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An ancestral host defence peptide within human beta-defensin 3 recapitulates the antibacterial and antiviral activity of the full-length molecule (2015)
Journal Article
Nigro, E., Colavita, I., Sarnataro, D., Scudiero, O., Zambrano, G., Granata, V., …Pessi, A. (2015). An ancestral host defence peptide within human beta-defensin 3 recapitulates the antibacterial and antiviral activity of the full-length molecule. Scientific Reports, 5, Article 18450. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep18450

Host defence peptides (HDPs) are critical components of innate immunity. Despite their diversity, they share common features including a structural signature, designated “γ-core motif”. We reasoned that for each HDPs evolved from an ancestral γ-core,... Read More about An ancestral host defence peptide within human beta-defensin 3 recapitulates the antibacterial and antiviral activity of the full-length molecule.

Targeting a host-cell entry factor barricades antiviral-resistant HCV variants from on-therapy breakthrough in human-liver mice (2015)
Journal Article
Vercauteren, K., Brown, R. J., Mesalam, A. A., Doerrbecker, J., Bhuju, S., Geffers, R., …Meuleman, P. (2016). Targeting a host-cell entry factor barricades antiviral-resistant HCV variants from on-therapy breakthrough in human-liver mice. Gut, 65(12), https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2014-309045

Objective: Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) inhibit hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection by targeting viral proteins that play essential roles in the replication process. However, selection of resistance-associated variants (RAVs) during DAA therapy has... Read More about Targeting a host-cell entry factor barricades antiviral-resistant HCV variants from on-therapy breakthrough in human-liver mice.

Non-ionic detergents facilitate non-specific binding of M13 bacteriophage to polystyrene surfaces (2015)
Journal Article
Hakami, A. R., Ball, J. K., & Tarr, A. W. (2015). Non-ionic detergents facilitate non-specific binding of M13 bacteriophage to polystyrene surfaces. Journal of Virological Methods, 221, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jviromet.2015.04.023

© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Phage-displayed random peptide libraries are widely used for identifying peptide interactions with proteins and other substrates. Selection of peptide ligands involves iterative rounds of affinity enrichment. The binding properti... Read More about Non-ionic detergents facilitate non-specific binding of M13 bacteriophage to polystyrene surfaces.

Structural flexibility of a conserved antigenic region in Hepatitis C virus glycoprotein E2 recognized by broadly neutralizing antibodies (2015)
Journal Article
Meola, A., Tarr, A. V., England, P., Meredith, L. W., McClure, P., Foung, S. K., …Krey, T. (2015). Structural flexibility of a conserved antigenic region in Hepatitis C virus glycoprotein E2 recognized by broadly neutralizing antibodies. Journal of Virology, 89(4), 2170-2181. https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.02190-14

Neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) targeting glycoprotein E2 are important for the control of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. One conserved antigenic site (amino acids 412 to 423) is disordered in the reported E2 structure, but a synthetic peptide mim... Read More about Structural flexibility of a conserved antigenic region in Hepatitis C virus glycoprotein E2 recognized by broadly neutralizing antibodies.

Recombinant Human L-Ficolin Directly Neutralizes Hepatitis C Virus Entry (2014)
Journal Article
Hamed, M. R., Brown, R. J., Zothner, C., Urbanowicz, R. A., Mason, C. P., Krarup, A., …Tarr, A. W. (2014). Recombinant Human L-Ficolin Directly Neutralizes Hepatitis C Virus Entry. Journal of Innate Immunity, 6(5), 676-684. https://doi.org/10.1159/000362209

L-ficolin is a soluble pattern recognition molecule expressed by the liver that contributes to innate immune defense against microorganisms. It is well described that binding of L-ficolin to specific pathogen-associated molecular patterns activates t... Read More about Recombinant Human L-Ficolin Directly Neutralizes Hepatitis C Virus Entry.

The past, present and future of neutralizing antibodies for hepatitis C virus (2014)
Journal Article
Ball, J. K., Tarr, A. W., & McKeating, J. A. (2014). The past, present and future of neutralizing antibodies for hepatitis C virus. Antiviral Research, 105(1), 100-111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2014.02.013

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide. HCV establishes a chronic infection in the majority of cases. However, some individuals clear the virus, demonstrating a protective role for the host im... Read More about The past, present and future of neutralizing antibodies for hepatitis C virus.

Analysis of Serine Codon Conservation Reveals Diverse Phenotypic Constraints on Hepatitis C Virus Glycoprotein Evolution (2014)
Journal Article
Brown, R. J., Koutsoudakisu, G., Urbanowicz, R. A., Mirza, D., Ginkel, C., Riebesehl, N., …Ball, J. K. (2014). Analysis of Serine Codon Conservation Reveals Diverse Phenotypic Constraints on Hepatitis C Virus Glycoprotein Evolution. Journal of Virology, 88(1), 667-678. https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01745-13

Serine is encoded by two divergent codon types, UCN and AGY, which are not interchangeable by a single nucleotide substitution. Switching between codon types therefore occurs via intermediates (threonine or cysteine) or via simultaneous tandem substi... Read More about Analysis of Serine Codon Conservation Reveals Diverse Phenotypic Constraints on Hepatitis C Virus Glycoprotein Evolution.

B-cell receptors expressed by lymphomas of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients rarely react with the viral proteins (2014)
Journal Article
Ng, P. P., BALL, J., Kuo, C., Wang, S., Einav, S., Arcaini, L., …Levy, S. (2014). B-cell receptors expressed by lymphomas of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients rarely react with the viral proteins. Blood, 123(10), 1512–1515. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2013-10-532895

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been implicated in the induction and maintenance of B-cell lymphomas. The strongest evidence for this derives from clinical observations of tumor regressions upon antiviral treatments. Here we used multip... Read More about B-cell receptors expressed by lymphomas of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients rarely react with the viral proteins.

Use of short-tandem repeat (STR) fingerprinting to validate sample origins in hepatitis C virus molecular epidemiology studies (2014)
Journal Article
Edwards, V. C., McClure, P., Brown, R. J., Thompson, E., Irving, W. L., & Ball, J. K. (in press). Use of short-tandem repeat (STR) fingerprinting to validate sample origins in hepatitis C virus molecular epidemiology studies. Journal of General Virology, 95(1), https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.057828-0

Sequence analysis is used to define the molecular epidemiology and evolution of the hepatitis C virus. Whilst most studies have shown that individual patients harbour viruses that are derived from a limited number of highly related strains, some rece... Read More about Use of short-tandem repeat (STR) fingerprinting to validate sample origins in hepatitis C virus molecular epidemiology studies.

An alpaca nanobody inhibits hepatitis C virus entry and cell-to-cell transmission (2013)
Journal Article
Tarr, A. W., Lafaye, P., Meredith, L., Damier-Piolle, L., Urbanowicz, R. A., Meola, A., …Krey, T. (2013). An alpaca nanobody inhibits hepatitis C virus entry and cell-to-cell transmission. Hepatology, 58(3), 932-939. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.26430

Severe liver disease caused by chronic hepatitis C virus is the major indication for liver transplantation. Despite recent advances in antiviral therapy, drug toxicity and unwanted side effects render effective treatment in liver-transplanted patient... Read More about An alpaca nanobody inhibits hepatitis C virus entry and cell-to-cell transmission.

Hepatitis C virus envelope glycoprotein fitness defines virus population composition following transmission to a new host (2012)
Journal Article
Brown, R. J., Hudson, N., Wilson, G., Rehman, S. U., Jabbari, S., Hu, K., …Ball, J. K. (2012). Hepatitis C virus envelope glycoprotein fitness defines virus population composition following transmission to a new host. Journal of Virology, 86(22), https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01079-12

Genetic variability is a hallmark of RNA virus populations. However, transmission to a new host often results in a marked decrease in population diversity. This genetic bottlenecking is observed during hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission and can ari... Read More about Hepatitis C virus envelope glycoprotein fitness defines virus population composition following transmission to a new host.

The Role of Humoral Innate Immunity in Hepatitis C Virus Infection (2012)
Journal Article
Tarr, A. W., Urbanowicz, R. A., & Ball, J. K. (2012). The Role of Humoral Innate Immunity in Hepatitis C Virus Infection. Viruses, 4(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.3390/v4010001

Infection with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) causes chronic disease in approximately 80% of cases, resulting in chronic inflammation and cirrhosis. Current treatments are not completely effective, and a vaccine has yet to be developed. Spontaneous resoluti... Read More about The Role of Humoral Innate Immunity in Hepatitis C Virus Infection.

The role of neutralizing antibodies in hepatitis C virus infection (2012)
Journal Article
Edwards, V. C., Tarr, A. W., Urbanowicz, R. A., & Ball, J. K. (2012). The role of neutralizing antibodies in hepatitis C virus infection. Journal of General Virology, 93(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.035956-0

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a blood-borne virus estimated to infect around 170 million people worldwide and is, therefore, a major disease burden. In some individuals the virus is spontaneously cleared during the acute phase of infection, whilst in ot... Read More about The role of neutralizing antibodies in hepatitis C virus infection.

Hepatitis C patient-derived glycoproteins exhibit marked differences in susceptibility to serum neutralizing antibodies: Genetic subtype defines antigenic but not neutralization serotype (2011)
Journal Article
Tarr, A. W., Urbanowicz, R. A., Hamed, M. R., Albecka, A., McClure, C. P., Brown, R. J., …Ball, J. K. (2011). Hepatitis C patient-derived glycoproteins exhibit marked differences in susceptibility to serum neutralizing antibodies: Genetic subtype defines antigenic but not neutralization serotype. Journal of Virology, 85(9), 4246-4257. https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01332-10

Neutralizing antibodies have a role in controlling hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. A successful vaccine will need to elicit potently neutralizing antibodies that are capable of preventing the infection of genetically diverse viral isolates. Howeve... Read More about Hepatitis C patient-derived glycoproteins exhibit marked differences in susceptibility to serum neutralizing antibodies: Genetic subtype defines antigenic but not neutralization serotype.

Identification of new functional regions in hepatitis C virus envelope glycoprotein E2 (2011)
Journal Article
Albecka, A., Montserret, R., Krey, T., Tarr, A. W., Diesis, E., Ball, J. K., …Dubuisson, J. (2011). Identification of new functional regions in hepatitis C virus envelope glycoprotein E2. Journal of Virology, 85(4), 1777-1792. https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.02170-10

Little is known about the structure of the envelope glycoproteins of hepatitis C virus (HCV). To identify new regions essential for the function of these glycoproteins, we generated HCV pseudoparticles (HCVpp) containing HCV envelope glycoproteins, E... Read More about Identification of new functional regions in hepatitis C virus envelope glycoprotein E2.

Specific interaction of hepatitis C virus glycoproteins with mannan binding lectin inhibits virus entry (2010)
Journal Article
Brown, K. S., Keogh, M. J., Owsianka, A. M., Adair, R., Patel, A. H., Arnold, J. N., …Hickling, T. P. (2010). Specific interaction of hepatitis C virus glycoproteins with mannan binding lectin inhibits virus entry. Protein and Cell, 1(7), 664-674. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0088-9

Mannan-binding lectin (MBL) is a soluble innate immune protein that binds to glycosylated targets. MBL acts as an opsonin and activates complement, contributing to the destruction and clearance of infecting microorganisms. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) enc... Read More about Specific interaction of hepatitis C virus glycoproteins with mannan binding lectin inhibits virus entry.

Broadly neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies to the hepatitis C virus E2 glycoprotein (2008)
Journal Article
Owsianka, A. M., Tarr, A. W., Keck, Z. Y., Li, T. K., Witteveldt, J., Adair, R., …Patel, A. H. (2008). Broadly neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies to the hepatitis C virus E2 glycoprotein. Journal of General Virology, 89(3), 653-659. https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.83386-0

The humoral response to hepatitis C virus (HCV) may contribute to controlling infection. We previously isolated human monoclonal antibodies to conformational epitopes on the HCV E2 glycoprotein. Here, we report on their ability to inhibit infection b... Read More about Broadly neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies to the hepatitis C virus E2 glycoprotein.

Association of antibodies to hepatitis C virus glycoproteins 1 and 2 (anti-E1E2) with HCV disease (2008)
Journal Article
Hamed, M. R., Tarr, A. W., McClure, C. P., Ball, J. K., Hickling, T. P., & Irving, W. L. (2008). Association of antibodies to hepatitis C virus glycoproteins 1 and 2 (anti-E1E2) with HCV disease. Journal of Viral Hepatitis, 15(5), 339-345. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2893.2007.00947.x

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes acute and chronic liver diseases in humans. Its two envelope glycoproteins, E1 and E2, provide a target for host immune recognition. HCV genotypes are classified into six genetic groups. To study the role of anti-HCV E1... Read More about Association of antibodies to hepatitis C virus glycoproteins 1 and 2 (anti-E1E2) with HCV disease.