Browsing by Author "Taveira, N."
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- Entry inhibitors and Carbosilane dendrimers are potent inhibitors of cell-associated HIV-2 infectionPublication . Diniz, A. R.; Briz, V.; Borrego, P.; Palladino, C.; Rodés, C.; De la Mata, F. J.; Gómez, R.; Muñoz-Fernández, M. A.; Taveira, N."Pre-exposure prophylaxis with topical microbicides formulated with antiviral agents can prevent HIV-1 acquisition. The ideal microbicide should prevent both cell-free and cell-associated HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections in the vaginal or rectum mucosa. So far, few candidate microbicides have been tested against HIV-2. Previously, we have shown that anionic carbosilane dendrimers 2G-S16 (sulphonate), G2-NF16 (naphthylsulfonated) and G3-S16 (sulphated-end groups) have potent antiviral activity against HIV-1. In this work, we evaluated the activity of these dendrimers and the fusion inhibitors T-1249 and T20 in preventing cell-free and cellassociated HIV-2 infection."
- Envelope C2-V3-C3-specific antibodies from HIV-1 infected patients from Angola correlate with neutralization activity in plasmaPublication . Calado, R.; Duarte, J.; Diniz, A. R.; Borrego, P.; Marcelino, J. M.; Wilton, J.; Bartólo, I.; Clemente, S.; Taveira, N."Development of immunogens that induce broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) is a major goal in HIV-1 vaccine field. Recently, we found that bNAbs can be elicited in Balb/c mice against HIV-2 by using a prime-boost vaccination strategy combining recombinant Vaccinia virus expressing a truncated form of the SU glycoprotein and a polypeptide comprising the C2, V3 and C3 envelope regions. We want to test the hypothesis that a similar vaccination strategy can also be effective for HIV-1. We also want to test the hypothesis that envelope glycoproteins derived from ancestral HIV-1 isolates from Angola may induce a broader neutralizing antibody response compared to envelope glycoproteins derived from contemporaneous isolates."
- Evaluation of an in-house molecular HIV-1 test to assess mother-to-child HIV-1 transmission in Angola (the APEHC cohort)Publication . Martin, F.; Palladino, C.; Mateus, R.; Clemente, S.; Gomes, P.; Taveira, N."Mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) rate has decreased sharply in recent years in most of the sub-Saharan Africa, however 220,000 children acquired HIV-1 in 2014. PCR detection of proviral DNA is the most sensitive method for early infant diagnosis (EID) of HIV-1 infection. Commercial kits are available but they have poor sensitivity with divergent non-B subtypes and high costs (≈30€ per test) which limit their use in resource-limited settings. The HIV-1 epidemic in Angola is driven by highly divergent strains of all group M subtypes, except B, as well as multiple recombinant forms (CRFs and URFs) making EID a challenge in this setting. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a qualitative, inexpensive and sensitive “inhouse” HIV-1 EID assay on heel prick dried blood spots (DBS) from infants of the Hospital da Divina Providência (HDP) in Luanda, Angola and determine the current HIV-1 MTCT rate in the Angolan PErinatal HIV Cohort (APEHC)."
- Inhibition of HIV cell-to-cell fusion by antiretroviral drugs and neutralizing antibodiesPublication . Diniz, A. R.; Borrego, P.; Bártolo, I.; Taveira, N."Inhibition of HIV cell entry by antiretroviral drugs and neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) is typically measured in assays where cell-free virions enter reporter cell lines. However, direct Env-mediated cell-to-cell transmission is a major mechanism of HIV infection that also needs to be targeted. In this work we aimed to determine the ability of anti-HIV compounds in clinical or research use to inhibit HIV mediated cell-to-cell fusion (syncytia formation)."
- Medicines review in the elderlyPublication . Costa, F. A.; Miranda, I.; Periquito, C.; Silvestre, L.; Cavaco Silva, P.; Fernandes, A. I.; Carneiro, C.; Taveira, N.
- Metagenomic sequencing with spiked primer enrichment for viral diagnostics and genomic surveillancePublication . Deng, X.; Achari, A.; Federman, S.; Yu, G.; Somasekar, S.; Bártolo, I.; Yagi, S.; Mbala-Kingebeni, P.; Kapetshi, J.; Ahuka-Mundeke, S.; Muyembe-Tamfum, J. J.; Ahmed, A. A.; Ganesh, V.; Tamhankar, M.; Patterson, J. L.; Ndembi, N.; Mbanya, D.; Kaptue, L.; McArthur, C.; Muñoz-Medina, J. E.; Gonzalez-Bonilla, C. R.; López, S.; Arias, C. F.; Arevalo, S.; Miller, S.; Stone, M.; Busch, M.; Hsieh, K.; Messenger, S.; Wadford, D. A.; Rodgers, M.; Cloherty, G.; Faria, N. R.; Thézé, J.; Pybus, O. G.; Neto, Z.; Morais, J.; Taveira, N.; Hackett, J. Jr; Chiu, C. Y.Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS), the shotgun sequencing of RNA and DNA from clinical samples, has proved useful for broad-spectrum pathogen detection and the genomic surveillance of viral outbreaks. An additional target enrichment step is generally needed for high-sensitivity pathogen identification in low-titre infections, yet available methods using PCR or capture probes can be limited by high cost, narrow scope of detection, lengthy protocols and/or cross-contamination. Here, we developed metagenomic sequencing with spiked primer enrichment (MSSPE), a method for enriching targeted RNA viral sequences while simultaneously retaining metagenomic sensitivity for other pathogens. We evaluated MSSPE for 14 different viruses, yielding a median tenfold enrichment and mean 47% (±16%) increase in the breadth of genome coverage over mNGS alone. Virus detection using MSSPE arboviral or haemorrhagic fever viral panels was comparable in sensitivity to specific PCR, demonstrating 95% accuracy for the detection of Zika, Ebola, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever viruses in plasma samples from infected patients. Notably, sequences from re-emerging and/or co-infecting viruses that have not been specifically targeted a priori, including Powassan and Usutu, were successfully enriched using MSSPE. MSSPE is simple, low cost, fast and deployable on either benchtop or portable nanopore sequencers, making this method directly applicable for diagnostic laboratory and field use.