In that outbreak, masked palm civet cats sold in live animal markets passed the virus to people. It wasn’t clear whether civets were the initial source of the virus, or if they caught it from some other animal. Since then, evidence has been building implicating species of horseshoe bats as the origin (SN: 11/30/13, p. 13). Until now, though, coronaviruses isolated from bats were genetically di...
Prion protein (PrP) is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchored protein widely expressed in central nervous system, lymphoreticular system and GI tract. It has been attributed to neurodegenerative diseases such as prion disease and alzheimers disease. However, normal functions of PrP remains in-completely understood.
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a prevalent worldwide human pathogen that infects epithelial cells before it establishes latency in trigeminal or sacral nerve root ganglia, causing mucocutaneous lesions, keratitis, and encephalitis. The development of vaccines and novel therapeutic strategies against HSV has become very urgent.
Ebola virus (EBOV) is one of the most virulent pathogens to humans. Recently, the largest-ever outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa, 2013–2016, resulted in the unprecedented damage to human health and social economy. However, there is currently no licensed vaccine or antiviral available against EVD. Clinically, EBOV infection can result in exaggerated inflammatory responses and...
