then exposed to a live virus at AAHL."

Hendra virus was first isolated in 1994 when an outbreak of respiratory and neurologic disease emerged among horses and humans in Hendra, Australia, killing two people. Hendra recently reemerged in Queensland, Australia, and researchers there isolated the virus at the biosafety level 4 facility.

Nipah virus, which is similar to and in the same genus as Hendra, was initially isolated in 1999, when a large outbreak of encephalitis and respiratory illness occurred in Malaysia and Singapore, killing more than 100 people. Last year, two further Nipah virus outbreaks occurred in Bangladesh, killing roughly 75% of those infected. Scientists are disturbed by the fact that many of these recent cases involved human-to-human transmission of Nipah, which originates in bats.

Ephrin-B2 is found on cells in the central nervous system, as well as in cells lining blood vessels. It is essential for central nervous system development and blood vessel growth in the embryos of humans and other mammals.

Broder and his team are among only a handful of scientists focusing on the viruses, which have been under investigation by USU researchers since 2000. Broder is a principal investigator on one of six projects from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases funded by NIH.

The research has led to two inventions on which USU and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine have filed patent applications.

The first patent application, "Soluble forms of Hendra Virus and Nipah Virus G glycoprotein," covers the production and use of the soluble G glycoprotein. This protein has utility as a vaccine, in the development of pharmaceutical compositions and in diagnostic assays. The second patent application, "Compositions and Methods for the Inhibition of Membrane Fusion by Paramyxoviruses," covers the use of a novel peptide sequence of the soluble F glycoprotein, to block fusion of the virus with the host cell. This peptide can be used as a prophylactic, and/or to treat infections, and antibodies developed using this peptide can be utilized in diagnostic assays.
 

- For information on licensing these patents, please contact Mark G. Scher, Ph.D., HJF Director of Technology Commercialization, at 240-453-8867 or via email at [email protected]
 

http://www.hjf.org/

 
Subscribe to Virology Newsletter
E-mail Address:

 

The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (www.hjf.org) is a private, not-for-profit organization chartered by Congress to support military medical research and education at USU and throughout military medicine.

The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (www.usuhs.mil) was chartered by the U.S. Congress and is a fully accredited DoD graduate-education university.


Related Virology News

How West Nile virus evades immune defenses
Innovative method for creating a human cytomegalovirus vaccine outlined
Cracking Virus Protection Shield
Viruses trade-off between survival and reproduction
New hybrid virus provides targeted molecular imaging of cancer
Mass spectrometry to detect norovirus particles
xCT molecule is a major gateway for KSHV to enter human cells
Surprising discovery about the inner workings of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)
New human retrovirus - Xenotropic MuLV-related virus (XMRV)
Viruses can be forced to evolve as better delivery vehicles for gene therapy


For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 

© Copyright 2004 onwards by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited
Contact Us