(Press-News.org) Researchers at National Jewish Health have discovered how to prime a second arm of the immune system to potentially boost influenza vaccine effectiveness. A combination of two adjuvants, chemicals used to boost the effectiveness of some vaccines, induced CD8, or killer, T cells to join antibodies in response to influenza infection. Since the killer T cells targeted a highly conserved protein that does not change from year to year, the adjuvant strategy suggests potential for a universal flu vaccine.
"Most vaccines protect against disease by boosting antibody protection," said lead author post-doctoral fellow Megan MacLeod, PhD. "We have shown that the two adjuvants work in concert to generate memory CD8 T cells, which can kill infected cells. We believe that this strategy of stimulating both the cellular and humoral immune responses holds promise for better vaccines."
Vaccines prepare the immune system to respond quickly to an infection with antibodies, Y-shaped molecules that neutralize or otherwise inactivate pathogens.
Aluminum salts, or alum, have been used for nearly a century as an adjuvant to boost the effectiveness of many vaccines. Surprisingly no one is sure even today exactly how it works. The only other adjuvant approved for use in the United States, monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL), is used by GlaxoSmithKline to boost the antibody response of some of its vaccines.
Dr. MacLeod, senior author Philippa Marrack, PhD, and their colleagues evaluated the responses of mice immunized with influenza vaccines containing no adjuvant, each adjuvant alone and both together. They engineered the vaccine so that any immune defense would be provided by killer T cells, not antibodies. Several weeks after the immunization, they infected the mice with influenza A virus.
They found that unvaccinated mice lost about 15 percent of their body weight in the first eight days after infection, then regained some of that weight by 20 days after infection. Mice whose vaccines contained either alum or MPL adjuvants lost less weight but did not fully regain their original weight. Mice whose vaccines contained both adjuvants together lost about 5 percent of their original weight and regained it all back rapidly.
The researchers also found that mice receiving vaccines with both adjuvants had the fewest viral particles in their lungs four days after infection.
Further experiments revealed that alum promoted long-lived CD8 memory cells, but that MPL was required to produce activated cells, ready and able to kill. The findings were published in the May 10, 2011, issue of the Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences.
Current influenza vaccines use antigens against two proteins on the viral surface, neuraminidase (N), and hemagglutinin (H), to which antibodies can bind. Because these cell-surface proteins mutate frequently, new vaccines must be formulated each year to recognize a viral strains.
Killer T cells instead recognize viral fragments displayed on the surface of infected cells. The researchers used as their vaccine a fragment from the viral nucleus, which rarely changes. This suggests the possible development of a universal flu vaccine that would not have to be reformulated and administered every year.
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With autism affecting close to one percent of children in the U.S., the urgency to find some sort of explanation for the disorder has never been greater. This week, three studies published in the 9 June issue of Neuron offer a definitive vindication of the theory that spontaneous, or de novo, genetic mutations underlie the development of autism in many families with no history of the disorder.
Two of the new papers, independent microarray studies of unprecedented scale, point to an array of genetic variants that are likely to increase the risk of developing an autism ...
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Older people who regularly exercise at a moderate to intense level may be less likely to develop the small brain lesions, sometimes referred to as "silent strokes," that are the first sign of cerebrovascular disease, according to a new study published in the June 8, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).
"These 'silent strokes' are more significant than the name implies, because they have been associated with an increased risk of falls and impaired mobility, memory problems and even dementia, ...
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are devastating developmental disorders characterized by altered social interactions and behavior. Although genetic risks are known to contribute to the development of ASDs, the genetic causes of the disease are not well understood. Now, three papers published by Cell Press in the June 9 issue of the journal Neuron provide new insight into the diversity of the genetic abnormalities that contribute to autism and represent a step towards the future design of treatments specifically targeted to different kinds of autism.
To unravel the ...
HOUSTON (June 8, 2011) – Many roads can lead to the same place, often crossing over one another and sometimes passing the same landmarks.
The interactome or protein interaction network for autism spectrum disorders developed by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital in collaboration with scientists at the Center for Cancer Systems Biology (CCSB) at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute demonstrates how protein pathways converge, diverge and interact to arrive at the same devastating condition.
In ...
Better control of cholesterol levels and blood pressure and a decline in smoking have contributed to a 74% drop in the risk of heart attack among nearly 10,000 civil servants working in London over a 20-year period, according to new research. However, the reduction would have been even greater were it not for the fact that more people became fatter during this time, and this rise in body mass index (BMI) accounted for an estimated 11% increased risk of heart attack over the same period.
In a paper published online today in the European Heart Journal [1], researchers report ...
Salon and Spa Galleria adds yet another service to their list of specialties by offering massage services from certified massage technicians in Grapevine. The addition of more day spa services helps the salon accomplish their goal of better catering to their clients' needs. Eventually the salon wants to be a one stop shop for all health and beauty needs.
"There is never a bad time for a massage," owner Ron Sturgeon said. "And with our location right in front of Grapevine Mills Mall we make the perfect place to stop by and relax after a long day of shopping. ...
Hundreds of small genetic variations are associated with autism spectrum disorders, including an area of DNA that may be a key to understanding why humans are social animals, according to a multi-site collaborative study led by researchers at Yale University.
Published in the June 9 issue of the journal Neuron, the study reinforces the theory that autism, a disorder that develops in early childhood involving impairments in social interaction, language deficits and distinctive behaviors, is not caused by one or two major genetic defects, but by many small variations, each ...
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a gene and a novel signaling pathway, both critical for making the first hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in developing vertebrate embryos. The discovery has implications for developing stem cell-based therapies for diseases like leukemia and congenital blood disorders.
HSCs are multipotent stem cells that give rise to all blood cell types, including red blood and immune cells. Existing medical treatments using HSCs are hampered by cell shortages and finding compatible matches between ...
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REDD+ strategies lack plan for agriculture
Even as countries cite farm expansion as main cause of forest loss, research finds gap between climate 'promises' and farm policies
BONN, GERMANY (8 JUNE 2011)—The majority of countries participating in a major global effort to reduce greenhouse emissions caused by forest destruction cite agriculture as the main cause of deforestation, but very few provide details on how ...
Cold Spring Harbor, NY – A clinically extensive and mathematically powerful study of 1000 families with one autistic child and one unaffected sibling has validated a controversial theory of autism's complex genetic causation. The study for the first time estimates the minimum number of locations in the human genome -- 250 to 300 -- where gene copy number variation (CNV) can give rise to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It also sheds new light on the long observed but little understood "gender bias" of autism, an illness that typically manifests by age 3 and affects about ...
