Publications by authors named "Amanda Poon"
Article Synopsis
- - The Dengue virus (DENV) is a major global health concern with 400 million infections yearly and has four serotypes (DENV-1 to -4), making vaccine development challenging due to their differing infection patterns and pathogenicity.
- - The study focuses on the RNA Stem-loop A (SLA) structure at the 5'-end of the DENV genome, which is crucial for viral replication; differences in SLA structures among the serotypes were discovered, revealing their unique dynamics.
- - The research found that while the NS5 protein from DENV2 can bind SLA from other serotypes, specific structural interactions within SLA are needed for serotype-specific recognition, indicating the complexity of the viral replication mechanism. *
Ricin toxin kills mammalian cells with notorious efficiency. The toxin's B subunit (RTB) is a Gal/GalNAc-specific lectin that attaches to cell surfaces and promotes retrograde transport of ricin's A subunit (RTA) to the trans Golgi network (TGN) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER). RTA is liberated from RTB in the ER and translocated into the cell cytoplasm, where it functions as a ribosome-inactivating protein.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRicin toxin's B subunit (RTB) is a multifunctional galactose (Gal)-/N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNac)-specific lectin that promotes uptake and intracellular trafficking of ricin's ribosome-inactivating subunit (RTA) into mammalian cells. Structurally, RTB consists of two globular domains (RTB-D1, RTB-D2), each divided into three homologous sub-domains (α, β, γ). The two carbohydrate recognition domains (CRDs) are situated on opposite sides of RTB (sub-domains 1α and 2γ) and function non-cooperatively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs part of an effort to engineer ricin antitoxins and immunotherapies, we previously produced and characterized a collection of phage-displayed, heavy chain-only antibodies (VHs) from alpacas that had been immunized with ricin antigens. In our initial screens, we identified nine VHs directed against ricin toxin's binding subunit (RTB), but only one, JIZ-B7, had toxin-neutralizing activity. Linking JIZ-B7 to different VHs against ricin's enzymatic subunit (RTA) resulted in several bispecific antibodies with potent toxin-neutralizing activity in vitro and in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mitochondria-associated ER membrane (MAM) plays a critical role in cellular energetics and calcium homeostasis; however, how MAM is affected under diabetic condition remains elusive. This study presented a comprehensive proteome profiling of isolated brain MAM from long-term type 2 diabetic mice vs. non-diabetic controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: We evaluated the effectiveness of cabotegravir (CAB; GSK1265744 or GSK744) long acting as preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) against intravenous simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) challenge in a model that mimics blood transfusions based on the per-act probability of infection.
Design: CAB long acting is an integrase strand transfer inhibitor formulated as a 200 mg/ml injectable nanoparticle suspension that is an effective PrEP agent against rectal and vaginal simian/human immunodeficiency virus transmission in macaques.
Methods: Three groups of rhesus macaques (n = 8 per group) were injected intramuscularly with CAB long acting and challenged intravenously with 17 animal infectious dose 50% SIVmac251 on week 2.