Microbiology Congress 2018: PCR array profiling of antiviral genes in human embryonic kidney cells expressing Human corona virus OC43 structural and accessory proteins - Meshal Beidas - Kuwait University

: Human corona virus OC43 (HCoV-OC43) causes common cold and is associated with severe respiratory symptoms in infants, elderly and immune compromised patients. HCoV-OC43 is a member of Betacoronavirus genus that also includes the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses. Both SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV were shown to express proteins with the potential to evade early innate immune responses. However, the ability of HCoV-OC43 to antagonize the intracellular antiviral defense has not yet been investigated. The objective of this study was to investigate the role of HCoV-OC43 structural (membrane and nucleocapsid) and accessory (ns5a and ns2a) proteins in the modulation of antiviral gene expression profile in human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK-293) cells using PCR array analysis.

Human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43) is an envelope, positive-sense RNA virus classified as a Betacoronavirus, the same genus as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses. HCoV-OC43 infection has been associated mainly with upper respiratory tract symptoms and exacerbation of asthma and pneumonia in some groups and institutional settings. The virus has also been associated with severe neurological disorders like acute disseminated encephalomyelitis in children.