Publications by authors named "A R Moscona"
We have assessed antiviral activity and induction of protective immunity of fusion-inhibitory lipopeptides derived from the C-terminal heptad-repeat domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein in transgenic mice expressing human ACE2 (K18-hACE2). The lipopeptides block SARS-CoV-2 infection in cell lines and lung-derived organotypic cultures. Intranasal administration in mice allows the maintenance of homeostatic transcriptomic immune profile in lungs, prevents body-weight loss, decreases viral load and shedding, and protects mice from death caused by SARS-CoV-2 variants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Scientists established a direct-contact transmission model for the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.5 variant using Syrian hamsters, which are highly susceptible to the virus.
- The research involved testing different inoculation doses and co-housing durations to ensure reliable transmission and comparing viral loads and tissue damage between infected donor and naïve recipient hamsters.
- Results indicated that while both male and female hamsters could be infected similarly, males shed significantly more infectious virus; overall, the Omicron BA.5 variant resulted in lower viral loads and less severe symptoms compared to prior strains, highlighting the model's potential for studying new treatment strategies.
Article Synopsis
- Paramyxoviruses, such as measles and Nipah, pose significant public health risks and have pandemic potential, with HPIV3 being a major cause of illness among vulnerable populations.
- * There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for HPIV3, but neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) could be a promising strategy despite challenges from viral resistance due to mutations.
- * The study presents cryo-electron tomography structures showing how mutated HPIV3 can evade neutralization by mAbs by altering the interaction between viral proteins, providing insights that could inform future mAb design.
Article Synopsis
- Human parainfluenza virus 3 (HPIV3) infection relies on the combined actions of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and fusion protein (F) to facilitate virus-cell membrane fusion for infection.
- Unlike laboratory-adapted strains, field strains of HPIV3 have different cleavage motifs for the F protein, which are cleaved by specific, unidentified proteases found in limited cell types.
- The study highlights that extracellular serine proteases, like TMPRSS2 and TMPRSS13, can activate the F protein for infectious virus release, suggesting that the activation process depends on the availability of these proteases in host cells.
Science is humanity's best insurance against threats from nature, but it is a fragile enterprise that must be nourished and protected. The preponderance of scientific evidence indicates a natural origin for SARS-CoV-2. Yet, the theory that SARS-CoV-2 was engineered in and escaped from a lab dominates media attention, even in the absence of strong evidence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF