Tag: "retrovirus" at biology news

Novel Enzyme Shows Potential As An Anti-HIV Target

...ts human and nonhuman primate targets. The compact retrovirus encodes just 14 proteins, which play different roles in promoting viral infection and virulence. As a retrovirus, HIV uses the host’s cellular machinery—including RNA polymerases, which carry out transcription—to copy its RNA genome into DNA and infi...

Study reveals candidate targets for anti-retroviral therapeutics

... genome, thus providing a rich source of candidate retrovirus host genes. Sandmeyer and colleagues hope that this study, along with related studies of retrovirus-like elements in yeast, will ultimately lead to the development of a new generation of anti-retroviral therapeutics. ...

Science study holds implications for gene therapy and stem cell biology

...d team revealed that the insertion of several such retrovirus vectors into a single blood-forming stem cell can ...nd activated by the random insertion of a disabled retrovirus appear to have exactly this property: They can increase the multiplication rate of stem cells. While...

Retrovirus struck ancestors of chimpanzees and gorillas millions of years ago, but did not affect ancestral humans

...impanzees and gorillas were infected with a deadly retrovirus about three to four million years ago, but there i...hat the 'retroelement' originated from an external retrovirus that actively infected ape species in the past. "The reason retroviruses are so deadly, at the gene...

Chimp genome reveals a retroviral invasion

...ay spread, but viral DNA will die with the host. A retrovirus is called endogenous when it invades the germline ... of a subset of apes and monkeys revealed that the retrovirus had integrated into the germline of African great apes and Old World monkeys -- but did not infect h...

Primate virus jumps species barrier to humans for first time in Asia

...-human transmission of simian foamy virus (SFV), a retrovirus found in macaques and other primates that so far has not been shown to cause disease in humans. The transmission of the virus from a monkey to a human took place at a monkey temple in Bali, Indonesia, the researchers report in the July issue of the j...

Results of world's first gene therapy trial for arthritis show approach safe, feasible

... evidence that the vector, a replication-defective retrovirus called Maloney Murine Leukemia Virus, has since become capable of replication in their patients. "At the outset, our primary objective was proving the safety of gene therapy, especially for a clinical application to a nonlethal disease, such as arth...

Performing monkeys in Asia carry viruses that could jump species to humans

...d positive for simian foamy virus (SFV), a primate retrovirus that so far has not been shown to cause disease in...sia. Two of the monkeys tested positive for simian retrovirus (SRV), which, though it has been shown to infect humans in a laboratory setting, has yet to be assoc...

Diabetes researchers pioneer islet cell xenotransplantation in primate studies

...t 300 days) without evidence of porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) dissemination. "This represents a major step forward and proves neonatal porcine islets can correct diabetes long-term in primates," said Drs. Korbutt and Rajotte. "To meet the needs of the millions suffering from type 1 diabetes, we must fin...

'Virus chip' detects new virus in prostate tumors

... from another species, it is known as a xenotropic retrovirus ?in this case, a xenotropic murine-like retrovirus, or XMRV. This is not the first virus of this family to be discovered, but it appears to be the first one found in humans, the scientists report. The new virus is 96 percent identical to a class of...

New human retrovirus originated in mice

...archers and their colleagues have discovered a new retrovirus in humans that is closely related to a cancer-caus...e first documented cases of human infection with a retrovirus that is native to rodents. The researchers discovered the virus in patients with a rare type of pro...

Scientists discover new regulating mechanism in cells

...n RHA is knocked out, the spleen necrosis virus, a retrovirus Boris-Lawrie and her collaborators were studying a...s knocked out the RHA protein and learned that the retrovirus stopped making several vital proteins. "That suggests that the retrovirus needs RHA to make these ...

Scientists resuscitate a 5 million-year-old retrovirus

...nstructed the DNA sequence of a 5-million-year-old retrovirus and shown that it is able to produce infectious pa...tudy, which is the first to generate an infectious retrovirus from a mobile element in the human genome, is considered a breakthrough for the field of retrovirus ...

Researchers discover that sheep need retroviruses for reproduction

...ndogenous retroviruses related to Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus or enJSRVs, are critical during the early phase of...ls have shown that a protein of a human endogenous retrovirus might have a role in development of the human placenta. The team blocked expression of the envelo...

Can engineered immune cells stop AIDS?

...tem is an HIV-based "lentiviral vector," a type of retrovirus that uses the backbone of a virus to infect both dividing and nondividing cells. Wang says lentiviral vectors are very efficient delivery vehicles for human cells. Collaborators on his project are targeting hematopoietic stem cells -- the bone ma...

Ancient retrovirus sheds light on modern pandemic

Human resistance to a retrovirus that infected chimpanzees and other nonhuman prima...HIV." Evidence of human immunity to this ancient retrovirus first emerged with the sequencing of the chimpanzee genome. "When the chimp genome was sequenced, a ...

1