Mucosal AIDS virus transmission is enhanced by antiviral IgG isolated early in infection.

Objective: Antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) affects host-virus dynamics in fundamentally different ways: i) enhancement of initial virus acquisition, and/or ii) increased disease progression/severity. Here we address the question whether anti-HIV-1 antibodies can enhance initial infection. While cell-culture experiments hinted at this possibility, in-vivo proof remained elusive.

A Bivalent, Spherical Virus-Like Particle Vaccine Enhances Breadth of Immune Responses against Pathogenic Ebola Viruses in Rhesus Macaques.

The 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa led to accelerated efforts to develop vaccines against these highly virulent viruses. A live, recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus-based vaccine has been deployed in outbreak settings and appears highly effective. Vaccines based on replication-deficient adenovirus vectors either alone or in combination with a multivalent modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) Ebola vaccine also appear promising and are progressing in clinical evaluation.

Mucosal Antibodies: Defending Epithelial Barriers against HIV-1 Invasion.

The power of mucosal anti-HIV-1 envelope immunoglobulins (Igs) to block virus transmission is underappreciated. We used passive immunization, a classical tool to unequivocally prove whether antibodies are protective. We mucosally instilled recombinant neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (nmAbs) of different Ig classes in rhesus macaques (RMs) followed by mucosal simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) challenge.

A novel Ebola virus antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (Ebola ADCC) assay.

Ebolaviruses are highly virulent pathogens that cause Ebola viral disease (EVD). Data from non-human primate (NHP) models and from human survivors of EVD suggest that anti-Ebola antibodies play an integral role in protection. Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) is a potential mechanism through which anti-Ebola antibodies may mediate protection.

Natural Anti-Cancer Agents: Implications in Gemcitabine-Resistant Pancreatic Cancer Treatment.

Background & Objective: Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies accounting for the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Among several explored anticancer agents, Gemcitabine, a nucleoside analogue remained a front line chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. However, gemcitabine exerts a low response rate with limited progression free survival in patients due to cellular resistance of pancreatic tumors to this therapy.