Viral Warfare: Targeting and Conquering

Multiple viral pandemics have emerged as a new problem for the current healthcare system since the beginning of the 21st century. It is worth to note that one of the key methods for preventing viral infections is vaccines, which operate by training the human body’s immune system to recognize and fight against the virus rather than directly targeting virus itself. Approximately, 350,000 people in Canada have chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and about 820,000 people worldwide die every year from complications such as liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Several vaccines are available in market for HBV however there is a necessity to develop new strategies that can directly kill viruses. One of the ways to accomplish this involves development of specific antivirals that can strike the virus’s promoter region, which is responsible for the replication and proliferation of virus. For this it is important to understand the interaction of host protein with viral promoters. Therefore, my research aims to investigate specific interactions of G4-quadruplex (G4Q) promoter’s in HBV with host protein, known as Specificity protein 1. This work will be continued to create G4Q-binders which selectively target the HBV promoter. The image depicts handling of cultures as one of the steps in the complete protocol for the assessment of known G4Q-binders on HBV in an infection model.