VIRAL EVOLUTION AS DRIVEN BY HOST NUTRITIONAL SELECTIVE FACTORS - INFLUENCE OF DIETARY OXIDATIVE STRESS
The endemic juvenile cardiomyopathy known as Keshan disease occurs in regions of China with poor selenium nutrition, but a role for an infectious agent was suggested by seasonal changes in disease incidence. Mice fed a selenium-deficient diet suffered more heart damage than normal mice when infected with a myocarditic coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3/20). Increased heart damage was also observed when CVB3/20 was inoculated into vitamin E-deficient mice. Feeding diets deficient in either vitamin E or selenium allowed an amyocarditic coxsackievirus (CVB3/0) to become myocarditic. When CVB3/0 was harvested from deficient mice, passed through HeLa cells and inoculated into normal (non-deficient) mice, it retained its increased cardiovirulence. Virus obtained from the selenium- deficient mice contained six nucleotide changes in the genome compared with the input strain. This is the first report of a nutritional deficiency driving changes in a viral genome. Host nutritional status could have important public health implications for the spread of influenza, hepatitis, polio and perhaps even AIDS.
Hepatitis C Triple Therapy Trial Begins with CTS-1027
Conatus Pharmaceuticals is optimistic that their developmental drug, CTS-1027, will give people with Hepatitis C a greater chance for beating the virus. In a Phase II Hepatitis C trial for previous non-responders, CTS-1027 is being paired with pegylated interferon and ribavirin.
Hepatitis C Is a Risk Factor for Heart Disease February is American Heart Month. Since Hepatitis C has been proven to be a risk factor for coronary artery disease, the usual ways to reduce heart disease risk is insufficient for those with the virus. However, there are five strategies specifically for Hepatitis C that can reduce the likelihood of impending cardiac problems.
Ability to Study Hepatitis C Aided by New Model
By strategically interspersing liver cells and other specialized cells on growth plates, researchers have figured out how to grow Hepatitis C outside of the body - a critical tool to develop and test new Hepatitis C treatments.