Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xiangyang Guo, Jan Steinkuehler, Mariana Marin, Xiang Li, Wuyuan Lu, Rumiana Dimova, Gregory B. Melikyan
Summary: IFITM3 inhibits the transition from hemifusion to full fusion by inducing negative membrane curvature and increasing membrane order and stiffness, thus blocking the entry of diverse enveloped viruses.
Review
Virology
Lisa Welker, Jean-Christophe Paillart, Serena Bernacchi
Summary: Late assembly (L) domains are essential sequences in the late steps of viral replication, acting as cellular adaptors to promote virion release. These domains have been identified in retroviruses and various enveloped RNA viruses, with three known classes of L domains. Other motifs may also potentially act as L domains in this process.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sai Li
Summary: This article reviews the recent advances in the applications of cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) on enveloped viral structures and intracellular viral activities.
TRENDS IN BIOCHEMICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Microbiology
Anshuman Das, Efrain E. Rivera-Serrano, Xin Yin, Christopher M. Walker, Zongdi Feng, Stanley M. Lemon
Summary: In this Review, the authors discuss quasi-enveloped virions, their entry and release from human host cells, and their impact on host immunity and pathogenesis. They focus on hepatitis A and E viruses, which were previously considered non-enveloped but are now known to be released as quasi-enveloped virions cloaked in host membranes. Despite lacking virally encoded proteins on their surface, these virions efficiently enter cells and replicate. The authors also describe the mechanisms by which specific peptide sequences in the capsids of these virions mediate their release from hepatocytes and the current understanding of their cell entry mechanism.
NATURE REVIEWS MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Vanessa Moresco, Anna Charatzidou, David M. Oliver, Manfred Weidmann, Sabine Matallana-Surget, Richard S. Quilliam
Summary: Microplastics in wastewater and surface water can quickly be colonized by microbial biofilms, forming "plastisphere" communities. These communities are believed to persist longer and spread further in the environment, potentially acting as vectors for human pathogens. In this study, model viruses were used to quantify the binding and recovery of viruses from biofilm-colonized microplastic pellets. The results showed that viruses associated with biofilm-colonized pellets were more stable compared to those in the water. While the presence of an envelope may limit virus interaction with the plastisphere, the ability to recover both enveloped and non-enveloped infectious viruses from colonized microplastic pellets highlights an additional potential public health risk of surface waters becoming contaminated with microplastics.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alba Cano-Vicent, Alberto Tunon-Molina, Miguel Marti, Angel Serrano-Aroca
Summary: Chitosan films were prepared using an acetic acid-based solution and were found to be biocompatible and possess potent antiviral activity against enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. In vitro tests showed up to 99.98% and 99.92% viral inactivation against the phi 6 enveloped bacteriophage and MS2 non-enveloped bacteriophage, respectively. This suggests that the chitosan/acetic acid film has great potential for use in biomedical applications requiring biodegradable broad-spectrum antiviral materials.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alberto Tunon-Molina, Alba Cano-Vicent, Angel Serrano-Aroca
Summary: The global COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for new antimicrobial compounds. This study investigates the antiviral properties of tiger nut milk (TNM) against enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. The results show that TNM is effective against enveloped viruses and adding sugar improves its antiviral properties against both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Arnaud Charles-Antoine Zwygart, Chiara Medaglia, Robin Huber, Romain Poli, Laurence Marcourt, Sylvain Schnee, Emilie Michellod, Beryl Mazel-Sanchez, Samuel Constant, Song Huang, Meriem Bekliz, Sophie Clement, Katia Gindro, Emerson Ferreira Queiroz, Caroline Tapparel
Summary: The number of epidemics caused by RNA viruses has increased, highlighting the need for broad-spectrum antivirals. Natural products, such as the stilbene dimers analyzed in this study, show potential as antiviral agents. Compounds 2 and 3 demonstrated broad-spectrum activity against Influenza Viruses, SARS-CoV-2 Delta, and to some extent, Herpes Simplex Virus 2. The mechanism of action varied for each virus.
BIOMEDICINE & PHARMACOTHERAPY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ana Valero-Rello, Rafael Sanjuan
Summary: The viral envelope plays a significant role in cross-species transmission and zoonotic risk. Other viral traits like genome composition and structure have less obvious effects.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Claire E. Anderson, Jingyan Tong, Winnie Zambrana, Alexandria B. Boehm, Marlene K. Wolfe
Summary: Respiratory and diarrheal diseases are leading causes of death worldwide. This study evaluated the efficacy of different handwashing methods, including water only, soapy water, short duration, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and towel cleaning, in reducing viruses. The results showed that some alternatives were as effective as recommended methods, while others were not.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE
(2023)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Irene A. Owusu, Osbourne Quaye, Karla D. Passalacqua, Christiane E. Wobus
Summary: The long-standing paradigm in virology that non-enveloped viruses induce cell lysis to release progeny virions is being challenged by emerging evidence. Some non-enveloped viruses exit cells without inducing cell lysis, and others use both lytic and non-lytic egress mechanisms. Understanding virus cellular egress mechanisms, particularly in enteric RNA viruses, could lead to the development of targeted antiviral therapies to minimize the public health impact of these infections.
JOURNAL OF GENERAL VIROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Samuel Watts, Madeleine Ramstedt, Stefan Salentinig
Summary: This study reveals the impact of ethanol on the lipid-enveloped virus Phi6, elucidating the mechanism of virus inactivation.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2021)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Camille Lozada, Thomas M. A. Barlow, Simon Gonzalez, Nadege Lubin-Germain, Steven Ballet
Summary: The process of membrane fusion allows enveloped viruses to infect cells by entering them. Various proteins have been identified that mediate this process, classified according to their structures, despite differences there is a common mechanism through which viral fusion occurs.
FRONTIERS IN CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Gengxin Zhang, Linlin Kuang, Yan Liu, Congwei Jiang, Ruihao Yang, Quanjie Lv, Kang Sun, Xiaozhen Liang, Ke Tao
Summary: This study discovered an efficient method to inactivate enveloped viruses using protoporphyrin IX-loaded silica nanoparticles. Representative enveloped viruses were almost fully eliminated by irradiation for less than 16 minutes. The photodynamic effect of the nanoparticles disrupted the receptor-binding proteins on the envelope, leading to the loss of the viruses' ability to bind cells.
ACS APPLIED NANO MATERIALS
(2023)
Review
Immunology
Hadrien Peyret, John F. C. Steele, Jae-Wan Jung, Eva C. Thuenemann, Yulia Meshcheriakova, George P. Lomonossoff
Summary: Plant molecular farming has grown in the past 30 years as a method for producing recombinant proteins, especially in the production of vaccine candidates. Despite challenges in expressing and purifying membrane-bound proteins for enveloped viruses, there have been significant successes with promising clinical trials for plant-produced vaccine candidates against such viruses.
Article
Biology
Cristina Olivieri, Caitlin Walker, Adak Karamafrooz, Yingjie Wang, V. S. Manu, Fernando Porcelli, Donald K. Blumenthal, David D. Thomas, David A. Bernlohr, Simon M. Sandford, Susan S. Taylor, Gianluigi Veglia
Summary: The fusion of the dynamic J-domain to PKA-C disrupts the internal allosteric network, causing attenuation of nucleotide/PKI binding cooperativity. This reduced allosteric cooperativity alters specific recognitions and interactions between substrates and regulatory partners, contributing to dysregulation exhibited by PKA-C-DNAJB1.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Pathology
Daniel J. Rowan, Saba Yasir, Zongming E. Chen, Taofic Mounajjed, Sibel Erdogan Damgard, Lisa Cummins, Lizhi Zhang, Emma Whitcomb, Vince Falck, Sanford M. Simon, Aatur D. Singhi, Michael S. Torbenson
Summary: Myxoid hepatic adenomas are a rare subtype of hepatic adenomas that predominantly occur in older individuals and have an elevated risk of malignant transformation. They are characterized by the combined inactivation of HNF1A and additional mutations that cluster in the PKA pathway.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SURGICAL PATHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Virology
Santosh Panthi, Phuong Tieu Schmitt, F. Jeffrey Lorenz, Brent A. Stanfield, Anthony P. Schmitt
Summary: A flexible platform for protein delivery to target cell interiors using paramyxovirus-like particles has been developed, enabling efficient cargo packaging and delivery to target cells. This approach holds promise for safe and efficient delivery of therapeutic proteins to cells and tissues, addressing current limitations in protein delivery for potential clinical applications.
JOURNAL OF VIROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Oncology
Gadi Lalazar, David Requena, Lavoisier Ramos-Espiritu, Denise Ng, Patrick D. Bhola, Ype P. de Jong, Ruisi Wang, Nicole J. C. Narayan, Bassem Shebl, Solomon Levin, Eleftherios Michailidis, Mohammad Kabbani, Koen O. A. Vercauteren, Arlene M. Hurley, Benjamin A. Farber, William J. Hammond, James A. Saltsman, Ethan M. Weinberg, J. Fraser Glickman, Barbara A. Lyons, Jessica Ellison, Erik Schadde, Martin Hertl, Jennifer L. Leiting, Mark J. Truty, Rory L. Smoot, Faith Tierney, Tomoaki Kato, Hans-Guido Wendel, Michael P. LaQuaglia, Charles M. Rice, Anthony Letai, Philip Coffino, Michael S. Torbenson, Michael Ortiz, Sanford M. Simon
Summary: Therapeutics informed by genomics have not been effective for fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC). A functional drug screen identified that inhibitors of TOPO1 and HDAC, along with napabucasin, showed efficacy on patient-derived xenografts (PDX) of FLC. Inhibiting Bcl-xL in combination with these drugs also showed synergy in treating FLC.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lara Rheinemann, Diane Miller Downhour, Kristen A. Davenport, Alesia N. McKeown, Wesley Sundquist, Nels C. Elde
Summary: Most antiviral proteins recognize specific features of viruses, but retroCHMP3 interferes with the host endosomal complexes pathway to inhibit enveloped virus budding. The ESCRT pathway is essential for cellular membrane fission reactions, so ESCRT inhibition can be cytotoxic. Research on New World monkeys shows the evolutionary process of detoxification for retroCHMP3, providing insights into potential future antiviral defense mechanisms in modern species.
Article
Cell & Tissue Engineering
Nicole J. C. Narayan, David Requena, Gadi Lalazar, Lavoisier Ramos-Espiritu, Denise Ng, Solomon Levin, Bassem Shebl, Ruisi Wang, William J. Hammond, James A. Saltsman III, Helmuth Gehart, Michael S. Torbenson, Hans Clevers, Michael P. LaQuaglia, Sanford M. Simon
Summary: In this study, patient-derived organoids were successfully developed and used as a model system to recapitulate the histologic morphology, immunohistochemistry, and transcriptome of fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC). This model system shows promise for improving our understanding of this rare cancer and for drug testing and development.
Article
Oncology
Christoph Neumayer, Denise Ng, Caroline S. Jiang, Adam Qureshi, Gadi Lalazar, Roger Vaughan, Sanford M. Simon
Summary: The fusion gene DNAJB1-PRKACA is found to be a recurrent mutation in fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FLC). Continued expression of DNAJB1-PRKACA is essential for tumor growth and its inhibition can lead to cell death. This discovery has implications for investigating other fusion genes in pediatric cancers and advancing precision therapies.
CLINICAL CANCER RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xiao Wang, Sanford M. Simon, Philip Coffino
Summary: This study used single molecule experiments to measure the dwell time of substrates interacting with the AAA+ ATPase unfoldase/translocase ClpX, finding that tail length and composition of the substrates affect substrate retention during futile unfolding. Both polyG and GAr have inhibitory effects on unfolding, but act differently.
JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Bassem Shebl, Denise Ng, Gadi Lalazar, Carly Rosemore, Tova M. Finkelstein, Rachael D. Migler, Guangrong Zheng, Peiyi Zhang, Caroline S. Jiang, Adam Qureshi, Roger Vaughan, Mark Yarchoan, Ype P. de Jong, Charles M. Rice, Philip Coffino, Michael V. Ortiz, Daohong Zhou, Sanford M. Simon
Summary: Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FLC) is a rare and lethal liver cancer with no effective systemic therapy. Inhibiting the antiapoptotic protein BCL-XL has shown synergy with various systemic therapies for FLC cells in vitro. However, the physiological expression of BCL-XL in platelets has hindered previous attempts to target this vulnerability in other cancers.
Correction
Oncology
Sanford M. Simon
NATURE REVIEWS CANCER
(2023)
Review
Oncology
Sanford M. Simon
Summary: The fight against rare cancers is challenged by issues such as misdiagnosis, lack of information and tools, limited samples, and inadequate funding. However, studying rare cancers has led to important discoveries in cancer biology, such as the identification of tumor suppressor genes. Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FLC) is a rare and difficult-to-diagnose liver cancer that primarily affects young individuals. Through a personal journey, Sanford Simon shares insights into whether FLC is a single cancer type or a collection of similar phenotypes, and its genetic inheritance or somatic mutation origins.
NATURE REVIEWS CANCER
(2023)
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Amichai Berkovitz, Rachael D. Migler, Adam Qureshi, Carly Rosemore, Michael S. Torbenson, Roger Vaughan, Erin Marcotte, Sanford M. Simon
Summary: Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FLC) is a rare primary liver cancer primarily affecting adolescents and young adults. Female gender is associated with improved survival, while the presence of 10 or more tumors within the liver and metastases at diagnosis are associated with worse survival. This study utilized a patient community-based FLC registry to highlight the importance of rare tumor registries in advancing clinical and scientific discoveries.
HEPATOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)