Publications by authors named "I Hewlett"
Background: Individuals with acute / early HIV-1 infection are often unaware that they are infected with HIV-1 and may be involved in high-risk behavior leading to transmission of HIV-1. Identifying individuals with acute / early HIV-1 infection is critical to prevent further HIV-1 transmission, as diagnosis can lead to several effective HIV-1 prevention strategies. Identification of disease-stage specific non-viral host biomarkers would be useful as surrogate markers to accurately identify new HIV-1 infections.
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- Advances in blood safety have led to the development of pathogen reduction technologies (PRTs), with a focus on using violet-blue light as a safer alternative to traditional UV treatments.
- Research shows that a specific dosage of 405 nm violet-blue light (270 J/cm) effectively reduces bacteria and parasites in blood components while maintaining their quality for transfusion.
- This study confirms that the same 405 nm light dose can significantly inactivate the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) in human plasma, highlighting its potential as a new method for enhancing blood safety.
Article Synopsis
- The study explores how the steroid hormones estrogen and progesterone affect HIV-1 replication, although the specific mechanisms remain unclear.
- High levels of these hormones were found to increase the expression of antiviral proteins SLPI and SERPIN C1, which help fight HIV-1 infection.
- The results suggest that SLPI and SERPIN C1 inhibit HIV-1 at an early stage, preventing the virus from entering host cells, thus reducing its replication.
The ability of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) to establish latent infections serves as a major barrier for its cure. This process could occur when its host cells undergo apoptosis, but it is uncertain whether the components of the apoptotic pathways affect viral latency. Using the susceptible Jurkat cell line, we investigated the relationship of apoptosis-associated components with HIV-1 DNA levels using the sensitive real-time PCR assay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe continued diversification of HIV poses potentially significant challenges to HIV diagnostics and therapeutics. The dynamic evolution of emerging variants is highlighted in countries such as Cameroon in West Central Africa, where all known subtypes and circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) have been shown to be prevalent. We obtained several hundred HIV-positive plasma and viruses from this region for characterization and identification of highly divergent HIV strains.
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