PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

H7N9 flu vaccine study shows adjuvant is essential for effective immune response

2014-10-07
(Press-News.org) A large, NIH-sponsored clinical trial of an experimental H7N9 avian influenza vaccine found an immune response that was believed to be protective in 59 percent of study participants who received two injections of the inactivated vaccine at the lowest dosage tested when mixed with an adjuvant – a component that boosts the body's immune response and enhances the effectiveness of inactivated influenza vaccines.

Participants who received a vaccine without the adjuvant had a minimal immune response.

The results are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

The randomized, double-blinded clinical trial, sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), enrolled 700 healthy adults ages 19 to 64 at four NIAID-sponsored Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEUs) in the United States. Enrollment began in Sept. 2013 and six-month followup was completed in May 2014.

The clinical trial was led by Mark Mulligan, MD, professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and principal investigator of the Emory VTEU. The Emory study site included the Hope Clinic of the Emory Vaccine Center, the Emory Department of Pediatrics and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The paper's Emory co-authors were Evan Anderson, MD, Srilatha Edupuganti, MD, Nadine Rouphael, MD and Paul Spearman, MD.

The 700 volunteers were divided into groups receiving four different dosages of vaccine, with or without adjuvant (MF59), given at 0 and 21 days. Those receiving vaccine without adjuvant had minimal immune responses, even at the highest vaccine dose. Likely immune responses were assessed at 42 days after the first vaccination with a standard blood test called the hemagglutination (HAI) antibody assay. No serious adverse events were reported, and side effects were mild.

Antibody responses were not significantly different between participants who received the highest and the lowest dosages of vaccine along with two doses of adjuvant. But participants who received a dose of adjuvant with their first dose of vaccine had immune responses comparable to those who received two doses of adjuvant. This finding could be important in stretching supplies of vaccine and adjuvant during a pandemic.

Participants who recently had received a seasonal flu vaccination or those who were older were less likely to have a strong immune response.

"This clinical trial gave us valuable information about the use of H7N9 flu vaccine combined with adjuvant and makes us better prepared for a potential pandemic," says Mulligan. "We must continue to test and improve vaccines for all flu strains, as these viruses have the ability to mutate and spread rapidly."

The first human H7N9 avian influenza cases occurred in China in early 2013. Most infected people have had contact with infected poultry. Although the virus does not sicken birds, approximately 67 percent of infected people have required hospitalization. As of Sept. 4, 2014, 452 cases and 166 deaths (37 percent) had been reported to the World Health Organization.

INFORMATION:

Other VTEUs participating in the clinical trial were at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center; University of Iowa, Iowa City; and University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston. The vaccine and adjuvant were supplied by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) from its National Pre-pandemic Influenza Vaccine Stockpile.

Additional details about the clinical trial are available at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT01938742.

Reference: MJ Mulligan et al. Serological responses to an avian influenza A/H7N9 vaccine mixed at the point-of-use with MF59 adjuvant: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA 2014; 312(14):1409-1419. Doi:10.1001/jama 2014.12854



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

NIST laser comb system maps 3-D surfaces remotely for manufacturing, forensics

NIST laser comb system maps 3-D surfaces remotely for manufacturing, forensics
2014-10-07
VIDEO: This video shows the sole of a shoe as it appears from different perspectives in rendering software. The shoe was placed upside down on an optical table (seen as flat... Click here for more information. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a laser-based imaging system that creates high-definition 3D maps of surfaces from as far away as 10.5 meters.* The method may be useful in diverse fields, including precision machining ...

A universal Ebola drug target

2014-10-07
(SALT LAKE CITY)—University of Utah biochemists have reported a new drug discovery tool against the Ebola virus. According to a study published in this week's online edition of Protein Science, they have produced a molecule, known as a peptide mimic, that displays a functionally critical region of the virus that is universally conserved in all known species of Ebola. This new tool can be used as a drug target in the discovery of anti-Ebola agents that are effective against all known strains and likely future strains. The University of Utah (U of U) work, which was ...

Hypoglycemia link to HbA1c has declined in type 1 diabetes

2014-10-07
The link between low average glucose blood levels and greater risk for severe hypoglycemia and hypoglycemic coma substantially declined between 1995 and 2012 in young Germans and Austrians with type 1 diabetes, according to a study published by Beate Karges and colleagues from the RWTH Aachen University, Germany in this week's PLOS Medicine. The researchers obtained measurements of average blood glucose levels (measured as HbA1c) and the incidents of severe hypoglycemia and hypoglycemic coma from 37,539 children and young adults with type 1 diabetes between 1995 and 2012 ...

Oral chelation for environmental lead toxicity

2014-10-07
Treatment with dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), an oral chelation agent, was linked to reductions in the amount of lead in blood in young children in Zamfara State, Nigeria following environmental lead contamination, according to a study by Jane Greig and colleagues from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) published in this week's PLOS Medicine. The researchers report findings from an MSF program initiated in May 2010 to reduce lead poisoning in children following widespread environmental lead contamination due to gold mining in Zamfara State, Nigeria, leading to ...

How female flies know when to say 'yes'

2014-10-07
A fundamental question in neurobiology is how animals, including humans, make decisions. A new study publishing in the open access journal PLOS Biology on October 7 reveals how fruit fly females make a very important decision: to either accept or reject male courtship. This decision appears to be generated by a very small number of excitatory neurons that use acetylcholine as their neurotransmitter located in three brain regions. This study provides the framework to understand how decisions are generated and suggests that a decision is reached because that option is literally ...

New at-risk group identified for gastrointestinal stromal tumors

New at-risk group identified for gastrointestinal stromal tumors
2014-10-07
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have, for the first time, clearly defined the epidemiology of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), which occur primarily in the lining of the stomach and small intestine. One key finding: Patients of Asian descent, who have not previously been identified as an at-risk population, are 1.5 times more likely than other patient groups to be diagnosed with this type of tumor. Results of the study were published this week in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association ...

George Washington physician addresses stigma against patients and providers with disabilities

2014-10-07
WASHINGTON (Oct. 7, 2014) — Nearly 20 percent of Americans have a disability, yet only 25 percent of medical schools include in their curricula caring for people with disabilities. Numerous reports have documented that people with disabilities have poorer health and receive inferior care. In a Narrative Matters essay published in Health Affairs, Leana Wen, M.D., director of patient-centered care research and assistant professor of emergency medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, shares her own experiences to highlight ...

Survival molecule helps cancer cells hide from the immune system

2014-10-07
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A molecule that helps cancer cells evade programmed self-destruction, an internal source of death, might also help malignant cells hide from the immune system, an external source of death. A new study by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) shows that a molecule called nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) helps cancer cells by inhibiting the immune system's ability to detect and destroy them. The molecule regulates genes ...

Researchers identify 'Achilles heel' in metabolic pathway that could lead to new cancer treatment

Researchers identify Achilles heel in metabolic pathway that could lead to new cancer treatment
2014-10-07
DALLAS – Oct. 7, 2014 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found an "Achilles heel" in a metabolic pathway crucial to stopping the growth of lung cancer cells. At the heart of this pathway lies PPARγ (peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor gamma), a protein that regulates glucose and lipid metabolism in normal cells. Researchers demonstrated that by activating PPARγ with antidiabetic drugs in lung cancer cells, they could stop these tumor cells from dividing. "We found that activation of PPARγ causes a major metabolic ...

State policies can influence access to heroin treatment, study finds

2014-10-07
State policies can influence the number of physicians licensed to prescribe buprenorphine, a drug that can treat addiction to heroin and other opioids in outpatient settings, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Examining county-level numbers of physicians approved to prescribe buprenorphine, researchers found a significant link between the number of approved physicians and both specific state guidance regarding the use of buprenorphine and the distribution of clinical guidelines for buprenorphine treatment. The findings were published online by the Journal of ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Thirty-year mystery of dissonance in the “ringing” of black holes explained

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative

Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine

[Press-News.org] H7N9 flu vaccine study shows adjuvant is essential for effective immune response