Publications by authors named "Bao-zhong Zhang"
Article Synopsis
- SARS-CoV-2 variant JN.1, featuring a mutation L455S, has surpassed earlier variants, becoming the dominant strain due to its higher infectivity compared to BA.2.86.
- The increased infectivity of JN.1 is linked to improved entry efficiency and spike protein cleavage, aided by the L455S mutation altering how the spike protein binds to ACE2 receptors.
- Research also evaluates the distinct virological traits between JN.1 and other Omicron sublineages, enhancing our understanding of their transmissibility and immune response behaviors.
Equid alphaherpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) has been linked to the emergence of neurological disorders, with the horse racing industry experiencing significant impacts from outbreaks of equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM). Building robust immune memory before pathogen exposure enables rapid recognition and elimination, preventing infection. This is crucial for effectively managing EHV-1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in treatment of peripheral nerve injury.
World J Stem Cells
August 2024
Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) is a common neurological disorder and complete functional recovery is difficult to achieve. In recent years, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) have emerged as ideal seed cells for PNI treatment due to their strong differentiation potential and autologous transplantation ability. This review aims to summarize the molecular mechanisms by which BMSCs mediate nerve repair in PNI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConserved moonlighting protein pyruvate dehydrogenase induces robust protection against infection.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
September 2024
Developing an effective () vaccine has been a challenging endeavor, as demonstrated by numerous failed clinical trials over the years. In this study, we formulated a vaccine containing a highly conserved moonlighting protein, the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex E2 subunit (PDHC), and showed that it induced strong protective immunity against epidemiologically relevant staphylococcal strains in various murine disease models. While antibody responses contributed to bacterial control, they were not essential for protective immunity in the bloodstream infection model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVaccination-route-dependent adjuvanticity was identified as being associated with the specific features of antigen-carrying nanoparticles (NPs) in the present work. Here, we demonstrated that the mechanical properties and the decomposability of NP adjuvants play key roles in determining the antigen accessibility and thus the overall vaccine efficacy in the immune system when different vaccination routes were employed. We showed that soft nano-vaccines were associated with more efficient antigen uptake when administering subcutaneous (S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInterferons (IFNs) are critical for immune defense against pathogens. While type-I and -III IFNs have been reported to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication, the antiviral effect and mechanism of type-II IFN against SARS-CoV-2 remain largely unknown. Here, we evaluate the antiviral activity of type-II IFN (IFNγ) using human lung epithelial cells (Calu3) and ex vivo human lung tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Researchers have developed a new method using bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) to enhance the effectiveness of embryonic stem cell-derived (ESC) tumor vaccines, which typically have low immunogenicity.
- The engineered OMVs deliver both tumor antigens (TAs) and immune checkpoint inhibitors like PD-L1 antibodies, improving their interaction and residence time in the body.
- In mouse models, this combination therapy significantly inhibited tumor growth by boosting CD8 T cell responses and increasing the number of immune memory cells, showcasing the potential of this versatile OMV platform for cancer treatment.
Background: Earlier Omicron subvariants including BA.1, BA.2, and BA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFamily-Specific Training Improves Linear B Cell Epitope Prediction for Emerging Viruses.
IEEE/ACM Trans Comput Biol Bioinform
December 2023
Article Synopsis
- The study focuses on improving the prediction of B cell epitopes for newly emerging viruses, which is crucial for developing vaccines and antibody therapies.
- Current algorithms often misclassify B cell epitopes due to training with simplistic positive/negative datasets, leading to inaccuracies.
- The authors propose a new training framework using highly similar viruses and kernel regression based on seropositive rates, demonstrating improved prediction accuracy in tests compared to existing methods.
Article Synopsis
- Recent studies reveal that Omicron sublineages BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5 show varying replication capacities, with BA.5 being the most robust in human nasal epithelium.
- While these sublineages successfully evade neutralizing antibodies, they appear to exhibit reduced pathogenicity in the lungs, especially in certain mouse models.
- The research underscores the need for ongoing surveillance of these sublineages due to their increasing replication efficiency in the upper respiratory tract and the potential risks they pose to immunocompromised individuals.
Article Synopsis
- * Researchers have developed a model using antigenic distance to identify optimized booster vaccine strains that could enhance protection against both current and future variants.
- * Experimental results showed that a booster vaccine based on SARS-CoV-1 significantly improved antibody response and protection against Omicron compared to other candidate vaccines, suggesting a new approach for future vaccine development.
The overall success of worldwide mass vaccination in limiting the negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemics is inevitable, however, recent SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, especially Omicron and its sub-lineages, efficiently evade humoral immunity mounted upon vaccination or previous infection. Thus, it is an important question whether these variants, or vaccines against them, induce anti-viral cellular immunity. Here we show that the mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 induces robust protective immunity in K18-hACE2 transgenic B-cell deficient (μMT) mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSuccessful severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection requires proteolytic cleavage of the viral spike protein. While the role of the host transmembrane protease serine 2 in SARS-CoV-2 infection is widely recognized, the involvement of other proteases capable of facilitating SARS-CoV-2 entry remains incompletely explored. Here, we show that multiple members from the membrane-type matrix metalloproteinase (MT-MMP) and a disintegrin and metalloproteinase families can mediate SARS-CoV-2 entry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The purpose of this study is to verify the correlation between medium and low radiation doses of the pelvic-bone marrow and the incidence of lymphocytic toxicity during concurrent chemoradiotherapy for cervical cancer.
Materials And Methods: This research included 117 cervical cancer patients, who received concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Radiotherapy included external-beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy.
Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) share many cellular and molecular features with cancer cells. Taking advantage of these similarities, stem cells are effective vaccines against cancers in animal models. However, the molecular basis is not well understood, which hinders the development of effective cancer vaccines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To investigate the short-term efficacy and radiotoxicity 3.543of chronoradiotherapy in patients with cervical cancer. We also examined the overall symptom score and quality of life (QOL) of patients who underwent morning radiotherapy and evening radiotherapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns about the potential for re-infection, particularly with the Omicron variant and how non-neutralizing epitopes could cause antibody-dependent enhancement.
- Researchers studied a multiple epitope-based vaccine and found it enhanced infection specifically for the Omicron strain, while not impacting the original SARS-CoV-2 or Delta variants.
- A specific conserved epitope was identified that neutralized all three strains, but the presence of certain non-neutralizing epitopes might reduce the overall effectiveness of neutralizing antibodies in the vaccine, suggesting a need for improved vaccine designs to combat future variants.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron BA.2 was a dominant circulating SARS-CoV-2 variant worldwide. Recent reports hint that BA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the biggest public health challenge the world has witnessed in the past decades. SARS-CoV-2 undergoes constant mutations and new variants of concerns (VOCs) with altered transmissibility, virulence, and/or susceptibility to vaccines and therapeutics continue to emerge. Detailed analysis of host factors involved in virus replication may help to identify novel treatment targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroneedles can realize the intradermal and transdermal delivery of drugs. However, most conventional microneedles made of metal, polymer and ceramics are unsuitable for the delivery of mRNA drugs that are fragile and temperature-sensitive. This study explores the usage of cryomicroneedles (CryoMNs) for the intradermal delivery of mRNA molecules.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- SARS-CoV-2 has caused over 450 million confirmed cases worldwide since 2019, leading to the development and administration of various vaccines, though some variants can evade immune responses.
- Research investigated the effectiveness of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, known for its ability to boost innate immune responses, in protecting against SARS-CoV-2 in a specific mouse model.
- Findings show that intravenous BCG vaccination significantly enhances immune responses and offers protection against both the original virus and its variants, supporting the potential of BCG as a supplementary strategy in COVID-19 defense.
Article Synopsis
- * Researchers created a computational model that accurately predicts how changes in the virus's spike protein affect its ability to evade neutralization by antibodies, achieving an accuracy rate of around 79%.
- * This model offers a rapid way to assess new variants' antigenicity and could assist in updating vaccines to tackle major variants, with predictions indicating that the Omicron variant is 17.4 times less susceptible to neutralization.
Article Synopsis
- Omicron was labeled as a Variant of Concern (VOC) by the WHO just four days after its genetic sequence was submitted on November 26, 2021, but its effects on existing vaccines and antibodies are still being evaluated.
- Our analysis identified that the mutations present in the Omicron variant affect all epitopes in several key antibody groups, indicating that most antibodies may not effectively neutralize the variant.
- Only four out of 120 antibodies studied might offer full resistance, suggesting that the mutations in Omicron could also reduce the effectiveness of current COVID-19 vaccines.