Kazuhisa Yoshimura

This study identifies the non-spike R204P mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XEC variant as a driver of increased inflammation and pathogenicity through NF-κB activation.

This paper introduces CoVFit, a protein language model that predicts SARS-CoV-2 variant fitness using spike protein sequences, identifying fitness-enhancing mutations and predicting emerging variants.

This study analyzes the virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 XEC variant, showing it has higher infectivity and immune evasion compared to KP.3.1.1, contributing to its higher reproductive number and potential dominance.

This paper identifies a heterocyclic compound, HT-7, that inhibits HIV-1 release by increasing cell surface BST2 expression with minimal cellular toxicity.

The paper investigates the virological features of the SARS-CoV-2 EG.5.1 variant, finding its fitness and antiviral sensitivity comparable to XBB.1.5, with structural differences in spike proteins.

This study investigates the virological properties of the SARS-CoV-2 KP.2 variant, finding it has higher viral fitness and immune resistance compared to JN.1, contributing to its rapid spread.

This study examines virological parameters of SARS-CoV-2 variants correlating with spike protein fusogenicity, finding strong links with S1/S2 cleavage efficiency and plaque size.

The paper analyzes the virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 XBB.1.5 variant, showing reduced pathogenicity and impaired MHC expression due to mutations in ORF8 and S.

This study investigates the virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 BA.2.86 variant, finding it has higher reproduction number than EG.5.1 but lower pathogenicity and replication capacity compared to BA.2.

This study investigates the virological properties of the SARS-CoV-2 HK.3 variant, a FLip variant with substitutions S:L455F and S:F456L, to assess its growth advantage.

This study evaluates the antiviral efficacy of XBB breakthrough infection sera against EG.5.1 and other Omicron subvariants, finding comparable neutralization titers and suggesting immune evasion is not the main driver of EG.5.1's spread.