Immunization of Cats against Fel d 1 Results in Reduced Allergic Symptoms of Owners.

An innovative approach was tested to treat cat allergy in humans by vaccinating cats with Fel-CuMV (HypoCat), a vaccine against the major cat allergen Fel d 1 based on virus-like particles derived from cucumber mosaic virus (CuMV-VLPs). Upon vaccination, cats develop neutralizing antibodies against the allergen Fel d 1, which reduces the level of reactive allergen, thus lowering the symptoms or even preventing allergic reactions in humans. The combined methodological field study included ten cat-allergic participants who lived together with their cats ( = 13), that were immunized with Fel-CuMV.

Alcelaphine herpesvirus-1 open reading frame 57 encodes an immediate-early protein with regulatory function.

Alcelaphine herpesvirus-1 (AlHV-1) is the causative agent of Malignant Catarrhal fever, a lymphoproliferative and degenerative disease of large ruminants and ungulate species. The Alcelaphine Herpesvirus-1 gene product encoded by open reading frame 57 (ORF 57) is the positional homologue of the ORF 57 of Herpes Virus Saimiri (HVS), Kaposi's Sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and Murine Gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV 68), the Epstein-Barr virus BMLF1 gene, the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) ICP 27 and the IE 4 gene of Varicella Zoster virus (VZV). In these viruses the ORF 57 gene product is expressed very early and encodes a regulatory protein, which is essential for viral replication acting both at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels.

The alcelaphine herpesvirus-1 ORF 57 encodes a nuclear shuttling protein.

Alcelaphine herpesvirus-1 (AlHV-1) is a gamma(2) rhadinovirus associated with Malignant Catarrhal Fever (MCF) in cattle. ORF 57 is well conserved among gammaherpesviruses and it has been shown that the ORF 57 gene products of Herpesvirus Saimiri (HVS), Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) play an important role in regulating viral gene expression. The AlHV-1 ORF 57 gene product has not been characterized.

Aflatoxin induced hepatocarcinogenesis in ducks.

To assess the carcinogenic response of duck hepatic tissue, an experimental study was undertaken. Pure aflatoxin B1, was administered to twelve white pekin ducks of two to three months of age at a dose rate of 0.04165 mg/kg body weight every third day for six months.