12^th International Virology Summit June 24-25, 2020 Rome, Italy

Biography:

Vsevolod A Zinserling is pathologist working in the field of infectology in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. His research is devoted to viral, bacterial, fungal and mycoplasma lesions of brain, lung, liver, intestine, placenta on autopsy, clinical and experimental material. Investigations of pathomorphology of Influenza, HIV and its complications, infections due to herpes viruses, viral hepatitis, mixed infections of different localisation are of special interest. He is collaborating at Saint-Petersburg University, Center of infectious pathology at S.P. Botkin hospital for infectious diseases and department of pathomorphology in the Institute of Experimental medicine at National Medical Research Center named after V.A. Almazov. He is active member of European Society of Pathology (working groups infectious diseases, autopsy pathology and history of pathology). Author of more than 400 publications.

Abstract:

Relevance of the problem of a new covid-19 coronavirus infection is obvious. Among its most important aspects that require special study, are pathogenesis and morphological changes in severe forms of the disease.

Material and methods. The analysis of 18 autopsy observations was carried out. Along with routine assessment of macro - and microscopic changes (hematoxylin-eosin, azur, PAS), immunohistochemical studies of lungs and other organs were performed using sera  against antigens CD2,3,4,5,7, 20,31,34, 56,57,69

Results and discussion: In typical cases macroscopic changes were most typically found in the lower lobes of the both lungs, they appeared reddish, slightly firm without any specific hallmarks. In different cases the degree of manifestation varied. Microscopically the lesions included several components. We considered that proliferation of ciliary epithelium and alveolocytes developed due to direct effect of the virus. We also consider to associate with viral propagation appearance of macrophages and alvelocytes of irregular form, frequently binucleated. Intranuclear inclusions were observed as well. Inflammatory infiltration was predominantly mononuclear presented mostly by CD3+ , CD8+, CD2+, CD5+, CD7+ lymphocytes and numerous CD68+ macrophages , only with focal neutrophilic admixture due to bacterial superinfection.  Hyaline membranes were presented in the most of the cases, but their number differed critically. Very typical, especially in certain cases, were blood vessel thrombosis and hemorrhages, probably due to virus lesion of endothelium.  In two cases we succeeded to detect intra and extracellular inclusions similar with typical for Chlamydia. Thus, we can suppose reactivation of this infection. Many organs (lymph nodes, spleen, intestines, brain, adrenal glands) show changes that may indicate generalization of viral infection, and infiltration of CD8+ lymphocytes in the kidneys, liver, adrenal glands, pericardium and intestines indicates a probable autoimmune component of pathogenesis. The conclusion is made about the necessity for further complex study of the pathogenesis and pathology of COVID-19

Biography:

Alessandra Serrao has completed his PhD at the age of 24 years from “Sapienza”, University of Rome and then completed medical specialization in Ematology. She is working in the Hemostasis and Thrombosis Center of Hematology, Department of Translational and Precision Medicine. She is the author and co-auhors of more than 40 articles in different journals.  
 

Abstract:

Recent evidence suggests that HIV may be involved in a major incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) related both to HIV pro-inflammatory changes and to viral affection of haematological system. Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have changed the treatment of VTE; however, co-administration with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) should be considered with caution, because of potential drug–drug interactions. We report 3 cases of HIV-infected patients successfully treated with edoxaban while on HAART. A 63-year-old man while on HAART with emtricitabine/rilpivirine (as hydrochloride)/tenofovir disoproxil for 10 years with undetectable HIV RNA started edoxaban for recurrent VTE on October 2018. The second case is a 62-year-old man who had been on HAART with emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil and raltegravir for 10 years. In November 2018, edoxaban was started for acute DVT. The third case is  a 60-year-old man who was diagnosed with HIV infection, pulmonary embolism and DVT in November 2018. He started HAART with emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil and dolutegravir and edoxaban. Edoxaban plasma levels were in the expected therapeutic range (10–39 ng/mL): 33 ng/mL for patient 1, 24 ng/mL for patient 2 and 10 ng/mL for patient 3. The patients did not report any haemorrhagic or thrombotic adverse events during the clinical follow-up and HIV RNA remained undetectable. Edoxaban is minimally metabolized by Cytochrome P450 3A4 (< 10%) and is transported via P-glycoprotein (P-gp). Our patients were on HAART with drugs that are metabolized predominantly by cytochrome P450 and that do not affect the P-gp pathways, co-administration was safe at the full dose.

Biography:

Dr.Shahroz Khan has completed his PhD at the age of 34 years from Quaid-i-Azam University  in Molecular Virology. He is Asisstant Professor at Noor Nursing College Daggar Buner. He has published more than 25 papers in good journals.

Abstract:

The objective of the study was to characterize the Untypable HCV isolates from various geographical areas of Pakistan by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of their 5′UTRs. The emergence of large number of HCV Untypable isolates among chronically infected Pakistani subjects pose challenges to accurate diagnosis, optimal regimen, dose and duration of antiviral therapy as well as for estimating the response rate. During the course of this study, a total of 415 Untypable HCV strains were detected from different parts of the country in which 50 (12%) randomly selected serum samples were used for sequence analysis of 5′UTR of HCV. The derived consensus sequences in case of all the 50 isolates were later used for genotype prediction using NCBI BLAST and online HCV genotype prediction tools. The results indicated that all the 50 samples (100%) were very close to HCV 3a. Self-alignment of all the 5' UTR sequences identified 10 diverse types circulating in Pakistan. Most common sequence variations were conserved (*), deletion (-) and transversion. Phylogenetic analysis of HCV Untypable isolates based on the 5' UTR sequences indicated that most of these isolates were genetically closer to Pakistani HCV 3a isolates with high bootstrap value as compared to some regional isolates. However, One Untypable isolate PK3 clustered with isolates from other regions and was distant from the Pakistani isolates which indicates that HCV 3a of different origins are distinctly evolving in Pakistan. The genetic diversity and phylogenetic analysis point towards the rise of variants of HCV 3a in this region in the form of the Untypable strains which need through characterization.

Biography:

Alfredo Berzal-Herranz has devoted his career to the RNA Biology. Got his PhD in the CIB-CSIC Madrid, then moved first to BMC (Sweden), University of Vermont (US) and finally to the Instituto de Parasitología y Biomedicina “López-Neyra” (IPBLN-CSIC) (Granada, Spain). Since 2005 to 2014 he was Director of the IPBLN. His contributions to the field include an unique in vitro selection procedure to study the sequence and structural requirements of the hairpin ribozyme/substrate complex. More recently, the identification of a long range RNA-RNA interaction sufficient to promote the HCV RNA genome circularization. Currently, his group is mainly focusing in the structure/function of viral genomic RNA domains and characterization of antiviral RNA molecules.

Abstract:

The current global pandemic caused by SARS-Cov-2 has revealed the lack of an effective therapeutic treatment, among other major deficiencies. This lack of an effective drug to fight it is a common deficiency in dealing with many other infections caused by RNA viruses, e.g. HIV, HCV, SARS, and Dengue, Zika or Ebola viruses, among others. In addition to the information that encodes the viral proteins, RNA genomes carry all other information required for the successful completion of the viral cycle. It includes the information required to efficiently sequester and utilize the cellular machinery and all the information involved in the regulation of the essential viral processes. To bear all the information RNA viruses have developed different molecular strategies to compact it in different levels of coding within the RNA genomes. Thus the nucleotide sequence stores essential information in highly conserved structural RNA domains composed of discrete structural units. The different structural genomic RNA domains play essential functions, and the preservation of their structure is essential for their proper functioning. Therefore interfering with the activity of these essential domains, by competing the interactions they are involved in or by modifying their structure, offers an excellent scenario for fighting infections caused by RNA viruses. It represents a clear alternative to the traditional therapeutic strategies aimed to target viral proteins. Aptamers are short oligonucleotides that efficiently bind to a specific target molecule. The recognition of their target strictly depends on the conformational distribution of specific functional groups in the global structure of the substrate molecule. Therefore aptamers offer a potential means for the development of efficient therapeutic drugs recognizing specific structural features of the viral RNA genome. Numerous studies have reported the potential of aptamers to act as efficient drugs against a variety of RNA viruses being HIV and HCV some of the favorite targets. We have demonstrated that RNA aptamers targeting different essential structural elements of the HIV and HCV RNA genomes efficiently inhibited their replication, reaching up to 85 and 95% inhibition rates, respectively. These results and those from other authors indicate the potential of the aptamers to fill therapeutic gaps in the fight against RNA viruses.

Biography:

Amani Elhouderi is a Biomedical Scientist (BMS) in the department of Infection and Immunity (I&I) at North West London Pathology. In her current role in I&I, she worked in various areas in the laboratory including the virology, autoimmune and micro serology sections and validating new laboratory instruments from Abbott, BioRad and DiaSorin. Amani is a member of the Institute of Biomedical Science and is a registered BMS with the Health and Care Professions Council in the United Kingdom. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences from Royal Holloway University London and a Master's degree in Immunology of Infectious Diseases from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Amani is fluent in English and Arabic.

Abstract:

Objective: To compare and validate the performance of the new Abbott ALINITY i HIV Ag/Ab Combo assay against the current ARCHITECT HIV Ag/Ab Combo.

Method: 123 patient’s samples, previously tested on the ARCHITECT i2000 analyser, were tested on the ALINITY i system. Both instruments use chemiluminescence immunoassay technology for the qualitative detection of HIV p24 antigen and antibodies HIV type 1 and 2. All reactive and discrepant results were confirmed using a third platform (Vidas immunoassay analyzer).

Findings: 119 of the 123 HIV samples (96.7%) matched the ARCHITECT and the ALINITY. The remaining 4 discrepant samples (3.3%) were analysed by the Vidas, all of which yielded negative results, verifying the ALINITY results. Furthermore, testing of HIV on the ALINITY met the laboratory and manufacturer acceptance criteria (stated specificity of 99.89% (95%CI: 99.67% to 99.98%)). A good correlation found between the two instruments (R²=0.9926). Analysis of External Quality Assessment NEQAS HIV samples on the ALINITY did not deviate from the expected results.

Conclusion: The ALINITY HIV Ag/Ab Combo assay performed well and met the manufacturer and laboratory acceptance criteria. The ALINITY assay demonstrated a better sensitivity and specificity. In addition, the ALINITY’s ease of use is anticipated to have positive implications in meeting turnaround, subsequently enhancing the quality and efficiency of the service. This shows advances in diagnostic methods for the detection of HIV and other viruses could potentially improve diagnosis and treatment for patients due to more accurate results.

Biography:

Vicent Lwanga hold degree in Social Work and Social Administration, work with the Elderly Widows Orphans Family Support as an Organization Director for two years. He secured legal registration of the organization as a Community Based Organization and got 20 children: 11girls and 9boys individual education sponsors. Introduced several programs that support orphans such as community counselors who follow up children at home to provide them with emotional support. School drama clubs which sensitize children about HIV/AIDS, football competitions during public holidays that bring youth together for entertainment ad talent development. He also introduced income generating projects for the orphans and child headed households like cattle keeping. These have helped children earn extra income to meet daily home expenses. Practiced in HIV/AIDS field for over 10 years now and gained more knowledge and skills that he would like to share with others. Also, he is a person who likes to learn from others: and hope the knowledge that he will have acquired in the conference will be shared back in my community for improvement of our services. He advocated for the rights of People Living with HIV/AIDS, especially orphans affected and infected with HIV/AIDS. This is done by availing them services they need such as education by which he secure through writing their biography and sharing it with friends who in the end accept to support them.

Abstract:

Studies on the spread of HIV/AIDS in Kapchorwa especially among youths have shown that they have poor knowledge on sexuality issues. Most young people become sexually active at a very young age when they have little or no information on their sexuality. These situations expose them to careless and casual sexual behaviors, unwanted pregnancies, which increases their risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Worse still, is the culture of silence, which have created information gap between youths, parents, elders and health providers. Adults feel uncomfortable and unwilling to discuss sexuality education with youths because they feel that discussing with them will expose the youths to early sex.

To reduce the vulnerability to HIV infection among youths, Elderly Widows Orphans Family Support has trained peer educators to facilitate the HIV/AIDS awareness and sensitization programmes for out of school youths, orphans and vulnerable children in Kapchorwa. Peer educators disseminate information on sexuality education to their peers in selected intervention sites as means of preventing HIV infection and propagating behavioral changes. A multiplier effect among peers has been recorded leading to increase in the level of knowledge of youths on HIV/AIDS. Youth are now able to discuss sexuality issues with their peers including sexual practices among youth plus the use of condom for prevention. Experience shows that adequate and correct information and involvement of influencers and religious leaders are keys to successful implementation of sexuality and reproductive health programmes.

Biography:

Paioyi Chiou has completed her PhD at department of Nursing, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan and visiting research at Sheffield University, UK. She is the assistant professor and member of the council of many Taiwan’s AIDS related NGOs and Society. She also volunteered in many AIDS social welfare agencies to provide care for community AIDS/HIV+ patients. Her research on contact tracking and partner notification, emerging HIV testing strategies, has been applied to Taiwan's HIV screening policies and indicators.

Abstract:

Men who have sex with men (MSM) tests for HIV often self-recognize when they have been exposed to unsafe sexual behavior and many sexual partners. It would therefore be important to include the sexual networks to the HIV testing campaign. The study aimed to elicit and deliver the HIV test to the sexual partners of MSM who received HIV pre-test counseling and discover the unknow link of sexual network. Recruitment was done through purposeful and snowball sampling. A ten minutes structured personal risk network interview was conducted to elicit the referral of sexual partners within three months. An anonymous HIV quick test was delivered at a time and place where convenient to the sexual partners. There is 28.2% (75/266) of the index subjects referred or disclosed the information of 167 sexual partners; 127 of them accepted the HIV test which was 1.7 times more than the index subjects and 40 of them only been disclosed. The tested sexual partners have higher HIV risk behavior and HIV positive rate (3/127, 2.36%) than the index subjects and the tested subject who did not refer sexual partners. Four of prior HIV+ sexual partners were disclosed by the index subjects. The sexual network analysis revealed that 21.9% (53/242) of the subjects had directly sexual link to the HIV+ subjects. Non-tested sexual partners play an important role of directly linking with HIV + subjects and transmission bridge. The results hold important implications for HIV community screening and contact tracing for HIV case finding and surveillance.

Biography:

Roozbeh Tahmasebi is a 4th year PhD student at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. His research topic is to evaluate the molecular epidemiology of adenovirus causing diarrhea in children under 5-year-old in the state of Tocantins, Brazil. He has two papers that are under submission related to this subject.   He has published more than 3 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

Human Adenovirus species C (HAdV-C) are the most common etiologic agents of respiratory disease. In the present study we characterized the nearly full-length genome of one potential new HAdV-C recombinant strain constitute by Penton and Fiber proteins belonging to type 89 and a chimeric Hexon protein of type 1 and 89. By using viral metagenomics techniques, we screened out, in the state of Tocantins, North Brazil, from 2010 to 2016, 251 fecal samples of children between 0.5 to 2.5-year-old. These children were presenting acute diarrhea not associated with common pathogens (i.e. rotavirus, norovirus). We identified two HAdV-C strains in two distinct patients. Phylogenetic analysis performed using all complete genomes available at GenBank database indicated that one strain (HAdV-C BR-245) belongs to the type 1. The phylogenetic analysis also indicated that the second strain (HAdV-C BR-211) was located at the base of the clade formed by the newly HAdV-C strains type 89. Recombination analysis revealed that strain HAdV-C BR-211is a chimera in which the variable regions of Hexon gene combined HAdV-C1 and HAdV-C89 sequences. Therefore, HAdV-C BR-211 strain possess a genomic backbone of type HAdV-C89 and a unique insertion of HAdV-C1 in the Hexon sequence. Recombination may play an important driving force in HAdV-C diversity and evolution. Studies employing complete genomic sequencing on circulating HAdV-C strains in Brazil are needed to understand the clinical significance of the presented data.

Biography:

Nada M. Madi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine at Kuwait University where she has been a faculty member since January 2015. She completed her PhD and MSc. at Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University and her undergraduate study at Faculty of Science, Kuwait University. Her research interest lies in the area of developing advanced techniques in viral diagnostics such as metagenomics approach for the detection of viruses causing different diseases such as respiratory tract infections and gastroenteritis. Also, studies on molecular epidemiology of viral infections.

Abstract:

Seroprevalence studies on measles, mumps and rubella IgG antibodies after the implementation of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine are lacking in Kuwait. This research is an age-stratified serological study to assess the herd immunity to measles, mumps and rubella among the young Kuwaiti population to evaluate the effectiveness of the MMR vaccine. IgG antibody titers to mumps, measles, and rubella were determined with commercial immune-assay in serum samples of 1000 Kuwaitis aged 5-20 years. The highest level of seropositivity was to measles (94.6%), which was significantly higher in females than in males. The highest seronegativity was for mumps (29%). The percentage of the young Kuwaiti population who were serologically positive for all the component of the MMR vaccine was 47%, and 2% of the individuals were without any protective antibodies to measles, mumps and rubella. Females aged 5-10 years were best protected to rubella; however, seronegativity in 8.2% of 11-20-year-old females makes them vulnerable to rubella virus infection and congenital complications during pregnancy. The study provided insight into the effect of the MMR vaccine on seroprevalence of antibodies against measles, mumps and rubella in Kuwait, which will contribute to the global knowledge base of vaccine coverage and help to inform elimination strategies. The findings strengthen the need for a third dose of MMR vaccine and catch-up campaigns for the young Kuwaiti population to increase vaccination coverage and prevent waning immunity, especially among those who received only one dose of the vaccine during childhood.

Biography:

Haitham Amer is a professor of Virology Department of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University in Egypt.

Abstract:

Marek’s disease (MD) is an oncogenic viral disease that causes severe economic losses in chickens and rarely in turkeys. MD is caused by Gallid herpesvirus 2 (GaHV-2), which is a member of genus Mardivirus, family Herpesviridae. Among 200 genes identified in the genome of GaHV-2, meq gene was intensively studied for its role on viral virulence, oncogenicity, and diversity. Meq gene sequences were frequently exploited in phylogenetic analysis of GaHV-2 strains identified in many countries worldwide. However, no integrated system was proposed for phylogenetic classification of GaHV-2 strains worldwide. In this study, turkeys from two commercial Egyptian farms were presented with signs of dullness, dehydration and emaciation. Gross examination has revealed grayish white soft masses in the majority of internal organs, and diffuse enlargement in sciatic nerve. Diffuse infiltration of pleomorphic neoplastic cells with hyperchromatic and mitotic activities was observed by histopathological examination of internal organs and sciatic nerve fibers. All lymphoma cells were characterized as T- lymphocytes of CD3+ phenotype by immunohistochemistry. PCR was utilized to identify the viral cause of the suspected lymphoproliferative disease. GaHV-2 was identified in all samples using two PCR systems targeting partial sequence of ICP4 gene and the complete meq gene sequence. All samples were negative for avian leucosis and reticulendotheliosis viruses. Sequence analysis of meq gene has classified turkey strains as relevant to the Egyptian strains identified in chicken in 2012. All Egyptian strains showed unique amino acid substitutions; A88T, T139A, E263D, whereas turkey strains also displayed an additional unique site E54K. A universal system for phylogenetic analysis of GaHV-2 strains was proposed using the entire sequence of meq gene. This system indicated separation of GaHV-2 strains into 4 clusters. The vaccine strains were all grouped in cluster 2. The Indian and Japanese strains identified in 2010 and 2011 were members of cluster 3, while most of the classical American strains belonged to cluster 4. Cluster 1 was further divided to three sub-clusters (1.1-1.3). In conclusion, GaHV-2 was identified in turkeys for the first time in Egypt and Africa. A universal system for phylogenetic classification of GaHV-2 was established using GaHV-2 strains selected on temporal, spatial, pathological, and taxonomic bases.

Biography:

Sirwan Sleman is with the Unit of Herpesvirus and Molecular Virology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology & Immunology, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China

Abstract:

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) can establish a latent and productive infection. The productive HCMV infection can induce various changes in the cellular environment to establish viral replication and infection especially through its interaction with the various cellular components. Forkhead box O (FOXO) is an important cellular transcription factor that plays a critical role in many biological processes e.g. cell cycle arrest, autophagy, apoptosis.. etc. It is also found to participate in the pathogenesis of the herpesvirus family but the effect of the virus on the expression of this cellular protein is not well studied yet. In this report, we found that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a beta herpesvirus member, could dramatically induce the expression of FOXOs in the infected human fibroblasts. The induced FOXOs were recruited into the viral replication compartments (vRC) in the nucleus, especially at the late stage of infection. Suppression of FOXO expression by RNA interference significantly inhibited HCMV replication, and the production of progeny virus was reduced remarkably. Mechanistically, FOXO knockdown intensively crippled viral late gene expression at the transcriptional level, while it only marginally affected viral DNA synthesis. These results indicated an especially important role of FOXOs in HCMV replication, highlighting the attractive idea of antagonizing FOXOs as a potential drug target against HCMV infection. Our data uncovered the potential role of host transcription factor FOXO in HCMV replication which needs further study in the future.

Biography:

Ciro Celsa is a professor in Section of gastroenterology and hepatology, Dipartimento di promozione della salute, Materno infantile, Medicina interna e specialistica di eccellenza (promise), University of palermo, Italy.

Abstract:

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The effectiveness of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) against hepatitis C virus (HCV), following successful treatment of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), has been studied extensively. However, the benefit in terms of overall survival (OS) remains to be conclusively demonstrated. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of DAAs on OS, HCC recurrence, and hepatic decompensation.

METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 163 consecutive patients with HCV-related cirrhosis and a first diagnosis of early Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage 0/A HCC, who had achieved a complete radiologic response after curative resection or ablation and were subsequently treated with DAAs. DAA-untreated patients from the ITA.LI.CA. cohort (n = 328) served as controls. After propensity score matching, outcomes of 102 DAA-treated (DAA group) and 102 DAA-untreated patients (No DAA group) were compared.

RESULTS: In the DAA group, 7/102 patients (6.9%) died, HCC recurred in 28/102 patients (27.5%) and hepatic decompensation occurred in 6/102 patients (5.9%), after a mean follow-up of 21.4 months. OS was significantly higher in the DAA group compared to the No DAA group (hazard ratio [HR] 0.39; 95% CI0.17-0.91; p = 0.03). HCC recurrence was not significantly different between the DAA and No DAA groups (HR0.70; 95% CI0.44-1.13; p = 0.15). A significant reduction in the rate of hepatic decompensation was observed in the DAA group compared with the No DAA group (HR0.32; 95% CI0.13-0.84; p = 0.02). In the DAA group, sustained virologic response was a significant predictor of OS (HR 0.02; 95% CI 0.00-0.19; p <0.001), HCC recurrence (HR 0.25; 95% CI 0.11-0.57; p <0.001) and hepatic decompensation (HR 0.12; 95% CI 0.02-0.38; p = 0.02).

CONCLUSIONS: In patients with HCV-related cirrhosis who had been successfully treated for early HCC, DAAs significantly improved OS compared with No DAA treatment.