PGI Researcher Bags Best Young Scientist Award in International Conference

By 121 News Reporter

Chandigarh 02^nd January:---- Mrs. Mirnalini Sharma, PhD Fellow at the Department of Virology, PGIMER has been awarded with "Best Young Scientist Award" during the International Conference of Asia Pacific Congress of Virology (APCV) and VIROCON-2013 of Indian Virological Society held at Amity University, Noida from 17-20th Dec 2013. The award was conferred for her outstanding original research on "Role of enteroviruses, adenoviruses and coxsackievirus adenovirus receptor (CAR) in the pathogenesis of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)".

Dilated cardiomyopathy is the disease of heart muscle which leads to dilation and impaired contraction of ventricles. Myocarditis and Dilated cardiomyopathy affecting both children and adults globally is a cause of heart failure and sudden cardiac death in about 20% children and 12% young adults worldwide. It is the most common cause of heart failure in India.

The enteroviruses and adenoviruses known to cause heart damage get entry through coxsackievirus adenovirus receptor, commonly known as CAR. During the initial stage of disease CAR concentration has been observed to increase significantly, thus predisposing the human being to enterovirus and adenovirus infections. The study helped to understand that during the adenoviral infection, if the viral copy number (viral load) increases above the threshold level, it could lead to dilated cardiomyopathy and even heart failure. Blocking the receptor by gene silencing significantly reduced the CAR expression followed by reduction of viral load which might open up a new therapeutic modality in future times to come. Hence, either through gene silencing by specific siRNA or by novel antiviral compounds, the severity of disease like DCM and myocarditis can be reduced.