Neutralization of chemokines RANTES and MIG increases virus antigen expression and spinal cord pathology during Theiler's virus infection.

The role of chemokines during some viral infections is unpredictable because the inflammatory response regulated by these molecules can have two, contrasting effects-viral immunity and immunopathologic injury to host tissues. Using Theiler's virus infection of SJL mice as a model of this type of disease, we have investigated the roles of two chemokines-regulated on activation, normal T cell-expressed and secreted (RANTES) chemokine and monokine induced by IFN-gamma (MIG)-by treating mice with antisera that block lymphocyte migration. Control, infected mice showed virus persistence, mild inflammation and a small degree of demyelination in the white matter of the spinal cord at 6 weeks post-infection. Treatment of mice with RANTES antiserum starting at 2 weeks post-infection increased both viral antigen expression and the severity of inflammatory demyelination at 6 weeks post-infection. MIG antiserum increased the spread of virus and the proportion of spinal cord white matter with demyelination. Overall, viral antigen levels correlated strongly with the extent of pathology. At the RNA level, high virus expression was associated with low IL-2 and high IL-10 levels, and RANTES antiserum decreased the IL-2/IL-10 ratio. Our results suggest that RANTES and MIG participate in an immune response that attempts to restrict viral expression while limiting immunopathology and that anti-chemokine treatment poses the risk of exacerbating both conditions in the long term

Pemeriksaan Virus Dengue-3 Pada Nyamuk Aedes Aegypti Yang Diinfeksi Secara Intrathorakal Dengan Teknik Imunositokimia Menggunakan Antibodi Dsse10

Dengue viruses, globally the most prevalent arboviruses, are transmitted to humans by persistently infectedAedes mosquitoes. The most important vector of Dengue virus is the mosquito Ae.aegypti, which should be the main targetof surveillance and control activities. Virologic surveillance for dengue viruses in its vector has been used as an earlywarning system to predict outbreaks. Detection of Dengue virus antigen in mosquito head squash usingimmunocytochemical streptavidin biotin peroxidase complex (SBPC) assay is an alternative method for dengue vectorsurveillance. The study aimed to develope immunocytochemical SBPC assay to detect Dengue virus infection in headsquash of Ae.aegypti. The study design was experimental. Artificially-infected adult Ae. aegypti mosquitoes of DENV 3were used as infectious samples and non-infected adult Ae. aegypti mosquitoes were used as normal ones. Theimmunocytochemical SBPC assay using monoclonal antibody DSSE10 then was applied in mosquito head squash todetect Dengue virus antigen. The results were analyzed by descriptive analysis. The immunocytochemical SBPC assaycan detect Dengue virus antigen in mosquito head squash at day 2 postinfection. There are some false positive resultsfound in immunocytochemical SBPC assay

DETEKSI TRANSMISI TRANSOVARIAL VIRUS DEN-3 PADA NYAMUK Aedes aegypti DENGAN TEKNIK IMUNOSITOKIMIA MENGGUNAKAN ANTIBODI DSSE10

Transovarial transmission is a phenomenon as a supporting factor for the maintenance the presence of dengue virus in an area. Vector surveillance is an effort to control dengue disease. In addition to larvae surveillance, viral surveillance carried out on adult Ae. aegypti mosquitoes can actually be used for early warning systems for dengue outbreaks. DEN 3 virus antigen detection using streptavidin biotin peroxidase complex (SPBC) immunocytochemical technique is an alternative method for vector surveillance. The study aimed to prove the existence of transovarial transmission by detecting DEN 3 virus antigen in F1 generation mosquitoes from Ae. aegypti which has been infected orally. The study design was experimental. Adult Ae. aegypti female is infected with DEN 3 virus orally then mosquitoes are allowed to run their gonotrophic cycle. The resulting egg was colonized until becoming adult mosquitoes and DEN 3 virus antigen was detected. Antigen detection using SPBC immunocytochemical technique with DSSE10 monoclonal antibody on mosquito head squash  preparation in 4 and 16 days old mosquitoes. The results were analyzed descriptively. Streptavidin biotin peroxidase complex (SBPC) immunocytochemical technique can detect DEN 3 virus antigens indicated by the presence of brown color in the head squash preparation. The presence of the DEN 3 virus antigen also proves the presence of transovarial transmission in infected Ae. aegypti mosquitoes which has been infected orally

RAPID CONFIRMATION OF RABIES ANTIGEN IN FORMALIN-FIXED PARAFIN-EMBEDDED TISSUE BY IMMUNOPATHOLOGIC DIAGNOSIS

ABSTRACT: Skunks experimentally infected with street virus rabies intramuscularly were used to demonstrate rabies viral antigen in paraffin-embedded tissue by immunopatholoa diagnosis approach, the avidin biotin complex (ABC) method. The use of ABC method provides a simple and sensitive method to localize rabies virus antigen in formalinfixed tissues. The results of the present study also demonstrated that a procedures using formalin-fixed parafin-embeded tissue and stained immunopathologically by the ABC method was an excellent method for both preservation of morfological details of cells/tissues and demonstration of rabies virus antigen

Rabies Virus In Arctic Fox (Vulpes Lagopus): A Study Of Pantropic Distribution

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2010Rabies is endemic in Arctic foxes, in Alaska and other Arctic regions and cold temperatures may preserve the virus in Arctic climates in infected animal carcasses. These frozen carcasses may provide a source of infection throughout winters and thereby propagate the rabies virus within animal populations in the Arctic. It was hypothesized that rabies virus antigen is present in the soft tissues of naturally infected Arctic foxes, Vulpes lagopus. Using a direct rapid immunohistochemistry test (DRIT) and a fluorescent antibody test (FAT), thirteen organ tissues from twelve naturally infected and three experimentally infected Arctic foxes were tested. All tissues, except testes, tested positive for rabies virus antigen by the DRIT, the FAT, or both in at least one fox. Although the DRIT detected rabies virus antigen in non-neuronal tissues, it did not detect antigen in as many non-neuronal tissues as the FAT. Spleen and stomach tissues had the highest rate of rabies virus detection by the FAT and using a combination of non-neuronal tissues would be the best substitute for brain if brain were unavailable

Rapid West Nile Virus Antigen Detection

We compared the VecTest WNV antigen assay with standard methods of West Nile virus (WNV) detection in swabs from American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) and House Sparrows (Passer domesticus). The VecTest detected WNV more frequently than the plaque assay and was comparable to a TaqMan reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction

Infection with 2009 H1N1 influenza virus primes for immunological memory in human nose-associated lymphoid tissue, offering cross-reactive immunity to H1N1 and avian H5N1 viruses

Influenza is a highly contagious mucosal infection in the respiratory tract. 2009 pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) virus infection resulted in substantial morbidity and mortality in humans. Little is known on whether immunological memory develops following pH1N1 infection and whether it provides protection against other virus subtypes. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot assay was used to analyze hemagglutinin (HA)-specific memory B cell responses after virus antigen stimulation in nasal-associated lymphoid tissues (NALT) from children and adults. Individuals with serological evidence of previous exposure to pH1N1 showed significant cross-reactive HA-specific memory B responses to pH1N1, seasonal H1N1(sH1N1) and avian H5N1(aH5N1) viruses upon pH1N1 virus stimulation. pH1N1 virus antigen elicited stronger cross-reactive memory B cell responses than sH1N1 virus. Intriguingly, aH5N1 virus also activated cross-reactive memory responses to sH1N1 and pH1N1 HAs in those who had previous pH1N1 exposure, and that correlated well with the memory response stimulated by pH1N1 virus antigen. These memory B cell responses resulted in cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies against sH1N1, 1918 H1N1 and aH5N1viruses. 2009 pH1N1 infection appeared to have primed human host with B cell memory in NALT that offers cross-protective mucosal immunity against not only H1N1 but also aH5N1 viruses. These findings may have important implications to future vaccination strategies against influenza. It will be important to induce and/or enhance such cross-protective mucosal memory B cells

Patent Landscape of Influenza A Virus Prophylactic Vaccines and Related Technologies

Executive Summary: This report focuses on patent landscape analysis of technologies related to prophylactic vaccines targeting pandemic strains of influenza. These technologies include methods of formulating vaccine, methods of producing of viruses or viral subunits, the composition of complete vaccines, and other technologies that have the potential to aid in a global response to this pathogen. The purpose of this patent landscape study was to search, identify, and categorize patent documents that are relevant to the development of vaccines that can efficiently promote the development of protective immunity against pandemic influenza virus strains. The search strategy used keywords which the team felt would be general enough to capture (or “recall”) the majority of patent documents which were directed toward vaccines against influenza A virus. After extensive searching of patent literature databases, approximately 33,500 publications were identified and collapsed to about 3,800 INPADOC families. Relevant documents, almost half of the total, were then identified and sorted into the major categories of vaccine compositions (about 570 families), technologies which support the development of vaccines (about 750 families), and general platform technologies that could be useful but are not specific to the problems presented by pandemic influenza strains (about 560 families). The first two categories, vaccines and supporting technologies, were further divided into particular subcategories to allow an interested reader to rapidly select documents relevant to the particular technology in which he or she is focused. This sorting process increased the precision of the result set. The two major categories (vaccines and supporting technologies) were subjected to a range of analytics in order to extract as much information as possible from the dataset. First, patent landscape maps were generated to assess the accuracy of the sorting procedure and to reveal the relationships between the various technologies that are involved in creating an effective vaccine. Then, filings trends are analyzed for the datasets. The country of origin for the technologies was determined, and the range of distribution to other jurisdictions was assessed. Filings were also analyzed by year, by assignee, and by inventor. Finally, the various patent classification systems were mapped to find which particular classes tend to hold influenza vaccine-related technologies. Besides the keywords developed during the searches and the landscape map generation, the classifications represent an alternate way for further researchers to identify emerging influenza technologies. The analysis included creation of a map of keywords, as shown above, describing the relationship of the various technologies involved in the development of prophylactic influenza A vaccines. The map has regions corresponding to live attenuated virus vaccines, subunit vaccines composed of split viruses or isolated viral polypeptides, and plasmids used in DNA vaccines. Important technologies listed on the map include the use of reverse genetics to create reassortant viruses, the growth of viruses in modified cell lines as opposed to the traditional methods using eggs, the production of recombinant viral antigens in various host cells, and the use of genetically-modified plants to produce virus-like particles. Another major finding was that the number of patent documents related to influenza being published has been steadily increasing in the last decade, as shown in the figure below. Until the mid-1990s, there were only a few influenza patent documents being published each year. The number of publications increased noticeably when TRIPS took effect, resulting in publication of patent applications. However, since 2006 the number of vaccine publications has exploded. In each of 2011 and 2012, about 100 references disclosing influenza vaccine technologies were published. Thus, interest in developing new and more efficacious influenza vaccines has been growing in recent years. This interest is probably being driven by recent influenza outbreaks, such as the H5N1 (bird flu) epidemic that began in the late 1990s and the 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic. The origins of the vaccine-related inventions were also analyzed. The team determined the country in which the priority application was filed, which was taken as an indication of the country where the invention was made or where the inventors intended to practice the invention. By far, most of the relevant families originated with patent applications filed in the United States. Other prominent priority countries were the China and United Kingdom, followed by Japan, Russia, and South Korea. France was a significant priority country only for supporting technologies, not for vaccines. Top assignees for these families were mostly large pharmaceutical companies, with the majority of patent families coming from Novartis, followed by GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, U.S. Merck (Merck, Sharpe, & Dohme), Sanofi, and AstraZeneca. Governmental and nonprofit institutes in China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States also are contributing heavily to influenza vaccine research. Lastly, the jurisdictions were inventors have sought protection for their vaccine technologies were determined, and the number of patent families filing in a given country is plotted on the world map shown on page seven. The United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and China have the highest level of filings, followed by Germany, Brazil, India, Mexico and New Zealand. However, although there are a significant number of filings in Brazil, the remainder of Central and South America has only sparse filings. Of concern, with the exception of South Africa, few other African nations have a significant number of filings. In summary, the goal of this report is to provide a knowledge resource for making informed policy decisions and for creating strategic plans concerning the assembly of efficacious vaccines against a rapidly-spreading, highly virulent influenza strain. The team has defined the current state of the art of technologies involved in the manufacture of influenza vaccines, and the important assignees, inventors, and countries have been identified. This document should reveal both the strengths and weaknesses of the current level of preparedness for responding to an emerging pandemic influenza strain. The effects of H5N1 and H1N1 epidemics have been felt across the globe in the last decade, and future epidemics are very probable in the near future, so preparations are necessary to meet this global health threat