Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Dose-Escalating Study Evaluating the Safety and Immunogenicity of an Epitope-Specific Chemically Defined Nanoparticle RSV Vaccine.

Background: V-306 is a virus-like particle-based vaccine candidate displaying respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) F site II protein mimetics (FsIIm) as an antigenic epitope.

Methods: This was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, dose-escalating, first-in-human study, conducted in 60 women aged 18-45 years. Twenty subjects per cohort (15 vaccine and five placebo) received two V-306 intramuscular administrations on Days 0 and 56 at 15 µg, 50 µg, or 150 µg.

Cell-intrinsic adaptation of lipid composition to local crowding drives social behaviour.

Cells sense the context in which they grow to adapt their phenotype and allow multicellular patterning by mechanisms of autocrine and paracrine signalling. However, patterns also form in cell populations exposed to the same signalling molecules and substratum, which often correlate with specific features of the population context of single cells, such as local cell crowding. Here we reveal a cell-intrinsic molecular mechanism that allows multicellular patterning without requiring specific communication between cells.

DEPDC1/LET-99 participates in an evolutionarily conserved pathway for anti-tubulin drug-induced apoptosis.

Microtubule-targeting chemotherapeutics induce apoptosis in cancer cells by promoting the phosphorylation and degradation of the anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family member MCL1. The signalling cascade linking microtubule disruption to MCL1 degradation remains however to be defined. Here, we establish an in vivo screening strategy in Caenorhabditis elegans to uncover genes involved in chemotherapy-induced apoptosis.

High-throughput docking for the identification of new influenza A virus polymerase inhibitors targeting the PA-PB1 protein-protein interaction.

A high-throughput molecular docking approach was successfully applied for the selection of potential inhibitors of the Influenza RNA-polymerase which act by targeting the PA-PB1 protein-protein interaction. Commercially available compounds were purchased and biologically evaluated in vitro using an ELISA-based assay. As a result, some compounds possessing a 3-cyano-4,6-diphenyl-pyridine nucleus emerged as effective inhibitors with the best ones showing IC50 values in the micromolar range.

The fight against the influenza A virus H1N1: synthesis, molecular modeling, and biological evaluation of benzofurazan derivatives as viral RNA polymerase inhibitors.

The influenza RNA polymerase complex, which consists of the three subunits PA, PB1, and PB2, is a promising target for the development of new antiviral drugs. A large library of benzofurazan compounds was synthesized and assayed against influenza virus A/WSN/33 (H1N1). Most of the new derivatives were found to act by inhibiting the viral RNA polymerase complex through disruption of the complex formed between subunits PA and PB1.