Publications by authors named "D Wirth"

Article Synopsis
  • * This study reveals a connection between cellular senescence and increased infectivity of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) in endothelial cells, identifying caveolin-1 and CD109 as key factors that enhance KSHV infection.
  • * Using CRISPR technology, researchers found that knocking out these factors reduces KSHV's ability to infect cells, while CD109 actively interacts with the virus and can inhibit its entry, highlighting the role of aging in viral infections.
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Nanoparticles have proven to be attractive carriers in therapeutic drug delivery since they can encapsulate, protect and stabilize a plethora of different drugs, thereby improving therapeutic efficacy and reducing side effects. However, specific targeting of drug-loaded nanoparticles to the tissue of interest and a timely and spatially controlled release of drugs on demand still represent a challenge. Recently, gas-filled microparticles, so-called antibubbles, have been developed which can efficiently encapsulate liquid drug droplets.

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The identification of novel drug targets for the purpose of designing small molecule inhibitors is key component to modern drug discovery. In malaria parasites, discoveries of antimalarial targets have primarily occurred retroactively by investigating the mode of action of compounds found through phenotypic screens. Although this method has yielded many promising candidates, it is time- and resource-consuming and misses targets not captured by existing antimalarial compound libraries and phenotypic assay conditions.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on identifying genetic mutations in malaria parasites that confer drug resistance, essential for improving surveillance and target discovery in malaria treatment.
  • Researchers analyzed the genomes of 724 clones resistant to 118 different antimalarial compounds, uncovering 1,448 variants in 128 frequently mutated genes related to multidrug resistance.
  • The findings suggest that in vitro selected mutations are more diverse and significant than naturally occurring ones, providing insights into how these mutations can inform predictions of drug resistance in similar pathogens.
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