Reviews in Medical Virology

Vắc xin rotavirus an toàn và hiệu quả đang là nhu cầu cấp bách, đặc biệt là ở các nước đang phát triển. Cơ sở kiến thức quan trọng đối với phát triển và triển khai vắc xin là về dịch tễ học của các kiểu huyết thanh/kiểu gen G và P của rotavirus trên toàn thế giới. Phân bố theo thời gian và địa lý của các kiểu G và P rotavirus ở người được xem xét thông qua phân tích tổng cộng 45571 chủng được thu thập toàn cầu từ 124 nghiên cứu báo cáo từ 52 quốc gia trên năm châu lục, công bố trong giai đoạn 1989 đến 2004. Bốn kiểu G phổ biến (G1, G2, G3 và G4) kết hợp với P[8] hoặc P[4] chiếm hơn 88% tổng số chủng phân tích trên toàn thế giới. Ngoài ra, các virus kiểu huyết thanh G9 kết hợp với P[8] hoặc P[6] đã nổi lên là kiểu G quan trọng thứ tư trên toàn cầu với tần suất tương đối 4,1%. Khi phân phối toàn cầu các kiểu G và/hoặc P được chia thành năm lục địa/phân lục địa, nhiều đặc điểm đặc trưng đã nổi lên. Ví dụ, P[8]G1 chiếm hơn 70% các trường hợp nhiễm rotavirus ở Bắc Mỹ, Châu Âu và Úc, nhưng chỉ khoảng 30% các trường hợp nhiễm ở Nam Mỹ và Châu Á, cùng với 23% ở Châu Phi. Ngoài ra, ở Châu Phi (i) tần suất tương đối của G8 cao ngang với G3 hoặc G4 thường gặp trên toàn cầu, (ii) P[6] chiếm gần một phần ba tổng số các kiểu P xác định được và (iii) 27% các trường hợp nhiễm bệnh liên quan đến các chủng rotavirus mang các kết hợp không bình thường như P[6]G8 hoặc P[4]G8. Hơn nữa, ở Nam Mỹ, virus G5 ít phổ biến dường như tăng mức độ quan trọng dịch tễ học trong số các trẻ em bị tiêu chảy. Những phát hiện như vậy đã (i) khẳng định tầm quan trọng của việc giám sát liên tục các chủng rotavirus một cách chủ động trong nhiều bối cảnh địa lý khác nhau và (ii) cung cấp các cân nhắc quan trọng cho phát triển và triển khai một vắc xin rotavirus hiệu quả (ví dụ, điều chỉnh kiểu P-G theo địa lý trong việc bào chế vắc xin đa giá thế hệ tiếp theo). Bản quyền © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Nucleotide sequences from a total of 421 HEV isolates were retrieved from Genbank and analysed. Phylogenetically, HEV was classified into four major genotypes. Genotype 1 was more conserved and classified into five subtypes. The number of genotype 2 sequences was limited but can be classified into two subtypes. Genotypes 3 and 4 were extremely diverse and can be subdivided into ten and seven subtypes. Geographically, genotype 1 was isolated from tropical and several subtropical countries in Asia and Africa, and genotype 2 was from Mexico, Nigeria, and Chad; whereas genotype 3 was identified almost worldwide including Asia, Europe, Oceania, North and South America. In contrast, genotype 4 was found exclusively in Asia. It is speculated that genotype 3 originated in the western hemisphere and was imported to several Asian countries such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan, while genotype 4 has been indigenous and likely restricted to Asia. Genotypes 3 and 4 were not only identified in swine but also in wild animals such as boar and a deer. Furthermore, in most areas where genotypes 3 and 4 were characterised, sequences from both humans and animals were highly conserved, indicating they originated from the same infectious sources. Based upon nucleotide differences from five phylogenies, it is proposed that five, two, ten and seven subtypes for HEV genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 4 be designated alphabetised subtypes. Accordingly, a total of 24 subtypes (1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 3f, 3g, 3h, 3i, 3j, 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e, 4f and 4g) were given. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection does not usually produce symptoms when it causes primary infection, reinfection, or reactivation because these three types of infection are all controlled by the normal immune system. However, CMV becomes an important pathogen in individuals whose immune system is immature or compromised, such as the unborn child. Several vaccines against CMV are currently in clinical trials that aim to induce immunity in seronegative individuals and/or to boost the immunity of those with prior natural infection (seropositives). To facilitate estimation of the burden of disease and the need for vaccines that induce de novo immune responses or that boost pre‐existing immunity to CMV, we conducted a systematic survey of the published literature to describe the global seroprevalence of CMV IgG antibodies. We estimated a global CMV seroprevalence of 83% (95%UI: 78‐88) in the general population, 86% (95%UI: 83‐89) in women of childbearing age, and 86% (95%UI: 82‐89) in donors of blood or organs. For each of these three groups, the highest seroprevalence was seen in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean region 90% (95%UI: 85‐94) and the lowest in WHO European region 66% (95%UI: 56‐74). These estimates of the worldwide CMV distribution will help develop national and regional burden of disease models and inform future vaccine development efforts.

Characterisation of new viruses is often hindered by difficulties in amplifying them in cell culture, limited antigenic/serological cross‐reactivity or the lack of nucleic acid hybridisation to known viral sequences. Numerous molecular methods have been used to genetically characterise new viruses without prior in vitro replication or the use of virus‐specific reagents. In the recent metagenomic studies viral particles from uncultured environmental and clinical samples have been purified and their nucleic acids randomly amplified prior to subcloning and sequencing. Already known and novel viruses were then identified by comparing their translated sequence to those of viral proteins in public sequence databases. Metagenomic approaches to viral characterisation have been applied to seawater, near shore sediments, faeces, serum, plasma and respiratory secretions and have broadened the range of known viral diversity. Selection of samples with high viral loads, purification of viral particles, removal of cellular nucleic acids, efficient sequence‐independent amplification of viral RNA and DNA, recognisable sequence similarities to known viral sequences and deep sampling of the nucleic acid populations through large scale sequencing can all improve the yield of new viruses. This review lists some of the animal viruses recently identified using sequence‐independent methods, current laboratory and bioinformatics methods, together with their limitations and potential improvements. Viral metagenomic approaches provide novel opportunities to generate an unbiased characterisation of the viral populations in various organisms and environments. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The beginning of 2020 has seen the emergence of COVID‐19, an outbreak caused by a novel coronavirus, SARS‐CoV‐2, an important pathogen for humans. There is an urgent need to better understand this new virus and to develop ways to control its spread. In Iran, the first case of the COVID‐19 was reported after spread from China and other countries. Fever, cough, and fatigue were the most common symptoms of this virus. In worldwide, the incubation period of COVID‐19 was 3 to 7 days and approximately 80% of infections are mild or asymptomatic, 15% are severe, requiring oxygen, and 5% are critical infections, requiring ventilation. To mount an antiviral response, the innate immune system recognizes molecular structures that are produced by the invasion of the virus. COVID‐19 infection induces IgG antibodies against N protein that can be detected by serum as early as day 4 after the onset of disease and with most patients seroconverting by day 14. Laboratory evidence of clinical patients showed that a specific T‐cell response against SARS‐CoV‐2 is important for the recognition and killing of infected cells, particularly in the lungs of infected individuals. At present, there is no specific antiviral therapy for COVID‐19 and the main treatments are supportive. In this review, we investigated the innate and acquired immune responses in patients who recovered from COVID‐19, which could inform the design of prophylactic vaccines and immunotherapy for the future.

Alphaviruses are positive‐stranded RNA viruses that have a broad host range and therefore are capable of replicating in many vertebrate and invertebrate cells. The single‐stranded alphavirus genome is divided into two ORFs. The first ORF encodes the nonstructural proteins that are translated upon entry of the virus into the cytoplasm and are responsible for transcription and replication of viral RNA. The second ORF is under the control of a subgenomic promoter and normally encodes the structural proteins, which are responsible for encapsidation of viral RNA and final assembly into enveloped particles. Expression vectors have been engineered from at least three alphaviruses in which the structural protein gene region has been replaced by heterologous genes and have been shown to express high levels of the heterologous protein in cultured cells. These RNA vectors, known as replicons, are capable of replicating on their own but are not packaged into virus‐like particles unless the structural proteins are provided in trans. Thus, replicons are single cycle vectors incapable of spreading from infected to noninfected cells. Because of these features, alphavirus replicon vectors are being developed as a platform vaccine technology for numerous viral, bacterial, protozoan and tumour antigens where they have been shown to be efficient inducers of both humoral and T cell responses. In addition, as the alphavirus structural proteins are not expressed in vaccine recipients, antivector immune responses are generally minimal, allowing for multiple effective immunisations of the same individual. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Influenza viruses attach to susceptible cells via multivalent interactions of their haemagglutinins with sialyloligosaccharide moieties of cellular glycoconjugates. Soluble macromolecules containing sialic acid from animal sera and mucosal fluids can act as decoy receptors and competitively inhibit virus‐mediated haemagglutination and infection. Although a role for these natural inhibitors in the innate anti‐influenza immunity is still not clear, studies are in progress on the design of synthetic sialic acid‐containing inhibitors of receptor binding which could be used as anti‐influenza drugs. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Emerging and reemerging infectious diseases have a strong negative impact on public health. However, because many of these pathogens must be handled in biosafety level, 3 or 4 containment laboratories, research and development of antivirals or vaccines against these diseases are often impeded. Alternative approaches to address this issue have been vigorously pursued, particularly the use of pseudoviruses in place of wild‐type viruses. As pseudoviruses have been deprived of certain gene sequences of the virulent virus, they can be handled in biosafety level 2 laboratories. Importantly, the envelopes of these viral particles may have similar conformational structures to those of the wild‐type viruses, making it feasible to conduct mechanistic investigation on viral entry and to evaluate potential neutralizing antibodies. However, a variety of challenging issues remain, including the production of a sufficient pseudovirus yield and the inability to produce an appropriate pseudotype of certain viruses. This review discusses current progress in the development of pseudoviruses and dissects the factors that contribute to low viral yields.

Routine and mass administration of oral polio vaccine (OPV) since 1961 has prevented many millions of cases of paralytic poliomyelitis. The public health value of this inexpensive and easily administered product has been extraordinary. Progress of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has further defined the value of OPV as well as its risk through vaccine‐associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) and vaccine‐derived polioviruses (VDPV). Although both are rare, once wild poliovirus transmission has been interrupted by OPV, the only poliomyelitis due to poliovirus will be caused by OPV. Poliovirus will be eradicated only when OPV use is discontinued. This paradox provides a major incentive for eventually stopping polio immunization or replacing OPV, but it also introduces complexity into the process of identifying safe and scientifically sound strategies for doing so. The core post eradication immunization issues include the risk/benefits of continued OPV use, the extent of OPV replacement with IPV, possible strategies for discontinuing OPV, and the potential for development and licensure of a safe and effective replacement for OPV. Formulation of an informed post eradication immunization policy requires careful evaluation of polio epidemiology, surveillance capability, vaccine availability, laboratory containment, and the risks posed by the very tool responsible for successful interruption of wild poliovirus transmission. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.