98%
921
2 minutes
20
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron BA.2 was a dominant circulating SARS-CoV-2 variant worldwide. Recent reports hint that BA.2 is similarly potent regarding antibody evasion but may be more transmissible than BA.1. The pathogenicity of BA.2 remains unclear and is of critical public health significance. Here we investigated the virological features and pathogenicity of BA.2 with in vitro and in vivo models. We show that BA.2 is less dependent on transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) for virus entry in comparison with BA.1 in vitro. In K18-hACE2 mice, BA.2 replicates more efficiently than BA.1 in the nasal turbinates and replicates marginally less efficiently in the lungs, leading to decreased body weight loss and improved survival. Our study indicates that BA.2 is similarly attenuated in lungs compared with BA.1 but is potentially more transmissible because of its better replication at the nasal turbinates.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9420712 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100743 | DOI Listing |
Front Immunol
September 2025
Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
Innate-like T cells (ILT), including γδ T cells (Vδ2s), Natural Killer T cells (NKTs) and Mucosal-associated Invariant T cells (MAITs), integrate innate and adaptive immunity, playing important roles in homeostatic conditions as well as during infection or inflammation. ILT are present on both sides of the fetal-maternal interface, but our knowledge of their phenotypical and functional features in neonates is limited. Using spectral flow cytometry we characterized cord blood ILT in neonates born to healthy women and women living with HIV.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr HIV Res
September 2025
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA.
Newborns represent only 1% of the population. Yet, HIV vertical transmissions represent 10% of all new infections globally, even though antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been shown to reduce the risk of vertical transmission to less than 2%. While vaccines still represent the most efficient and cost-effective intervention to eradicate new infections, HIV immunogens that can effectively elicit broad-spectrum protection are still at least a decade away.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiophys J
September 2025
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Alberta RNA Research and Training Institute, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada; Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology, University of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2E1, Alberta, Canada; Department of Microbiology, Immunology
The dengue virus (DENV) poses a significant threat to human health, accounting for approximately 400 million infections each year. Its genome features a circular structure that facilitates replication through long-range RNA-RNA interactions, utilizing cyclization sequences located in the untranslated regions (UTRs). To gain new insights into the organization of the DENV genome, we purified the 5' and 3' UTRs of DENV in vitro and examined their structural and binding properties using various biophysical techniques combined with computational methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProg Nucl Magn Reson Spectrosc
September 2025
Magnetic Resonance Center (CERM) and Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff", University of Florence, Via L. Sacconi 6, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy. Electronic address:
Studying multidomain proteins, especially those combining well-folded domains with intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs), requires specific Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) techniques to address their structural complexity. To illustrate this, we focus here on the nucleocapsid protein from SARS-CoV-2, which includes both structured and disordered regions. We applied a suite of NMR methods, combining ARTINA software for automatic assignment and structure modelling with multi-receiver experiments that simultaneously capture signals from different nuclear spins, increasing both data quality and acquisition efficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Gen Virol
September 2025
Namur Research Institute for Life Sciences (NARILIS), Integrated Veterinary Research Unit (URVI), University of Namur, Namur, Belgium.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are covalently closed RNA molecules, supporting a wide diversity of functions. While aberrant circRNA expression stands as a recognized hallmark of cancer development, our attention has turned to investigating their role in viral infections, specifically (GaHV-2, Marek's disease virus) infection. In a previous study focused on the virulent GaHV-2 strain, RB-1B, we extensively catalogued circRNAs produced from virulence genes, notably from the MEQ-vIL-8 and the latency-associated transcripts (LATs) gene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF