Explanipedia

Receptor transporter protein 4 (RTP4)-mediated repression of hepatitis C virus replication in mouse cells Open

Michael P. Schwoerer, Sebastian Carver, Aaron E. Lin, Jianche Liu, Thomas R. Cafiero , et al. · 2025

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) exhibits a narrow species tropism, causing robust infections only in humans and experimentally inoculated chimpanzees. While many host factors and restriction factors are known, many more likely remain unknown, whic…

Assessment of hepatitis C virus permissiveness in iteratively genetically humanized mice Open

Michael P. Schwoerer, Sebastian Carver, Thomas R. Cafiero, Bradley Joyce, Keith A. Berggren , et al. · 2025

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus causing chronic infections in over 50 million people who are at risk of developing severe liver disease. Greater understanding of HCV pathogenesis and vaccin…

Characterization of remdesivir resistance mutations in COVID-19 patients with various immunosuppressive diseases Open

Takaya Ichikawa, Tomokazu Tamura, Naganori Nao, Hikoyu Suzuki, Shuhei Maruyama , et al. · 2025

Immunocompromised patients (ICPs), such as those who receive certain immunosuppressive therapies, occasionally experience prolonged viral infections even after antiviral treatment. In some cases, antiviral-resistant viruses may eventually …

Long-term efficacy of an inactivated H5N1 whole-particle influenza vaccine in nonhuman primates Open

Misako Nakayama, Naoko Kitagawa, Cong Thanh Nguyen, Takako Sasamura, Kyoko Takashima , et al. · 2025

Outbreaks of H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza A viruses (HPAIVs) in animals pose a threat to humans immunologically naïve to avian influenza viruses. However, annual vaccination, such as for seasonal influenza is not planned because th…

Glycoengineering of the hepatitis C virus E2 glycoprotein improves biochemical properties and enhances immunogenicity Open

Liudmila Kulakova, K. Li, Austin W.T. Chiang, Michael P. Schwoerer, Saori Suzuki , et al. · 2025

An effective vaccine against hepatitis C virus (HCV) must elicit the production of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) reproducibly against the E1E2 glycoprotein complex. Little is known about how glycan content affects this process. I…

A non-spike nucleocapsid R204P mutation in SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XEC enhances inflammation and pathogenicity Open

Shuhei Tsujino, Masumi Tsuda, Jumpei Ito, Sayaka Deguchi, Taha Y. Taha , et al. · 2025

SUMMARY The global circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in human populations has driven the emergence of Omicron subvariants, which have become highly diversified through recombination. In late 2024, SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XEC variant emerged from the re…

NEDD4-binding protein 1 suppresses hepatitis B virus replication by regulating viral RNAs. Open

Nobuhiro Kobayashi, Saori Suzuki, Yuki Sakamoto, Rigel Suzuki, Kento Mori , et al. · 2025

Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) (chronic HBV infection) places patients at increased risk for liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Although nucleos(t)ide analogues are mainly used for the treatment of HBV, they requ…

Involvement of Hepatitis B Core–Related Antigen in Viral Genome Integration in Patients With Prior Hepatitis B Virus Infection Open

Tomoya Saito, Rigel Suzuki, Akhinur Rahman, Kento Mori, Samiul Alam Rajib , et al. · 2024

Background The incidence of non-B non-C hepatocellular carcinoma (NBNC-HCC), which is negative for hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis C virus antibodies, is on the rise. Relatively high numbers of NBNC-HCC patients are hepatitis B c…

Molecular and structural insights into SARS-CoV-2 evolution: from BA.2 to XBB subvariants Open

Hisano Yajima, Tomo Nomai, Kaho Okumura, Katsumi Maenaka, Jumpei Ito , et al. · 2024

Due to the incessant emergence of various SARS-CoV-2 variants with enhanced fitness in the human population, controlling the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging. Understanding how the virus enhances its fitness during a pandemic could o…

Liver-specific Mettl14 deletion induces nuclear heterotypia and dysregulates RNA export machinery Open

Keith A. Berggren, Saloni Sinha, Aaron E. Lin, Michael P. Schwoerer, Stephanie Maya , et al. · 2024

Modification of RNA with N 6 -methyladenosine (m 6 A) has gained attention in recent years as a general mechanism of gene regulation. In the liver, m 6 A, along with its associated machinery, has been studied as a potential biomarker of di…

Generation of recombinant viruses directly from clinical specimens of COVID-19 patients Open

Hirotaka Yamamoto, Tomokazu Tamura, Takaya Ichikawa, Yudai Taguchi, Kento Mori , et al. · 2024

Rapid characterization of the causative agent(s) during a disease outbreak can aid in the implementation of effective control measures. However, isolation of the agent(s) from crude clinical samples can be challenging and time-consuming, h…

Virological characteristics of a SARS-CoV-2-related bat coronavirus, BANAL-20-236 Open

Shigeru Fujita, Arnon Plianchaisuk, Sayaka Deguchi, Hayato Ito, Naganori Nao , et al. · 2024

Akaluc bioluminescence offers superior sensitivity to track in vivo dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infection Open

Tomokazu Tamura, Hayato Ito, Shiho Torii, Lei Wang, Rigel Suzuki , et al. · 2024

Monitoring in vivo viral dynamics can improve our understanding of pathogenicity and tissue tropism. Because the gene size of RNA viruses is typically small, NanoLuc is the primary choice for accommodation within viral genome. Howev…

Neutralizing immunity against coronaviruses in Tanzanian health care workers Open

Godfrey Barabona, Isaac Ngare, Doreen Kamori, Lilian Nkinda, Yusuke Kosugi , et al. · 2024

The ongoing vaccination efforts and exposure to endemic and emerging coronaviruses can shape the population's immunity against this group of viruses. In this study, we investigated neutralizing immunity against endemic and emerging coronav…

A rapid and versatile reverse genetics approach for generating recombinant positive-strand RNA viruses that use IRES-mediated translation Open

Tomokazu Tamura, Hirotaka Yamamoto, Saho Ogino, Yuhei Morioka, Shuhei Tsujino , et al. · 2024

Reverse genetics systems have played a central role in developing recombinant viruses for a wide spectrum of virus research. The circular polymerase extension reaction (CPER) method has been applied to studying positive-strand RNA viruses,…

Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XBB.1.5 variant Open

Tomokazu Tamura, Takashi Irie, Sayaka Deguchi, Hisano Yajima, Masumi Tsuda , et al. · 2024

NEDD4-binding protein 1 suppresses HBV replication by degrading HBV RNAs Open

Nobuhiro Kobayashi, Saori Suzuki, Yuki Sakamoto, Rigel Suzuki, Kento Mori , et al. · 2023

Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) places patients at increased risk for liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Although nucleos(t)ide analogs are mainly used for the treatment of HBV, they require long-term administrati…

Determination of the factors responsible for the tropism of SARS-CoV-2-related bat coronaviruses to <i>Rhinolophus</i> bat ACE2 Open

Shigeru Fujita, Yusuke Kosugi, Izumi Kimura, Kenzo Tokunaga, Jumpei Ito , et al. · 2023

Differences in host angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) genes may affect the host range of SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses (SC2r-CoVs) and further determine the tropism of host ACE2 for the infection receptor. However, the factor(s) re…

Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 XBB.1.5 variant Open

Tomokazu Tamura, Takashi Irie, Sayaka Deguchi, Hisano Yajima, Masumi Tsuda , et al. · 2023

Summary Circulation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XBB has resulted in the emergence of XBB.1.5, a new Variant of Interest. Our phylogenetic analysis suggests that XBB.1.5 evolved from XBB.1 by acquiring the F486P spike (S) mutation, subsequent to …

Comparative pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants including BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5 Open

Tomokazu Tamura, Daichi Yamasoba, Yoshitaka Oda, Jumpei Ito, Tomoko Kamasaki , et al. · 2023

Impact of Imprinted Immunity Induced by mRNA Vaccination in an Experimental Animal Model Open

Shigeru Fujita, Keiya Uriu, Lin Pan, Naganori Nao, Koshiro Tabata , et al. · 2023

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variants has led to concerns that ancestral SARS-CoV-2-based vaccines may not be effective against newly emerging Omicron subvariants. The concept of “im…

Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 XBB variant derived from recombination of two Omicron subvariants Open

Tomokazu Tamura, Jumpei Ito, Keiya Uriu, Jiří Zahradník, Izumi Kida , et al. · 2023

Convergent evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants leading to the emergence of BQ.1.1 variant Open

Jumpei Ito, Rigel Suzuki, Keiya Uriu, Yukari Itakura, Jiří Zahradník , et al. · 2023

In late 2022, various Omicron subvariants emerged and cocirculated worldwide. These variants convergently acquired amino acid substitutions at critical residues in the spike protein, including residues R346, K444, L452, N460, and F486. Her…

Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 XBB variant derived from recombination of two Omicron subvariants Open

Tomokazu Tamura, Jumpei Ito, Keiya Uriu, Jiří Zahradník, Izumi Kida , et al. · 2022

In late 2022, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants have highly diversified, and XBB is spreading rapidly around the world. Our phylogenetic analyses suggested that XBB emerged by recombination of two co-circulating BA.2 lineages, BJ.1 and BM…

Assessing the pyrogenicity of whole influenza virus particle vaccine in cynomolgus macaques Open

Marumi Ohno, Masataka Sagata, Toshiki Sekiya, Naoki Nomura, Masashi Shingai , et al. · 2022

Among inactivated influenza vaccines, the whole virus particle vaccine (WPV) elicits superior priming responses to split virus vaccine (SV) in efficiently inducing humoral and cellular immunity. However, there is concern for undesired adve…

Photochemical Identification of Auxiliary Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Host Entry Factors Using μMap Open

Saori Suzuki, Jacob B. Geri, Steve D. Knutson, Harris Bell‐Temin, Tomokazu Tamura , et al. · 2022

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the infectious agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, remains a global medical problem. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) was identified as the primary viral entry receptor…

Induction of broadly neutralizing antibodies using a secreted form of the hepatitis C virus E1E2 heterodimer as a vaccine candidate Open

Ruixue Wang, Saori Suzuki, Johnathan D. Guest, Brigitte Heller, Maricar Almeda , et al. · 2022

Significance Hepatitis C virus chronically infects approximately 1% of the world’s population, making an effective vaccine for hepatitis C virus a major unmet public health need. The membrane-associated E1E2 envelope glycoprotein has been …

Potent priming by inactivated whole influenza virus particle vaccines is linked to viral RNA uptake into antigen presenting cells Open

Masashi Shingai, Naoki Nomura, Toshiki Sekiya, Marumi Ohno, Daisuke Fujikura , et al. · 2021

SARS-CoV-2 requires cholesterol for viral entry and pathological syncytia formation Open

David W. Sanders, Chanelle C. Jumper, Paul J. Ackerman, Dan Bracha, Anita Donlic , et al. · 2021

Many enveloped viruses induce multinucleated cells (syncytia), reflective of membrane fusion events caused by the same machinery that underlies viral entry. These syncytia are thought to facilitate replication and evasion of the host immun…

Author response: SARS-CoV-2 requires cholesterol for viral entry and pathological syncytia formation Open

David W. Sanders, Chanelle C. Jumper, Paul J. Ackerman, Dan Bracha, Anita Donlic , et al. · 2021

Saori Suzuki YOU? Author Swipe