Monoclonal antibody induced with inactived EV71-Hn2 virus protects mice against lethal EV71-Hn2 virus infection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is a viral pathogen that belongs to the <it>Picornaviridae </it>family, EV71-infected children can develop severe neurological complications leading to rapid clinical deterioration and death.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, several monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were produced by immunizing mice with the inactived EV71 Henan (Hn2) virus strain. The isolated MAbs were characterised by <it>in vitro </it>neutralizing analysis and peptide ELISA. ELISA assay showed that the neutralizing monoclonal antibody 4E8 specifically reacted with synthetic peptides which contain amino acid 240-250 and 250-260 of EV71 VP1. The <it>in vivo </it>protection assay showed that 4E8 can protect two-day-old BALB/c mice against the lethal challenge of EV71 virus.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The MAb 4E8 could be a promising candidate to be humanized and used for treatment of EV71 infection.</p

Clear Genetic Distinctiveness between Human- and Pig-Derived Trichuris Based on Analyses of Mitochondrial Datasets

The whipworm, Trichuris trichiura, causes trichuriasis in ∼600 million people worldwide, mainly in developing countries. Whipworms also infect other animal hosts, including pigs (T. suis), dogs (T. vulpis) and non-human primates, and cause disease in these hosts, which is similar to trichuriasis of humans. Although Trichuris species are considered to be host specific, there has been considerable controversy, over the years, as to whether T. trichiura and T. suis are the same or distinct species. Here, we characterised the entire mitochondrial genomes of human-derived Trichuris and pig-derived Trichuris, compared them and then tested the hypothesis that the parasites from these two host species are genetically distinct in a phylogenetic analysis of the sequence data. Taken together, the findings support the proposal that T. trichiura and T. suis are separate species, consistent with previous data for nuclear ribosomal DNA. Using molecular analytical tools, employing genetic markers defined herein, future work should conduct large-scale studies to establish whether T. trichiura is found in pigs and T. suis in humans in endemic regions