Air Date: August 24, 2022 Time: 8:00am PT, 11:00am ET, 5:00pm CET
Despite the unprecedented global response to SARS-CoV-2, which has generated more than 250,000 publications in two years, critical aspects of SARS-CoV-2 biology, pathogenesis, and immunomodulation remain uncertain, including the underlying mechanisms to cytokine storm and coagulation dyscrasias. The nucleocapsid (N) protein, the most abundant viral protein expressed during infection, induces strong antibody and T-cell responses. N is thought to be strictly localized intracellularly. However, cell surface expression of viral nucleoproteins is the rule, not the exception, among RNA viruses, such as influenza A, vesicular stomatitis, measles, and respiratory syncytial viruses. Viral cell surface nucleoproteins have been reported to induce immunosuppression, but also serve as antibody targets.
In this GEN webinar, our distinguished speaker, Dr. Alberto López-Munoz, will show how he discovered that N is expressed on the cell surface of living cells in high copy number and that it binds to infected and uninfected neighboring cells through electrostatic association with glycosaminoglycans. Using biolayer interferometry on the Octet® platform, Dr. Lopez-Munoz found that N specifically binds to heparan/heparin sulfate with high affinity, but also binds to a set of 11 human chemokines, inhibiting chemotaxis. These data indicate that the cell surface N may play an important role in host adaptive immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and in the manipulation of innate immunity at early stages of infection.
Following the presentation, there will be a live question and answer session, giving you the opportunity to ask questions of our expert panelist.