Publications by authors named "Ana Rosales Rosas"

Dengue virus (DENV) is the most widespread mosquito-borne virus worldwide, but no antiviral therapies are available yet. The pan-serotype DENV inhibitor JNJ-A07 has shown potent activity in a mouse model. It remains unknown whether an antiviral drug ingested by mosquitoes could inhibit virus replication and thus reduce transmission to other hosts.

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Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne virus transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. While there are no antiviral therapies currently available to treat CHIKV infections, several licensed oral drugs have shown significant anti-CHIKV activity in cells and in mouse models. However, the efficacy in mosquitoes has not yet been assessed.

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The worldwide re-emerge of the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), the high morbidity associated with it, and the lack of an available vaccine or antiviral treatment make the development of a potent CHIKV-inhibitor highly desirable. Therefore, an extensive lead optimization was performed based on the previously reported CHVB compound 1b and the reported synthesis route was optimized - improving the overall yield in remarkably shorter synthesis and work-up time. Hundred analogues were designed, synthesized, and investigated for their antiviral activity, physiochemistry, and toxicological profile.

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Article Synopsis
  • West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are spread by Culex mosquitoes in Belgium, but it's unclear which species can effectively transmit these viruses or if they harbor Wolbachia, a bacteria that may affect transmission.
  • The study captured female Culex mosquitoes and tested their ability to transmit WNV and USUV using infectious blood meals, revealing that Culex pipiens can transmit WNV while Culex modestus can transmit USUV.
  • This research is significant as it shows for the first time that Belgian Culex mosquitoes can transmit both viruses, highlighting potential risks for human transmission, and suggests further investigation into Wolbachia's role in these processes is needed.
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mosquitoes can transmit several arboviruses, including chikungunya virus (CHIKV), dengue virus (DENV), and Zika virus (ZIKV). When blood-feeding on a virus-infected human, the mosquito ingests the virus into the midgut (stomach), where it replicates and must overcome the midgut barrier to disseminate to other organs and ultimately be transmitted via the saliva. Current tools to study mosquito-borne viruses (MBVs) include 2D-cell culture systems and mosquito infection models, which offer great advantages, yet have some limitations.

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Article Synopsis
  • The emergence of West Nile and Usutu viruses in Europe is a public health concern, as there are no effective antiviral treatments or vaccines available.
  • Controlling the diseases primarily relies on targeting Culex mosquitoes, but insecticide resistance is a growing issue due to consistent exposure to these chemicals.
  • A study in Leuven, Belgium found mutations linked to insecticide resistance in Culex pipiens and Culex modestus mosquitoes, emphasizing the need for ongoing mosquito surveillance to improve outbreak control strategies.
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Mosquitoes are important vectors for many arboviruses. It is becoming increasingly clear that various symbiotic microorganisms (including bacteria and insect-specific viruses; ISVs) in mosquitoes have the potential to modulate the ability of mosquitoes to transmit arboviruses. In this study, we compared the bacteriome and virome (both eukaryotic viruses and bacteriophages) of female adult Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes fed with sucrose/water, blood, or blood spiked with Zika virus (ZIKV) or West Nile virus (WNV), respectively.

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New platforms are needed for the design of novel prophylactic vaccines and advanced immune therapies. Live-attenuated yellow fever vaccine YF17D serves as a vector for several licensed vaccines and platform for novel candidates. On the basis of YF17D, we developed an exceptionally potent COVID-19 vaccine candidate called YF-S0.

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Background: Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) for malaria diagnosis at the point of care (POC) depends on the detection capacity of synthesized nucleic acids and the specificity of the amplification target. To improve malaria diagnosis, new colorimetric LAMP tests were developed using multicopy targets for Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum detection.

Methods: The cytochrome oxidase I (COX1) mitochondrial gene and the non-coding sequence Pvr47 for P.

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Favipiravir (T-705) is a broad-spectrum antiviral drug that inhibits RNA viruses after intracellular conversion into its active form, T-705 ribofuranosyl 5'-triphosphate. We previously showed that T-705 is able to significantly inhibit the replication of chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an arbovirus transmitted by mosquitoes, in mammalian cells and in mouse models. In contrast, the effect of T-705 on CHIKV infection and replication in the mosquito vector is unknown.

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mosquitoes are considered potential transmission vectors of West Nile virus and Usutu virus. Their presence has been reported across several European countries, including one larva detected in Belgium in 2018. In this study, mosquitoes were collected in the city of Leuven and surrounding areas in the summers of 2019 and 2020.

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Arthropod-borne viruses contribute significantly to global mortality and morbidity in humans and animals. These viruses are mainly transmitted between susceptible vertebrate hosts by hematophagous arthropod vectors, especially mosquitoes. Recently, there has been substantial attention for a novel group of viruses, referred to as insect-specific viruses (ISVs) which are exclusively maintained in mosquito populations.

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