Virology Commons^™

The Role Of Human Endogenous Retroviruses In Renal Cell Carcinoma, Michele D. Tisdale

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Human endogenous retroviruses make up approximately 8-9% of the human genome. A number of expressed HERVs, those that are actively transcribing, have been associated with various cancers. Suppression mechanisms that control HERV expression often fail or become more permissive in tissues where expression should be restricted. Previous studies have identified HERV expression in breast cancer tissues, whereas normal tissue HERV expression remained suppressed. In addition, studies of DNA hypermethylation have correlated with the ability to contribute to cancer development. Hypermethylation of several tumor suppressor genes occurs frequently in cancers and alterations in promoter regions could contribute to the development of …

Study Of The Dna Damage Complexes Within The Htlv-1 Tax Oncoprotein Interactome, Sidi Mehdi Belgnaoui

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a transforming retrovirus that can give rise to adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Tax is a virally encoded oncoprotein that is involved in HTLV-1 mediated cellular transformation. It has been hypothesized that Tax induces genomic instability via repression of the cellular DNA damage repair response. Our laboratory has previously shown that the interaction between Tax and various proteins involved in the DNA-damage response pathway impairs the ability of these proteins to mount an efficient repair response. As part of these observations, we proposed that Tax induces …

Interdependent Regulation Of Cytomegalovirus Proteins In Complex, Lisa L. Bolin

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a ubiquitous herpesvirus that causes significant morbidity and mortality in the immune compromised. Using the mutine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) model, we identified two genes, M140 and M141, which are determinants of macrophage tropism. Monocytes/macrophages are a critical cell type for cytomegalovirus (CMV) pathogenesis as sites of viral latency and by supporting viral replication and disseminating virus throughout the body. We previously found that the localization of the M140/M141 gene products (pM140/pM141) is different when the proteins are co-expressed as compared to their individual expression. When the proteins are individually expressed pM141 localizes diffusely throughout the cytoplasm and, …

Role Of The Human Cytomegalovirus Ie2 Protein On Transcriptional Regulation Of Viral Promoters, Siabhon Michelle Harris

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a ubiquitous pathogen able to cause severe mortality and morbidity in immuno-compromised individuals. Successful infection by HCMV is dependent on expression of viral genes essential for replication. Immediate early (IE) gene products are the first subset of viral genes to be expressed during infection and function as key transcriptional regulators. IE2 is one the most predominantly expressed IE proteins and is essential for HCMV infection. IE2 transactivates several viral promoters, including those of the essential viral DNA polymerase (UL54) and UL112-113 gene regions. IE2 is also able to autoregulate is own expression and repress expression of …

Comparison Of Immune Correlates, Age Related Changes And Proteomic Profiling Of Healthy Individuals Receiving Influenza Vaccines, Gaurav Basu

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

The burden of influenza related infections is substantial, both in terms of illness, lives lost and economic impact on society. The degree of impact of influenza related infections is much higher in the elderly population where it is a leading cause of catastrophic disability; greatly affecting the quality of life of elderly persons above 65 years of age. Vaccination is the mainstay for control and prevention of influenza infections. There are two vaccine formulations that are licensed for use at present. The inactivated influenza vaccines (TIIV) which have been used for 60 years in all age groups and the new …

Molecular Coevolution Of Pacific Northwest Hantaviruses And Their Host, The Deer Mouse, Peromyscus Maniculatus, Philip Darren Jones

Dissertations and Theses

Sin Nombre virus (SNV, family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus), hosted by the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus (family Cricetidae, Subfamily Neotominae), is the primary etiological agent of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the western United States. HPS, with known pathogenicity only to humans and for which there is no cure or prophylaxis, affects the epithelium of the lungs by making the capillaries leaky, thereby resulting in bilateral infiltrates, and eventually leading to respiratory failure and death by drowning in approximately 38% of hospitalized patients.

In the Americas, Peromyscus has been co-evolving with hantaviruses for approximately 12–20 million years, since the first …

Cis-Acting Signals For Replication Of Nodamura Virus Rna1, John Joseph Rosskopf

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The family Nodaviridae is comprised of two genera: the alphanodaviruses that infect insects and the betanodaviruses, which have been isolated only from fish. Nodamura virus (NoV), the type species of the alphanodavirus genus, can lethally infect both insects (mosquitoes, honey bees, and wax moth larvae) and mammals (suckling mice and suckling hamsters). In addition, nodavirus RNAs can replicate in a wide variety of host cells, including those of mammalian, insect, plant, and yeast origin, when introduced by transfection. The nodavirus positive strand RNA genome is naturally segregated into two segments. RNA1 encodes the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) that replicates …

Molecular Characterization Of Gastroenteritis Viruses Among Equines And Porcines In Southern Ireland From 2005-2007., P. J, Collins

Theses

Rotaviruses are a major cause of gastroenteritis in humans and animals. To date, seven serogroups (A to G) of rotavirus have been determined. Group A Rotaviruses (GARVs) are enteric pathogens, causing acute watery dehydrating diarrhea in various host species, including birds and mammals. Rotaviruses account for ~611,000 child deaths each year, mainly in developing countries. Likewise, rotavirus-associated enteritis is a major problem in young calves, weaning and post-weaning piglets and foals. Vaccines against the most important serologic group of rotaviruses (GARVs) are available for the prevention of rotavirus diseases in cows and horses, and, more recently, they have been made …

The Role Of Rna Secondary Structure In Replication Of Nodamura Virus Rna2, John Howard Upton

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Our laboratory studies genome replication of positive-strand RNA viruses, using a reverse-genetic system in yeast cells. Nodamura virus (NoV) provides an excellent model system for the study of RNA replication due to its genetic simplicity, its robust yield of replication products, and its ability to replicate in a wide variety of host cells. NoV contains a bipartite positive strand RNA genome: RNA1 encodes the viral RNA replicase, while RNA2 encodes the capsid protein. The role of RNA secondary structure in the genome replication of other RNA viruses has been well established. For NoV, sequences at the 3' end of RNA2 …