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Yiu Wing Kam

Assistant Professor of Global Health at Duke Kunshan University
DKU Faculty

Selected Publications


Insights from Avian Influenza: A Review of Its Multifaceted Nature and Future Pandemic Preparedness.

Journal Article Viruses · March 2024 Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) have posed a significant pandemic threat since their discovery. This review mainly focuses on the epidemiology, virology, pathogenesis, and treatments of avian influenza viruses. We delve into the global spread, past pandemic ... Full text Cite

Concluding Remarks for the Special Issue on RNA Viruses and Antibody Response.

Journal Article Viruses · May 2023 Infectious diseases represent one of the major public health concerns on the global level [...]. ... Full text Cite

Systematic analysis of disease-specific immunological signatures in patients with febrile illness from Saudi Arabia.

Journal Article Clinical & translational immunology · January 2020 ObjectivesLittle is known about the prevalence of febrile illness in the Arabian region as clinical, laboratory and immunological profiling remains largely uncharacterised.MethodsA total of 2018 febrile patients from Jazan, Saudi Arabia, ... Full text Cite

Erratum: Novel differential linear B-cell epitopes to identify Zika and dengue virus infections in patients.

Journal Article Clinical & translational immunology · January 2020 [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1002/cti2.1066.]. ... Full text Cite

ZIKV-Specific NS1 Epitopes as Serological Markers of Acute Zika Virus Infection.

Journal Article The Journal of infectious diseases · June 2019 BackgroundZika virus (ZIKV) infections have reemerged as a global health issue due to serious clinical complications. Development of specific serological assays to detect and differentiate ZIKV from other cocirculating flaviviruses for accurate di ... Full text Cite

Novel differential linear B-cell epitopes to identify Zika and dengue virus infections in patients.

Journal Article Clinical & translational immunology · January 2019 ObjectivesRecent Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreaks challenged existing laboratory diagnostic standards, especially for serology-based methods. Because of the genetic and structural similarity of ZIKV with other flaviviruses, this results in cross-reacti ... Full text Cite

Multimodal assessments of Zika virus immune pathophysiological responses in marmosets.

Journal Article Scientific reports · November 2018 Animal models that recapitulate the human pathophysiology have been developed as useful research tools. Although laboratory mice are widely used, they are phylogenetically "distant" to humans. New world monkeys, such as the common marmoset (Callithrix jacc ... Full text Cite

The 2016 Singapore Zika virus outbreak did not cause a surge in Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Journal Article Journal of the peripheral nervous system : JPNS · September 2018 Although individuals with Zika virus (ZIKV) antibodies were reported in Malaya in mid-1950s, entomological and human surveillance in Singapore did not identify autochthonous transmission until the outbreak of August-November, 2016. A total of 455 cases fro ... Full text Cite

Longitudinal Study of Cellular and Systemic Cytokine Signatures to Define the Dynamics of a Balanced Immune Environment During Disease Manifestation in Zika Virus-Infected Patients.

Journal Article The Journal of infectious diseases · July 2018 BackgroundSince its unexpected reemergence, Zika virus (ZIKV) has caused numerous outbreaks globally. This study characterized the host immune responses during ZIKV infection.MethodsPatient samples were collected longitudinally during the ... Full text Cite

Efficient detection of Zika virus RNA in patients' blood from the 2016 outbreak in Campinas, Brazil.

Journal Article Scientific reports · March 2018 Infection with Zika virus (ZIKV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus has been casually linked with increased congenital microcephaly in Brazil from 2015 through 2016. Sensitive and specific diagnosis of patients with Zika fever (ZIKF) remains critical for patient ... Full text Cite

The 2016 Singapore ZIKV outbreak did not cause a surge in Guillain-Barre Syndrome

Conference JOURNAL OF THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM · 2018 Cite

Antibody-mediated enhancement aggravates chikungunya virus infection and disease severity.

Journal Article Scientific reports · January 2018 The arthropod-transmitted chikungunya virus (CHIKV) causes a flu-like disease that is characterized by incapacitating arthralgia. The re-emergence of CHIKV and the continual risk of new epidemics have reignited research in CHIKV pathogenesis. Virus-specifi ... Full text Cite

Seroprevalence of antibodies against chikungunya virus in Singapore resident adult population.

Journal Article PLoS neglected tropical diseases · December 2017 ObjectivesWe determined the seroprevalence of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection in the adult resident population in Singapore following local outbreaks of chikungunya fever (CHIKF) in 2008-2009.MethodsOur cross-sectional study involved ... Full text Cite

Specific Biomarkers Associated With Neurological Complications and Congenital Central Nervous System Abnormalities From Zika Virus-Infected Patients in Brazil.

Journal Article The Journal of infectious diseases · July 2017 BackgroundZika virus (ZIKV) infections have been linked to different levels of clinical outcomes, ranging from mild rash and fever to severe neurological complications and congenital malformations.MethodsWe investigated the clinical and i ... Full text Cite

Structural Optimizations of Thieno[3,2-b]pyrrole Derivatives for the Development of Metabolically Stable Inhibitors of Chikungunya Virus.

Journal Article Journal of medicinal chemistry · April 2017 Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a re-emerging vector-borne alphavirus, and there is no approved effective antiviral treatment currently available for CHIKV. We previously reported the discovery of thieno[3,2-b]pyrrole 1b that displayed good antiviral activity ... Full text Cite

Insights from Avian Influenza: A Review of Its Multifaceted Nature and Future Pandemic Preparedness.

Journal Article Viruses · March 2024 Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) have posed a significant pandemic threat since their discovery. This review mainly focuses on the epidemiology, virology, pathogenesis, and treatments of avian influenza viruses. We delve into the global spread, past pandemic ... Full text Cite

Concluding Remarks for the Special Issue on RNA Viruses and Antibody Response.

Journal Article Viruses · May 2023 Infectious diseases represent one of the major public health concerns on the global level [...]. ... Full text Cite

Systematic analysis of disease-specific immunological signatures in patients with febrile illness from Saudi Arabia.

Journal Article Clinical & translational immunology · January 2020 ObjectivesLittle is known about the prevalence of febrile illness in the Arabian region as clinical, laboratory and immunological profiling remains largely uncharacterised.MethodsA total of 2018 febrile patients from Jazan, Saudi Arabia, ... Full text Cite

Erratum: Novel differential linear B-cell epitopes to identify Zika and dengue virus infections in patients.

Journal Article Clinical & translational immunology · January 2020 [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1002/cti2.1066.]. ... Full text Cite

ZIKV-Specific NS1 Epitopes as Serological Markers of Acute Zika Virus Infection.

Journal Article The Journal of infectious diseases · June 2019 BackgroundZika virus (ZIKV) infections have reemerged as a global health issue due to serious clinical complications. Development of specific serological assays to detect and differentiate ZIKV from other cocirculating flaviviruses for accurate di ... Full text Cite

Novel differential linear B-cell epitopes to identify Zika and dengue virus infections in patients.

Journal Article Clinical & translational immunology · January 2019 ObjectivesRecent Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreaks challenged existing laboratory diagnostic standards, especially for serology-based methods. Because of the genetic and structural similarity of ZIKV with other flaviviruses, this results in cross-reacti ... Full text Cite

Multimodal assessments of Zika virus immune pathophysiological responses in marmosets.

Journal Article Scientific reports · November 2018 Animal models that recapitulate the human pathophysiology have been developed as useful research tools. Although laboratory mice are widely used, they are phylogenetically "distant" to humans. New world monkeys, such as the common marmoset (Callithrix jacc ... Full text Cite

The 2016 Singapore Zika virus outbreak did not cause a surge in Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Journal Article Journal of the peripheral nervous system : JPNS · September 2018 Although individuals with Zika virus (ZIKV) antibodies were reported in Malaya in mid-1950s, entomological and human surveillance in Singapore did not identify autochthonous transmission until the outbreak of August-November, 2016. A total of 455 cases fro ... Full text Cite

Longitudinal Study of Cellular and Systemic Cytokine Signatures to Define the Dynamics of a Balanced Immune Environment During Disease Manifestation in Zika Virus-Infected Patients.

Journal Article The Journal of infectious diseases · July 2018 BackgroundSince its unexpected reemergence, Zika virus (ZIKV) has caused numerous outbreaks globally. This study characterized the host immune responses during ZIKV infection.MethodsPatient samples were collected longitudinally during the ... Full text Cite

Efficient detection of Zika virus RNA in patients' blood from the 2016 outbreak in Campinas, Brazil.

Journal Article Scientific reports · March 2018 Infection with Zika virus (ZIKV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus has been casually linked with increased congenital microcephaly in Brazil from 2015 through 2016. Sensitive and specific diagnosis of patients with Zika fever (ZIKF) remains critical for patient ... Full text Cite

The 2016 Singapore ZIKV outbreak did not cause a surge in Guillain-Barre Syndrome

Conference JOURNAL OF THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM · 2018 Cite

Antibody-mediated enhancement aggravates chikungunya virus infection and disease severity.

Journal Article Scientific reports · January 2018 The arthropod-transmitted chikungunya virus (CHIKV) causes a flu-like disease that is characterized by incapacitating arthralgia. The re-emergence of CHIKV and the continual risk of new epidemics have reignited research in CHIKV pathogenesis. Virus-specifi ... Full text Cite

Seroprevalence of antibodies against chikungunya virus in Singapore resident adult population.

Journal Article PLoS neglected tropical diseases · December 2017 ObjectivesWe determined the seroprevalence of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection in the adult resident population in Singapore following local outbreaks of chikungunya fever (CHIKF) in 2008-2009.MethodsOur cross-sectional study involved ... Full text Cite

Specific Biomarkers Associated With Neurological Complications and Congenital Central Nervous System Abnormalities From Zika Virus-Infected Patients in Brazil.

Journal Article The Journal of infectious diseases · July 2017 BackgroundZika virus (ZIKV) infections have been linked to different levels of clinical outcomes, ranging from mild rash and fever to severe neurological complications and congenital malformations.MethodsWe investigated the clinical and i ... Full text Cite

Structural Optimizations of Thieno[3,2-b]pyrrole Derivatives for the Development of Metabolically Stable Inhibitors of Chikungunya Virus.

Journal Article Journal of medicinal chemistry · April 2017 Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a re-emerging vector-borne alphavirus, and there is no approved effective antiviral treatment currently available for CHIKV. We previously reported the discovery of thieno[3,2-b]pyrrole 1b that displayed good antiviral activity ... Full text Cite

Cross-reactive dengue human monoclonal antibody prevents severe pathologies and death from Zika virus infections.

Journal Article JCI insight · April 2017 Zika virus (ZIKV) infections have been linked with neurological complications and congenital Zika syndrome. Given the high level of homology between ZIKV and the related flavivirus dengue virus (DENV), we investigated the level of cross-reactivity with ZIK ... Full text Cite

Severity of Plasma Leakage Is Associated With High Levels of Interferon γ-Inducible Protein 10, Hepatocyte Growth Factor, Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2), and MMP-9 During Dengue Virus Infection.

Journal Article The Journal of infectious diseases · January 2017 Background Dengue virus infection typically causes mild dengue fever, but, in severe cases, life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS) occur. The pathophysiological hallmark of DHF and DSS is plasma leakage tha ... Full text Cite

Early clearance of Chikungunya virus in children is associated with a strong innate immune response.

Journal Article Scientific reports · May 2016 Chikungunya fever (CHIKF) is a global infectious disease which can affect a wide range of age groups. The pathological and immunological response upon Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection have been reported over the last few years. However, the clinical pro ... Full text Cite

Trisubstituted Thieno[3,2-b]pyrrole 5-Carboxamides as Potent Inhibitors of Alphaviruses.

Journal Article Journal of medicinal chemistry · December 2015 Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a re-emerging vector-borne alphavirus and is transmitted to humans by Aedes mosquitoes. Despite the re-emergence of CHIKV as an epidemic threat, there is no approved effective antiviral treatment currently available for CHIKV. ... Full text Cite

A sensitive epitope-blocking ELISA for the detection of Chikungunya virus-specific antibodies in patients.

Journal Article Journal of virological methods · September 2015 Chikungunya fever (CHIKF) has re-emerged as an arboviral disease that mimics clinical symptoms of other diseases such as dengue, malaria, as well as other alphavirus-related illnesses leading to problems with definitive diagnosis of the infection. Herein w ... Full text Cite

Caribbean and La Réunion Chikungunya Virus Isolates Differ in Their Capacity To Induce Proinflammatory Th1 and NK Cell Responses and Acute Joint Pathology.

Journal Article Journal of virology · August 2015 UnlabelledChikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne arthralgic alphavirus that has garnered international attention as an important emerging pathogen since 2005. More recently, it invaded the Caribbean islands and the Western Hemisphere. Intri ... Full text Cite

Expanding regulatory T cells alleviates chikungunya virus-induced pathology in mice.

Journal Article Journal of virology · August 2015 Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection is a re-emerging pandemic human arboviral disease. CD4+ T cells were previously shown to contribute to joint inflammation in the course of CHIKV infection in mice. The JES6-1 anti-IL-2 antibody selectively exp ... Full text Cite

A Systematic Meta-analysis of Immune Signatures in Patients With Acute Chikungunya Virus Infection.

Journal Article The Journal of infectious diseases · June 2015 BackgroundIndividuals infected with chikungunya virus (CHIKV) normally exhibit a variety of clinical manifestations during the acute phase of infection. However, studies in different patient cohorts have revealed that disease manifestations vary i ... Full text Cite

Loss of TLR3 aggravates CHIKV replication and pathology due to an altered virus-specific neutralizing antibody response.

Journal Article EMBO molecular medicine · January 2015 RNA-sensing toll-like receptors (TLRs) mediate innate immunity and regulate anti-viral response. We show here that TLR3 regulates host immunity and the loss of TLR3 aggravates pathology in Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection. Susceptibility to CHIKV infect ... Full text Cite

Sero-prevalence and cross-reactivity of chikungunya virus specific anti-E2EP3 antibodies in arbovirus-infected patients.

Journal Article PLoS neglected tropical diseases · January 2015 Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and clinically-related arboviruses cause large epidemics with serious economic and social impact. As clinical symptoms of CHIKV infections are similar to several flavivirus infections, good detection methods to identify CHIKV infe ... Full text Cite

Unique epitopes recognized by antibodies induced in Chikungunya virus-infected non-human primates: implications for the study of immunopathology and vaccine development.

Journal Article PloS one · January 2014 Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an Alphavirus that causes chronic and incapacitating arthralgia in humans. Although patient cohort studies have shown the production of CHIKV specific antibodies, the fine specificity of the antibody response against CHIKV is n ... Full text Cite

An essential role of antibodies in the control of Chikungunya virus infection.

Journal Article Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · June 2013 In recent years, Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) was responsible for epidemic outbreaks in intertropical regions. Although acquired immunity has been shown to be crucial during CHIKV infection in both humans and mice, their exact role in the control of CHIKV inf ... Full text Cite

Comparative analysis of the genome sequences and replication profiles of chikungunya virus isolates within the East, Central and South African (ECSA) lineage.

Journal Article Virology journal · May 2013 BackgroundA comparative analysis of the genomic and replication profiles of different geographical chikungunya virus (CHIKV) isolates of the East, Central and South African (ECSA) lineage was performed.FindingsAnalysis of the data reveale ... Full text Cite

Longitudinal analysis of the human antibody response to Chikungunya virus infection: implications for serodiagnosis and vaccine development.

Journal Article Journal of virology · December 2012 Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an alphavirus which causes chronic and incapacitating arthralgia in humans. Although previous studies have shown that antibodies against the virus are produced during and after infection, the fine specificity of the antibody re ... Full text Cite

Early appearance of neutralizing immunoglobulin G3 antibodies is associated with chikungunya virus clearance and long-term clinical protection.

Journal Article The Journal of infectious diseases · April 2012 BackgroundChikungunya virus (CHIKV) and related arboviruses have been responsible for large epidemic outbreaks with serious economic and social impact. Although infected individuals clear the virus from the blood, some develop debilitating and pro ... Full text Cite

Early neutralizing IgG response to Chikungunya virus in infected patients targets a dominant linear epitope on the E2 glycoprotein.

Journal Article EMBO molecular medicine · April 2012 Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and related arboviruses have been responsible for large epidemic outbreaks with serious economic and social impact. The immune mechanisms, which control viral multiplication and dissemination, are not yet known. Here, we studied t ... Full text Cite

SARS CoV subunit vaccine: antibody-mediated neutralisation and enhancement.

Journal Article Hong Kong medical journal = Xianggang yi xue za zhi · February 2012 1. A SARS vaccine was produced based on recombinant native full-length Spike-protein trimers (triSpike) and efficient establishment of a vaccination procedure in rodents. 2. Antibody-mediated enhancement of SARS-CoV infection with anti-SARS-CoV Spike immun ... Cite

Chikungunya virus neutralization antigens and direct cell-to-cell transmission are revealed by human antibody-escape mutants.

Journal Article PLoS pathogens · December 2011 Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an alphavirus responsible for numerous epidemics throughout Africa and Asia, causing infectious arthritis and reportedly linked with fatal infections in newborns and elderly. Previous studies in animal models indicate that humo ... Full text Cite

Host response to Chikungunya virus and perspectives for immune-based therapies

Journal Article Future Virology · August 1, 2011 Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a dormant 'old world alphavirus, has warranted worldwide research attention due to the explosive nature of its outbreak events during 2004-2008. Despite being around for more than 50 years, CHIKV still remains elusive compared wi ... Full text Cite

SVM-based prediction of linear B-cell epitopes using Bayes Feature Extraction.

Journal Article BMC genomics · December 2010 BackgroundThe identification of B-cell epitopes on antigens has been a subject of intense research as the knowledge of these markers has great implications for the development of peptide-based diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. As experimenta ... Full text Cite

Immuno-biology of Chikungunya and implications for disease intervention.

Journal Article Microbes and infection · December 2009 The re-emergence of Chikungunya fever, an old tropical infectious disease with new characteristics represents a major public health problem with severe social and economic burdens globally. Though Chikungunya has previously been known as a relatively benig ... Full text Cite

Chikungunya: a bending reality.

Journal Article Microbes and infection · December 2009 Chikungunya fever is an acute illness caused by the arbovirus Chikungunya virus. The virus is transmitted primarily in a sylvatic cycle involving the Aedes mosquitoes. Since 2005, a Chikungunya fever outbreak of unprecedented magnitude occurred on several ... Full text Cite

Cleavage of the SARS coronavirus spike glycoprotein by airway proteases enhances virus entry into human bronchial epithelial cells in vitro.

Journal Article PloS one · November 2009 BackgroundEntry of enveloped viruses into host cells requires the activation of viral envelope glycoproteins through cleavage by either intracellular or extracellular proteases. In order to gain insight into the molecular basis of protease cleavag ... Full text Cite

H5-type influenza virus hemagglutinin is functionally recognized by the natural killer-activating receptor NKp44.

Journal Article Journal of virology · February 2008 Antiviral immune defenses involve natural killer (NK) cells. We previously showed that the NK-activating receptor NKp44 is involved in the functional recognition of H1-type influenza virus strains by NK cells. In the present study, we investigated the inte ... Full text Cite

Antibodies against trimeric S glycoprotein protect hamsters against SARS-CoV challenge despite their capacity to mediate FcgammaRII-dependent entry into B cells in vitro.

Journal Article Vaccine · January 2007 Vaccine-induced antibodies can prevent or, in the case of feline infectious peritonitis virus, aggravate infections by coronaviruses. We investigated whether a recombinant native full-length S-protein trimer (triSpike) of severe acute respiratory syndrome ... Full text Cite

Differential maturation and subcellular localization of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus surface proteins S, M and E.

Journal Article The Journal of general virology · May 2005 Post-translational modifications and correct subcellular localization of viral structural proteins are prerequisites for assembly and budding of enveloped viruses. Coronaviruses, like the severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated virus (SARS-CoV), bud f ... Full text Cite

Properties of chimeric prostacyclin/prostaglandin D2 receptors: site-directed mutagenesis reveals the significance of the isoleucine residue at position 323.

Journal Article Journal of receptor and signal transduction research · February 2003 Mouse prostacyclin (mIP) receptors transiently expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells activated both adenylyl cyclase and phospholipase C, with a 33-fold preference for signaling through Gs. The prostacyclin (IP) receptor agonists cicaprost, ilopro ... Full text Cite

Factors affecting prostacyclin receptor agonist efficacy in different cell types.

Journal Article Cellular signalling · November 2001 Octimibate and related nonprostanoid prostacyclin mimetics are partial agonists displaying highly tissue-specific responses. Octimibate demonstrated considerably greater efficacy for stimulation of adenylyl cyclase activity in Chinese hamster ovary cells t ... Full text Cite