Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is closely related to various cellular aspects associated with autophagy. However, how SARS-CoV-2 mediates the subversion of the macroautophagy/autophagy pathway remains largely unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that overexpression of the SARS-CoV-2 ORF7a protein activates LC3-II and leads to the accumulation of autophagosomes in multiple cell lines, while knockdown of the viral ORF7a gene via shRNAs targeting ORF7a sgRNA during SARS-CoV-2 infection decreased autophagy levels. Mechanistically, the ORF7a protein initiates autophagy via the AKT-MTOR-ULK1‐mediated pathway, but ORF7a limits the progression of autophagic flux by activating CASP3 (caspase 3) to cleave the SNAP29 protein at aspartic acid residue 30 (D30), ultimately impairing complete autophagy. Importantly, SARS-CoV-2 infection-induced accumulated autophagosomes promote progeny virus production, whereby ORF7a downregulates SNAP29, ultimately resulting in failure of autophagosome fusion with lysosomes to promote viral replication. Taken together, our study reveals a mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 utilizes the autophagic machinery to facilitate its own propagation via ORF7a.

Oncolytic viruses have been proposed to be employed as a potential treatment of cancer. Well targeted, they will serve the purpose of cracking tumor cells without causing damage to normal cells. In this category of oncolytic viral drugs human pathogens herpes simplex virus (HSV) is especially suitable for the cause. Although most viral infection causes antiviral reaction in the host, HSV has multiple mechanisms to evade those responses. Powerful anti-tumor effect can thus be achieved via genetic manipulation of the HSV genes involved in this evading mechanism, namely deletions or mutations that adapt its function towards a tumor microenvironment. Currently, oncolytic HSV (oHSV) is widely use in clinical; moreover, there’s hope that its curative effect will be further enhanced through the combination of oHSV with both traditional and emerging therapeutics. In this review, we provide a summary of the HSV host antiviral response evasion mechanism, HSV expresses immune evasion genes such as ICP34.5, ICP0, Us3, which are involved in inducing and activating host responses, so that the virus can evade the immune system and establish effective long-term latent infection; we outlined details of the oHSV strains generated by removing genes critical to viral replication such as ICP34.5, ICP0, and inserting therapeutic genes such as LacZ, granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF); security and limitation of some oHSV such G207, 1716, OncoVEX, NV1020, HF10, G47 in clinical application; and the achievements of oHSV combined with immunotherapy and chemotherapy. We reviewed the immunotherapy mechanism of the oHSV and provided a series of cases. We also pointed out that an in-depth study of the application of oHSV in cancer treatment will potentially benefits cancer patients more.

Extensive studies have demonstrated roles of DDIT3 in apoptosis and autophagy during viral infection. However, the role of DDIT3 in innate immunity remains largely unknown.

Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus (IBRV) is a major pathogen in cattle and has led to significant economic losses to the dairy industry worldwide, and therefore a more optimal method for the rapid diagnosis of IBRV infection is highly needed. In this study, we described the development of a lateral flow dipstrip (LFD) of isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) method for rapid detection of IBRV. Distinct regions were selected as a candidate target for designing the LFD-RPA primers and probes. The analytical sensitivity of the RPA assay was determined using ten-fold serially diluted IBRV DNA. The specificity of the assay was assessed with other viral pathogens of cattle with similar clinic and other herpesviruses. The clinical performance was evaluated by testing 106 acute-phase high fever clinical specimens. RPA primers and probe were designed to target the specific conserved UL52 region fragment of IBRV. The detection could be completed at a constant temperature of 38 °C for 25 min, and the amplification products were easily visualized on a simple LFD. The detection limit of this assay was 5 copies per reaction of IBRV DNA and there was no cross-reactivity with other viruses causing bovine gastrointestinal and respiratory infections or other herpesviruses. The assay performance on acute-phase high fever clinical samples collected from cattle with no vaccine against IBRV, which were suspected to be infected with IBRV, was validated by detecting 24 fecal, 36 blood, 38 nasal swab and 8 tissue specimens, and compared with SYBR Green I based real-time PCR. The coincidence between IBRV LFD-RPA and real-time PCR was 100%. IBRV LFD-RPA was fast and much easier to serve as an alternative to the common measures used for IBRV diagnosis, as there is reduction in the use of instruments for identification of the infected animals. In addition, this assay may be the potential candidate to be used as point-of-care diagnostics in the field.

The bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) glycoprotein neutralization site 1 (also referred as G1 protein), is a critical protein responsible for virus infectivity and eliciting immune-protection, however, binding peptides of BEFV G1 protein are still unclear. Thus, the aim of the present study was to screen specific polypeptides, which bind BEFV G1 protein with high-affinity and inhibit BEFV replication. The purified BEFV G1 was coated and then reacted with the M13-based Ph.D.-7 phage random display library. The peptides for target binding were automated sequenced after four rounds of enrichment biopanning. The amino acid sequences of polypeptide displayed on positive clones were deduced and the affinity of positive polypeptides with BEFV G1 was assayed by ELISA. Then the roles of specific G1-binding peptides in the context of BEFV infection were analyzed. The results showed that 27 specific peptide ligands displaying 11 different amino acid sequences were obtained, and the T18 and T25 clone had a higher affinity to G1 protein than the other clones. Then their antiviral roles of two phage clones (T25 and T18) showed that both phage polypeptide T25 and T18 exerted inhibition on BEFV replication compared to control group. Moreover, synthetic peptide based on T18 (HSIRYDF) and T25 (YSLRSDY) alone or combined use on BEFV replication showed that the synthetic peptides could effectively inhibit the formation of cytopathic plaque and significantly inhibit BEFV RNA replication in a dose-dependent manner. Two antiviral peptide ligands binding to bovine ephemeral fever virus G1 protein from phage display peptide library were identified, which may provide a potential research tool for diagnostic reagents and novel antiviral agents.