Publications by authors named "Rosa T Sterk"

Article Synopsis
  • Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are a major health issue because many people get them, and they can cause serious diseases, including cancer.
  • There are vaccines, but lots of people still get infections, and right now, there aren't many treatments available.
  • Researchers used a mouse model to test a special treatment (MEK inhibitors) that can help fight an HPV-related virus, seeing promising results in reducing infections and preventing tumors.
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Unlabelled: Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are a significant public health concern due to their widespread transmission, morbidity, and oncogenic potential. Despite efficacious vaccines, millions of unvaccinated individuals and those with existing infections will develop HPV-related diseases for the next two decades. The continuing burden of HPV-related diseases is exacerbated by the lack of effective therapies or cures for most infections, highlighting the need to identify and develop antivirals.

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Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are transmitted through sexual or other close contact and are etiologically associated with epithelial warts, papillomas, and intraepithelial lesions that may progress to cancer. Indeed, 4.8% of the global cancer burden is linked to HPV infection.

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Intracellular pathogens have evolved to utilize normal cellular processes to complete their replicative cycles. Pathogens that interface with proliferative cell signaling pathways risk infections that can lead to cancers, but the factors that influence malignant outcomes are incompletely understood. Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) predominantly cause benign hyperplasia in stratifying epithelial tissues.

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Background: Recent publications from a single research group have suggested that aldehyde-based high-level disinfectants (HLDs), such as ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA), are not effective at inactivating HPVs and that therefore, patients may be at risk of HPV infection from medical devices. These results could have significant public health consequences and therefore necessitated evaluation of their reproducibility and clinical relevance.

Methods: We developed methods and used standardised controls to: (1) quantify the infectious levels of clinically-sourced HPVs from patient lesions and compare them to laboratory-derived HPVs, (2) evaluate experimental factors that should be controlled to ensure consistent and reproducible infectivity measurements of different HPV genotypes, and (3) determine the efficacy of select HLDs.

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The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) downstream of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) in the growth factor receptor (GFR) pathway is a crucial metabolic sensor that integrates growth factor signals in cells. We recently showed that human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 exposure activates signaling from GFRs in human keratinocytes. Thus, we predicted that the virus would induce the PI3K/mTOR pathway upon interaction with host cells.

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