Immunogenicity and Cross-Protection Efficacy of a Genotype F-Derived Attenuated Virus Vaccine Candidate against Mumps Virus in Mice.

Mumps virus (MuV) causes an acute contagious human disease characterized by swelling of the parotid glands. Despite the near elimination of mumps in many countries, the disease has recurred, even in vaccinated populations, especially adolescents. Immunization effectivity of the genotype A vaccine strain Jeryl Lynn (JL) is declining as genotype A is no longer predominant; therefore, a new vaccine strain and booster vaccine are required.

Booster doses of an inactivated F genotype mumps vaccine enhance immunogenicity in mice.

The mumps virus (MuV) causes a highly contagious human disease characterized by swelling of the parotid glands. Although the administration of an attenuated Jeryl Lynn (JL) MuV vaccine shows efficacy in reducing the incidence of MuV infection, sporadic mumps outbreaks still occur in vaccinated populations. We have previously established that an inactivated F genotype mumps vaccine has a higher neutralizing antibody titer against diverse circulating mumps viruses in mice.

Evaluation of immunogenicity-induced DNA vaccines against different SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in 2019 and caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic worldwide. As of September 2023, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases has reached over 770 million and caused nearly 7 million deaths. The World Health Organization assigned and informed the characterization of variants of concern (VOCs) to help control the COVID-19 pandemic through global monitoring of circulating viruses.

Microglial-to-neuronal CCR5 signaling regulates autophagy in neurodegeneration.

In neurodegenerative diseases, microglia switch to an activated state, which results in excessive secretion of pro-inflammatory factors. Our work aims to investigate how this paracrine signaling affects neuronal function. Here, we show that activated microglia mediate non-cell-autonomous inhibition of neuronal autophagy, a degradative pathway critical for the removal of toxic, aggregate-prone proteins accumulating in neurodegenerative diseases.

Recombinant measles virus encoding the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 efficiently induces Th1 responses and neutralizing antibodies that block SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Owing to the rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants, the development of effective and safe vaccines has become a priority. The measles virus (MeV) vaccine is an attractive vaccine platform as it has been administered to children for more than 40 years in over 100 countries. In this study, we developed a recombinant MeV expressing the full-length SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (rMeV-S) and tested its efficacy using mouse and hamster models.

Improved Immunogenicity of the Inactivated F Genotype Mumps Vaccine against Diverse Circulating Mumps Viruses in Mice.

Mumps is an acute infectious disease caused by the mumps virus (MuV). Despite high global vaccination coverage, mumps outbreaks continue to occur, even in vaccinated populations. Therefore, we aimed to identify candidate vaccines that can induce an immunogenic response against diverse MuV genotypes with greater efficacy than the currently available options.

Autophagy and Neurodegeneration: Pathogenic Mechanisms and Therapeutic Opportunities.

Autophagy is a conserved pathway that delivers cytoplasmic contents to the lysosome for degradation. Here we consider its roles in neuronal health and disease. We review evidence from mouse knockout studies demonstrating the normal functions of autophagy as a protective factor against neurodegeneration associated with intracytoplasmic aggregate-prone protein accumulation as well as other roles, including in neuronal stem cell differentiation.

Autophagy and mammalian development.

Autophagy is a highly conserved cytoplasmic degradation pathway that has an impact on many physiological and disease states, including immunity, tumorigenesis and neurodegeneration. Recent studies suggest that autophagy may also have important functions in embryogenesis and development. Many autophagy gene-knockout mice have embryonic lethality at different stages of development.

Carbonyl reductase 1 offers a novel therapeutic target to enhance leukemia treatment by arsenic trioxide.

Arsenic trioxide (As2O3) is used, in current practice, as an effective chemotherapeutic agent for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). However, the side effects and relatively low efficacy of As2O3 in treating other leukemias have limited its wider use in therapeutic applications. In the present study, we found that the expression of carbonyl reductase 1 (CBR1) affects the resistance to As2O3 in leukemias, including APL; As2O3 upregulated CBR1 expression at the transcriptional level by stimulating the activity of the transcription factor activator protein-1.

Mitochondria-targeted antioxidants protect pancreatic β-cells against oxidative stress and improve insulin secretion in glucotoxicity and glucolipotoxicity.

Mitochondrial oxidative damage is thought to play a key role in pancreatic β-cell failure in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. Despite this, the potential of mitochondria-targeted antioxidants to protect pancreatic β-cells against oxidative stress has not yet been studied. Therefore, we investigated if mitochondria-targeted antioxidants protect pancreatic β-cells such as RINm5F and HIT-T15 cells against oxidative stress under glucotoxic and glucolipotoxic conditions.

Peroxiredoxin-2 upregulated by NF-κB attenuates oxidative stress during the differentiation of muscle-derived C2C12 cells.

Aim: Many studies have reported that the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) increases during the differentiation of muscle-derived C2C12 cells. Peroxiredoxin-2 (Prx-2) is an abundant mammalian enzyme that protects against oxidative stress. However, the role of Prx-2 in muscle differentiation has not been investigated.

Role of cyclophilin B in tumorigenesis and cisplatin resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma in humans.

Unlabelled: Cyclophilin B (CypB) performs diverse roles in living cells, but its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is largely unclear. To reveal its role in HCC, we investigated the induction of CypB under hypoxia and its functions in tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. Here, we demonstrated that hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) induces CypB under hypoxia.