Despite the success of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), HIV persists in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) due to emerging drug resistance and insufficient drug accessibility. Furthermore, cART does not target latently-infected CD4+ T cells, which represent a major barrier to HIV eradication. The “shock and kill” therapeutic approach aims to reactivate provirus expression in latently-infected cells in the presence of cART and target virus-expressing cells for elimination. An attractive therapeutic prototype in LMICs would therefore be capable of simultaneously inhibiting viral replication and inducing latency reversal. Here we report that Gnidia sericocephala, which is used by traditional health practitioners in South Africa for HIV/AIDS management to supplement cART, contains at least four daphnane-type compounds (yuanhuacine A (1), yuanhuacine as part of a mixture (2), yuanhuajine (3), and gniditrin (4)) that inhibit viral replication and/or reverse HIV latency. For example, 1 and 2 inhibit HIV replication in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) by >80% at 0.08 µg/mL, while 1 further inhibits a subtype C virus in PBMC with a half-maximal effective concentration (EC₅₀) of 0.03 µM without cytotoxicity. Both 1 and 2 also reverse HIV latency in vitro consistent with protein kinase C activation but at 16.7-fold lower concentrations than the control prostratin. Both 1 and 2 also reverse latency in primary CD4+ T cells from cART-suppressed donors with HIV similar to prostratin but at 6.7-fold lower concentrations. These results highlight G. sericocephala and components 1 and 2 as anti-HIV agents for improving cART efficacy and supporting HIV cure efforts in resource-limited regions.

Numerous mammalian viruses are routinely analyzed in clinical diagnostic laboratories around the globe or serve as indispensable model systems in viral research. Potentially infectious viral entities are handled as blood, biopsies, or cell and tissue culture samples. Countless protocols describe methods for virus fixation and inactivation, yet for many, a formal proof of safety and completeness of inactivation remains to be shown. While modern nucleic acid extraction methods work quite effectively, data are largely lacking on possible residual viral infectivity, e.g., when assessed after extended culture times, which maximizes the sensitivity for low levels of residual infectiousness. Therefore, we examined the potency and completeness of inactivation procedures on virus-containing specimens when applying commonly used fixatives like formaldehyde or nucleic acid extraction/lysis buffers. Typical representatives of different virus classes, including RNA and DNA viruses, enveloped and non-enveloped, such as adenovirus, enterovirus, lentivirus, and coronavirus, were used, and the reduction in the in vitro infectiousness was assessed for standard protocols. Overall, a 30-minute incubation with formaldehyde at room temperature effectively inactivated all tested enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. Full inactivation of HIV-1 and ECHO-11 was also achieved with all buffers in the test, whereas for SARS-CoV-2 and AdV-5, only five of the seven lysis buffers were fully effective under the tested conditions.

Vaccines have played a central role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, but newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants are increasingly evading first-generation vaccine protection. To address this challenge, we designed “single-cycle infection SARS-CoV-2 viruses” (SCVs) that lack essential viral genes, possess distinctive immune-modulatory features, and exhibit an excellent safety profile in the Syrian hamster model. Animals intranasally vaccinated with an Envelope-gene-deleted vaccine candidate were fully protected against an autologous challenge with the SARS-CoV-2 virus through systemic and mucosal humoral immune responses. Additionally, the deletion of immune-downregulating viral genes in the vaccine construct prevented challenge virus transmission to contact animals. Moreover, vaccinated animals displayed neither tissue inflammation nor lung damage. Consequently, SCVs hold promising potential to induce potent protection against COVID-19, surpassing the immunity conferred by natural infection, as demonstrated in human immune cells.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), has spread worldwide, affecting over 250 million people and resulting in over five million deaths. Antivirals that are effective are still limited. The antiviral activities of the Petasites hybdridus CO₂ extract Ze 339 were previously reported. Thus, to assess the anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of Ze 339 as well as isopetasin and neopetasin as major active compounds, a CPE and plaque reduction assay in Vero E6 cells was used for viral output. Antiviral effects were tested using the original virus (Wuhan) and the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. The antiviral drug remdesivir was used as control. Pre-treatment with Ze 339 in SARS-CoV-2-infected Vero E6 cells with either virus variant significantly inhibited virus replication with IC₅₀ values of 0.10 and 0.40 μg/mL, respectively. The IC₅₀ values obtained for isopetasin ranged between 0.37 and 0.88 μM for both virus variants, and that of remdesivir ranged between 1.53 and 2.37 μM. In conclusion, Ze 339 as well as the petasins potently inhibited SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro of the Wuhan and Delta variants. Since time is of essence in finding effective treatments, clinical studies will have to demonstrate if Ze339 can become a therapeutic option to treat SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Purpose: The prospective Viral load Cohort North-East Lesotho (VICONEL) aims to support clinical management and generate scientific evidence to inform HIV care. Specifically, VICONEL allows for the monitoring of HIV treatment outcomes and health system performance, encompasses a biobank for further research with routinely collected blood plasma samples of consenting participants and provides a valuable framework for nested observational and interventional studies. Participants: VICONEL captures routine viral load test results alongside associated demographic and treatment information among people in care for HIV in Lesotho, southern Africa. As of December 2023, it encompasses all viral load testing from 24 healthcare facilities in two districts of Lesotho. Findings to date: From January 2016 to December 2023, 137 660 viral load test results were available for 29 380 participants. At the time of the last viral load test, median age was 42 years (IQR: 33–53); 18 511 (63%) were adult women, 10 029 (34%) adult men and 835 (3%) children <15 years (age/sex missing for 5) and median time taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) was 6.4 years (IQR 3.2–9.9). Overall, the proportion of cohort participants with viral suppression to <1000 copies/mL has continually exceeded 90% and has been above 95% since 2020; however, this proportion has consistently been lower among children. Sex, age category/ART regimen core agent (combined variable), time since ART initiation and district were independently associated with viraemia. Future plans: VICONEL offers potential for (1) further digitalisation and automation of results sharing at the client, facility and district/national level, (2) integration of additional clinical and diagnostic data, including comorbidities and drug resistance and (3) embedding randomised trials.

Reverse genetic systems enable the engineering of RNA virus genomes and are instrumental in studying RNA virus biology. With the recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, already established methods were challenged by the large genome of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Herein we present an elaborated strategy for the rapid and straightforward rescue of recombinant plus-stranded RNA viruses with high sequence fidelity using the example of SARS-CoV-2. The strategy called CLEVER (CLoning-free and Exchangeable system for Virus Engineering and Rescue) is based on the intracellular recombination of transfected overlapping DNA fragments allowing the direct mutagenesis within the initial PCR-amplification step. Furthermore, by introducing a linker fragment – harboring all heterologous sequences – viral RNA can directly serve as a template for manipulating and rescuing recombinant mutant virus, without any cloning step. Overall, this strategy will facilitate recombinant SARS-CoV-2 rescue and accelerate its manipulation. Using our protocol, newly emerging variants can quickly be engineered to further elucidate their biology. To demonstrate its potential as a reverse genetics platform for plus-stranded RNA viruses, the protocol has been successfully applied for the cloning-free rescue of recombinant Chikungunya and Dengue virus.