Tenofovir diphosphate levels in dried blood spots are associated with virologic failure and resistance to first-line therapy in South Africa: a case-control cohort study.

Introduction: Tenofovir diphosphate (TFV-DP) in dried blood spots (DBS), a measure of cumulative antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, is associated with viral suppression and predicts future viremia in persons with HIV (PWH). However, its utility to identify those at risk for virologic failure (VF) and drug resistance is unknown. To address this, we aimed to establish the association between this adherence biomarker and VF with drug resistance in a cohort of PWH initiating first-line ART in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

The kinase LegK7 exploits the Hippo pathway scaffold protein MOB1A for allostery and substrate phosphorylation.

During infection, the bacterial pathogen manipulates a variety of host cell signaling pathways, including the Hippo pathway which controls cell proliferation and differentiation in eukaryotes. Our previous studies revealed that encodes the effector kinase LegK7 which phosphorylates MOB1A, a highly conserved scaffold protein of the Hippo pathway. Here, we show that MOB1A, in addition to being a substrate of LegK7, also functions as an allosteric activator of its kinase activity.