The recurrent and recent outbreak of Zika Virus (ZIKV) has turned into global concern as yet there is no appropriate preventive measure been found. Situation getting worse as this virus also associates with several birth defects in neonatal such as primary microcephaly as well as many other neurological disorders. ZIKV adopts a wide host range which has hastened its expansion more recklessly. Hence, now there is an acute demand for developing a preventive vaccine against ZIKV. Immunoinformatic techniques have been employed in this study to pick out a highly conserved versatile antigenic B-cell linear epitope for all strains of ZIKV. Capsid protein (C), Membrane Glycoprotein Precursor (PrM), envelope protein (E) and RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase (NS5) have investigated by the implementation of sequence analysis and different epitope prediction methods. Some potential linear peptides have been recognized and tested for hydrophilicity and conservancy. Peptide with best antigenic properties was selected as ultimate final epitope and further structural exploration revealed its compatible position in protein 3D structure. Being fully conserved in all strains of ZIKV and its position in Envelope protein suggested epitope DSRCPTQ can be a quantum leap in the advancement of ZIKV prevention. However, extensive in vitro plus in vivo experimentations are needed to be clarified about the real potency of the selected epitope.
Breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy and the leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality in women worldwide. Radiation therapy (RT) is a widely used approach for its treatment. About 50% of patients with malignant breast tumors receive radiation therapy and most of them appear to tolerate it, but some experience severe side effects induced by this therapy. This variability of response may be caused by several factors, like age, inflammatory responses, body weight and variation in genes involved in the response to radiation-induced DNA damage. To limit radiotherapy side effects in breast cancer patients it is therefore important to have a good knowledge of these associated factors. This review discussed about the radiotherapy-related side effects in breast cancer patients and the factors affecting them. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. June 2020, 6(2): 138-148
Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is one of the few human oncogenic viruses, which causes a variety of malignancies, including Kaposi's sarcoma, multicentric Castleman disease, and primary effusion lymphoma, particularly in human immunodeficiency virus patients. The currently available treatment options cannot always prevent the invasion and dissemination of this virus. In recent times, siRNA-based therapeutics are gaining prominence over conventional medications as siRNA can be designed to target almost any gene of interest. The ORF57 is a crucial regulatory protein for lytic gene expression of KSHV. Disruption of this gene translation will inevitably inhibit the replication of the virus in the host cell. Therefore, the ORF57 of KSHV could be a potential target for designing siRNA-based therapeutics. Considering both sequence preferences and target site accessibility, several online tools (i-SCORE Designer, Sfold web server) had been utilized to predict the siRNA guide strand against the ORF57. Subsequently, off-target filtration (BLAST), conservancy test (fuzznuc), and thermodynamics analysis (RNAcofold, RNAalifold, and RNA Structure web server) were also performed to select the most suitable siRNA sequences. Finally, two siRNAs were identified that passed all of the filtration phases and fulfilled the thermodynamic criteria. We hope that the siRNAs predicted in this study would be helpful for the development of new effective therapeutics against KSHV.
Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory state, which arise from the imbalance in lipid metabolism. Over the last decade, studies have showing the association of macrophages with this maladaptive immune response. Macrophages differentiated from monocytes and populate at the growing atherosclerotic lesions. At the lesion site by accumulating lipid they actively participate in the formation of atherosclerotic plaque. These plaques are very susceptible to rupture which can lead to myocardial infarction or stroke. In future more studies are needed to classify different macrophage populations according to their phenotypic and functional characteristics to identify their roles in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. This review highlights several aspects of macrophages activation, diversity, recruitment, and foam cell formation in atherosclerosis. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. September 2020, 6(3): 366-374
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