Labslink Research News

Women's reproductive ability may be related to immune system status

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:27:59 PDT

New research indicates that women’s reproductive function may be tied to their immune status. Previous studies have found this association in human males, but not females........> Full story

Guelph scientists develop first vaccine to help control autism symptoms

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:14:23 PDT

A first-ever vaccine created by University of Guelph researchers for gut bacteria common in autistic children may also help control some autism symptoms.......> Full story

Study: Research reveals protective properties of influenza vaccines

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:24:38 PDT

Collaborating scientists from Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified an important mechanism for stimulating protective immune responses following seasonal influenza vaccinations. The study was published in Science Translational Medicine, a journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)........> Full story

Target Meeting’s 2nd World Immunology Online Conference, March 19-21, 2013: Join For Free

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:23:21 PDT

A Free Virtual ImmunologyConferenceat Targetmeeting.com featuring 60+ live presentations (12 sessions) from academic and industry experts around the world. Computer and internet connection are required but no special equipment or software needed. All the attendees just connect to the online conference ’s server to participate in real time with their distinguished counterparts from across the globe. They can participate from their home or office depending on their convenience. Furthermore, attendees can earn the free Certificates of Attendance. It is a great opportunity to learn about recent advances in the field of immunology without travel and money cost. Major Sessions Includes:

Cancer and immunology Immune regulation
Vaccine development
Immunity disease molecular mechanisms Infection and immunity
Immunotherapy
And many more…

Researchers, medical professionals, and other related people can enjoy many benefits by participating in the 2nd World Immunology Online Conference. They can know, learn and follow up on major developments taking place in the areas of interest. You can have the rare privilege of meeting the best international speakers and world-renowned researchers in real time. You can have that much-needed opportunity of networking and exchanging views with the target audience directly. Participants get a worldwide platform to express their opinions and ideas. With their experience and expertise, they can build a solid reputation and create a tremendous and lasting impact on the community. The 2nd World Immunology Online Conference can create new opportunities for the leading life science professionals and can help them establish new associations with fellow researchers. According to Target Meeting , all presentations and discussions happen in real time. Importantly, they save the participants the hassle of travel; help them use their valuable time effectively and save money. Participants can ask questions, discuss problems, and exchange their ideas on the online platform. The conference presents them the ultimate opportunity to discuss their proposals and initiatives with global experts, something that perhaps would not have been possible using other methods of communication or correspondence. Target Meeting is a leading online life science conference organizer. Thousands of international speakers and ten thousands of attendees participated in the online symposiums and conferences at Target Meeting. With the persistent efforts, Target Meeting has achieved a well-respected reputation among the attendees and within life science communities, based on the quality of organizers, speakers and scientific programs, as well as excellent attendee experience. They have a solid record of having created outstanding opportunities for scientists and clinicians to share their latest research and in inspiring breakthrough ideas. The conferences are a great way to establish and maintain professional relationships with the best brains in medical science. Sign up early (free) to secure your place, please visit http://www.targetmeeting.com. Upcoming Free Online Conferences at Target Meeting include:

March 19-21, 2013, TM’s 2nd world immunology online conference.
April 16-18, 2013, TM’s 2nd world virology & microbiology online conference.â€¨
May 21-23, 2013, TM’s 2nd world genetics & genomics online conference.
June 18-20, 2013, TM’s 2nd world neuroscience online conference.â€¨

Contact:
William Smith
Target Meeting
Williams @ targetmeeting dot com
â€¨Belliare, TX, 77401, USA

UTSW researchers identify new enzyme that acts as innate immunity sensor

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:39:59 PDT

Two studies by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center could lead to new treatments for lupus and other autoimmune diseases and strengthen current therapies for viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections........> Full story

New research helps predict susceptibility to Burkitt lymphoma

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:20:06 PDT

New research, presented this morning at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), has identified important associations between Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria and endemic Burkitt Lymphoma (eBL) that may help researchers identify young children who are more susceptible to eBL........> Full story

Genes and immune system shaped by childhood poverty, stress

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 19:35:20 PDT

A University of British Columbia and Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics (CMMT) study has revealed that childhood poverty, stress as an adult, and demographics such as age, sex and ethnicity, all leave an imprint on a person’s genes. And, that this imprint could play a role in our immune response.........> Full story

No antibodies, no problem

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:19:03 PDT

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have determined a new mechanism by which the mosquitoes’ immune system can respond with specificity to infections with various pathogens, including the parasite that causes malaria in humans, using one single gene.......> Full story

Duke Medicine news -- Anti-cancer drug fights immune reaction in some infants with Pompe disease

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:26:08 PDT

A simplified, conceptual diagram of a humoral immune response to a therapeutic protein and targets of various immunomodulatory agents. Immune modulation with rituximab.......> Full story

Feeding microbials to chickens leads to mysterious immune response

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:40:11 PDT

Researchers at the North Carolina State University and Chung Jen College of Nursing, Health Sciences and Management (Taiwan) conducted a study to investigate the effects of direct fed microbials on energy metabolism in different tissues of broiler chickens. The researchers wanted to learn how consuming microbials and probiotics could change energy use and immune function. Typically, direct fed microbials and probiotics are used to improve livestock health, but how they actually work is not fully understood........> Full story

Behind closed doors: Researchers show how probiotics boost plant immunity

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:01:20 PDT

With the help of beneficial bacteria, plants can slam the door when disease pathogens come knocking, University of Delaware researchers have discovered........> Full story

SIgN scientists discover dendritic cells key to activating human immune responses

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 18:03:33 PDT

Scientists at A*STAR’s Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), in collaboration with Newcastle University, UK, the Singapore Institute of Clinical Sciences and clinicians from multiple hospitals in Singapore, have identified a new subset of dendritic cells (DCs) in human peripheral tissue which have a critical role in activating our immune........> Full story

Programmable DNA scissors found for bacterial immune system

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 18:05:55 PDT

Genetic engineers and genomics researchers should welcome the news from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) where an international team of scientists has discovered a new and possibly more effective means of editing genomes. This discovery holds potentially big implications for advanced biofuels and therapeutic drugs.......> Full story

UGA study reveals flu-fighting role for well-known immune component

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 19:39:49 PDT

University of Georgia scientists have discovered a new flu-fighting role for a well-known component of the immune system. Kimberly Klonowski, assistant professor of cellular biology in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and her colleagues found that administering a cell-signaling protein known as IL-15 to mice infected with influenza reduces their peak viral load by nearly three times........> Full story

Moffitt researcher, colleagues find success with new immune approach to fighting some cancers

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:45:17 PDT

A national research collaboration of senior researchers, including a researcher from Moffitt Cancer Center, has found that 20 to 25 percent of "heavily pre-treated" patients with a variety of cancers who enrolled in a clinical trial had "objective and durable" responses to a treatment with BMS-936558, an antibody that specifically blocks programmed cell death 1 (PD-1). PD-1 is a key immune "checkpoint" receptor expressed by activated immune cells (T-cells) and is involved in the suppression of immunity........> Full story

Moffitt Cancer Center researchers develop and test new anti-cancer vaccine

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 16:53:58 PDT

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have developed and tested in mice a synthetic vaccine and found it effective in killing human papillomavirus-derived cancer, a virus linked to cervical cancers among others. The research was published in a recent issue of Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy........> Full story

An important breakthrough in immunology by IRCM researchers

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 17:06:39 PDT

A team of researchers at the IRCM led by Dr. André Veillette made an important breakthrough in the field of immunology, which will be published online today by the scientific journal Immunity......> Full story

New technology improves malaria control and vaccine development

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 17:09:44 PDT

A new technique that accurately determines the risk of infants in endemic countries developing clinical malaria could provide a valuable tool for evaluating new malaria prevention strategies and vaccines. The technique could even help to understand how anti-malarial vaccine and treatment strategies act to reduce malaria.......> Full story

Vitamin D + TB vaccine: Allies in fight against bladder cancer?

Mon, 21 May 2012 17:04:43 PDT

The tuberculosis vaccine is often used as a treatment for bladder cancer, and adding vitamin D might improve the vaccine’s effectiveness, according to new research from the University of Rochester Medical Center presented today at the American Urological Association annual meeting........> Full story

Regulatory immune cell diversity tempers autoimmunity in rheumatoid arthritis

Tue, 08 May 2012 17:03:27 PDT

Untangling the root cause of rheumatoid arthritis has been a difficult task for immunologists, as decades of research has pointed to multiple culprits in our immune system, with contradictory lines of evidence. Now, researchers at The Wistar Institute announce that it takes a diverse array of regulatory T cells (a specialized subset of white blood cells) to prevent the immune system from generating the tissue-specific inflammation that is a hallmark of the disease........> Full story

Salmonella infection, but not as we know it

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:30:55 PDT

Salmonella is an important bacterium to study as it causes a range of diseases in humans and animals. It is capable of growing and reproducing inside macrophages - a type of white blood cell that ingests foreign material - ultimately destroying them. These macrophage cells are key players in the immune response to invaders and so the control of Salmonella within these cells is critical to surviving an infection........> Full story

New genetic mechanism of immune deficiency discovered

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:32:05 PDT

Researchers at National Jewish Health have discovered a novel genetic mechanism of immune deficiency. Magdalena M. Gorska, MD, PhD, and Rafeul Alam, MD, PhD, identified a mutation in Unc119 that causes immunodeficiency known as idiopathic CD4 lymphopenia........> Full story

The long arm of the dendritic cell

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:09:48 PDT

Atherosclerosis is a major cause of death in Western societies. The illness is due to the formation of insoluble deposits called atherosclerotic plaques on the walls of major arteries as a consequence of chronic, localized inflammation reactions. By reducing blood flow, the plaques can provoke heart attacks and strokes. A class of immune cells called dendritic cells plays a crucial role in facilitating the development of these plaques........> Full story

A*STAR scientists discover special class of natural fats stimulates immune cells to fight diseases

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:06:28 PDT

An international research team led by scientists from Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) under the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) discovered that a special class of fatty molecules is essential for activating a unique group of early-responding immune cells. This study sheds light on how recognition of fatty molecules by immune cells could protect from infection........> Full story

A 24-karat gold key to unlock the immune system

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:31:19 PDT

Developing a drug or vaccine requires a delicate balancing act with the immune system. On one hand, medications need to escape detection by the immune system in order to perform their function. But vaccinations — de-activated versions of a disease or virus — need to do the reverse. They prompt the immune system to create protective antibodies. But scientists are still stumped by how the immune system recognizes different particles, and how it chooses whether or not to react against them.......> Full story

Immune system implicated in prematurity complication

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:45:31 PDT

Despite advances in neonatal care, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) – the most common gastrointestinal emergency in premature infants – continues to be a deadly disease........> Full story

Depression could be evolutionary byproduct of immune system

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:26:35 PDT

Depression is common enough – afflicting one in ten adults in the United States -- that it seems the possibility of depression must be “hard-wired” into our brains. This has led biologists to propose several theories to account for how depression, or behaviors linked to it, can somehow offer an evolutionary advantage.......> Full story

'Universal' vaccines could finally allow for wide-scale flu prevention

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:00:40 PDT

An emerging class of long-lasting flu vaccines could do more than just save people the trouble of an annual flu shot. Princeton University-based researchers have found that the "universal" vaccine could for the first time allow for the effective, wide-scale prevention of flu by limiting the influenza virus' ability to spread and mutate. Universal, or cross-protective, vaccines — so named for their effectiveness against several flu strains — are being developed in various labs worldwide and some are already in clinical trials.......> Full story

SIV infection may lead to increase in immune-suppressive Treg cells

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:10:28 PDT

Tissue in monkeys infected with a close relative of HIV can ramp up production of a type of T cell that actually weakens the body's attack against the invading virus. The discovery, in lymph nodes draining the intestinal tract, could help explain how the HIV virus evades the body's immune defenses.......> Full story

Sensing self and non-self: New research into immune tolerance

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:37:43 PDT

t the most basic level, the immune system must distinguish self from non-self, that is, it must discriminate between the molecular signatures of invading pathogens (non-self antigens) and cellular constituents that usually pose no risk to health (self-antigens)........> Full story

Secrets of immune response illuminated in new study

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:37:22 PDT

When disease-causing invaders like bacteria infect a human host, cells of various types swing into action, coordinating their activities to address the threat. In new research appearing in this month’s issue of the journal Nature Immunology, Roy Curtiss, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, along with international collaborators, investigates the coordination of a particular type of immune response, involving the release of of IFN-λ— a cell-signaling protein molecule known as a cytokine........> Full story

UT MD Anderson, Texas A&M team up to treat canine lymphoma

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:01:22 PDT

A new immunotherapy for companion dogs with advanced-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) has been shown to improve survival while maintaining quality of life, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports. The study resulted from a collaboration between The University of Texas MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital in Houston and Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine in College Station.......> Full story

Aiding cancer therapy by mathematically modeling tumor-immune interactions

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:32:42 PDT

Cancer is one of the five leading causes of death. And yet, despite decades of research, there is no standardized first-line treatment for most cancers. In addition, disappointing results from predominant second-line treatments like chemotherapy have established the need for alternative methods.......> Full story

Penn researchers help solve questions about Ethiopians' high-altitude adaptations

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:10:26 PDT

Over many generations, people living in the high-altitude regions of the Andes or on the Tibetan Plateau have adapted to life in low-oxygen conditions. Living with such a distinct and powerful selective pressure has made these populations a textbook example of evolution in action, but exactly how their genes convey a survival advantage remains an open question........> Full story

Many high-risk Americans don't get hepatitis B vaccine

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:16:08 PDT

Although there is an effective vaccine for hepatitis B and public health officials have a strong sense of who is at highest risk for the infectious liver disease, tens of thousands of people in the United States contract the virus every year. According to a new study by researchers at Brown University, missed opportunities to administer the vaccine continue to be a reason why infections persist........> Full story

Researchers find new, noninvasive way to identify lymph node metastasis

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:38:52 PDT

Using two cell surface markers found to be highly expressed in breast cancer lymph node metastases, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, working with colleagues at other institutions, have developed targeted, fluorescent molecular imaging probes that can non-invasively detect breast cancer lymph node metastases. The new procedure could spare breast cancer patients invasive and unreliable sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsies and surgery-associated negative side effects.......> Full story

Research shows progress toward a genital herpes vaccine

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:14:18 PDT

An investigational vaccine protected some women against infection from one of the two types of herpes simplex viruses that cause genital herpes, according to findings in the New England Journal of Medicine........> Full story

Cobblestones fool innate immunity

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:39:37 PDT

Activation of the body’s innate immune system is one of the most common reasons for an implant being rejected,” explains Professor Hans Elwing from the University of Gothenburg’s Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. “We can now show why the body more easily integrates implants with a nanostructured surface than a smooth one........> Full story

BWH researchers develop a vaccine prototype stronger than traditional vaccines

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:15:05 PDT

Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) researchers have created a vaccine that is more potent than traditional vaccines available today. The glycoconjugate vaccine prototype is 100 times more effective than traditional glycoconjugate vaccines........> Full story

Bacteria responsible for common infections may protect themselves by stealing immune molecules

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:35:32 PDT

Bacteria responsible for middle ear infections, pink eye and sinusitis protect themselves from further immune attack by transporting molecules meant to destroy them away from their inner membrane target, according to a study from Nationwide Children's Hospital. The study, published in the November issue of PLoS Pathogens, is the first to describe a transporter system that bacteria use to ensure their survival.......> Full story

Multiple malaria vaccine offers protection to people most at risk

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:30:51 PDT

A new malaria vaccine could be the first to tackle different forms of the disease and help those most vulnerable to infection, a study suggests. The new vaccine is designed to trigger production of a range of antibodies to fight the many different types of parasite causing the disease. Scientists created the vaccine by combining multiple versions of a key protein found in many types of malaria parasite, which is known to trigger production of antibodies upon infection. Mixing multiple proteins from various parasite types induces antibodies against a wide range of the parasites causing the disease. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh, who developed the vaccine, say that because malaria parasites exist in many forms, the only way to gain natural immunity against all strains is by having multiple bouts of the illness. A vaccine that overcomes this could be especially useful in children and other vulnerable groups of people. Many previous vaccines against malaria have had limited success because they target only a limited part of the parasite population. The new vaccine has also shown to be effective in animals. Tests in blood samples from children in endemic areas showed that the antibodies against this key protein offered improved protection against the disease. Scientists now hope to carry out full-scale human trials. Malaria is spread by mosquito bites and affects people and animals, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the World Health Organisation, in 2009 the disease affected 225 million people and caused an estimated 781,000 deaths, mostly among African children. The study, published in PLoS One, was supported by the European Commission. Dr David Cavanagh, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, who led the study, said: "Our approach is novel because it combines multiple antibody targets from different parasite types, giving broader protection. This could prove to be a useful vaccine."

Researchers develop method to better estimate vaccine coverage

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:28:25 PDT

Immunizations are a valuable tool for controlling infectious diseases among populations both in the U.S. and globally. Routine immunizations and supplemental immunization activities, such as immunization campaigns, are designed to provide immunization coverage to entire populations. Current measurements used to determine the success and rates of immunization can be flawed and inconsistent. According to a new study led by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, estimates of vaccination coverage can be significantly improved by combining administrative data with survey data. The results are featured in the October 2011 issue of PLoS Medicine. "Reliable estimates of vaccination coverage are key to managing population immunization status," said Justin Lessler, lead author of the study and an assistant professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of Epidemiology. "Currently, the performance of routine and supplemental immunization activities is measured by the administrative method, which leads to coverage estimates that are often inconsistent with the proportion reporting vaccination in cross-sectional surveys. Furthermore, administrative coverage does not tell you how many people are systematically missed by vaccination activities. We estimated that the size of the population never reached by any activity was high in Sierra Leone and Madagascar, 31 percent and 21percent respectively. But it was much lower in Ghana, only 7 percent. " The widely used administrative method divides the number of doses distributed by the size of the target population. Lessler, along with colleagues from Johns Hopkins, University of Oxford, Epicentre, and Princeton University developed a method for estimating the effective coverage of vaccination programs using cross-sectional surveys of vaccine coverage combined with administrative data. The method was applied using demographic health survey and administrative coverage data reported to the WHO from measles vaccinations in Ghana, Madagascar and Sierra Leone. They found estimates of routine supplemental immunization activities coverage are substantially lower than administrative estimates for Madagascar and Sierra Leone, and only slightly lower for Ghana. In addition, their estimates of routine coverage are, in general, lower than WHO and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates. "This method not only attempts to correct coverage estimates, but also distinguishes between issues of overall coverage and vaccine within activity inefficiencies. For our technique to be useful, countries must have cross-sectional data on vaccine coverage for children across a range of ages, some of an age where they have been exposed to multiple vaccination activities," said Derek Cummings. "Estimates of the inefficiency of past vaccination activities and the proportion not covered by any activity allow us to more accurately predict the results of future activities and provide insight into the ways in which vaccination programs are failing to meet their goals," adds Lessler.

Study offers clues as to why some patients get infections from cardiac implants

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:55:01 PDT

New research suggests that some patients develop a potentially deadly blood infection from their implanted cardiac devices because bacterial cells in their bodies have gene mutations that allow them to stick to the devices......> Full story

Antibody treatment protects monkeys from Hendra virus disease

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:10:58 PDT

A human antibody given to monkeys infected with the deadly Hendra virus completely protected them from disease, according to a study published by National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and their collaborators. Hendra and the closely related Nipah virus, both rare viruses that are part of the NIH biodefense research program, target the lungs and brain and have human case fatality rates of 60 percent and more than 75 percent, respectively. These diseases in monkeys mirror what happens in humans, and the study results are cause for hope that the antibody, named m102.4, ultimately may be developed into a possible treatment for people who become infected with these viruses. In May 2010, shortly after the NIH study in monkeys successfully concluded, Australian health officials requested m102.4 for emergency use in a woman and her 12-year-old daughter. They had been exposed to Hendra virus from an ill horse that ultimately was euthanized. Both the woman and child survived and showed no side effects from the treatment. "This is an important research advance that illustrates how scientific discoveries emerge through a steady stepwise process, and how our investment in research on countermeasures for biodefense and emerging infectious diseases can help global preparedness efforts," said Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Hendra virus emerged in 1994 in Australia and primarily affects horses, which can spread the disease to humans. No person-to-person transmission of Hendra has been reported. Nipah virus emerged in 1998 in Malaysia, and also has been found in Bangladesh and India. Nipah appears to infect humans more easily than Hendra and can be transmitted from person to person. The NIAID-supported study, which appears online in Science Translational Medicine, involved infecting 14 African green monkeys with a lethal dose of Hendra virus. Twelve of the monkeys then received two treatments with m102.4, one either at 10, 24, or 72 hours after being infected, and another 48 hours later. All 12 monkeys treated with the antibody survived. The two untreated control monkeys died eight days after being infected. The findings are the result of a series of studies carried out by different research laboratories. A group from NIH's National Cancer Institute and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) discovered m102.4 in 2006 and developed the antibody for use in laboratory research. USUHS and Australian collaborators then developed an animal study model of m102.4 in ferrets infected with Nipah virus; the University of Texas Medical Branch and USUHS developed a monkey study model of Hendra and Nipah infection; and together with investigators from Boston University and NIAID's Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) designed and carried out the antibody trial in biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) laboratory space at RML. Because the Hendra and Nipah viruses are so deadly and there is no licensed vaccine or treatment for either of them, both viruses must be studied in maximum-containment BSL-4 laboratories. The World Health Organization reports 475 human cases of Nipah through 2008, with 251 deaths. Through the same period, there have been seven human Hendra cases with four fatalities. There also have been many horse fatalities. In their study, the scientists cite a handful of other outbreaks of Hendra virus in horses since 2008. Since June 2011, there have been 18 outbreaks in Australia, primarily in Queensland and New South Wales, with the latest reported Oct. 10. Both viruses are spread by fruit bats, commonly known as flying foxes, which are reservoirs for these viruses. The fruit bats, which are resistant to the diseases, are found primarily in Australia but have been found as far west as Africa, north to India and Pakistan, and east to the Philippines. Additional studies on m102.4 as a possible treatment and as a preventive vaccine for Nipah and Hendra virus infections are being planned.

Penn researchers demonstrate efficacy of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma vaccine

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:36:21 PDT

An experimental vaccine developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s schools of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine is the first veterinary cancer vaccine of its kind that shows an increase in survival time for dogs with spontaneous non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The work shows for the first time the feasibility and therapeutic efficacy of this alternative cell-based vaccine, which could be employed in the treatment of a number of different cancer types......> Full story

Scripps Research scientists reveal surprising picture of how powerful antibody neutralizes HIV

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:59:32 PDT

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have uncovered the surprising details of how a powerful anti-HIV antibody grabs hold of the virus. The findings, published in Science Express on October 13, 2011, highlight a major vulnerability of HIV and suggest a new target for vaccine development. "What's unexpected and unique about this antibody is that it not only attaches to the sugar coating of the virus but also reaches through to grab part of the virus's envelope protein," said the report's co-senior author Dennis Burton, a professor at The Scripps Research Institute and scientific director of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative's (IAVI) Neutralizing Antibody Center, based on the Scripps Research La Jolla campus. "We can now start to think about constructing mimics of these viral structures to use in candidate vaccines," said co-senior author Ian Wilson, who is Hansen Professor of Structural Biology and member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at Scripps Research. Other institutions in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and the Netherlands contributed to the research as part of an ongoing global HIV vaccine development effort. Getting a Better Grip on HIV Researchers from the current team recently isolated the new antibody and 16 others from the blood of HIV-infected volunteers, in work they reported online in the journal Nature on August 17, 2011. Since the 1990s, Burton, Wilson, and other researchers have been searching for such "broadly neutralizing" antibodies against HIV—antibodies that work against many of the various strains of the fast-mutating virus—and by now have found more than a dozen. PGT 128, the antibody described in the new report, can neutralize about 70 percent of globally circulating HIV strains by blocking their ability to infect cells. It also can do so much more potently—in other words, in smaller concentrations of antibody molecules—than any previously reported broadly neutralizing anti-HIV antibody. The new report illuminates why PGT 128 is so effective at neutralizing HIV. Using the Wilson lab's expertise in X-ray crystallography, Robert Pejchal, a research associate in the Wilson lab, determined the structure of PGT 128 joined to its binding site on molecular mockups of the virus, designed in part by Robyn Stanfield and Pejchal in the Wilson group and Bill Schief, now an IAVI principal scientist and associate professor at Scripps Research, and his group. With these structural data, and by experimentally mutating and altering the viral target site, they could see that PGT 128 works in part by binding to glycans on the viral surface. Thickets of these sugars normally surround HIV's envelope protein, gp120, largely shielding it from attack by the immune system. Nevertheless, PGT 128 manages to bind to two closely spaced glycans, and at the same time reaches through the rest of the "glycan shield" to take hold of a small part of structure on gp120 known as the V3 loop. This penetration of the glycan shield by PGT 128 was also visualized by electron microscopy with a trimeric form of the gp120/gp41 envelope protein of HIV-1 by Reza Kayat and Andrew Ward of Scripps Research; this revealed that the PGT 128 epitope appears to be readily accessible on the virus. "Both of these glycans appear in most HIV strains, which helps explain why PGT 128 is so broadly neutralizing," said Katie J. Doores, a research associate in the Burton lab who was one of the report's lead authors. PGT 128 also engages V3 by its backbone structure, which doesn't vary as much as other parts of the virus because it is required for infection. PGT 128's extreme potency is harder to explain. The antibody binds to gp120 in a way that presumably disrupts its ability to lock onto human cells and infect them. Yet it doesn't bind to gp120 many times more tightly than other anti-HIV antibodies. The team's analysis hints that PGT 128 may be extraordinarily potent because it also binds two separate gp120 molecules, thus tying up not one but two cell-infecting structures. Other mechanisms may also be at work. Toward an AIDS Vaccine Researchers hope to use the knowledge of these antibodies' binding sites on HIV to develop vaccines that stimulate a long-term—perhaps lifetime—protective antibody response against those same vulnerable sites. "We'll probably need multiple targets on the virus for a successful vaccine, but certainly PGT 128 shows us a very good target," said Burton. Intriguingly, the basic motif of PGT 128's target may mark a general vulnerability for HIV. "Other research is also starting to suggest that you can grab onto two glycans and a beta strand and get very potent and broad neutralizing antibodies against HIV," Wilson said.

Cleveland Clinic study discovers new targets for treating inflammatory, autoimmune diseases

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:36:28 PDT

Researchers have discovered a cellular pathway that promotes inflammation in diseases like asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis. Understanding the details of this pathway may provide opportunities for tailored treatments of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Discovery of this pathway was the work of an active collaboration between Xiaoxia Li, Ph.D., and Thomas Hamilton, Ph.D., Department Chair, both of the Department of Immunology at Lerner Research Institute of Cleveland Clinic. Their publications in Nature Immunology, selected for a News and Views article in the same issue, portray how a protein molecule known as interleukin-17 (IL-17) spurs inflammation by recruiting specific white blood cells to sites of infection and injury, producing a strong, pathogenic response. Being able to block this pathway may treat IL-17-induced inflammatory diseases. Molecular factors discovered by Li and Hamilton make this concept a potential strategy. "We are excited by the possibilities that this new research opens up for developing improved therapeutics for these difficult diseases," Hamilton said. "Being able to collaborate like this really expedites the science," Li added, "ultimately leading, we hope, to profound improvement for those suffering from these autoimmune and inflammatory conditions."

Immune mechanism blocks inflammation generated by oxidative stress

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:23:11 PDT

Conditions like atherosclerosis and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) -- the most common cause of blindness among the elderly in western societies -- are strongly linked to increased oxidative stress, the process in which proteins, lipids and DNA damaged by oxygen free radicals and related cellular waste accumulate, prompting an inflammatory response from the body's innate immune system that results in chronic disease. In the October 6, 2011 issue of Nature, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, as part of an international collaborative effort, identify a key protein that binds to a molecule generated by oxidative stress, blocking any subsequent inflammatory immune response. The scientists, led by senior author Christoph J. Binder, assistant adjunct professor of medicine at UC San Diego, principal investigator at the Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and professor at the Medical University of Vienna, say their findings reveal important insights into how the innate immune system responds to oxidative stress and might be exploited to prevent and treat AMD and other chronic inflammatory diseases. Specifically, Binder, Joseph L. Witztum, professor of medicine at UC San Diego, and colleagues in Austria, Germany, England and Maryland discovered that when lipids (fats) in cell membranes degrade through oxidative stress, they produce a number of reactive products, including a compound called malondialdehyde (MDA), which in turn modifies other molecules to create novel oxidation-specific epitopes, the part of antigens that draws the attention and inflammatory response of the innate immune system. The researchers noted, in particular, that MDA attracted an immune system protein called complement factor H (CFH), which bound to it, effectively blocking the uptake of MDA-modified proteins by macrophages, a type of white blood cell charged with killing and eliminating foreign invaders and substances. In in-vivo experiments, the researchers reported that CFH neutralized the inflammatory effects of MDA in mice retinas, limiting the inflammatory response associated with AMD and other chronic diseases. They also found that a specific mutation in the CFH protein, which is associated with a four-to-seven-fold greater risk of developing AMD, greatly diminished the ability of CFH to bind to MDA. Binder said the findings further demonstrate the innate immune system's important but not fully appreciated "house-keeping function, defending against endogenous waste products and not just against foreign microbial products." Beyond that, he said the distinctive, protective role of CFH represents a potential new therapeutic approach for treating AMD, heart disease and other chronic conditions. "This activity of CFH can be used for the development of neutralizing agents to mimic this function."

Study: Impediment to some cancer immunotherapy involves the free radical peroxynitrite

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:28:36 PDT

Researchers at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and colleagues have found that tumor cell resistance to a specific cancer immunotherapy designed to kill cancer cells can be blamed on a mechanism that involves the production of a free radical peroxynitrite (PNT) that causes resistance to therapeutic cancer-killing cells.......> Full story

Modified vaccine shows promise in preventing malaria

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:11:02 PDT

Continuing a global effort to prevent malaria infections, Michigan State University researchers have created a new malaria vaccine – one that combines the use of a disabled cold virus with an immune system-stimulating gene – that appears to increase the immune response against the parasite that causes the deadly disease. At the same time, the group led by Andrea Amalfitano of the College of Osteopathic Medicine also discovered another immune-system stimulating agent – created at MSU and which has been successful in improving immune responses in vaccines for diseases such as HIV – paradoxically made for a less effective malaria vaccine. Both of the findings will help researchers develop more effective vaccine platforms in general, and malaria vaccines specifically, hopefully leading to human clinical trials soon, Amalfitano said. The research is published in the current edition of PLoS ONE. "Researchers across the globe are working on ways to prevent people from becoming infected with malaria," said Amalfitano of the disease that kills up to a million people each year, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. "Some vaccines are showing promise, but they are not as effective as they need to be for any mass distribution." Amalfitano and his research team are focusing on one such vaccine platform, spearheaded by the U.S. Army, that targets a certain gene on the malaria parasite, a protein called Circumsporozoite Protein, or CSP. That protein is thought to play a key role in creating an immune response to the malaria parasite; past research shows people infected by malaria multiple times will begin creating an immune response to this protein, suggesting at some level it could be protective. "What we are looking to do is improve the ability of the vaccine to induce immune responses to that protein," Amalfitano said. "We are adding genes to the vaccine to try and stimulate the immune system." Those genetic agents, similar to chemical adjuvants, are stimulants that improve the ability of vaccines to induce beneficial immune responses in general. In mouse models, the researchers used two such "gene-adjuvants": rEA and EAT-2, both of which aimed to illicit improved immune responses to the malaria CSP gene. Surprisingly, the rEA agent – which was developed at MSU in part by the late Barnett Rosenberg – did not produce the desired result and in fact seemed to worsen the animal's ability to generate an immune response to CSP. However, the EAT-2 gene-adjuvant stimulated the immune system in a different way, and Amalfitano and his team were able to increase the ability of the immune system to respond to CSP to a level that surpassed currently available malaria vaccine systems. "The results were surprising, but we were able to hit our goal eventually," he said. "This research will help us as we create a viable vaccine. While the way that rEA is trying to stimulate the immune system may not be the best way for malaria, we did come up with an alternative adjuvant to effectively target the parasite." Amalfitano said the next step is to see if researchers can prevent malaria in animal models using the EAT-2 gene-adjuvant: "Then we can take the lessons learned and really go forward and do what's necessary to feel confident to begin human trials."