The Case of the Libyan HIV-1 Outbreak

El-Fateh Children’s Hospital case has proven to be more enigmatic than most of us predicted when it first came to surface. The social and legal implications of this case have clouded the scientific thinking process of many. In our opinion, as scientists we should look for the truth no matter what its’ outcome. Politicizing a scientific matter always leads to a dangerous abyss. The only way to do so is to try to comprehend what exactly happened based on scientific evidence regardless of who did it and why

Letter to the Editor: An oncolytic parasite to treat polycythemia vera

No Abstrac

Utility of Potent Anti-viral MicroRNAs in Emerging Infectious Diseases

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNA molecules that have emerged as important posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression. miRNA provides intracellular immune defense when the body is faced with challenges from transgenes, viruses, transposons, and aberrant mRNAs. miRNA molecules trigger gene silencing in eukaryotic cells. To date, more than 3,000 different human miRNAs (hsa-miRs) have been identified, and it is generally agreed that cellular gene regulation is significantly impacted by the presence of miRNAs. A single miRNA has the complex capacity to target multiple genes simultaneously. In a viral infection context, miRNAs have been connected with the interplay between host and pathogen, and occupy a major role in the host–parasite interaction and pathogenesis. While numerous viral miRNAs from DNA viruses have been identified, characterization of functional RNA virus-encoded miRNAs and their potential targets is still ongoing. Here, we describe an in silico approach to analyze the most recent Ebola virus (EBOV) genome sequences causing West African epidemics. We identified numerous “candidate” miRNAs that can be utilized to quell the Ebola virus. Future approaches will focus on experimental validation of these miRNAs during quelling the Ebola target transcripts for further elucidating their biological functions in primates and other animal models

The Libyan HIV Outbreak How do we find the truth?

In reply to The coresspondence article "Libyan J Med, AOP: 070219 (published 22 February 2007). The article The Case of the Libyan HIV-1 Outbreak: Libyan J Med, AOP: 070201 (published 3 February 2007

hZIP1 zinc uptake transporter down regulation and zinc depletion in prostate cancer

BACKGROUND: The genetic and molecular mechanisms responsible for and associated with the development and progression of prostate malignancy are largely unidentified. The peripheral zone is the major region of the human prostate gland where malignancy develops. The normal peripheral zone glandular epithelium has the unique function of accumulating high levels of zinc. In contrast, the ability to accumulate zinc is lost in the malignant cells. The lost ability of the neoplastic epithelial cells to accumulate zinc is a consistent factor in their development of malignancy. Recent studies identified ZIP1 (SLC39A1) as an important zinc transporter involved in zinc accumulation in prostate cells. Therefore, we investigated the possibility that down-regulation of hZIP1 gene expression might be involved in the inability of malignant prostate cells to accumulate zinc. To address this issue, the expression of hZIP1 and the depletion of zinc in malignant versus non-malignant prostate glands of prostate cancer tissue sections were analyzed. hZIP1 expression was also determined in malignant prostate cell lines. RESULTS: hZIP1 gene expression, ZIP1 transporter protein, and cellular zinc were prominent in normal peripheral zone glandular epithelium and in benign hyperplastic glands (also zinc accumulating glands). In contrast, hZIP1 gene expression and transporter protein were markedly down-regulated and zinc was depleted in adenocarcinomatous glands and in prostate intra-epithelial neoplastic foci (PIN). These changes occur early in malignancy and are sustained during its progression in the peripheral zone. hZIP1 is also expressed in the malignant cell lines LNCaP, PC-3, DU-145; and in the nonmalignant cell lines HPr-1 and BPH-1. CONCLUSION: The studies clearly establish that hZIP1 gene expression is down regulated and zinc is depleted in adenocarcinomatous glands. The fact that all the malignant cell lines express hZIP1 indicates that the down-regulation in adenocarcinomatous glands is likely due to in situ gene silencing. These observations, coupled with the numerous and consistent reports of loss of zinc accumulation in malignant cells in prostate cancer, lead to the plausible proposal that down regulation of hZIP1 is a critical early event in the development prostate cancer

Viewpoint Reflections on Dr. Montagnier’s Nobel Prize for the Discovery of HIV-1

Copyright © 2008 Bagasra & Pace. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Thomas Kuhn, the late philosopher of science from the University of California at Berkeley, expressed quite eloquently thoughts that we now share regarding periods of transition in science and academia: ―The transition from a paradigm in crisis to a new one from which a new tradition of normal science can emerge is far from a cumulative process, one achieved by an articulation or extension of the old paradigm. Rather it is a reconstruction of the field from new fundamentals, a reconstruction that changes some of the field’s most elementary theoretical generalizations as well as many of its paradigm methods and applications. During the transition period there will be a large but never complete overlap between the problems that can be solved by the old and by the new paradigm. But there will also be a decisive difference in the modes of solution. When the transition is complete, the profession will have changed its view of the field, its methods, and its goals. ‖ (Kuhn, Thomas [1969] ―Th