Daniel Sepúlveda-Crespo

• Ph.D. Associate Professor
• PostDoc Position at Instituto de Salud Carlos III

Background The current diagnostic strategy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection involves a two-step approach: antibody HCV screening followed by confirmatory nucleic acid testing. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the Abbott ARCHITECT HCV Ag assay in serum/plasma samples as a potential one-step alternative for diagnosing a...

Importance Hepatitis C virus (HCV) microelimination aims to detect and treat hidden infections, especially in at-risk groups, like people experiencing homelessness (PEH) with alcohol or drug use disorders. Point-of-care HCV RNA testing and peer support workers are crucial for identifying and preventing HCV infection among marginalized populations,...

Dried blood spot (DBS) sampling is increasingly used for hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening. HCVcAg testing offers a faster and more streamlined approach to diagnosing HCV infection. We conducted a systematic review and meta‐analysis to assess the diagnostic performance of the Abbott ARCHITECT HCV Ag assay for screening active HCV infection using DB...

Background: This study evaluated titers and amplitudes of anti-E2 antibodies (anti-E2-Abs) and neutralizing antibodies against hepatitis C virus (HCV; anti-HCV-nAbs) in HIV/HCV-coinfected individuals over five years after successful HCV treatment completion. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 76 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients achieving sustained vir...

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Interleukin 7 receptor (IL7R) is vital in the adaptive immune response against human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV). We assessed IL7RA polymorphisms (SNPs) in antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naïve HIV patients for their association with spontaneous HIV infection control. We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 667 ART-naïve patients catego...

Purpose We aimed to assess IgG antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (anti-SARS-CoV-2 S IgG) in vaccinated mothers and their infants at delivery and 2–3 months of age. Methods We conducted a prospective study on mothers who received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BNT162b2, Moderna mRNA-1273, or Oxford-AstraZeneca ChAdO...

IRF5-TNPO3 polymorphisms have previously been related to immune response, and TNPO3 plays a role in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infection after nuclear import. Therefore, we analyzed the genetic association between IRF5-TNPO3 polymorphisms and the HIV elite control in long-term nonprogressors (LTNPs). We performed a retrospective cohort st...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) core antigen (HCVcAg) assay is an alternative for diagnosing HCV infection in a single step. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the Abbott ARCHITECT HCV Ag assay's diagnostic performance (validity and utility) for diagnosing active hepatitis C. PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched unti...

The standard algorithm for diagnosing hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has two steps, an HCV antibody test for screening and a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) for confirmation. However, the HCV core antigen (HCVcAg) detection assay is an alternative for one-step diagnosis. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the Abbott ARCHIT...

Abstract Background Lower respiratory tract viral infection (LRTI) is a significant cause of morbidity-mortality in older people worldwide. We analyzed the association between short-term exposure to environmental factors (climatic factors and outdoor air pollution) and hospital admissions with a viral LRTI diagnosis in older adults. Methods We cond...

Background Treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection with direct‐acting antivirals (DAAs) is monitored by assessing plasma HCV‐RNA load. However, detection of HCV core antigen (HCVcAg) may be an alternative. Aim To evaluate the diagnostic performance of the HCVcAg assay to monitor the efficacy of DAAs in HCV‐infected patients Methods We perf...

Introduction Pregnant women are vulnerable to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection. Neutralizing antibodies against the SARS‐CoV‐2 spike (S) protein protect from severe disease. This study analyzes the antibody titers to SARS‐CoV‐2 S protein in pregnant women and their newborns at delivery, and six months later. Met...

Objectives The current study aimed to assess the impact of HIV on the production of anti-HCV antibodies in HCV-infected individuals with advanced HCV-related cirrhosis before and 36 weeks after the sustained virological response (SVR) induced by direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) therapy. Methods Prospective study on 62 patients (50 HIV/HCV-coinfecte...

Objective This study evaluated the association of the short-term exposure to environmental factors (relative humidity, temperature, NO2, SO2, O3, PM10, and CO) with hospital admissions due to acute viral lower respiratory infections (ALRI) in children under two years before the COVID-19 era. Methods We performed a bidirectional case-crossover stud...

Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) elite controllers are heterogeneous due to different immunovirological features. We aimed to identify plasma biomarkers associated with loss of spontaneous HIV-1 control in long-term elite controllers (HIV-LTECs). We performed a retrospective study in 60 HIV-LTECs [36 true-LTECs and 24 LTECs losing control (LT...

Although a wide variety of topical microbicides provide promising in vitro and in vivo efficacy, most of them failed to prevent sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1) in human clinical trials. In vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo models must be optimized, considering the knowledge acquired from unsuccessful and successful clin...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) cure after all-oral direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy greatly improves the liver and immune system. We aimed to assess the impact of this HCV clearance on immune system-related markers in plasma and the gene expression profile in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/HCV-coinfected patients with advanced cirrhosis. We perfo...

Amides from indole‐3‐glyoxylic acid and 4‐benzoyl‐2‐methylpiperazine, which are related to entry inhibitors developed by Bristol‐Myers Squibb (BMS), have been synthesized with aliphatic chains located at the C7 position of the indole ring. These spacers contain an azido group suitable for the well‐known Cu(I)‐catalyzed (3+2)‐cycloaddition or an act...

Direct-acting antivirals eliminate hepatitis C virus (HCV) in more than 95% of treated individuals and may abolish liver injury, arrest fibrogenesis, and reverse fibrosis and cirrhosis. However, liver regeneration is usually a slow process that is less effective in the late stages of fibrosis. What is more, fibrogenesis may prevail in patients with...

Despite the recent development of safe and highly effective direct-acting antivirals, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a significant health problem. In 2016, the World Health Organization set out to reduce the rate of new HCV infections by 90% by 2030. Still, global control of the virus does not seem to be achievable in the absence of an e...

Despite successful treatments, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections continue to be a significant world health problem. High treatment costs, the high number of undiagnosed individuals, and the difficulty to access to treatment, particularly in marginalized susceptible populations, make it improbable to achieve the global control of the virus in the a...

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) represent a serious threat to humans, especially for those living in poor or developing countries. Almost one-sixth of the world population is at risk of suffering from these diseases and many thousands die because of NTDs, to which we should add the sanitary, labor and social issues that hinder the economic develo...

Helminthiasis is one of the gravest problems worldwide. There is a growing concern on less available anthelmintics and the emergence of resistance creating a major threat to human and livestock health resources. Novel and broad-spectrum anthelmintics are urgently needed. The free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans could address this issue throu...

It is essential that prophylactic drugs do not interfere with the normal function of the immune system. The use of nanoparticles as vaginal microbicides is a promising prevention strategy against sexually transmitted infections. With that aim, our group is working with the G2-S16, a second generation carbosilane dendrimer with sulfonate groups in t...

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) remains a global public health problem. Detection and reduction of the rates of late diagnosis of HIV-1 infection are one of the main challenges in combating the HIV-1 epidemic. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have several characteristics that make them susceptible to capture HIV-1 of a wide range of biolog...

Background: Early 2 million new HIV infections are diagnosed every year. The development of new safe and effective microbicides to prevent HIV sexual transmission is urgently needed. Unfortunately, most microbicides have proved ineffective to prevent the risk of HIVinfection in clinical trials. Methods: We selected G2-S16 dendrimer as a new vaginal...

Infection with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) continues to be a global public health issue, especially in low-resource countries. Sexual transmission is responsible for the majority of HIV-1 infections worldwide. Topical vaginal microbicides that act at the earlier stages of infection offer a prevention strategy to reduce the acquisiti...

Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) represent the two most frequent sexually transmitted infections (STI) worldwide. Epidemiological studies suggest that HSV-2 increases the risk of HIV-1 acquisition approximately 3-fold mainly due to the clinical and immunological manifestations. In the absence of va...

Novel third-generation polyanionic carbosilane dendrons with sulfonate or carboxylate end-groups and functionalized with a DO3A ligand at the focal point, and their corresponding copper complexes, have been prepared as antiviral compounds to prevent HIV-1 infection. The topology enables the compound to have an excellent chelating agent, DO3A, while...

Dendrimers are highly branched, star-shaped and nano-sized polymers that have been proposed as new carriers for specific HIV-1 peptides. Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most potent antigen-presenting cells which play a major role in development of cell-mediated immunotherapy due to the generation and regulation of adaptive immune responses against HI...

This review provides an overview of the development of different dendrimers, mainly polyanionic, against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and genital herpes (HSV-2) as topical microbicides targeting the viral entry process. Vaginal topical microbicides to prevent sexually transmitted infections such as HIV and HSV-2 are urgently needed. To inhibi...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major biomedical problem worldwide. Although new direct antiviral agents (DAAs) have been developed for the treatment of chronic HCV infection, the potential emergence of resistant virus variants and the difficulties to implement their administration worldwide makes the development of novel antiviral agents an...

Cell surface heparan sulfate (HS) represents a common link that many sexually transmitted infections (STIs) require for infection. The role of HS is associated with several viral STIs, which include those caused by herpes simplex virus (HVS), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Nowadays, no cu...

Cell surface heparan sulfate (HS) represents a common link that many sexually transmitted infections (STIs) require for infection. The role of HS is associated with several viral STIs, which include those caused by herpes simplex virus (HVS), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Nowadays, no cu...

The development of topical microbicide formulations for vaginal delivery to prevent HIV-2 sexual transmission is urgently needed. Second- and third-generation polyanionic carbosilane dendrimers with a silicon atom core and 16 sulfonate (G2-S16), napthylsulfonate (G2-NS16) and sulphate (G3-Sh16) end-groups have shown potent and broad-spectrum anti-H...

To research the synergistic activity by triple combinations of carbosilane dendrimers with tenofovir and maraviroc as topical microbicide. Cytotoxicity, anti-HIV-1 activity, vaginal irritation and histological analysis of triple combinations were determined. Analysis of combined effects and the median effective concentration were performed using Ca...

Background: Microbicides include moderately specific macromolecular anionic polymers that block HIV and other STIs, and antiretrovirals (ARVs) that inhibit HIV entry and reverse transcription. Based on nanotechnology, we show a novel watersoluble anionic carbosilane dendrimer, 2G-S16, as an advantageous molecule against HIV-infection. Methods: 2G-S...

Background: Self-administered topical microbicides may be very helpful tool for women and homosexuals to decrease new HIV infections. Polyanionic carbosilane dendrimers are considered HIV-1 entry inhibitors and antiretrovirals (ARVs) are the most advanced microbicides. Consequently, the combination approach should be taken into consideration when d...

Nanoparticles are attractive for many biomedical applications such as imaging, therapeutics and diagnostics. This new book looks at different soft nanoparticles and their current and potential uses in medicine and health including magnetoliposomes, micro/nanogels, polymeric micelles, DNA particles, dendrimers and bicelles. Each chapter provides a d...