Viral Disease News and Research

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Cancer drug shows promise in treating blood cell disorders

Scientists working to make gene therapy a reality have solved a major hurdle: how to bypass a blood stem cell's natural defenses and efficiently insert disease-fighting genes into the cell's genome.

27 Jun 2014

Janssen signs license agreement with Vertex to develop, commercialize VX-787 for influenza A treatment

Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.announced today that it has entered into an exclusive license agreement with Vertex Pharmaceuticals for the worldwide development, manufacturing and commercialization of VX-787, a novel medicine in Phase II development for the treatment of influenza A.

18 Jun 2014

Predicting dengue fever in Brazil: an interview with Dr. Rachel Lowe, Catalan Institute for Climate Sciences (IC3)

Dengue is a mosquito-transmitted viral infection. The disease is widespread in tropical and sub-tropical climates and most commonly found in urban areas. Around half of the world's population are now estimated to live in dengue endemic regions.

16 Jun 2014

Interferon Type I immune proteins key drivers of human hemorrhagic fevers

Hemorrhagic fevers caused by Lassa, dengue and other viruses affect more than one million people annually and are often fatal, yet scientists have never understood why only some virus-infected people come down with the disease and others do not.

5 Jun 2014

High dose vitamin C therapy may have positive effect on Epstein-Barr virus infection

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a member of the herpes family that targets lymphocytes and epithelial cells. While the infection is usually benign, it can in some cases lead to acute infectious mononucleosis and can impair the immune system. EBV is also linked to several malignancies. There is currently no cure for removing EBV infections and very little success treating acute EBV infection and mononucleosis with drugs.

4 Jun 2014

Study: Sufficient copies of SMN1 gene extend survival in animals with spinal muscular atrophy

To make up for insufficient amounts of SMN protein, the cause of the inherited neuromuscular disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), researchers have successfully delivered a replacement SMN1 gene directly to the spinal cords of animal models of SMA.

23 May 2014

Researchers identify existing drugs that could be "repurposed" to fight MERS-CoV

A team led by a University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) researcher, working as a grantee from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has identified a number of existing drugs that could be "repurposed" to fight outbreaks of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV).

22 May 2014

Link found between antibiotic use in babies and asthma

New research has shed light on how treating babies with antibiotics may lead to an increased risk for asthma.

15 May 2014

Melbourne researchers find link between necroptosis and inflammatory disease

A team of Melbourne researchers has shown a recently discovered type of cell death called necroptosis could be the underlying cause of inflammatory disease.

13 May 2014

UAMS receives $1.8M grant to lead new treatments for herpes viruses and cancers

A surprise discovery that could lead to new treatments for herpes viruses that infect more than 90 percent of the world's adult population has led to a $1.8 million grant to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

5 May 2014

Study reveals how human genome is protected from inadvertent import of viral RNA into cell

Scientists of the Max F. Perutz Laboratories of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna, together with colleagues of the ETH Zurich, have now shown how double stranded RNA, such as viral genetic information, is prevented from entering the nucleus of a cell.

23 Apr 2014

Research sheds new light on the development of HPV-associated cancer

It's long been known that certain strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) cause cancer. Now, researchers at The Ohio State University have determined a new way that HPV might spark cancer development - by disrupting the human DNA sequence with repeating loops when the virus is inserted into host-cell DNA as it replicates.

17 Apr 2014

S. pneumoniae serotypes differ between primary and post-viral disease

Certain capsular serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae are particularly likely to cause disease in people who have recently experienced a respiratory viral infection, study findings indicate.

14 Apr 2014

Findings pave way for potential therapy to combat H1N1 flu virus

Flu epidemics cause up to half a million deaths worldwide each year, and emerging strains continually threaten to spread to humans and cause even deadlier pandemics. A study by McGill University professor Maziar Divangahi published by Cell Press on April 10 in the journal Immunity reveals that a drug that inhibits a molecule called prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) increases survival rates in mice infected with a lethal dose of the H1N1 flu virus.

11 Apr 2014

PeptiDream develops novel macrocyclic peptide inhibitor for treatment of multiple influenza strains

PeptiDream Inc., a public Tokyo-based biopharmaceutical company ("PeptiDream")( TOKYO:4587) announced today, in collaboration with The Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science ("Tokyo Metropolitan Institute") the discovery and development of a novel macrocyclic peptide inhibitor for the treatment of multiple influenza strains.

8 Apr 2014

New gene-editing system holds potential for treating many genetic disorders

Using a new gene-editing system based on bacterial proteins, MIT researchers have cured mice of a rare liver disorder caused by a single genetic mutation.

31 Mar 2014

Marina Cavazzana, Adrian J. Thrasher honored with Pioneer Award for gene therapy

Marina Cavazzana, MD, PhD, Paris Descartes University, France and Adrian J. Thrasher, MD, PhD, University College London Institute of Child Health, UK, have been honored with the Pioneer Award for basic and clinical gene therapy for immunodeficiency disorders.

25 Mar 2014

Loyola physician sheds light on common and painful viral infection, shingles

Shingles is a painful viral infection that affects almost one million people worldwide and 30 percent of Americans every year.

4 Mar 2014

Doctors offer ways to help protect kidneys

The kidneys, two very important organs located in your back, help to continuously clean out wastes and extra fluid from your body. One in 10 Americans develops kidney disease due to diabetes, high blood pressure or a family history of kidney failure.

3 Mar 2014

Atopix presents positive results of Phase IIb asthma study at AAAAI meeting

Atopix Therapeutics Ltd ("Atopix"), a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative CRTH2 antagonists for allergic disease, announced the results of a Phase IIb asthma study with their lead compound OC459 at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting , San Diego, California, USA on March 1st.