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Topic Review
mRNA-Based COVID-19 Vaccines Using Lipid Nanoparticles
Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have recently emerged as one of the most advanced technologies for the highly efficient in vivo delivery of exogenous mRNA, particularly for COVID-19 vaccine delivery. LNPs comprise four different lipids: ionizable lipids, helper or neutral lipids, cholesterol, and lipids attached to polyethylene glycol (PEG). Since its first isolation in 1961, mRNA (that encodes the protein of interest) research has taken several paths, which made us understand its diversified functions and modification-mediated potential for therapeutic applications. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, nucleic acid therapeutics (NATs), particularly mRNA vaccines, potentials have been enabled for emerging infectious diseases. The translation of host genetic information (DNA) into proteins by ribosomes in the cytoplasm is mediated by mRNA.
  • 1.3K
  • 31 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Timeline of Measles
This is a timeline of measles, describing major events, such as vaccine releases, historic epidemics, and major organizations.
  • 1.3K
  • 10 Mar 2025
Topic Review
Vaccination Recommendations for Patients with Systemic Sclerosis
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic disease. Vaccines represent one of the safest and most effective means of disease control. 
  • 1.3K
  • 14 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Basophils and Mast Cells in COVID-19 Pathogenesis
Basophils and mast cells are among the principal inducers of Th2 responses and have a crucial role in allergic and anti-parasitic protective immunity. Basophils can function as antigen-presenting cells that bind antigens on their surface and boost humoral immune responses, inducing Th2 cell differentiation. Their depletion results in lower humoral memory activation and greater infection susceptibility. Basophils seem to have an active role upon immune response to SARS-CoV-2. In fact, a coordinate adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 is magnified by basophils. It has been observed that basophil amount is lower during acute disease with respect to the recovery phase and that the grade of this depletion is an important determinant of the antibody response to the virus. Moreover, mast cells, present in a great quantity in the nasal epithelial and lung cells, participate in the first immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Their activation results in a hyperinflammatory syndrome through the release of inflammatory molecules, participating to the “cytokine storm” and, in a longer period, inducing pulmonary fibrosis. 
  • 1.3K
  • 01 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Candidiasis
Candida spp. can be found colonizing the skin, oral mucosa, and/or the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tracts in healthy individuals. Most cases of subsequent disease usually emerge from this endogenous microbiota. Although there are now more than 200 species of Candida identified, only a relatively small and yet not clearly defined number (~10–20) have been reported in the context of disease in children and adults. Historically, C. albicans has been, by far, the most commonly isolated species, although the rates of non-albicans species have variably increased globally, probably due to modifications in prophylactic approaches as well as changes in the characteristics of the most vulnerable patient populations, such as preterm neonates and immunosuppressed children. Overall, Candida infections in children can be divided into two main disease presentations: chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis, which can manifest as oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC, also known as “thrush”), esophagitis, diaper dermatitis, onychomycosis, and/or vulvovaginitis, and invasive candidiasis (IC).
  • 1.3K
  • 02 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Epidemiology of Elizabethkingia spp. Infections in Southeast Asia
Elizabethkingia spp. is a ubiquitous pathogenic bacterium that has been identified as the causal agent for a variety of conditions such as meningitis, pneumonia, necrotizing fasciitis, endophthalmitis, and sepsis and is emerging as a global threat including in Southeast Asia. Elizabethkingia infections tend to be associated with high mortality rates (18.2–41%) and are mostly observed in neonates and immunocompromised patients. Difficulties in precisely identifying Elizabethkingia at the species level by traditional methods have hampered the understanding of this genus in human infections. In Southeast Asian countries, hospital outbreaks have usually been ascribed to E. meningoseptica, whereas in Singapore, E. anophelis was reported as the main Elizabethkingia spp. associated with hospital settings. Misidentification of Elizabethkingia spp. could, however, underestimate the number of cases attributed to the bacterium, as precise identification requires tools such as MALDI-TOF MS, and particularly whole-genome sequencing, which are not available in most hospital laboratories. Elizabethkingia spp. has an unusual antibiotic resistance pattern for a Gram-negative bacterium with a limited number of horizontal gene transfers, which suggests an intrinsic origin for its multidrug resistance.
  • 1.3K
  • 22 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Human Milk Oligosaccharides as Potential Antibiofilm Agents
Bacteria possess a unique capability to form biofilms that are ubiquitous in nature. It is a multistage and elaborate process that begins with bacterial adhesion to surfaces, followed by the synthesis of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) matrix, development of microcolonies, and finally concludes with the dispersion of the bacterial cells from the initial. The morphology of biofilms can be diverse and that mostly relies on the integral bacterial species and the circumstances under which the biofilm was originally formed. The development of biofilms protects the bacteria against enzymatic degradation, antimicrobials, and host defense systems. Population heterogeneity, slow metabolic activity, increased efflux pumps, and presence of persister subpopulations are some of the major factors that reduce antimicrobial susceptibility in biofilms. 
  • 1.2K
  • 08 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Monoclonal Antibodies in COVID-19
Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) are one of the emerging therapeutic agents efficacious for treating infectious diseases such as COVID-19. They are one of the fastest-growing pharmaceuticals and are considered to be highly specific in their action. MAbs are lab-grown antibodies that specifically target the pathogen, causing its destruction immediately.
  • 1.2K
  • 19 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Antituberculosis Targeted Drug Delivery
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the microorganism that causes tuberculosis. The discovery of the antituberculosis agents in the 20th century has managed to improve the recovery rate and reduce the death rate tremendously. However, the conventional antituberculosis therapy is complicated by the development of resistant strains and adverse drug reactions experienced by the patients. Targeted drug delivery may be a potentially useful approach to be developed into clinically accepted treatment modalities. Active targeting utilizes a specifically designed targeting agent to deliver a chemically conjugated drug(s) towards Mtb. Passive targeting is very widely explored, with the development of multiple types of nanoparticles from organic and inorganic materials. The nanoparticles will be engulfed by macrophages and this will eliminate the Mtb that is present in the macrophages, or the encapsulated drug may be released at the sites of infections that may be in the form of intra- and extrapulmonary tuberculosis.
  • 1.2K
  • 24 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Drugs Targeting the A3 Adenosine Receptor
The A3 adenosine receptor (A3AR) is overexpressed in pathological human cells. Piclidenoson and namodenoson are A3AR agonists with high affinity and selectivity to A3AR. Both induce apoptosis of cancer and inflammatory cells via a molecular mechanism entailing deregulation of the Wnt and the NF-κB signaling pathways. 
  • 1.2K
  • 24 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Host-Directed Therapies (HDTs) for the Treatment of COVID-19
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak resulted in hundreds of millions of coronavirus cases, as well as millions of deaths worldwide. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the disease resulting from exposure to this pathogen, is characterized, among other features, by a pulmonary pathology, which can progress to “cytokine storm”, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), respiratory failure and death. An important strategy for protecting against the SARS-CoV-2 infection may rely on clinically evaluated pharmacological-based countermeasures, including host-directed therapies (HDTs), which modulate the endogenic response against the virus.
  • 1.2K
  • 13 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Novel Nanotechnology-Based Approaches for Targeting HIV Reservoirs
Highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) is prescribed for HIV infection and, to a certain extent, limits the infection’s spread. Nanopharmaceuticals offer excellent treatment options for HIV infections by improving the drug potency/efficacy, lowering the dose-related toxicities, and providing active targeting options to the remote HIV reservoirs, leading to the near-total eradication of the virus. Nanopharmaceuticals offer advantages over conventional drug delivery, such as an encapsulation of the drug in nanocarriers, despite its physiochemical properties, providing long-acting treatment options and reducing the dosing because of selective targeting and improvements to the bioavailability of the hydrophobic drugs and adherence of the patients. 
  • 1.2K
  • 15 Sep 2022
Topic Review
PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras-Based Antiviral Strategies
The PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras (PROTAC), a technology for targeted protein degradation, relies on using heterobifunctional molecules to recruit intracellular protein degradation machinery to the intracellular target protein of interest. This chemically-induced proximity between protein degradation machinery and the target POI results in polyubiquitylation and proteasomal degradation of the target protein. Despite the field of PROTAC technology being relatively new, PROTACs have found wide applications not just as a technical tool but also as a therapeutic approach for infectious and non-infectious diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
  • 1.2K
  • 10 May 2023
Topic Review
Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), characterized as reproductive failure in breeding pigs and respiratory distress in pigs of all age, is one of the costliest diseases disturbing the global swine industry.
  • 1.2K
  • 24 May 2021
Topic Review
Robert Koch
Robert Heinrich Hermann Koch was a pioneering German physician and microbiologist whose groundbreaking work laid the foundations for modern bacteriology. He is most renowned for discovering the causative agents of tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax, and for formulating the postulates that define pathogenic organisms in infectious diseases.
  • 1.2K
  • 14 Jul 2025
Topic Review
Camel Milk
Camel milk (CM) constitutes an important dietary source in the hot and arid regions of the world. CM is a colloidal mixture of nutritional components (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, and minerals) and non-nutritional components (hormones, growth factors, cytokines, immunoglobulins, and exosomes). 
  • 1.2K
  • 14 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is a widespread, tick-borne pathogen that causes Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) with high morbidity and mortality. CCHFV is transmitted to humans through tick bites or direct contact with patients or infected animals with viremia. Currently, climate change and globalization have increased the transmission risk of this biosafety level (BSL)-4 virus.
  • 1.2K
  • 04 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Metal and Metal Oxide Nanomaterials
The misuse and mismanagement of antibiotics have made the treatment of bacterial infections a challenge. This challenge is magnified when bacteria form biofilms, which can increase bacterial resistance up to 1000 times. It is desirable to develop anti-infective materials with antibacterial activity and no resistance to drugs. With the rapid development of nanotechnology, anti-infective strategies based on metal and metal oxide nanomaterials have been widely used in antibacterial and antibiofilm treatments.
  • 1.2K
  • 02 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Cytoskeletal Filaments in Coronaviridae
The cytoskeleton is an intricate network of filaments running through the cytoplasm that helps cells to maintain their shape and internal organization. Coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 are intimately involved in cytoskeleton-related physiological and pathological processes. The discovery of the exact mechanisms of the subversion of host cells by SARS-CoV-2 is critical to the validation of specific drug targets and effective treatments.
  • 1.2K
  • 24 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Immune Activation in HIV-1 Infection
Systemic chronic immune activation and CD4+ T-cell depletion characterize the progression of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) infection toward acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
  • 1.2K
  • 31 Jan 2023
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