Publications by authors named "J C Sammartino"
High-throughput peptide array analysis and computational techniques for serological profiling of flavivirus infections: Implications for diagnostics and vaccine development.
J Med Virol
September 2024
Article Synopsis
- Arthropod-borne viruses like dengue virus (DENV) are a major global health issue, infecting around 400 million people annually and causing outbreaks even in non-endemic regions.
- The study aimed to improve serological diagnosis and identify new drugs by mapping immunogenic protein regions of DENV through high-density peptide arrays and computational methods.
- Twenty-four specific peptides were found that could distinguish DENV from other flaviviruses, with two peptides potentially serving as a serum biomarker for DENV infection, which may aid in developing diagnostic and preventative strategies.
Background: Mpox virus (MPXV) has recently spread outside of sub-Saharan Africa. This large multicentre study was conducted in Lombardy, the most densely populated Italian region accounting for more than 40% of Italian cases. The present study aims to: i) evaluate the presence and the shedding duration of MPXV DNA in different body compartments correlating the MPXV viability with the time to onset of symptoms; ii) provide evidence of MPXV persistence in different body compartment as a source of infection and iii) characterize the MPXV evolution by whole genome sequencing (WGS) during the outbreak occurred in Italy.
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- The emergence of Omicron subvariants challenges the effectiveness of current vaccines and therapeutic antibodies, leading to increased breakthrough infections linked to weak mucosal IgA responses from mRNA vaccines.
- Researchers engineered new forms of IgA antibodies that showed significantly improved neutralizing abilities against various Omicron lineages compared to traditional IgG antibodies.
- Administering these enhanced IgA antibodies nasally could offer a promising strategy for both preventing and treating Omicron infections, addressing issues of immune evasion by newer variants.
Calcium phosphate glasses (CPGs) are acquiring great importance in the biomedical field because of their thermomechanical and bioresorbable properties. In this study, optically transparent copper (1 mol %)-doped calcium phosphate glasses (CPGs_Cu) were prepared through the melt-quenching method, and their biocompatibility and antibacterial and antiviral properties were evaluated and compared with undoped CPGs. Biocompatibility was evaluated on murine fibroblast NIH-3T3 cells as a preliminary study of cytocompatibility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe study provides important insights into the immunogenicity and efficacy of a tetravalent protein subunit vaccine candidate against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The vaccine induced both humoral and cellular immune responses in nonhuman primates with controlled SIVagm infection and was able to generate Omicron variant-specific antibodies without specifically vaccinating with Omicron. These findings suggest that the tetravalent composition of the vaccine candidate could provide broad protection against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants while minimizing the risk of immune escape and the emergence of new variants.
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