@article{HartlBodemJochheimetal.2011,
  author    = {Hartl, Maximilian J. and Bodem, Jochen and Jochheim, Fabian and Rethwilm, Axel and R{\"o}sch, Paul and W{\"o}hrl, Birgitta M.},
  title     = {Regulation of foamy virus protease activity by viral RNA},
  series = {Retrovirology},
  volume    = {8},
  journal   = {Retrovirology},
  number    = {Suppl. 1},
  doi       = {10.1186/1742-4690-8-S1-A228},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-142248},
  pages     = {A228},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {No abstract available.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{LindemannRethwilm2011,
  author    = {Lindemann, Dirk and Rethwilm, Axel},
  title     = {Foamy Virus Biology and Its Application for Vector Development},
  series = {Viruses},
  volume    = {3},
  journal   = {Viruses},
  number    = {5},
  doi       = {10.3390/v3050561},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-139811},
  pages     = {561-585},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Spuma- or foamy viruses (FV), endemic in most non-human primates, cats, cattle and horses, comprise a special type of retrovirus that has developed a replication strategy combining features of both retroviruses and hepadnaviruses. Unique features of FVs include an apparent apathogenicity in natural hosts as well as zoonotically infected humans, a reverse transcription of the packaged viral RNA genome late during viral replication resulting in an infectious DNA genome in released FV particles and a special particle release strategy depending capsid and glycoprotein coexpression and specific interaction between both components. In addition, particular features with respect to the integration profile into the host genomic DNA discriminate FV from orthoretroviruses. It appears that some inherent properties of FV vectors set them favorably apart from orthoretroviral vectors and ask for additional basic research on the viruses as well as on the application in Gene Therapy. This review will summarize the current knowledge of FV biology and the development as a gene transfer system.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KasangKalluvyaMajingeetal.2016,
  author    = {Kasang, Christa and Kalluvya, Samuel and Majinge, Charles and Kongola, Gilbert and Mlewa, Mathias and Massawe, Irene and Kabyemera, Rogatus and Magambo, Kinanga and Ulmer, Albrecht and Klinker, Hartwig and Gschmack, Eva and Horn, Anne and Koutsilieri, Eleni and Preiser, Wolfgang and Hofmann, Daniela and Hain, Johannes and M{\"u}ller, Andreas and D{\"o}lken, Lars and Weissbrich, Benedikt and Rethwilm, Axel and Stich, August and Scheller, Carsten},
  title     = {Effects of Prednisolone on Disease Progression in Antiretroviral-Untreated HIV Infection: A 2-Year Randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial},
  series = {PLoS One},
  volume    = {11},
  journal   = {PLoS One},
  number    = {1},
  doi       = {10.1371/journal.pone.0146678},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-146479},
  pages     = {e0146678},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Background HIV-disease progression correlates with immune activation. Here we investigated whether corticosteroid treatment can attenuate HIV disease progression in antiretroviral-untreated patients. Methods Double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial including 326 HIV-patients in a resource-limited setting in Tanzania (clinicaltrials.gov NCT01299948). Inclusion criteria were a CD4 count above 300 cells/μl, the absence of AIDS-defining symptoms and an ART-na{\"i}ve therapy status. Study participants received 5 mg prednisolone per day or placebo for 2 years. Primary endpoint was time to progression to an AIDS-defining condition or to a CD4-count below 200 cells/μl. Results No significant change in progression towards the primary endpoint was observed in the intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis (19 cases with prednisolone versus 28 cases with placebo, p = 0.1407). In a per-protocol (PP)-analysis, 13 versus 24 study participants progressed to the primary study endpoint (p = 0.0741). Secondary endpoints: Prednisolone-treatment decreased immune activation (sCD14, suPAR, CD38/HLA-DR/CD8+) and increased CD4-counts (+77.42 ± 5.70 cells/μl compared to -37.42 ± 10.77 cells/μl under placebo, p < 0.0001). Treatment with prednisolone was associated with a 3.2-fold increase in HIV viral load (p < 0.0001). In a post-hoc analysis stratifying for sex, females treated with prednisolone progressed significantly slower to the primary study endpoint than females treated with placebo (ITT-analysis: 11 versus 21 cases, p = 0.0567; PP-analysis: 5 versus 18 cases, p = 0.0051): No changes in disease progression were observed in men. Conclusions This study could not detect any significant effects of prednisolone on disease progression in antiretroviral-untreated HIV infection within the intent-to-treat population. However, significant effects were observed on CD4 counts, immune activation and HIV viral load. This study contributes to a better understanding of the role of immune activation in the pathogenesis of HIV infection.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KasangKalluvyaMajingeetal.2011,
  author    = {Kasang, Christa and Kalluvya, Samuel and Majinge, Charles and Stich, August and Bodem, Jochen and Kongola, Gilbert and Jacobs, Graeme B. and Mlewa, Mathias and Mildner, Miriam and Hensel, Irina and Horn, Anne and Preiser, Wolfgang and van Zyl, Gert and Klinker, Hartwig and Koutsilieri, Eleni and Rethwilm, Axel and Scheller, Carsten and Weissbrich, Benedikt},
  title     = {HIV Drug Resistance (HIVDR) in Antiretroviral Therapy-Na{\"i}ve Patients in Tanzania Not Eligible for WHO Threshold HIVDR Survey Is Dramatically High},
  series = {PLoS One},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {PLoS One},
  number    = {8},
  doi       = {10.1371/journal.pone.0023091},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-137988},
  pages     = {e23091},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Background The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended guidelines for a HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) survey for resource-limited countries. Eligibility criteria for patients include age below 25 years in order to focus on the prevalence of transmitted HIVDR (tHIVDR) in newly-infected individuals. Most of the participating sites across Africa have so far reported tHIVDR prevalences of below 5\%. In this study we investigated whether the rate of HIVDR in patients <25 years is representative for HIVDR in the rest of the therapy-na{\"i}ve population. Methods and Findings HIVDR was determined in 88 sequentially enrolled ART-na{\"i}ve patients from Mwanza, Tanzania (mean age 35.4 years). Twenty patients were aged <25 years and 68 patients were aged 25-63 years. The frequency of HIVDR in the study population was 14.8\% (95\%; CI 0.072-0.223) and independent of NVP-resistance induced by prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs. Patients >25 years had a significantly higher HIVDR frequency than younger patients (19.1\%; 95\% CI 0.095-0.28) versus 0\%, P = 0.0344). In 2 out of the 16 patients with HIVDR we found traces of antiretrovirals (ARVs) in plasma. Conclusions ART-na{\"i}ve patients aged over 25 years exhibited significantly higher HIVDR than younger patients. Detection of traces of ARVs in individuals with HIVDR suggests that besides transmission, undisclosed misuse of ARVs may constitute a significant factor in the generation of the observed high HIVDR rate. The current WHO tHIVDR survey that is solely focused on the transmission of HIVDR and that excludes patients over 25 years of age may therefore result in substantial underestimation of the prevalence of HIVDR in the therapy-na{\"i}ve population. Similar studies should be performed also in other areas to test whether the so far reported optimistic picture of low HIVDR prevalence in young individuals is really representative for the rest of the ART-na{\"i}ve HIV-infected population.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KincaidChenCoxetal.2014,
  author    = {Kincaid, Rodney P. and Chen, Yating and Cox, Jennifer E. and Rethwilm, Axel and Sullivan, Christopher S.},
  title     = {Noncanonical MicroRNA (miRNA) Biogenesis Gives Rise to Retroviral Mimics of Lymphoproliferative and Immunosuppressive Host miRNAs},
  series = {mBio},
  volume    = {5},
  journal   = {mBio},
  number    = {2},
  issn      = {2150-7511},
  doi       = {10.1128/mBio.00074-14},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-117216},
  pages     = {e00074-14},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play regulatory roles in diverse processes in both eukaryotic hosts and their viruses, yet fundamental questions remain about which viruses code for miRNAs and the functions that they serve. Simian foamy viruses (SFVs) of Old World monkeys and apes can zoonotically infect humans and, by ill-defined mechanisms, take up lifelong infections in their hosts. Here, we report that SFVs encode multiple miRNAs via a noncanonical mode of biogenesis. The primary SFV miRNA transcripts (pri-miRNAs) are transcribed by RNA polymerase III (RNAP III) and take multiple forms, including some that are cleaved by Drosha. However, these miRNAs are generated in a context-dependent fashion, as longer RNAP II transcripts spanning this region are resistant to Drosha cleavage. This suggests that the virus may avoid any fitness penalty that could be associated with viral genome/transcript cleavage. Two SFV miRNAs share sequence similarity and functionality with notable host miRNAs, the lymphoproliferative miRNA miR-155 and the innate immunity suppressor miR-132. These results have important implications regarding foamy virus biology, viral miRNAs, and the development of retroviral-based vectors. IMPORTANCE Fundamental questions remain about which viruses encode miRNAs and their associated functions. Currently, few natural viruses with RNA genomes have been reported to encode miRNAs. Simian foamy viruses are retroviruses that are prevalent in nonhuman host populations, and some can zoonotically infect humans who hunt primates or work as animal caretakers. We identify a cluster of miRNAs encoded by SFV. Characterization of these miRNAs reveals evolutionarily conserved, unconventional mechanisms to generate small RNAs. Several SFV miRNAs share sequence similarity and functionality with host miRNAs, including the oncogenic miRNA miR-155 and innate immunity suppressor miR-132. Strikingly, unrelated herpesviruses also tap into one or both of these same regulatory pathways, implying relevance to a broad range of viruses. These findings provide new insights with respect to foamy virus biology and vectorology.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ShityakovFoersterRethwilmetal.2014,
  author    = {Shityakov, Sergey and F{\"o}rster, Carola and Rethwilm, Axel and Dandekar, Thomas},
  title     = {Evaluation and Prediction of the HIV-1 Central Polypurine Tract Influence on Foamy Viral Vectors to Transduce Dividing and Growth-Arrested Cells},
  doi       = {10.1155/2014/487969},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-112763},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Retroviral vectors are potent tools for gene delivery and various biomedical applications. To accomplish a gene transfer task successfully, retroviral vectors must effectively transduce diverse cell cultures at different phases of a cell cycle. However, very promising retroviral vectors based on the foamy viral (FV) backbone lack the capacity to efficiently transduce quiescent cells. It is hypothesized that this phenomenon might be explained as the inability of foamy viruses to form a pre-integration complex (PIC) with nuclear import activity in growth-arrested cells, which is the characteristic for lentiviruses (HIV-1). In this process, the HIV-1 central polypurine tract (cPPT) serves as a primer for plus-strand synthesis to produce a "flap" element and is believed to be crucial for the subsequent double-stranded cDNA formation of all retroviral RNA genomes. In this study, the effects of the lentiviral cPPT element on the FV transduction potential in dividing and growth-arrested (G1/S phase) adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial (A549) cells are investigated by experimental and theoretical methods. The results indicated that the HIV-1 cPPT element in a foamy viral vector background will lead to a significant reduction of the FV transduction and viral titre in growth-arrested cells due to the absence of PICs with nuclear import activity.},
  subject      = {Evaluation},
  language  = {en}
}
@inproceedings{RethwilmBaunachMorietal.1990,
  author    = {Rethwilm, Axel and Baunach, Gerald and Mori, Kazuyasu and ter Meulen, Volker},
  title     = {Transactivation of HIV by human spumaretrovirus},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-86436},
  year      = {1990},
  abstract  = {To study the activation of HIV by human spumaretrovirus (HSRV) the long terminal repeats (LTRs) of HSRV, HIVl and HIV2 were examined with respect to their ability to function as transcriptional promoters in virus infected and uninfected cells. Transient transfections using plasmids in which the L TRs of the three viruses were coupled to the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CA T) gene revealed (i) the level of cat gene expression directed by the HSRV LTR was markedly increased in HSRV infected cells compared to uninfected cells, (ii) cat gene expression driven by the HIV1 LTR, but not by the HIV2 LTR could be enhanced upon HSRV infection, whereas (iii) neither in HIV1 nor in HIV2 infected cells an effect on HSRV LTR driven cat geneexpression was detected.},
  subject      = {HIV},
  language  = {en}
}
@inproceedings{MoriRethwilmSchwinnetal.1990,
  author    = {Mori, Kazuyasu and Rethwilm, Axel and Schwinn, Andreas and Horak, Ivan},
  title     = {Replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in human t-cells expressing antisense RNA},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-86426},
  year      = {1990},
  abstract  = {No abstract available.},
  subject      = {HIV},
  language  = {en}
}
@inproceedings{SchwinnRethwilmEsersetal.1990,
  author    = {Schwinn, Andreas and Rethwilm, Axel and Esers, Stefan and Borisch, Bettina and ter Meulen, Volker},
  title     = {Interaction of HIV-1 and HHV-6},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-86415},
  year      = {1990},
  abstract  = {No abstract available.},
  subject      = {HIV},
  language  = {en}
}
@inproceedings{MaurerBannertRethwilmetal.1988,
  author    = {Maurer, B. and Bannert, H. and Rethwilm, Axel and Darai, B. and Fl{\"u}gel, R. M.},
  title     = {Characterization of the env gene and of two novel coding regions of the human spumaretrovirus},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-86334},
  year      = {1988},
  abstract  = {Recombinant clones harboring retroviral DNA were established. The nucleotide sequence of the central and 3' region of the genome of the human spumaretrovirus was determined. The 5' end of the deduced protein sequence was homologaus to the endonuclease domain of retroviral reverse transcriptases. A small intergenic region is followed by a lang open reading frame of 985 aminoacid residues that according to its genomic location and structural features is a typical retroviral env gene. Surprisingly, the postenv region contains two open reading frames that encodes two novel retroviral genes, termed bel-l and bel-2. The 3' LTR is 963 nucleotides lang and contains the signal sequences characteristic for transcriptional regulation of retrovirus genomes.},
  subject      = {Spumaviren},
  language  = {en}
}