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Rusnati M, Chiodelli P, Bugatti A, Urbinati C. Bridging the past and the future of virology: surface plasmon resonance as a powerful tool to investigate virus/host interactions. Crit Rev Microbiol 2013; 41:238-60. [PMID: 24059853 DOI: 10.3109/1040841x.2013.826177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Despite decades of antiviral drug research and development, viruses still remain a top global healthcare problem. Compared to eukaryotic cells, viruses are composed by a limited numbers of proteins that, nevertheless, set up multiple interactions with cellular components, allowing the virus to take control of the infected cell. Each virus/host interaction can be considered as a therapeutical target for new antiviral drugs but, unfortunately, the systematic study of a so huge number of interactions is time-consuming and expensive, calling for models overcoming these drawbacks. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a label-free optical technique to study biomolecular interactions in real time by detecting reflected light from a prism-gold film interface. Launched 20 years ago, SPR has become a nearly irreplaceable technology for the study of biomolecular interactions. Accordingly, SPR is increasingly used in the field of virology, spanning from the study of biological interactions to the identification of putative antiviral drugs. From the literature available, SPR emerges as an ideal link between conventional biological experimentation and system biology studies functional to the identification of highly connected viral or host proteins that act as nodal points in virus life cycle and thus considerable as therapeutical targets for the development of innovative antiviral strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Rusnati
- Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia , Brescia , Italy
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Ramadanovic B, Vasarhelyi K, Nadaf A, Wittenberg RW, Montaner JSG, Wood E, Rutherford AR. Changing risk behaviours and the HIV epidemic: a mathematical analysis in the context of treatment as prevention. PLoS One 2013; 8:e62321. [PMID: 23671592 PMCID: PMC3646049 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2012] [Accepted: 03/21/2013] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Expanding access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has become an important approach to HIV prevention in recent years. Previous studies suggest that concomitant changes in risk behaviours may either help or hinder programs that use a Treatment as Prevention strategy. Analysis We consider HIV-related risk behaviour as a social contagion in a deterministic compartmental model, which treats risk behaviour and HIV infection as linked processes, where acquiring risk behaviour is a prerequisite for contracting HIV. The equilibrium behaviour of the model is analysed to determine epidemic outcomes under conditions of expanding HAART coverage along with risk behaviours that change with HAART coverage. We determined the potential impact of changes in risk behaviour on the outcomes of Treatment as Prevention strategies. Model results show that HIV incidence and prevalence decline only above threshold levels of HAART coverage, which depends strongly on risk behaviour parameter values. Expanding HAART coverage with simultaneous reduction in risk behaviour act synergistically to accelerate the drop in HIV incidence and prevalence. Above the thresholds, additional HAART coverage is always sufficient to reverse the impact of HAART optimism on incidence and prevalence. Applying the model to an HIV epidemic in Vancouver, Canada, showed no evidence of HAART optimism in that setting. Conclusions Our results suggest that Treatment as Prevention has significant potential for controlling the HIV epidemic once HAART coverage reaches a threshold. Furthermore, expanding HAART coverage combined with interventions targeting risk behaviours amplify the preventive impact, potentially driving the HIV epidemic to elimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bojan Ramadanovic
- The IRMACS Centre, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Krisztina Vasarhelyi
- British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Ali Nadaf
- The IRMACS Centre, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
- Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Ralf W. Wittenberg
- Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Julio S. G. Montaner
- British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Division of AIDS, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Evan Wood
- British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Division of AIDS, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Alexander R. Rutherford
- The IRMACS Centre, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
- Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
- * E-mail:
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