Roadblocks to translational challenges on viral pathogenesis.

Distinct roadblocks prevent translating basic findings in viral pathogenesis into therapies and implementing potential solutions in the clinic. An ongoing partnership between the Volkswagen Foundation and Nature Medicine resulted in an interactive meeting in 2012, as part of the "Herrenhausen Symposia" series. Current challenges for various fields of viral research were recognized and discussed with a goal in mind--to identify solutions and propose an agenda to address the translational barriers. Here, some of the researchers who participated at the meeting provide a concise outlook at the most pressing unmet research and clinical needs, identifying these key obstacles is a necessary step towards the prevention and cure of human viral diseases

International Network for Capacity Building for the Control of Emerging Viral Vector-Borne Zoonotic Diseases: Arbo-Zoonet

Arboviruses are arthropod-borne viruses, which include West Nile fever virus (WNFV), a mosquito-borne virus, Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV), a mosquito-borne virus, and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), a tick-borne virus. These arthropod-borne viruses can cause disease in different domestic and wild animals and in humans, posing a threat to public health because of their epidemic and zoonotic potential. In recent decades, the geographical distribution of these diseases has expanded. Outbreaks of WNF have already occurred in Europe, especially in the Mediterranean basin. Moreover, CCHF is endemic in many European countries and serious outbreaks have occurred, particularly in the Balkans, Turkey and Southern Federal Districts of Russia. In 2000, RVF was reported for the first time outside the African continent, with cases being confirmed in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. This spread was probably caused by ruminant trade and highlights that there is a threat of expansion of the virus into other parts of Asia and Europe. In the light of global warming and globalisation of trade and travel, public interest in emerging zoonotic diseases has increased. This is especially evident regarding the geographical spread of vector-borne diseases. A multi-disciplinary approach is now imperative, and groups need to collaborate in an integrated manner that includes vector control, vaccination programmes, improved therapy strategies, diagnostic tools and surveillance, public awareness, capacity building and improvement of infrastructure in endemic regions

Myocard Infarct en Cerebrovasculair Accident keten (MICK) studie

For patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and stroke prompt diagnosis and treatment is essential. Before a patient reaches the hospital he may have had contact with a general practitioner (GP), a GP cooperative (GPC), ambulance service, or Emergency Department. Optimal use and efficient functioning of the acute health care chain is imperative. The aim of the MICK study is to obtain insight into circumstances in which symptoms of patients occur, medical contacts throughout the acute care chain, delays, door-to-balloon and door-to-needle time. This is a prospective observational study including 202 patients suspected of having ACS and 239 suspected of ischemic stroke. Patients filled out a questionnaire and additional data was obtained using registries.\ud Over 40% of all patients suspected of ACS waited more than 6 hours before contacting a health care provider and over 30% of all patients suspected of having a stroke waited more than 4 hours. Patients reached the hospital through many different health care chains. Once a care provider was contacted, 45% of all patients with ACS were hospitalized within 90 minutes at the CCU and 65% of patients with stroke within 4 hours at the stroke unit.\ud Most patients first contacted the GP or GPC. For patients who immediately called 112 time to hospitalization was the shortest.\ud Overall are noticeable the long patient delays in seeking care, the various chains through which patients reach the CCU or stroke unit and the different throughput times

The use of proteomics in the discovery of serum biomarkers from patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a new infectious disease with a global impact. Understanding its pathogenesis and developing specific diagnostic methods for its early diagnosis are crucial for the effective management and control of this disease. By using proteomic technology, truncated forms of α1-antitrypsin (TF-α1-AT) were found to increase significantly and consistently in sera of SARS patients compared to control subjects. The result showed a sensitivity of 100% for SARS patients and a specificity of 92.8% for controls. Furthermore, the levels of these proteins significantly correlated with certain clinico-pathological parameters. The dramatic increase in TF-α1-AT may be the result of degradation of α1-AT. As α1-AT plays an important role in the protection of lung function, its degradation may be an important factor in the pathogenesis of SARS. These findings indicate that increased TF-α1-AT may be therapeutically relevant, and may also be a useful biological marker for the diagnosis of SARS.postprin

The SARS-coronavirus-host interactome

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are important human and animal pathogens that induce fatal respiratory, gastrointestinal and neurological disease. The outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002/2003 has demonstrated human vulnerability to (Coronavirus) CoV epidemics. Neither vaccines nor therapeutics are available against human and animal CoVs. Knowledge of host cell proteins that take part in pivotal virus-host interactions could define broad-spectrum antiviral targets. In this study, we used a systems biology approach employing a genome-wide yeast-two hybrid interaction screen to identify immunopilins (PPIA, PPIB, PPIH, PPIG, FKBP1A, FKBP1B) as interaction partners of the CoV non-structural protein 1 (Nsp1). These molecules modulate the Calcineurin/NFAT pathway that plays an important role in immune cell activation. Overexpression of NSP1 and infection with live SARS-CoV strongly increased signalling through the Calcineurin/NFAT pathway and enhanced the induction of interleukin 2, compatible with late-stage immunopathogenicity and long-term cytokine dysregulation as observed in severe SARS cases. Conversely, inhibition of cyclophilins by cyclosporine A (CspA) blocked the replication of CoVs of all genera, including SARS-CoV, human CoV-229E and -NL-63, feline CoV, as well as avian infectious bronchitis virus. Non-immunosuppressive derivatives of CspA might serve as broad-range CoV inhibitors applicable against emerging CoVs as well as ubiquitous pathogens of humans and livestock

Challenges in RNA virus bioinformatics

Motivation: Computer-assisted studies of structure, function and evolution of viruses remains a neglected area of research. The attention of bioinformaticians to this interesting and challenging field is far from commensurate with its medical and biotechnological importance. It is telling that out of >200 talks held at ISMB 2013, the largest international bioinformatics conference, only one presentation explicitly dealt with viruses. In contrast to many broad, established and well-organized bioinformatics communities (e.g. structural genomics, ontologies, next-generation sequencing, expression analysis), research groups focusing on viruses can probably be counted on the fingers of two hands. Results: The purpose of this review is to increase awareness among bioinformatics researchers about the pressing needs and unsolved problems of computational virology. We focus primarily on RNA viruses that pose problems to many standard bioinformatics analyses owing to their compact genome organization, fast mutation rate and low evolutionary conservation. We provide an overview of tools and algorithms for handling viral sequencing data, detecting functionally important RNA structures, classifying viral proteins into families and investigating the origin and evolution of viruses. Contact: [email protected] Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. The references for this article can be found in the Supplementary Materia

Targeting the MAPK Pathway in KRAS-Driven Tumors.

KRAS mutations occur in a quarter of all of human cancers, yet no selective drug has been approved to treat these tumors. Despite the recent development of drugs that block KRASG12C, the majority of KRAS oncoproteins remain undruggable. Here, we review recent efforts to validate individual components of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway as targets to treat KRAS-mutant cancers by comparing genetic information derived from experimental mouse models of KRAS-driven lung and pancreatic tumors with the outcome of selective MAPK inhibitors in clinical trials. We also review the potential of RAF1 as a key target to block KRAS-mutant cancers.This work was supported by grants from the European Research Council (ERC-AG/695566, THERACAN), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RTI2018-094664-B-I00 and RTC2017-6576-1), the Autonomous Community of Madrid (B2017/BMD-3884 iLUNG-CM), and the Asociacion Espanola contra el Cancer (GC166173694BARB). M.B. is a recipient of an Endowed Chair from the AXA Research Fund.S

Targeting KRAS mutant lung cancer: light at the end of the tunnel.

For decades, KRAS mutant lung adenocarcinomas (LUAD) have been refractory to therapeutic strategies based on personalized medicine owing to the complexity of designing inhibitors to selectively target KRAS and downstream targets with acceptable toxicities. The recent development of selective KRASG12C inhibitors represents a landmark after 40 years of intense research efforts since the identification of KRAS as a human oncogene. Here, we discuss the mechanisms responsible for the rapid development of resistance to these inhibitors, as well as potential strategies to overcome this limitation. Other therapeutic strategies aimed at inhibiting KRAS oncogenic signaling by targeting either upstream activators or downstream effectors are also reviewed. Finally, we discuss the effect of targeting the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, both based on the failure of MEK and ERK inhibitors in clinical trials, as well as on the recent identification of RAF1 as a potential target due to its MAPK-independent activity. These new developments, taken together, are likely to open new avenues to effectively treat KRAS mutant LUAD.This work was supported by grants from the European Research Council (ERC-2015-AdG/695566, THERACAN), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RTC-2017-6576, RTI2018-094664-BI00) the Autonomous Community of Madrid (B2017/BMD-3884 iLUNG-CM) and the CRIS Cancer Foundation (to MB) as well as the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-116705RB-100) (to MD). MB is a recipient of an Endowed Chair from the AXA Research Fund.S