PhD defence Y. (Yang) Li

Dissertation in short:

Hepatitis E virus, norovirus and seasonal coronaviruses (NL63, 229E and OC43) circulate widely in the human population. These viruses pose a substantial clinical burden to specific vulnerable populations with severe morbidity and even mortality. Thus, we investigated the interactions between these viruses and their hosts for better understanding their pathogenic mechanisms and facilitating the development of new therapeutics. In chapter 2, I performed a literature study in which I comprehensively reviewed the interactions between HEV and the innate immune system. In chapter 3, I tried to uncover the mechanisms underlying the inflammasome response during HEV infection and proposed a new paradigm for HEV treatment involving the combination of antiviral and anti-inflammation drugs. In chapter 4, I tried to uncover the mechanisms underlying the inflammasome response during seasonal coronavirus infections and proposed a new paradigm for seasonal coronaviruses treatment involving the combination of antiviral and anti-inflammation drugs. In chapter 5-8, we identified several critical interferon-stimulated genes which play important role in inhibiting HEV and norovirus infections. These findings provide new light on virus-host interactions and bear important implications for developing new antiviral strategies.