Scripps Research Team Sheds Light on Immune System Suppression
Work Could Aid Development of New Treatments for Such Conditions as HIV, Measles, and Tuberculosis
LA JOLLA, CA, October 17, 2008—Diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and measles claim countless lives by weakening immune systems in ways that have remained unclear. But a team from The Scripps Research Institute has for the first time pinpointed a clear mechanism for immunosuppression. They have shown how an initial viral infection can block production of critical immune system proteins known as type I interferons, leading to susceptibility to other, potentially deadly infections.
Scientists Decode Genome of Parasite that Causes Relapsing Malaria
Advance May Speed Development of Malaria Drugs and Vaccines
Scientists have deciphered the complete genetic sequence of the parasite Plasmodium vivax, the leading cause of relapsing malaria, and compared it with the genomes of other species of malaria parasites. The findings shed light on distinctive genetic features of P. vivax, and may lead to new tools to prevent and treat P. vivax malaria. Results of the study, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), appear in the Oct. 9 issue of Nature.
NIH Scientists Discover Crucial Control in Long-Lasting Immunity
Tango Between T and B Cells Depends on Key Protein
National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists have identified a protein that plays matchmaker between two key types of white blood cells, T and B cells, enabling them to interact in a way that is crucial to establishing long-lasting immunity after an infection. Their finding may also explain why some individuals who have a genetic defect that prevents them from making this protein — called SAP — suffer from lethal infections with a common virus that otherwise is rarely fatal (Epstein-Barr virus), while others with this genetic defect have problems with B-cell lymphomas.
Most Vaccine-Allergic Children Can Still Be Safely Vaccinated, Hopkins Experts Say
Team offers step-by-step tool for safe immunization
With close monitoring and a few standard precautions, nearly all children with known or suspected vaccine allergies can be safely immunized, according to a team of vaccine safety experts led by the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Writing in the September issue of Pediatrics, the multicenter research team offers pediatricians a step-by-step tool for quickly identifying children with allergic reactions to vaccines, and a much-needed guide, they say, to safely immunize those who are allergic.
UNAM scientists are designing a new system to produce vaccines through the use of insect's modified virus
Laura Romero
Proteína verde fluorescente incorporada en partículas de polihedra. Fotos tomadas en la Unidad de Microscopía del Instituto de Fisiología Celular de la UNAM
How Flesh-Eating Bacteria
Attack the Body’s Immune System
By Debra Kain
“Flesh-eating” or “Strep” bacteria are able to survive and spread in the body by degrading a key immune defense molecule, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The finding, which could aid in development of new treatments for serious infections in human patients, will be reported in the August 14 issue of the journal Cell Host & Microbe.
RARE CASE IN A BALTIMORE COUPLE EXPLAINS WHY SOME INFECTED WITH HIV REMAIN SYMPTOM FREE FOR YEARS WITHOUT ANTIRETROVIRAL DRUGS - Finding renews promise of vaccine against AIDS; disproves theory of defective virus
AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins say they have compelling evidence that some people with HIV who for years and even decades show extremely low levels of the virus in their blood never progress to full-blown AIDS and remain symptom free even without treatment, probably do so because of the strength of their immune systems, not any defects in the strain of HIV that infected them in the first place.
NIH Scientists Find a Novel Mechanism that Controls the Development of Autoimmunity
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found a mechanism in the immune systems of mice that can lead to the development of autoimmune disease when turned off. The findings shed light on the processes that lead to the development of autoimmunity and could also have implications for the development of drugs to increase the immune response in diseases such as cancer and HIV. The study paper appears online today in the journal Nature.
Plants make vaccine for treating type of cancer in Stanford study
By ERIN DIGITALE
STANFORD, Calif. — Plants could act as safe, speedy factories for growing antibodies for personalized treatments against a common form of cancer, according to new findings from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The findings came in the first human tests of an injectable vaccine grown in tobacco plants.
Researchers crack final part of the immune system code
A group of researchers at the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Copenhagen have developed models of neural networks that make it possible to simulate how the body protects itself from disease and predict the immune system’s access codes. The human body has its own natural inbuilt defence mechanism which uses access or “pincodes” to stop microorganisms that invade the body from discovering how the entire human immune system works. Every human being on the planet has their own unique version of this defence mechanism. But the sheer complexity of the immune system has, up until now, also made it difficult for researchers to understand how the immune system functions and develop precise immunological treatments. Last year, the research team led by Associate Professor Morten Nielsen and Professor Søren Buus successfully decoded some of the pincodes. Now, the team has completed work on their project and put together a complete picture of how the immune system checks the inner and outer components of our cells for dangerous invaders. The research could have significant consequences for the treatment of cancer, infectious diseases and also for transplant operations.
Yeast-Based Vaccine Induces Immune Responses and Reduces Tumor Size in Mice
Scientists have found that vaccination with a heat-killed, non-toxic yeast that is genetically engineered to manufacture a common tumor protein can induce specific and repeated anti-tumor immune responses in mice. Vaccination extends overall survival and reduces tumor size in mice that have been injected with cancer cells displaying the same protein that was engineered into the yeast. Results of this research by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, can be found in the July 1, 2008 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.
Scripps Research Scientists Find Pathogen Uses Unique Strategy to Inhibit Human Immune Response
Results Could Point to Potential Therapeutic Targets for Persistent Infection
LA JOLLA, CA, June 17, 2008—Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have uncovered a unique strategy used by some common bacteria to disrupt the human immune system, maintaining persistent infections and ensuring the bacteria's survival. The findings shed new light on the complex relationship between pathogens and the immune system, and may one day lead to novel ways of fighting persistent infections.
Rapid escalation characterizes arms race between virus and host
By Robert Sanders, Media Relations
BERKELEY – The interaction between a virus and its host is often portrayed as an arms race, with each new viral attack parried by the host and each new defense by the host one-upped by the virus.
Finding yields creation of bacteria-resistant films
Anne Trafton, News Office
Having found that whether bacteria stick to surfaces depends partly on how stiff those surfaces are, MIT engineers have created ultrathin films made of polymers that could be applied to medical devices and other surfaces to control microbe accumulation.
UNAM scientists develop a vaccine against tuberculosis It has already been characterized, tested in animals and the patent licensed in Mexico and abroad.
Pía Herrera
Ya está caracterizada genómicamente, evaluada en animales y con
patente licenciada en el país y en el extranjero
Modified Virus Vaccine Shows Promise in Mouse Model of Breast Cancer
Researchers have shown that vaccinating mice with a modified form of a virus containing proteins from breast cancer cells can kill large breast cancer tumors and tumors that have spread to the lungs. The rodent model of cancer used in this study closely resembles a type of breast cancer seen in humans called HER2-positive. Although other cancer vaccines have shown activity in the treatment of very small tumors, their ability to influence large, established tumors, such as many HER2-positive breast cancers, has proven difficult. The study, led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, appeared in the March 15, 2008, issue of Cancer Research.
