Publications related to Use of deoxysphingolipids as anti-toxins and anti-virals

Peptide-based virucidal drugs

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, viruses were not a major priority for the scientific community. Today, many events have changed the world and the importance of studying viruses, vaccines, and antiviral drugs is fully appreciated. The development of effective ...

EPFL2024

Exploring the role of cGAS-STING-mediated inflammation in age-associated neurodegeneration and antitumor immunity

Natasha Ella Samson

Inflammation stands as a dynamic and intricate biological process, promoting vital defence mechanisms against harmful stimuli, including infections and injuries, to drive pathogen clearance and healing. On one hand, these responses can manifest acutely and ...

EPFL2024

Virucidal compositions and use thereof

Francesco Stellacci

The invention relates to substituted cyclodextrin (CD) compounds having C9 to C25 optionally substituted alkyl-based linker groups, which irreversibly inhibit viruses and are useful in the treatment of viral infections. While the compounds of the invention ...

2023

PSGL-1 is an evolutionarily conserved antiviral restriction factor

Chao Jiang, Ying Liu

The arms race between viruses and their hosts shaped the evolutionary history and the genome composition of both parties. Restriction factors are the first-line antiviral effectors encoded by the host genomes and are often conserved through evolution to pr ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2023

Viral Genetic Determinants of Prolonged Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection Among Infants in a Healthy Term Birth Cohort

Thomas Junier, Jacques Fellay, Dylan Lawless, Zhi Ming Xu

Background. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is associated with acute respiratory infection. We sought to identify RSV variants associated with prolonged infection. ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC2023

Ligand concentration determines antiviral efficacy of silica multivalent nanoparticles

Francesco Stellacci, Quy Ong Khac, Paulo Henrique Jacob Silva, Heyun Wang, Xufeng Xu, Rémi Andréa La Polla

We have learned from the recent COVID-19 pandemic that the emergence of a new virus can quickly become a global health burden and kill millions of lives. Antiviral drugs are essential in our fight against viral diseases, but most of them are virus-specific ...

Academic Press Inc Elsevier Science2023

Rational Design of Chemically Controlled Antibodies and Protein Therapeutics

Sandrine Madeleine Suzanne Georgeon, Anthony Marchand, Bruno Emanuel Ferreira De Sousa Correia, Pablo Gainza Cirauqui, Li Tang, Sailan Shui, Stéphane Rosset, Lucia Bonati, Leo Scheller

Protein-based therapeutics, such as monoclonal antibodies and cytokines, are important therapies for various pathophysiological conditions such as oncology, autoimmune disorders, and viral infections. However, the wide application of such protein therapeut ...

2023

The role of the NF-kappaB pathway in Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis pathogenesis

Emma Charlotta Källstig

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative motor disorder, which results in death within a few years of diagnosis. While the cause of most cases of ALS is unknown, 10% of cases are familial (fALS), and associated with mutations in one of ov ...

EPFL2023

Phase separation in viral infections

Haohua Li, Christina Ernst

Viruses rely on the reprogramming of cellular processes to enable efficient viral replication; this often requires subcompartmentalization within the host cell. Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) has emerged as a fundamental principle to organize and su ...

ELSEVIER SCI LTD2022

Polyanionic Amphiphilic Dendritic Polyglycerols as Broad-Spectrum Viral Inhibitors with a Virucidal Mechanism

Francesco Stellacci, Valeria Cagno, Matteo Gasbarri

Heparin has been known to be a broad-spectrum inhibitor of viral infection for almost 70 years, and it has been used as a medication for almost 90 years due to its anticoagulant effect. This nontoxic biocompatible polymer efficiently binds to many types of ...

American Chemical Society2022

A Baseline Cellular Antiviral State Is Maintained by cGAS and Its Most Frequent Naturally Occurring Variant rs610913

Shuting Xu, Jacques Fellay, Christian Axel Wandall Thorball

Upon recognition of aberrantly located DNA, the innate immune sensor cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) activates stimulator of IFN genes (STING)/IFN regulatory factor (IRF)3-driven antiviral responses. In this study, we characterized the ability of a specific ...

American Association of Immunologists ; Oxford University Press2022

Toward biocontrol of waterborne pathogens: contributions of protists to virus removal and associated mechanisms

Margot Ninon Lauren Olive

Human viruses are widespread in the water environment and pose a risk to human health. Wastewater effluents represent the main source of viruses discharge in the environment, leading to contamination of aquatic ecosystems. Viral pathogens can persist on th ...

EPFL2022

Identification of broad anti-coronavirus chemical agents for repurposing against SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern

Gerardo Turcatti, Fabien Kuttler, Liliane Yang, Michael Bauer

Endemic human coronaviruses (hCoVs) 229E and OC43 cause respiratory disease with recurrent infections, while severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2 spreads across the world with impact on health and societies. Here, we report an image-based multicy ...

2022

Phylogenetic estimation of the viral fitness landscape of HIV-1 set-point viral load

Jacques Fellay, Luca Ferretti

Set-point viral load (SPVL), a common measure of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 virulence, is partially determined by viral genotype. Epidemiological evidence suggests that this viral property has been under stabilising selection, with a typical opti ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS2022

Highly Potent Host-Specific Small-Molecule Inhibitor of Paramyxovirus and Pneumovirus Replication with High Resistance Barrier

Gerardo Turcatti, Marc Chambon, Damiano Banfi, Jonathan Patrice Vesin

Multiple enveloped RNA viruses of the family Paramyxoviridae and Pneumoviridae, like measles virus (MeV), Nipah virus (NiV), canine distemper virus (CDV), or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), are of high clinical relevance. Each year a huge number of live ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2021

Advances in the development of entry inhibitors for sialic-acid-targeting viruses

Francesco Stellacci, Özgün Kocabiyik, Matteo Gasbarri

Over the past decades, several antiviral drugs have been developed to treat a range of infections. Yet the number of treatable viral infections is still limited, and resistance to current drug regimens is an ever-growing problem. Therefore, additional stra ...

ELSEVIER SCI LTD2021

Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Agents Based on Multivalent Inhibitors of Viral Infectivity

Francesco Stellacci

The ongoing pandemic of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), caused by the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2), highlights the need for broad-spectrum antiviral drugs. In this Essay, it is argued that such agents alrea ...

WILEY2021

Novel broad-spectrum virucidal antivirals

Matteo Gasbarri

The current COVID-19 pandemic has showed the threats that viruses can cause to the whole world. Over 200 million infections and over 4.5 million deaths and enormous socio-economic impact were the output of the emergence of a single new pathogen: SARS-CoV-2 ...

EPFL2021

Structural Basis of Ligand Selectivity by a Bacterial Adhesin Lectin Involved in Multispecies Biofilm Formation

Corey Alfred Stevens

Carbohydrate recognition by lectins governs critical host-microbe interactions. MpPA14 (Marinomonas primoryensis PA14 domain) lectin is a domain of a 1.5-MDa adhesin responsible for a symbiotic bacterium-diatom interaction in Antarctica. Here, we show that ...

Amer Soc Microbiology2021

Sulfonated Nanomaterials with Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Activity Extending beyond Heparan Sulfate-Dependent Viruses

Francesco Stellacci, Valeria Cagno, Matteo Gasbarri, Chiara Medaglia

Viral infections are among the main causes of death worldwide, and we lack antivirals for the majority of viruses. Heparin-like sulfated or sulfonated compounds have been known for decades for their ability to prevent infection by heparan sulfate proteogly ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2020