Humans express seven human APOBEC3 proteins, which can inhibit viruses and endogenous retroelements through cytidine deaminase activity. The seven paralogs differ in the potency of their antiviral effects, as well as in their antiviral targets. One APOBEC3, APOBEC3C, is exceptional as it had previously been found to only ...

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a significant oncogenic virus, but the innate immune response to HPV is poorly understood. Human α-defensin 5 (HD5) is an innate immune effector peptide secreted by epithelial cells in the genitourinary tract. HD5 is broadly antimicrobial, exhibiting potent antiviral activity against HPV at ...

One very challenging aspect of developing HIV vaccines and therapies is to overcome the high evolutionary rate and consequent sequence diversity of the virus. HIV is notorious for rapidly acquiring drug resistant and immune escape mutations, which allow the virus to survive and persist against antiviral drug suppression and ...

The human small intestinal epithelium is a physical barrier to microbes, but it also produces numerous proteins and peptides that form a chemical barrier to infection. The most abundant of these peptides are the enteric α-defensins, which are produced by specialized epithelial cells called Paneth cells. Studies examining the ...

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) lacking TRS1 and IRS1 (HCMV[ΔI/ΔT]) cannot replicate in cell culture. Although both proteins can block the protein kinase R (PKR) pathway, they have been reported to have multiple other activities and binding partners. It remains unknown which of these functions are essential for HCMV replication. ...

Influenza is a major public health threat, and pandemics, such as the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, are inevitable. Due to low efficacy of seasonal flu vaccines and the increase in drug-resistant strains of influenza viruses, there is a crucial need to develop new antivirals and vaccines to protect from seasonal and pandemic influenza. ...

Kaposi's Sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV), the etiologic agent of Kaposi's Sarcoma, is present in the predominant tumor cells of KS, the spindle cells. Spindle cells express markers of lymphatic endothelium and, interestingly, KSHV infection of blood endothelial cells reprograms them to a lymphatic endothelial cell phenotype. ...