Ovine trophoblast protein 1 (oTP-1) is the interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) variant with potent antiviral activity and low toxicity that is responsible for maternal recognition of pregnancy in sheep. To examine the structure/function basis for the potent antiviral activity of oTP-1, we have exploited the direct approach of synthetic peptide competition with oTP-1 for receptor, using N-terminal oTP-...

Recombinant interferon alfa, a natural product with growth inhibitory capabilities, has been demonstrated for the first time to have significant therapeutic efficacy in controlling the red cell mass in patients with the myeloproliferative disease polycythemia vera. The starting dose was 3.0 X 10(6) U three times a week, subcutaneously (SC). In three patients the dose required was 5.0 X 10(6), U...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important cause of chronic liver disease. Several highly diverse HCV genotypes exist with potential key functional differences. The HCV NS5A protein was associated with response to interferon (IFN)-α based therapy, and is a primary target of currently developed directly-acting antiviral compounds. NS5A is important for replication and virus production, but has not ...

Coinfection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is common among persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Treatment regimens based on standard interferon α (IFN α) and ribavirin (RBV) are recommended for chronic HCV, but they pose special concerns in patients coinfected with HIV, particularly those patients who are receiving antiretroviral therapy. Recently, several randomized stud...

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, self-administered intranasal human interferon alpha A produced by recombinant DNA technology was given both before and after virus challenge with a respiratory coronavirus. The incidence of colds, the severity of symptoms and signs, and virus replication were all reduced in subjects receiving interferon as compared with those given placebo.

Cytokines affecting mononuclear phagocytes were screened for activation of human macrophages to secrete H2O2 and kill toxoplasmas. In contrast to recombinant interferon-gamma (rIFN gamma), the following factors, tested in partially or highly purified form and over a wide range of concentrations, did not augment these functions: native interferon-alpha (nIFN alpha), rIFN alpha A, rIFN alpha D, r...

Tuning recombinant protein expression is an approach which can be successfully employed for increasing the yield of recombinant protein production in high cell density cultures. On the other hand, most of the previous results reported the optimization induction conditions during batch and continuous culture of recombinant E. coli, and consequently fed-batch culture have received less attention....