Acute adenovirus infections of the eye and respiratory tract continue to be a significant health problem for both immunocompromised and normal individuals. This is due in part to an incomplete understanding of how the virus invades host cells following association with specific receptors (CAR and ?v integrins). In this R21 application, scientists with expertise in biophysical methods and basic molecular virology will team up to unravel the complex process of capsid disassembly that ensues from receptor binding. These studies could provide a guide for investigating how other viruses undergo conformational changes during cell infection and may open up an avenue for designing new antiviral agents to hinder virus host cell entry.
Treatments for adenovirus eye infections are lacking due to a good understanding of host cell interactions. This project seeks to reveal one of the key steps in the virus life cycle, capsid disassembly.
| Nemerow, Glen R; Stewart, Phoebe L (2016) Insights into Adenovirus Uncoating from Interactions with Integrins and Mediators of Host Immunity. Viruses 8: |
| Kremer, Eric J; Nemerow, Glen R (2015) Adenovirus tales: from the cell surface to the nuclear pore complex. PLoS Pathog 11:e1004821 |
| Wiethoff, Christopher M; Nemerow, Glen R (2015) Adenovirus membrane penetration: Tickling the tail of a sleeping dragon. Virology 479-480:591-9 |
