Hawaii has one of the highest incidences of Campylobacteriosis in the United States, but there remains little published data on circulating strains or antimicrobial resistance. We characterized 110 clinical Campylobacter isolates (106 C. jejuni, 4 C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHepatitis C virus (HCV) actively evades host interferon (IFN) responses but the mechanisms of how it does so are not completely understood. In this study, we present evidence for an HCV factor that contributes to the suppression of retinoic-acid-inducible gene-I (RIG-I)-mediated IFN induction. Expression of frameshift/alternate reading frame protein (F/ARFP) from HCV -2/+1 frame in Huh7 hepatoma cells suppressed type I IFN responses stimulated by HCV RNA pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) and poly(IC).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhole genome sequencing (WGS) is increasingly employed in clinical settings, though few assessments of turnaround times (TAT) have been performed in real-time. In this study, WGS was used to investigate an unfolding outbreak of vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) among 3 patients in the ICU of a tertiary care hospital. Including overnight culturing, a TAT of just 48.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHepatitis C virus (HCV) exhibits a high level of genetic variability, and variants with reduced susceptibility to antivirals can occur even before treatment begins. In addition, alcohol decreases efficacy of antiviral therapy and increases sequence heterogeneity of HCV RNA but how ethanol affects HCV sequence is unknown. Ethanol metabolism and HCV infection increase the level of reactive species that can alter cell metabolism, modify signaling, and potentially act as mutagen to the viral RNA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Oxidative stress has been identified as a key mechanism of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced pathogenesis. Studies have suggested that HCV increases the generation of hydroxyl radical and peroxynitrite close to the cell nucleus, inflicting DNA damage, but the source of reactive oxygen species (ROS) remains incompletely characterized. We hypothesized that HCV increases the generation of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide close to the hepatocyte nucleus and that this source of ROS is reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAD(P)H) oxidase 4 (Nox4).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Ethanol has been suggested to elevate HCV titer in patients and to increase HCV RNA in replicon cells, suggesting that HCV replication is increased in the presence and absence of the complete viral replication cycle, but the mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we use Huh7 human hepatoma cells that naturally express comparable levels of CYP2E1 as human liver to demonstrate that ethanol, at subtoxic and physiologically relevant concentrations, enhances complete HCV replication. The viral RNA genome replication is affected for both genotypes 2a and 1b.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFree Radic Biol Med
September 2007
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family that is estimated to have infected 170 million people worldwide. HCV can cause serious liver disease in humans, such as cirrhosis, steatosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV induces a state of oxidative/nitrosative stress in patients through multiple mechanisms, and this redox perturbation has been recognized as a key player in HCV-induced pathogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReactive species and perturbation of the redox balance have been implicated in the pathogenesis of many viral diseases, including hepatitis C. Previously, we made a surprising discovery that concentrations of H(2)O(2) that are nontoxic to host cells disrupted the hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication complex (RC) in Huh7 human hepatoma cells in a manner that suggested signaling. Here, we show that H(2)O(2) and interferon-gamma have comparable effects on the HCV subgenomic and genomic RNA replication in Huh7 cells.
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