• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.303-308
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• 2023

The global climate change and international trade have facilitated the movement of plants across borders, increasing the risk of introducing novel plant viruses in new territories. Ixora coccinea exhibited virus-like foliar symptoms, including mosaic and mild mottle. An Oxford Nanopore Technologies-based compact and portable MinION platform was used to identify the causal viral pathogen. The complete genome sequence of jasmine virus H (JaVH; 3867 nt, JaVH-CNU) was determined and found to share 88.4-90.3% nucleotide identity with that of Jasminum sambac JaVH isolate in China. Phylogenetic analysis based on the complete amino acid sequences of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and coat protein revealed that JaVH-CNU was grouped separately with other JaVH isolates. This is the first report of a natural JaVH infection of I. coccinea. The application of rapid nanopore sequencing for plant virus identification was demonstrated and is expected to provide accurate and rapid diagnosis for virus surveillance.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.12
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• pp.773-780
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• 2010

Cancers are still difficult targets despite recent advances in cancer therapy. Due to the heterogeneity of cancer, a single-treatment modality is insufficient for the complete elimination of cancer cells. Therapeutic strategies from various aspects are needed. Gene therapy has been expected to bring a breakthrough to cancer therapy, but it has not yet been successful. Gene therapy also should be combined with other treatments to enhance multiple therapeutic pathways. In this view, gene delivery vector itself should be equipped with intrinsic anti-cancer activities. HVJ (hemagglutinating virus of Japan; Sendai virus) envelope vector (HVJ-E) was developed to deliver therapeutic molecules. HVJ-E itself possessed anti-tumor activities such as the generation of anti-tumor immunities and the induction of cancer-selective apoptosis. In addition to the intrinsic anti-tumor activities, therapeutic molecules incorporated into HVJ-E enabled to achieve multi-modal therapeutic strategies in cancer treatment. Tumor-targeting HVJ-E was also developed. Thus, HVJ-E will be a novel promising tool for cancer treatment.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.398-410
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• 2011

Over the past few decades, our understanding of the epidemiology and immunopathogenesis of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) has made enormous advances. Consequently, the treatment of HL has changed significantly, rendering this disease of the most curable human cancers. To date, about 80% of patients achieve long-term disease-free survival. However, therapeutic challenges still remain, particularly regarding the salvage strategies for relapsed and refractory disease, which need further identification of better prognostic markers and novel therapeutic schemes. Although the precise molecular mechanism by which Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) contributes to the generation of malignant cells present in HL still remains unknown, current increasing data on the role of EBV in the pathobiology of HL have encouraged people to start developing novel and specific therapeutic strategies for EBV-associated HL. This review will provide an overview of therapeutic approaches for acute EBV infection and the classical form of HL (cHL), especially focusing on EBV-associated HL cases.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.4-10
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• 2023

Herpes zoster (HZ) is a common disease in the aging population and immunocompromised individuals, with a lifetime risk of 20%-30% that increases with age. HZ is caused by reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), which remains latent in the spinal dorsal root ganglia and cranial sensory ganglia after resolution of the primary VZV infection. The main focus of HZ management is rapid recovery from VZV infection as well as the reduction and prevention of zoster-associated pain (ZAP) and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). The use of antivirals against VZV is essential in the treatment of HZ. However, limited antivirals are only licensed clinically for the treatment of HZ, including acyclovir, valacyclovir, famciclovir, brivudine, and amenamevir. Fortunately, some new antivirals against different types of Herpesviridae have been investigated and suggested as novel drugs against VZV. Therefore, this review focuses on discussing the difference in efficacy and safety in the currently licensed antivirals for the treatment of HZ, the applicability of future novel antivirals against VZV, and the preventive or therapeutic effects of these antivirals on ZAP or PHN.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.40.1-40.6
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• 2023

Analysis of the VP1 gene sequence of the foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) is critical to understanding viral evolution and disease epidemiology. A standard set of primers have been used for the detection and sequence analysis of the VP1 gene of FMDV directly from suspected clinical samples with limited success. The study validated VP1-specific degenerate primer-based reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the qualitative detection and sequencing of serotype O FMDV lineages circulating in India. The novel degenerate primer-based RT-PCR amplifying the VP1 gene can circumvent the genetic heterogeneity observed in viruses after cell culture adaptation and facilitate precise viral gene sequence analysis from clinical samples.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.140-147
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• 2004

Urokinase is an enzyme with fibrinolytic activity (plasminogen activator) isolated from fresh urine of healthy men. Viral safety is an important prerequisite for clinical preparation of the protein from urine. In order to increase the viral safety of a high purity urokinase in regard to non-enveloped viruses, a virus removal process using a novel polyvinylidene fluoride membrane filter (Viresolve NFP) has been optimized. Urokinase was able to pass through the filter with recoveries of 95% in the production scale process. No substantial changes were observed in physical and biochemical characteristics of the filtered urokinase in comparison with those of the enzyme before filtration. A 47-mm disk membrane filter was used to simulate the process performance of the production scale cartridges and tested if it could remove several experimental model viruses for human pathogenic viruses, including porcine parvovirus (PPV), human hepatitis A virus (HAV), murine encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV), and bovine herpes virus (BHV). Non-enveloped viruses (PPV, HAV, and EMCV) as well as enveloped viruses (BVDV and BHV) were completely removed during filtration. The log reduction factors achieved were $\geq$4.86 for PPV, $\geq$4.60 for HAV, $\geq$6.87 for EMCV, $\geq$4.60 for BVDV, and $\geq$5.44 for BHV. These results indicate that the virus filtration process successfully improved the viral safety of the final products.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.2017-2022
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• 2014

Novel baculovirus vector systems recombined with coding genes of polyhedron promoter, vesicular stomatitis virus G (VSVG), polyA, cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter, enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), and protein transduction domain (PTD) were constructed. These recombinant baculovirus vector systems were applied into human foreskin fibroblast cells and compared the effects of gene transfer and gene expression of these recombinant baculovirus vector systems with control vector system. From this study, it showed that these novel recombinant baculovirus vector systems were superior efficacy to control vector system in view of gene transfer and gene expression.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.653-658
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• 2012

After the outbreak of the swine-origin influenza A H1N1 virus in April 2009, World Health Organization declared this novel H1N1 virus as the first pandemic influenza virus (2009 pH1N1) of the $21^{st}$ century. To elucidate the characteristics of 2009 pH1N1, the growth properties of A/Korea/01/09 (K/09) was analyzed in cells. Interestingly, the maximal titer of K/09 was higher than that of a seasonal H1N1 virus isolated in Korea 2008 (S/08) though the RNP complex of K/09 was less competent than that of S/08. In addition, the NS1 protein of K/09 was determined as a weak interferon antagonist as compared to that of S/08. Thus, in order to confine genetic determinants of K/09, activities of two major surface glycoproteins were analyzed. Interestingly, K/09 possesses highly reactive NA proteins and weak HA cell-binding avidity. These findings suggest that the surface glycoproteins might be a key factor in the features of 2009 pH1N1.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.120-125
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• 2010

Dysfunction of the virus-specific T cells is a cardinal feature in chronic persistent viral infections such as one caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV). In chronic HCV infection, virus-specific dysfunctional CD8 T cells often overexpress various inhibitory receptors. Programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) was the first among these inhibitory receptors that were identified to be overexpressed in functionally impaired T cells. The roles of other inhibitory receptors such as cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) and T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-containing molecule 3 (Tim-3) have also been demonstrated in T-cell dysfunctions that occur in chronic HCV patients. Blocking these inhibitory receptors in vitro restores the functions of HCV-specific CD8 T cells and allows enhanced proliferation, cytolytic activity and cytokine production. Therefore, the blockade of the inhibitory receptors is considered as a novel strategy for the treatment of chronic HCV infection.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.575-579
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• 2018

Apple stem grooving virus (ASGV) is considered to cause the most economically important viral disease in pears in Korea. The current PCR-based methods used to diagnose ASGV are time-consuming in terms of target detection. In this study, a novel assay for specific ASGV detection that is based on reverse transcription-recombinase polymerase amplification is described. This assay has been shown to be reproducible and able to detect as little as $4.7ng/{\mu}l$ of purified RNA obtained from an ASGV-infected plant. The major advantage of this assay is that the reaction for the target virus is completed in 1 min, and amplification only requires an incubation temperature of $42^{\circ}C$. This assay is a promising alternative method for pear breeding programs or virus-free certification laboratories.