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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Host Cell Responses To Zika Virus Infection, Bikash R. Sahoo
Host Cell Responses To Zika Virus Infection, Bikash R. Sahoo
School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
The re-emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV) in 2015 as a significant human pathogen causing neurological diseases in infants as well as adults is a serious global health concern. A clear understanding of the mechanisms involved in ZIKV replication in infected host cells as well as the host responses to virus infection are keys to the development of therapeutic strategies against ZIKV. Studies conducted in this dissertation demonstrate that ZIKV infection induces the activation of mTOR signaling cascade that promotes viral protein accumulation and infectious progeny production. While both mTORC1 and mTORC2 are essential for ZIKV replication, the observation that depletion …
Development Of Vaccines And Antivirals Against Zika Virus, Aryamav Pattnaik
Development Of Vaccines And Antivirals Against Zika Virus, Aryamav Pattnaik
School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
The re-emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV), an arbovirus, poses a major global human health concern because of its ability to cause congenital abnormalities and neurological diseases. While many candidate vaccines and antiviral drugs are in the developmental pipeline, none have been approved for use against ZIKV infection. This dissertation describes the characterization of one vaccine and two antiviral drug candidates against ZIKV infection. A bacterial ferritin-based nanoparticle vaccine, termed zDIII-F, is designed to display multiple copies of ZIKV E protein domain III on its surface. These stable nanoparticles are shown to induce robust antibody-mediated protection against lethal ZIKV infection in …