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Staff photo Niklas Arnberg

Niklas Arnberg

Virus-host cell interactions: implications for tropism, treatment, and targeting

Contact

Works at

Affiliation
Professor at Department of Clinical Microbiology Units: Section of Virology
Location
6M, Universitetssjukhuset, Virologi Umeå universitet, 901 85 Umeå
Affiliation
Affiliated as professor at Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS) Units: Research groups
Location
Virologi, By 6F, NUS, Klinisk mikrobiologi Klinisk mikrobiologi, 90187 Umeå

Viral infections constitute a major burden to society and healthcare. Besides causing illness and death they also cause huge costs. Antibiotics function against bacterial infections but have no effect on viral infections. Vaccines and antiviral drugs are available for prevention and treatment of a few viral infections, but the vast majority of viral infections can neither be prevented by vaccines nor treated with antiviral drugs.

The main challenges with antiviral drug development is that viruses are relatively small in relation to e.g. bacteria, which means that there are fewer targets for treatment of viral infections. Viruses also replicate inside host cells, which means that antiviral drugs have to reach remote compartments of the cell to exert their effect

The main interest of our group is to explore the molecules and mechanisms involved in the early stage of the viral life cycle: attachment and entry. This is a critical step in the life cycle that sometimes determine the tropism of the virus, i.e. the cells, tissues and organs that are infected, but this step is also essential for subsequent replication and transmission to other cells and to other hosts. We also consider the importance of soluble molecules in surrounding body fluids, which may either prevent infection by serving as a barrier or as decoy receptors, but they may also function as a bridge to the target cells and thus facilitate infection.

Viruses are also used as tools, or ”vectors” in order to treat e.g. cancer and hereditary disorders, but also to prevent infections of heterologous pathogenes, i.e. as vaccine vectors. Our research is important to understand, and to improve the targeting of such vectors.

Hitherto, we have identified cellular receptors for different types of adenovirus and picornavirus. We have also developed an antiviral drug candidate for treatment of ocular adenoviruses, which have reached clinical trials.

To address the questions above we use advanced, 3D organoid cell models derived from primary cells and we also use transformed cell lines that correspond to the tropism of the virus. We use state-of-the-art technologies, including CRISPR/Cas9-engineered cells and viruses, surface plasmon resonance, advanced microcopy, and flow cytometry. We also collaborate with leading scientists in the areas of chemistry, structural biology, and glycobiology.

The current projects are funded mainly by grants from The European Union, The Swedish Research Council, The Swedish Cancer Society, and The Medical Faculty, Umeå University.

Cancer immunology research, American Association for Cancer Research 2023, Vol. 11, (1) : 72-92
Lidström, Tommy; Cumming, Joshua; Gaur, Rahul; et al.
Journal of General Virology, Microbiology Society 2022, Vol. 103, (3)
Benkő, Mária; Aoki, Koki; Arnberg, Niklas; et al.
RSC Advances, Royal Society of Chemistry 2022, Vol. 12, (4) : 2319-2331
Johansson, Emil; Caraballo, Remi; Zocher, Georg; et al.
Viruses, MDPI 2021, Vol. 13, (6)
Arnberg, Niklas; Lenman, Annasara
Journal of Virology, American Society for Microbiology 2021, Vol. 95, (22)
Ballmann, Mónika Z.; Raus, Svjetlana; Engelhart, Ruben; et al.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences, MDPI 2021, Vol. 22, (16)
Johansson, Emil; Caraballo, Remi; Hurdiss, Daniel L.; et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, National Academy of Sciences 2021, Vol. 118, (3)
Persson, B. David; Lijo, John; Rafie, Karim; et al.
Viruses, MDPI 2021, Vol. 13, (10)
Persson, B. David; Nord, Stefan; Lindquist, Richard; et al.
Science Advances, American Association for the Advancement of Science 2021, Vol. 7, (2)
Rafie, Karim; Lenman, Annasara; Fuchs, J.; et al.
ACS Chemical Biology, American Chemical Society (ACS) 2020, Vol. 15, (10) : 2683-2691
Johansson, Emil; Caraballo, Remi; Mistry, Nitesh; et al.
Journal of Virology, American Society for Microbiology 2020, Vol. 94, (14)
Persson, David; Lenman, Annasara; Frängsmyr, Lars; et al.
Viruses, MDPI 2019, Vol. 11, (3)
Chandra, Naresh; Frängsmyr, Lars; Arnberg, Niklas
Viruses, MDPI 2019, Vol. 11, (5)
Chandra, Naresh; Frängsmyr, Lars; Imhof, Sophie; et al.
Viruses, MDPI 2019, Vol. 11, (3)
Chandra, Naresh; Liu, Yan; Liu, Jing-Xia; et al.
PLOS ONE, Public Library Science 2019, Vol. 14, (6)
Rodrigues, Raquel; Danskog, Katarina; Överby, Anna K.; et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, National Academy of Sciences 2018, Vol. 115, (2) : 397-402
Baggen, Jim; Hurdiss, Daniel L.; Zocher, Georg; et al.
Journal of General Virology, Vol. 99 : 135-147
Duffy, Margaret R.; Alonso-Padilla, Julio; Lijo, John; et al.
PLOS ONE, Public Library Science 2018, Vol. 13, (12)
Kaján, Gyõzõ L.; Lipiec, Agnieszka; Bartha, Daniel; et al.
Journal of Molecular Biology, Vol. 430, (13) : 1863-1882
Lasswitz, Lisa; Chandra, Naresh; Arnberg, Niklas; et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 115, (18) : E4264-E4273
Lenman, Annasara; Liaci, A. Manuel; Liu, Yan; et al.
Scientific Reports, Springer Nature 2018, Vol. 8, (1)
Rajan, Anandi; Persson, B. David; Frängsmyr, Lars; et al.
Virus Research, Elsevier 2017, Vol. 242 : 79-84
Kaján, Gyõzõ L.; Kajon, Adriana E.; Pinto, Alexis Castillo; et al.
Journal of Virology, Vol. 91, (5)
Storm, Rickard J; Persson, David B; Skalman, Lars Nygård; et al.
Organic and biomolecular chemistry, Vol. 13, (35) : 9194-9205
Caraballo, Rémi; Saleeb, Michael; Bauer, Johannes; et al.
PLoS Pathogens, Vol. 11, (2)
Lenman, Annasara; Liaci, A. Manuel; Liu, Yan; et al.
PLoS Pathogens, Public library science 2014, Vol. 10, (10) : e1004401-
Zocher, Georg; Mistry, Nitesh; Frank, Martin; et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 110, (50) : 19976-19977
Arnberg, Niklas
Cellular Microbiology, Wiley-Blackwell 2013, Vol. 15, (1) : 16-23
Greber, Urs F.; Arnberg, Niklas; Wadell, Göran; et al.
TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, Elsevier 2012, Vol. 33, (8) : 442-448
Arnberg, Niklas
PLoS Pathogens, San Francisco: Public Library of Science 2012, Vol. 8, (7) : e1002738-
Neu, Ursula; Hengel, Holger; Blaum, Bärbel S; et al.
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Easton, Pa.: American Chemical Society 2011, Vol. 54, (19) : 6670-6675
Aplander, Karolina; Marttila, Marko; Manner, Sophie; et al.
Journal of Virology, Washington: The American Society For Microbiology 2011, Vol. 85, (24) : 13420-13431
Lenman, Annasara; Mueller, Steffen; Nygren, Mari I; et al.
Journal of Virology, Baltimore: American Society for Microbiology 2011, Vol. 85, (21) : 11283-11290
Mistry, Nitesh; Inoue, Hirotoshi; Jamshidi, Fariba; et al.
Nature Medicine, Vol. 17, (1) : 105-109
Nilsson, Emma C; Storm, Rickard J; Bauer, Johannes; et al.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Wiley 2011, Vol. 50, (29) : 6519-6521
Spjut, Sara; Qian, Weixing; Bauer, Johannes; et al.
Journal of Virology, American Society for Microbiology 2010, Vol. 84, (7) : 3189-3200
Cupelli, Karolina; Müller, Steffen; Persson, David B; et al.
Reviews in Medical Virology, John Wiley & Sons 2009, Vol. 19, (3) : 165-178
Arnberg, Niklas
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Vol. 52, (12) : 3666-3678
Johansson, Susanne; Nilsson, Emma; Qian, Weixing; et al.
Journal of Virology, Vol. 83, (8) : 3816-3825
Jonsson, Mari; Lenman, Annasara E; Frängsmyr, Lars; et al.
Journal of Virology, Vol. 83, (2) : 673-686
Persson, B David; Müller, Steffen; Reiter, Dirk M; et al.
Influenza and other respiratory viruses, Wiley 2008, Vol. 2, (5) : 147-154
Kumlin, Urban; Olofsson, Sigvard; Dimock, Ken; et al.
Journal of Virology, Baltimore: American Society for Microbiology 2008, Vol. 82, (6) : 3061-3068
Nilsson, Emma C; Jamshidi, Fariba; Johansson, Susanne M. C.; et al.
Journal of Virology, American Society for Microbiology 2007, Vol. 81, (2) : 954-963
Johansson, Cecilia; Jonsson, Mari; Marttila, Marko; et al.
Antiviral Research, Vol. 73, (2) : 92-100
Johansson, Susanne M C; Nilsson, Emma C; Elofsson, Mikael; et al.
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Vol. 14, (2) : 164-166
Persson, B David; Reiter, Dirk M; Marttila, Marko; et al.
ChemBioChem (Print), Vol. 6, (2) : 358-364
Johansson, Susanne M C; Arnberg, Niklas; Elofsson, Mikael; et al.
Journal of Virology, American Society for Microbiology 2005, Vol. 79, (22) : 14429-14436
Marttila, Marko; Persson, David; Gustafsson, Dan; et al.

Research groups

Head of research
Niklas Arnberg Lab

Research projects

1 October 2016 until 30 September 2020