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

Hepatitis C virus, human immunodeficiency virus and pseudomonas phage PS5 triad share epitopes of immunogenic determinants

Abstract A lytic phage for Pseudomonas aeruginosa belongs to the Myoviridea family was isolated from urine for use in therapeutics. Pair of hepatitis C virus (HCV) primers highlighted segments on the genome of this phage. The sequence of these PCR products as well as the possible serological cross reactivity/relationship between HCV and the phage were investigated. One hundred HCV positive human sera were analyzed by ELISA. Ninety six well plates were coated with multiple epitopes of HCV proteins (Kit), phage and Pseudomonas cells. Initially the positive and negative control sera supplied in the test kit were used to evaluate the cross reactivity between the phage and anti-HCV antibodies. The results suggested a value over than 0.105 for a HCV positive reaction. Of the 100 HCV positive sera tested, sixty five and thirty percent showed cross reaction with phage lysate and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively. High HCV antibody titer correlated to high cut off value for phage cross reaction, whereas no such correlation existed between HCV antibody titer and Pseudomonas cross reaction. The PCR products were sequenced and aligned with the HCV genome of H77. Sequence homology was detected in the 5', 3' UTRs and NS3 regions. Further these products showed similarity with HIV-1 Env, Pol & 3'LTR regions as well.</p