Antiviral Research projects
The Antiviral Research ranges over the following topics:
Research and development of antiviral small molecules, investigation of their mechanism of action and preclinical development;
Studies on virus-cell interactions in order to deepen the knowledge on the viral pathogenesis and to identify new pharmacological targets;
Research and development of innovative formulations based on nanocarriers for the delivery of known antiviral drugs to overcome the challenges associated with antiviral delivery;
Antiviral studies in the fields of Ethnomedicine, Phytomedicine and Nutraceuticals in order to discover bioactive compounds in plants, natural sources and dairy products;
Studies on the antiviral properties of human milk and colostrum in order to unravel novel mechanisms underlying the protective role of human milk and study the impact of milk processing on its antiviral activity;
Research of new antiviral materials to develop novel strategies counteracting the diffusion of respiratory viruses
Study of the neutralization activity of human serum samples against pseudovirions.
Selected publications
Cagno, V.; Andreozzi, P.; D’Alicarnasso, M.; Jacob Silva, P.; Mueller, M.; Galloux, M.; Le Goffic, R.; Jones, S. T.; Vallino, M.; Hodek, J.; Weber, J.; Sen, S.; Janeček, E.-R.; Bekdemir, A.; Sanavio, B.; Martinelli, C.; Donalisio, M.; Rameix Welti, M.-A.; Eleouet, J.-F.; Han, Y.; Kaiser, L.; Vukovic, L.; Tapparel, C.; Král, P.; Krol, S.; Lembo, D.; Stellacci, F. Broad-Spectrum Non-Toxic Antiviral Nanoparticles with a Virucidal Inhibition Mechanism. Nat Mater 2018, 17 (2), 195–203. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat5053.
Civra, A.; Francese, R.; Gamba, P.; Testa, G.; Cagno, V.; Poli, G.; Lembo, D. 25-Hydroxycholesterol and 27-Hydroxycholesterol Inhibit Human Rotavirus Infection by Sequestering Viral Particles into Late Endosomes. Redox Biol 2018, 19, 318–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2018.09.003.
Francese, R.; Civra, A.; Rittà, M.; Donalisio, M.; Argenziano, M.; Cavalli, R.; Mougharbel, A. S.; Kortz, U.; Lembo, D. Anti-Zika Virus Activity of Polyoxometalates. Antiviral Res 2019, 163, 29–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2019.01.005.
Donalisio, M.; Leone, F.; Civra, A.; Spagnolo, R.; Ozer, O.; Lembo, D.; Cavalli, R. Acyclovir-Loaded Chitosan Nanospheres from Nano-Emulsion Templating for the Topical Treatment of Herpesviruses Infections. Pharmaceutics 2018, 10 (2), E46. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics10020046.
Francese, R.; Donalisio, M.; Rittà, M.; Capitani, F.; Mantovani, V.; Maccari, F.; Tonetto, P.; Moro, G. E.; Bertino, E.; Volpi, N.; Lembo, D. Human Milk Glycosaminoglycans Inhibit Cytomegalovirus and Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infectivity by Impairing Cell Binding. Pediatr Res 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02091-y.
Civra, A., Costantino, M., Cavalli, R., Adami, M., Volante, M., Poli, G., Lembo, D., 2022. 27-Hydroxycholesterol Inhibits Rhinovirus Replication in Vitro and on Human Nasal and Bronchial Histocultures without Selecting Viral Resistant Variants. Antiviral Res 2022 Aug, 204:105368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2022.105368.
Sureram, S.; Arduino, I.; Ueoka, R.; Rittà, M.; Francese, R.; Srivibool, R.; Darshana, D.; Piel, J.; Ruchirawat, S.; Muratori, L.; Lembo, D.; Kittakoop, P.; Donalisio, M.. The Peptide A-3302-B Isolated from a Marine Bacterium Micromonospora sp. Inhibits HSV-2 Infection by Preventing the Viral Egress from Host Cells. Int J Mol Sci 2022, 23(2), 947. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23020947.
