Detection of rotavirus and norovirus among children with acute gastroenteritis in Merida and Chihuahua cities, Mexico

INTRODUCTION

Infantile acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in developing countries. The most frequent etiological agents of viral gastroenteritis in children are adenovirus, astrovirus, rotavirus, and norovirus, the last two, leading causes. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify the presence of these two viruses in children with AGE, from two cities located in the Southeast and the Northwest regions of México.

METHODOLOGY

HuNoVs were detected and characterized by RT-PCR and sequencing, while RVs were detected by RNA electrophoresis.

RESULTS

The presence of RV and HuNoV was evaluated in 81 stool samples; 37 were collected between April and July 2013 from patients with acute diarrhea in Merida, and 44 were collected between January and June 2017 in Chihuahua, who attended health services. Despite vaccination, RV resulted in the predominant viruses detected, with 30.8% (25/81) positivity, while HuNoV infection was present in 8.6% (7/81) of the stool samples; GII strains were identified circulating in the Southeast, while GI strains were identified in the Northwest. Moreover, co-infections with both viruses were detected at a prevalence rate of 2.4% (2/81).

CONCLUSIONS

The circulation of RV and HuNoV in the country is continuous and should be constantly monitored due to their impact on public health.

Epigenetic mechanisms in odontogenic tumors: A literature review

OBJECTIVE

Epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, regulate important biological processes as gene expression and it was suggested that these phenomena play important roles in the carcinogenesis and tumor biology. The aim of this review is to provide the current state of knowledge about epigenetic alterations, focusing mainly on DNA methylation, reported in odontogenic tumors.

DESIGN

Literatures were searched based in the combination of the following keywords: odontogenic tumors, epigenetics, DNA methylation, histone modifications, non-coding RNA, microRNA, DNA methyltransferases. Electronic databases (Medline/PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science) were screened.

RESULTS

The analysis of epigenetic alterations in different tumors has rapidly increased; however, limited information is available about epigenetic mechanisms involved in the formation of odontogenic tumors. DNA methylation is the most studied epigenetic modification in these tumors and the participation of non-coding RNA's in odontogenic tumors has been recently addressed. Differential expression of DNA methyltransferases, altered DNA methylation patterns and aberrant expression of non-coding RNA's were reported in odontogenic tumors.

CONCLUSIONS

Current studies suggest epigenetics as an emerging mechanism, possibly implicated in etiopathogenesis of odontogenic tumors. Deeper understanding of the epigenetic abnormalities in these tumors could show potential applications as biomarkers or therapeutic possibilities in the future.

Low Proteolytic Clipping of Histone H3 in Cervical Cancer

Chromatin in cervical cancer (CC) undergoes chemical and structural changes that alter the expression pattern of genes. Recently, a potential mechanism, which regulates gene expression at transcriptional levels is the proteolytic clipping of histone H3. However, until now this process in CC has not been reported. Using HeLa cells as a model of CC and human samples from patients with CC, we identify that the H3 cleavage was lower in CC compared with control tissue. Additionally, the histone H3 clipping was performed by serine and aspartyl proteases in HeLa cells. These results suggest that histone H3 clipping operates as part of post-translational modification system in CC.

Construction of self-replicating subgenomic dengue virus 4 (DENV4) replicon

Dengue virus serotypes 1-4 are members of mosquito-borne flavivirus genus of Flaviviridae family that encode one long open reading frame (ORF) that is translated to a polyprotein. Both host and virally encoded proteases function in the processing of the polyprotein by co-translational and posttranslational mechanisms to yield 10 mature proteins prior to viral RNA replication. To study cis- and trans-acting factors involved in viral RNA replication, many groups [1-8] have constructed cDNAs encoding West Nile virus (WNV), DENV, or yellow fever virus reporter replicon RNAs. The replicon plasmids constructed in our laboratory for WNV [9] and the DENV4 replicon described here are arranged in the order of 5'-untranslated region (UTR), the N-terminal coding sequence of capsid (C), Renilla luciferase (Rluc) reporter gene with a translation termination codon, and an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) element from encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) for cap-independent translation of the downstream ORF that codes for a polyprotein precursor, CterE-NS1-NS2A-NS2B-NS3-NS4A-NS4B-NS5, followed by the 3'-UTR. In the second DENV4 replicon, the Rluc gene is fused sequentially downstream to the 20 amino acid (aa) FMDV 2A protease coding sequence, neomycin resistance gene (Neo(r)), a termination codon, and the EMCV leader followed by the same polyprotein coding sequence and 3'-UTR as in the first replicon. The first replicon is useful to study by transient transfection experiments the cis-acting elements and trans-acting factors involved in viral RNA replication. The second DENV4 replicon is used to establish a stable monkey kidney (Vero) cell line by transfection of replicon RNA and selection in the presence of the G418, an analog of neomycin. This replicon is useful for screening and identifying antiviral compounds that are potential inhibitors of viral replication.

Construction of a dengue virus type 4 reporter replicon and analysis of temperature-sensitive mutations in non-structural proteins 3 and 5

Replicon systems have been useful to study mechanisms of translation and replication of flavivirus RNAs. In this study, we constructed a dengue virus 4 replicon encoding a Renilla luciferase (R_luc) reporter, and six single-residue substitution mutants were generated: L128F and S158P in the non-structural protein (NS) 3 protease domain gene, and N96I, N390A, K437R and M805I in the NS5 gene. The effects of these substitutions on viral RNA translation and/or replication were examined by measuring R_luc activities in wild-type and mutant replicon RNA-transfected Vero cells incubated at 35, 37 and 39 °C. Our results show that none of the mutations affected translation of replicon RNAs; however, L128F and S158P of NS3 at 39 °C, and N96I of NS5 at 37 and 39 °C, presented temperature-sensitive (ts) phenotypes for replication. Furthermore, using in vitro methyltransferase assays, we identified that the N96I mutation in NS5 exhibited a ts phenotype for N7-methylation, but not for 2′-O-methylation.