Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is the prototype of the genus Coronavirus. It causes a highly contagious disease which affects the respiratory, reproductive, neurological and renal systems of chickens, resulting great economic losses in the poultry industry worldwide. The coronavirus (CoV) main protease (M(pro)), which plays a pivotal role in viral gene expression and replication through a hi...

severe acute respiratory syndrome (sars) is a fetal communicable respiratory disease, known as atypical pneumonia. this disease first appeared in china on november 2002 and spread very fast in various parts of the world especially in asia. number of reported cases of sars from november 2002 to may 2003 were about 8046 of which 6825 patients died. sars is caused by coronavirus, and symptoms of d...

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a highly contagious and life-threatening disease that emerged in China in November 2002. A novel SARS-associated coronavirus was identified as its principal etiologic agent; however, the immunopathogenesis of SARS and the role of special CTLs in virus clearance are still largely uncharacterized. In this study, potential HLA-A*0201-restricted spike (S)...

A novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV), has been identified as the causal agent of SARS. Spike (S) protein is a major structural glycoprotein of the SARS virus and a potential target for SARS-specific cell-mediated immune responses. A panel of S protein-derived peptides was tested for their binding affinity to HLA-A*0201 molecules. Peptid...

The early release of cytokines by cells involved in innate immunity is an important host response to intracellular pathogens. Gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) is an important cytokine produced during the early stages of an infection by macrophages, natural killer (NK) cells, and other cell types, and it is also a central cytokine mediator for the induction of cellular or Th1 immunity. To better und...

Clinical data from 488 cats (1979-2000) with histopathologically confirmed feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) and 620 comparable controls were evaluated retrospectively to assess the value of several diagnostic tests frequently used in the evaluation of cats with suspected FIP. Diagnostic utility of serum albumin to globulin ratio for the diagnosis of FIP was greater than of the utility of ser...

The pathogenesis of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) remains unclear. Macrophages are key sentinel cells in the respiratory system, and it is therefore relevant to compare the responses of human macrophages to infections with the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and other respiratory viruses. Primary human monocyte-derived macrophages were infected with SARS-CoV in vitro. Virus replication w...

Abbreviations: BtCoV-HKU4: Bat Coronavirus HKU4; BtCoVHKU5: Bat Coronavirus HKU5; DPP4: DiPeptidyl Peptidase 4; ECDC: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control; HACE2: Human Angiotenssion Converting Enzyme 2; HCoV-229E: Human Coronavirus 229E; HCoV-HKU1: Human Coronavirus HKU1; HCoVNL63: Human coronavirus NL63; HCoV-OC43: Human Coronavirus OC43; HCP: HealthCare Personnel; HCW: Health C...

Sir—Viruses have evolved various strategies to counteract host-cell processes, notably our immune responses toward their invasion. Oleszak and colleagues reported that the spike proteins of coronaviruses, particularly the mouse hepatitis virus, bovine coronavirus, and transmissible gastroenteritis virus, display Fc gamma receptor activity. Such molecular mimicry of components of our own immune ...