Viral Infectious Diseases

Viral Infectious Diseases

HIV Research

HIV attacks the body’s immune system and if not treated, can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).

The UNAIDS 2019 Report stated that there were 37.9 million people living with HIV globally, with 1.7 million new HIV diagnoses and 770,000 deaths associated with AIDS-related illness during that year.

Major global efforts have been mounted to address the HIV epidemic in the last 20 years and significant progress has been made.

The number of people newly infected with HIV, and the number of deaths associated with AIDS-related illness have declined over the years, and the number of people living with HIV receiving treatment increased to 25.4 million in 2019.

ProSci’s innovative approach to HIV research, using genetically engineered yeast strain and glycoproteins to mimic the HIV-1 glycan coat and to develop neutralising antibodies against HIV-1 glycans has been awarded several Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants by NIH.

SARS-CoV-2

Human coronaviruses (HCoVs), including HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63, and HCoV-HKU1, are traditionally known to cause symptoms of the common cold with only moderate clinical impact.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) arose in 2004 and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2014. These, on the other hand, have highly fatal human pathogens leading to considerable mortality and economic loss.

While recent studies have shed light upon the zoonotic origin of emerging human pathogens including SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, the emergence of SARS Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV), the causative agent of the COVID-19 global pandemic, was not predicted.

To serve biomedical research, ProSci offers a wide variety of antibodies and recombinant proteins as research reagents to study Coronaviruses (CoV).

Antibodies specific for point mutations in the Spike protein unique to variants of concern, including Omicron and Delta, are available.

Many of these coronavirus research reagents have been cited in multiple studies, showing that they have been used in real-world studies by scientists.

Influenza Antibodies

Influenza is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. It can cause mild to severe illness and serious outcomes of flu infection can result in hospitalisation or death. There are 4 species of influenza viruses:

  1.  (IAV; genus, Alphainfluenzavirus)
  2.  (IBV; Betainfluenzavirus)
  3.  (ICV; Gammainfluenzavirus)
  4.  (IDV; Deltainfluenzavirus)

IAV and IBV cause seasonal epidemics of disease (known as the flu season). Influenza A viruses are the only influenza viruses known to cause flu pandemics and are responsible for most cases of severe illness of “the flu”.

Influenza A viruses are divided into subtypes based on the two surface proteins of the virus: hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). One way influenza viruses change is called “antigenic drift.”, which results from mutations in the genes of the two surface proteins. The small changes that occur from antigenic drift usually produce viruses that are closely related to one another and therefore have similar antigenic properties.

Conversely, “antigenic shift” causes an abrupt, major change in influenza A virus, resulting in new H and/or new H and N proteins, which can infect humans. One way shift can happen is when an influenza virus from an animal population gains the ability to infect humans. Such animal-origin viruses can contain an H or H/N combination that is so different from the same subtype in humans that most people do not have immunity to the new virus. Such a “shift” occurred in the spring of 2009 when an H1N1 virus with genes from North American Swine, Eurasian Swine, humans, and birds emerged to infect people and quickly spread, causing a pandemic. When shift happens, most people have little or no immunity against the new virus.

ProSci offers influenza research reagents for research including influenza A detection sets, influenza matched pair antibodies (for influenza A and B), and more antibodies and recombinant proteins for the different strains of influenza viral antigen.


Information originally posted on https://www.prosci-inc.com/viral-infectious-diseases/

Caltag Medsystems is the distributor of ProSci products in the UK & Ireland. If you have any questions about these products, please contact us.

Viral Infectious Diseases
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