Astrovirus Vaccines
Creative Biolabs is a world leader in the field of viral vaccine development. With our extensive experience and advanced platform, we are therefore confident in offering the best vaccine development services for Astrovirus. We guarantee the finest results for our customers all over the world.
Astrovirus is a type of virus that was first discovered in 1975 using electron microscopes following an outbreak of diarrhea in humans. Humans Astroviruses have now been isolated from numerous mammalian animal species and from avian species such as chickens, ducks, and turkey poults. Astroviruses are 28–35 nm diameter, icosahedral viruses that have a characteristic fivepointed or sixpointed star-like surface structure when imaged by electron microscopy. Astrovirus has a non-segmented, single stranded and positive sense RNA genome within a non-enveloped icosahedral capsid. Human Astroviruses have been shown in numerous studies to be an essential cause of gastroenteritis in young children worldwide.
Fig.1 Replication cycle of human Astroviruses.
Epidemiology of Astrovirus Infection
Astroviruses are found in humans, lambs, calves, deer, piglets, mice, dogs and ducks, causing diarrhoea in most cases except for ducks, in which they cause acute hepatitis. Astroviruses are very species-specific. Human Astrovirus infections are seen in infants and the elderly as endemic infections and occasionally as the cause of food-borne outbreaks of diarrhoea. The seasonal incidence peak is in the winter. Transmission is via the faecal–oral route, person-to-person contact and possibly fomites. The individuals can become infected by more than one serotype. Astrovirus infection is frequent in childhood (often inapparent), and 75% of 10-year-old children have Astrovirus antibodies. A high percentage (15%) of cases of diarrhoea in HIV infected individuals is due to Astrovirus infection. Large food-borne outbreaks of Astrovirus gastroenteritis have been recorded. The main mode of Astrovirus transmission is by contaminated food and water. Young children in childcare backgrounds or adults in military barracks are most likely to develop the disease.
Pathogenesis of Astrovirus Infection
Astroviruses cause gastroenteritis by destroying the intestinal epithelium, leading to the inhibition of usual absorption mechanism, loss of secretory functions, and decrease in epithelial permeability in the intestines. Inflammatory responses were seen to not have an impact on Astrovirus pathogenesis. This is mainly deduced from studies of in vitro infected cells and of experimental animals. Adsorption occurs through a cellular receptor likely to contain sialic acid, and replication takes place in the cytoplasm. Animals infected with species-specific Astroviruses (lambs, calves) show infection of mature enterocytes (at the tip of the villi) of the small intestine at 14–38 h postinfection and diarrhoea is observed on days 2–4.
The Development of Astrovirus Vaccines
In spite of differences in their genetic origins and classifications, Noroviruses, astroviruses, and Hepatitis E viruses share important genetic, structural, and antigenic features. All of them are non-enveloped RNA viruses covered by a protein capsid, featuring surface protruding (P) proteins that are responsible for virus–host interaction. These dimeric P protein selicit neutralizing antibody and are good targets for subunit vaccine development. Creative Biolabs is developing a trivalent vaccine against Noroviruses, astroviruses, and Hepatitis E viruses, which is a promising vaccine candidate.
Creative Biolabs is pleased to share our cutting-edge technology and extensive expertise in the field of Astrovirus vaccines development and has focused on the viral vaccines for years. We can offer high-quality customized services by adjusting protocols to meet even the most specific requirements. If you are interested in our services, please contact us for more details.
Reference
- Bosch A. (2014). “Human astroviruses”. Clinical microbiology reviews, 27(4), 1048-1074.
All of our products can only be used for research purposes. These vaccine ingredients CANNOT be used directly on humans or animals.
