Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Guidelines for cervical cancer screening revised

The guidelines say that women between 30 and 65 can wait five years between screenings if they get both a Pap test and an HPV test.

16 Mar 2012

CCN1 protein orchestrates cellular antiviral response in the extracellular matrix

Brain-tumor cells that are infected with a cancer-killing virus release a protein "alarm bell" that warns other tumor cells of the impending infection and enables them to mount a defense against the virus, according to a study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.

16 Mar 2012

Rapid increase in number of HPV-related oral cancers in the UK

The number of oral cancer cases diagnosed each year in the UK has risen above 6,000 for the first time, new figures from Cancer Research UK show today.

16 Mar 2012

High rate of trauma among women with HIV plays a role in the epidemic

Physical violence, sexual abuse and other forms of childhood and adult trauma are major factors fueling the epidemic of HIV/AIDS among American women. Scientists have known for years that traumatized women are at greater risk of becoming infected.

16 Mar 2012

Abbott initiates enrollment in two HUMIRA Phase 3 trials for moderate to severe HS

Abbott today announced the initiation of two Phase 3 clinical trials designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of an investigational use of HUMIRA (adalimumab) in adult patients with moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa.

16 Mar 2012

New guidelines on cervical cancer screening

Many women over the last few decades have gone in for their Pap smear tests each year. Now, two influential groups of medical experts say that having cervical cancer screening once a year is not necessary and, in fact, should be discouraged. Many women can wait as long as five years between screenings, the new guidelines say.

15 Mar 2012

GenMark Diagnostics fourth quarter revenues increase to $2.0 million

GenMark Diagnostics, Inc. today reported additional financial information for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011 that was unavailable at the time it released preliminary financial results on March 8, 2012.

15 Mar 2012

Linking HCV infected people with care is key to reducing related mortality and morbidity

Broader screening to identify people infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) would likely be cost effective, according to a new report published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

15 Mar 2012

GenVec 2011 net loss decreases to $7.4 million

Today GenVec, Inc. announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2011. For the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company reported a net loss of $7.4 million, or $0.58 per share, compared with a net loss of $12.3 million, or $0.97 per share, for the year ended December 31, 2010.

15 Mar 2012

Scientists discover direct biomarker of Chikungunya fever

Recent breakthroughs in Chikungunya research spearheaded by scientists at A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) have made great strides in the battle against the infectious disease.

15 Mar 2012

Study identifies 190 proteins crucial to the functions of key immune sensors

In a healthy immune system, invading pathogens trigger a cascade of alerts and responses to fight off the infection. Sensors called toll-like receptors, or TLRs, act as one of the first lines of defense. Two of these sensors, known as TLR7 and TLR9, specifically recognize and respond to microbial RNA and DNA, respectively. But what determines how these TLRs get where they need to be and sound the alarm for pathogen infection?

15 Mar 2012

Silver nanoparticles cause more damage to testicular cells

Silver nanoparticles cause more damage to testicular cells than titanium dioxide nanoparticles, according to a recent study by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. However, the use of both types may affect testicular cells with possible consequences for fertility.

15 Mar 2012

Antibody-based therapies successfully protect monkeys from deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses

Army scientists have demonstrated, for the first time, that antibody-based therapies can successfully protect monkeys from the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses. In addition, the animals were fully protected even when treatment was administered two days post-infection, an accomplishment unmatched by any experimental therapy for these viruses to date.

14 Mar 2012

Inovio achieves strong T cell immune responses in PENNVAX-B Phase I HIV study

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has achieved strong T cell immune responses in a Phase I clinical study of PENNVAX-B, its product for the treatment of the HIV subtype prevalent in North America and Europe, in HIV-positive subjects.

13 Mar 2012

EBV can infect and may also contribute to lymphomas in man's best friend

More than 90 percent of humans have antibodies to the Epstein Barr virus. Best known for causing mononucleosis, or "the kissing disease," the virus has also been implicated in more serious conditions, including Hodgkin's, non-Hodgkin's and Burkitt's lymphomas. Yet little is known about exactly how EBV triggers these diseases.

13 Mar 2012

Medivir initiates two new HPC3001 and HPC3011 phase III trials in HCV

MedivirAB a research based specialty pharmaceutical company focused on infectious diseases announces that its oral, once daily investigational protease inhibitor TMC435, developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals for the treatment of Hepatitis C virus (HCV), has commenced patient dosing and started screening in two new phase III clinical trials, HPC3001 and HPC3011, respectively.

13 Mar 2012

Scientists at Seattle conference discuss progress, obstacles in fight against HIV/AIDS

"Scientists, stymied for decades by the complexity of the human immunodeficiency virus, are making progress on several fronts in the search for a cure for HIV infections," but "a major stumbling block is the fact that HIV lies low in pools or reservoirs of latent infection that even powerful drugs cannot reach, scientists told the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, one of the world's largest scientific meetings on HIV/AIDS," in Seattle last week, Reuters reports.

13 Mar 2012

Study addresses how human body controls gamma-herpesviruses

New research from the Trudeau Institute addresses how the human body controls gamma-herpesviruses, a class of viruses thought to cause a variety of cancers. The study, carried out in the laboratory of Dr. Marcia Blackman, awaits publication in The Journal of Immunology.

13 Mar 2012

Partner reduction strategies essential to reversing spread of HIV

"The rising enthusiasm for providing more medicines threatens to come at the expense of promising initiatives for preventing HIV infections in the first place -- initiatives that could save many lives, with less money," Craig Timberg, the newspaper's deputy national security editor, and Daniel Halperin, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina, write in this Washington Post opinion piece.

12 Mar 2012

U-M to research into treatment for hepatitis C

The Greenview Foundation has announced a gift of $57,000 to the University of Michigan Health System to support research on a treatment for hepatitis C.

12 Mar 2012