Monoclonal Antibodies against Cell Wall Chitooligomers as Accessory Tools for the Control of Cryptococcosis.

Therapeutic strategies against systemic mycoses can involve antifungal resistance and significant toxicity. Thus, novel therapeutic approaches to fight fungal infections are urgent. Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) are promising tools to fight systemic mycoses.

Production of Monoclonal Antibody That Recognizes Zika Virus and Other Flaviviruses in Serum-Free Conditions.

With the recent outbreaks of Zika and Dengue virus infections in various countries worldwide, production of vaccines or diagnostic kits is an urgent public health demand. Production of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) that specifically binds to a common antigen shared by the Flavivirus genus will be necessary for new diagnostic kits or characterization and viral identity tests during vaccine development. This study aimed to cultivate, in serum-free conditions, the 4G2 hybridoma that produces an mAb, which recognizes a shared epitope from the Flavivirus genus.

Hepadnavirus detected in bile and liver samples from domestic pigs of commercial abattoirs.

Background: Preliminary studies showed the prevalence of a virus similar to human hepatitis B virus (HBV-like) in swine from farms in China and the molecular evidence of Hepadnavirus infection in domestic pigs herds in Brazil. In this study, we genetically characterize the swine Hepadnavirus strains in swine from slaughterhouses located in certified abattoirs from Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil and evaluate its hepatotropic potential.

Results: Bile and liver samples from swine were positive for partial genome amplification (ORF S and ORF C), direct sequencing and viral load quantification.

Theoretical investigation of the triphosphate forms of azidothymidine and thymidine.

In this paper we investigate (using AM1 semi-empirical as well as HF methods at the STO-3G, 3-21G, 6-31G, 6-31G* and 6-31+G** level) the conformations, geometrical parameters, Mulliken charges, and solvation effects of the triphosphate form of AZT (AZTTP), as well as the thymidine nucleotide (dTTP) structure. Our calculated geometrical parameters and Mulliken charges, with and without solvation effects, are correlated with recent experimental results.