Human polyomavirus BK (BKV) is a non enveloped virus with a double-stranded, circular DNA genome. BKV infects >70% of the human population world-wide. Infection occurs predominantly during childhood and the virus remains in a latent state throughout life in the immune competent individuals. In the context of immunosuppression, however, reactivation occurs and can lead to renal stenosis and interstitial ...

An acquired loss of renal DNaseI has recently been shown to promote transformation of mild mesangial lupus nephritis into membrano-proliferative end-stage organ disease. In this study, we analyzed expression profiles of DNaseI in other organs of lupus-prone (NZBxNZW)F1 mice during disease progression to determine if silencing of the renal DNaseI gene is an organ specific feature or if loss of ...

It is now well established that p62 and NBR1 are selectively degraded by autophagy and can act as cargo receptors or adaptors for the autophagic degradation of ubiquitinated substrates. Research on autophagy in plants is also well under way, but the mechanism by which target substrates are sequestered for autophagic degradation has not been elucidated. The uncharacterized plant protein Q9SB64 shares ...

Neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (NAIT) is most commonly caused by destruction of foetal platelets by maternal antibodies reactive to human platelet antigen (HPA)-1a. The activation of antigen-primed B cells to differentiate to antibody-secreting plasma cells usually requires help from CD4 T cells. The strong association between anti-HPA-1a-production and the MHC allele HLA-DRB3*0101 supports ...