What is AdenoNet?

There is a dual relationship between adenoviruses (AdV) and humans. On the one hand, AdV are pathogens with increasing clinical relevance in immunosuppressed individuals, with no efficient approved treatment so far. On the other, they are widely used as therapeutic vectors, but their applications are still hindered by issues such as the need to reprogram the viral tropism, or the preexistent immunity against the most common types. More than 60 AdV types have been reported in humans, and over 100 in vertebrates, from fish to mammals. However, most of our current knowledge on AdV biology and applications comes from the study of only a few types, in particular Ad5. In spite of recent advances in structural biology, there are considerable open questions regarding the detailed architecture of the viral particle and its assembly in the cell.

AdenoNet brings together 10 internationally recognized Spanish groups focusing on the study of AdV, from their detection in nature to their clinical impact and their uses in virotherapies, through the architectural analysis of the viral particle, its assembly, and interaction with the host. AdenoNet will allow these groups to interchange ideas, resources and materials to strengthen the impact and visibility of their research. Their collaborative work is bound to produce pharmaceutical applications in antiviral treatments, gene transfer, vaccines, oncolysis or biomedical imaging, benefiting society as a whole. The physical and structural characterization of the assembly of both common and less common AdV will be crucial to optimize the design of insertions for immunization, the identification of new targets for antiviral design, the development of thermostable and helper vectors, or tropism tailoring. Understanding the immune response to AdV infections, as well as access to less prevalent AdV as experimental platforms, will alleviate the problems posed by preexistent immunity to Ad5.

This network was initially funded by grant BIO2015-68990-REDT from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. Starting in June 2023, funded by grant RED2022-134221-T from the Spanish State Research Agency.