Parnad Basu, Amity University Kolkata
CMV retinitis (cytomegalovirus retinitis) is an inflammation of the retina of the eye which can lead to blindness. CMV retinitis is caused by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). CMV retinitis is mainly an AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) related opportunistic disease, some cases also report it during bone marrow transfer. Scientists studying AIDS-related HCMV retinitis have found that it has certain similarities with MAIDS (mice with retrovirus-induced immunodeficiency) related MCMV (murine cytomegalovirus).
Recently, scientists tried to compare and identify the extraordinary number of immune response genes. When the MAIDS related MCMV retinitis is evolving – these genes are all-time expressed inside the ocular compartment. Mice at different stages of MAIDS shows a difference in the susceptibility to full-thickness retinal necrosis while comparing to the healthy mice having MCMV. Also, that mice having MAIDS culminates severe retinal necrosis in 10 days after inoculation. To study further, mice were divided into three groups healthy mice, MAIDS-4 mice (MAIDS of 4 weeks duration), MAIDS-10 mice (MAIDS of 10 weeks duration) where all of them were MCMV infected. After assessing using Nanostring nsolver software it was observed that healthy, MAIDS-4 and MAIDS-10 mice are upregulating 17, 83, 92 genes, and downregulating 15, 4, 54 genes respectively. Using the Nanostring nCounter assay, scientists received at times unexpected information on the pathogenesis of MAIDS related MCMV retinitis. Further studies on this topic can open a new path to understanding AIDS-related HCMV retinitis along with other AIDS-related opportunistic viruses.
Also read:Sandwich ELISA for detecting Canine Distemper virus
Reference:- Transcriptional analysis of immune response genes during the pathogenesis of cytomegalovirus retinitis in mice with murine acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, Jessica J. Carter, Jesse M. Gardner, Brent P. Poling, Madeline M. Welch, Judee Grace E. Nemeno, John E. Houghton, Richard D. Dix https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009032
Recent Updates on Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine (mRNA-1273)
Sayan Roy, Pondicherry University mRNA-1273 is a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, designed to fight against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is developed by a US-based pharmaceutical company- Moderna, in association with NIAID Vaccine Research Center. The mRNA-1273 vaccine encodes for the SARS-CoV-2 full-length spike glycoprotein trimer ‘S-2P’, but modified to incorporate two proline substitutions […]