Approved: __________________________________ Thesis Supervisor __________________________________ Title and Department __________________________________ Date 1 GB VIRUS C INTERACTIONS WITH HIV: EFFECTS ON IMMUNOACTIVATION AND MECHANISMS OF IMMUNOMODULATION

Little is known about the natural history and the pathogenicity of the TT virus (TTV). We present our findings of a cross-sectional study based on the TTV DNA screening of 173 multiple-transfused patients and a longitudinal study based on the follow-up of TTV DNA-positive patients. Overall, 48 patients (27.7%) tested positive for TTV DNA. The influence of the number of blood donor exposures on ...

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein C (gC) blocks complement activation, and glycoprotein E (gE) interferes with IgG Fc-mediated activities. While evaluating gC- and gE-mediated immune evasion in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-HSV-1-coinfected subjects, we noted that antibody alone was more effective at neutralizing a strain with mutations in gC and gE (gC/gE) than a wild-type ...

Glycoproteins homologous to the type I membrane glycoprotein B (gB) of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) are the most highly conserved glycoproteins within the family Herpesviridae and are present in members of each herpesvirus subfamily. In the alphaherpesvirus pseudorabies virus (PrV), gB is required for entry into target cells and for direct viral cell-to-cell spread. These processes, though re...

BACKGROUND GB virus C (GBV-C) may have a beneficial impact on HIV disease progression; however, the epidemiologic characteristics of this virus are not well characterized. Behavioral factors and gender may lead to differential rates of GBV-C infection; yet, studies have rarely addressed GBV-C infections in women or racial/ethnic minorities. Therefore, we evaluated GBV-C RNA prevalence and genot...

A transient transfection-fusion assay was established to investigate membrane fusion mediated by pseudorabies virus (PrV) glycoproteins. Plasmids expressing PrV glycoproteins under control of the immediate-early 1 promoter-enhancer of human cytomegalovirus were transfected into rabbit kidney cells, and the extent of cell fusion was quantitated 27 to 42 h after transfection. Cotransfection of pl...

This study was designed to assess the effect of GB virus (GBV)-C on the immune response to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in chronically HIV-infected and HIV- hepatitis C virus (HCV)-co-infected patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy. A cohort of 159 HIV-seropositive patients, of whom 52 were HCV-co-infected, was included. Epidemiological data were collected and virological and immunolo...

To study the incidence and outcome of GB virus C (GBV-C) infection in blood recipients. Serum samples collected in a prospective study were examined for GBV-C RNA by a nested polymerase chain reaction assay. Among the 400 adults who underwent cardiac surgery, 40 were positive for GBV-C RNA, including six whose pretransfusion sera were already positive and seven coinfected with hepatitis C virus...

B virus (cercopithecine herpesvirus 1) is the only deadly alphaherpesvirus that is zoonotically transmissible from macaques to humans. The detection of humoral immune responses is the method of choice for the rapid identification of B virus-infected animals. We evaluated the diagnostic potential of recombinant B virus glycoproteins for the detection of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies in monke...