Publications by authors named "A K Mahant"
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) vaccine development has been impeded by the absence of predictive preclinical models and defined correlates of immune protection. Prior candidates elicited neutralizing responses greater than natural infection but no antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and failed to protect in clinical trials. Primary HSV infection also elicits only neutralizing responses, but ADCC and an expanded antigenic repertoire emerge over time.
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- Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) is important for protecting newborns from herpes, and its transfer from mother to fetus can be affected by various factors like gestational age and maternal health.
- The study showed that the transfer of HSV-neutralizing IgG was lower in preterm births compared to term births, and ADCC-mediating IgG was not effectively transferred in both term and preterm cases pre-COVID.
- Interestingly, in term dyads during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, there was a significant increase in the transfer of ADCC-mediating IgG, possibly due to changes in placental interactions and maternal immune responses.
Herpes simplex viruses (HSV) cause chronic infections with significant morbidity. Prior vaccines, designed to generate neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) targeting glycoprotein D (gD), failed to provide durable protection. We adopted a different strategy and evaluated a single-cycle virus deleted in gD (ΔgD-2).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the US opioid epidemic triggered a collaborative municipal and academic effort in Tempe, Arizona, which resulted in the world's first open access dashboard featuring neighbourhood-level trends informed by wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). This study aimed to showcase how wastewater monitoring, once established and accepted by a community, could readily be adapted to respond to newly emerging public health priorities.
Methods: In this population-based study in Greater Tempe, Arizona, an existing opioid monitoring WBE network was modified to track SARS-CoV-2 transmission through the analysis of 11 contiguous wastewater catchments.