Publications by authors named "F Lempp"
RNA interference is a natural antiviral mechanism that could be harnessed to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection by targeting and destroying the viral RNA. We identified potent lipophilic small interfering RNA (siRNA) conjugates targeting highly conserved regions of SARS-CoV-2 outside of the spike-encoding region capable of achieving ≥3-log viral reduction. Serial passaging studies demonstrated that a two-siRNA combination prevented development of resistance compared to a single siRNA approach.
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- - SARS-CoV-2 has evolved to evade current monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), emphasizing the need for more resilient treatments that can neutralize various viral strains.
- - A new human mAb called VIR-7229 has shown the ability to effectively neutralize multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 and other related viruses, due to its unique targeting of a critical viral region known as the receptor-binding motif (RBM).
- - VIR-7229 demonstrates a high resistance to the emergence of virus escape mutants, making it a promising candidate for future therapies against evolving coronaviruses.
Current culture systems available for studying hepatitis D virus (HDV) are suboptimal. In this study, we demonstrate that hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are fully permissive to HDV infection across various tested genotypes. When co-infected with the helper hepatitis B virus (HBV) or transduced to express the HBV envelope protein HBsAg, HLCs effectively release infectious progeny virions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurrently circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants have acquired convergent mutations at hot spots in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein. The effects of these mutations on viral infection and transmission and the efficacy of vaccines and therapies remains poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that recently emerged BQ.
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- Chronic hepatitis B is a major global health issue, and co-infection with hepatitis delta virus (HDV) can worsen the disease; researchers are studying a monoclonal antibody (mAb) targeting hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen (HBsAg) for potential treatment.
- The monoclonal antibodies were developed from memory B cells of vaccinated individuals and tested in human liver-chimeric mice to observe their effectiveness against HBV and HDV in various stages of infection.
- The chosen mAb, VIR-3434, showed strong neutralization capabilities against multiple HBV genotypes, significantly reducing virus levels in treated mice and is now being considered for clinical trials in humans with chronic hepatitis B or D.