Karoly Toth, DVM

Saint Louis University (SLU)

I have been studying the pathogenesis of human adenoviruses. To this effect, I have developed and characterized a permissive animal model, based on the Syrian hamster. We demonstrated that the Type I interferon response is crucial in fighting systemic adenovirus infection in hamsters, while a partially functional adaptive immune response did not influence the clearance of the virus from the animals. We have also shown that clearance of the virus by Kupffer cells decreases viral pathogenicity in permissive animals. We have developed and characterized an immunosuppressed Syrian hamster model, that mimics immunocompromised patients, to test anti-adenoviral drug candidates. We found that brincidofovir (BCV, CMX001), cidofovir, ganciclovir, valganciclovir, USC-087, and USC-505 to be very efficacious against disseminated Ad infections in the hamster model.
I am also interested in the biology of noroviruses. Presently, we are performing a genetic screen to characterize host genetic determinants necessary for oral infection with mouse norovirus.