Clinical, Virological and Immunological Responses after Experimental Infection with African Horse Sickness Virus Serotype 9 in Immunologically Naïve and Vaccinated Horses.

This study described the clinical, virological, and serological responses of immunologically naïve and vaccinated horses to African horse sickness virus (AHSV) serotype 9. Naïve horses developed a clinical picture resembling the cardiac form of African horse sickness. This was characterized by inappetence, reduced activity, and hyperthermia leading to lethargy and immobility-recumbency by days 9-10 post-infection, an end-point criteria for euthanasia.

Real-time fluorogenic reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay for the specific detection of Bagaza virus.

In September 2010, an outbreak of disease in 2 wild bird species (red-legged partridge, Alectoris rufa; ring-necked pheasant, Phasianus colchicus) occurred in southern Spain. Bagaza virus (BAGV) was identified as the etiological agent of the outbreak. BAGV had only been reported before in Western Africa (Central African Republic, Senegal) and in India.

A globally occurring indel polymorphism in the promoter of the IFNA2 gene is not associated with severity of malaria but with the positivity rate of HCV.

Background: Type I Interferons (IFNs) are well known cytokines which exert antiviral activity, antitumor activity and immunomodulatory effects. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and deletions in the gene coding for IFNA2 have been shown to influence the level of expression in vitro. The indel polymorphism -305_-300delAACTTT showed the strongest effect in vitro.

Genetic conservation of the GIL blood group determining aquaporin 3 gene in African and Caucasian populations.

Background: The human GIL blood group is encoded by the aquaporin 3 (AQP3), a water-glycerol channel present in human red cell (RBC) membranes. So far no molecular investigation of this gene has been performed in an African population.

Study Design And Methods: To analyze the genetic variability of the AQP3 gene in African and European persons, all exons including the boundaries to introns and the promoter region were sequenced.

Polymorphisms in the IFNAR1 gene in patients with chronic hepatitis C: outcome of combined IFN-alpha therapy.

Aims: Interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) alone or in combination with ribavirin has been used for the last decade in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C, although the achievement of a sustained virological response (SVR) has not been very satisfactory. The treatment outcome depends on viral genotypes and host genetic polymorphisms in genes involved in the IFN-alpha signaling cascade. In this paper, we investigated the distribution of two variants of the IFNAR1 gene, G17470C and L168V, in two patient groups having received IFN-alpha alone or in combination with ribavirin.

Prenatal immune responses to Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 DBL-alpha domain in Gabon.

In areas where malaria transmission is stable, infants are often born to mothers who had Plasmodium falciparum infections during pregnancy. A significant number become exposed to infected erythrocytes or soluble parasite products with subsequent fetal immune priming or tolerance in utero. We performed ELISA to asses IgG and IgM seropositivity rates against three PfEMP1 DBL-alpha domains from 42 maternal-cord paired samples obtained at delivery from a hyperendemic area in Gabon.

Recombinant Duffy binding-like-alpha domains of Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 elicit antibodies in rats that recognise conserved epitopes.

Plasmodium falciparum parasites remodel the surface of human erythrocytes on invasion by the insertion of parasite-derived proteins in knob-like protrusions. P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP-1), a variant surface antigen, has been shown to be anchored in these knobs and mediates adhesion to various host endothelial receptors.