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

London researchers discover novel mechanism involved in key immune response

2012-06-14
(Press-News.org) LONDON, ON – A team of researchers at Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University have identified a novel way that a common virus, called adenovirus, causes disease. In doing so, they have discovered important information on one of the body's key immune responses. Their findings, published today in Cell Host & Microbe, may have implications for infectious diseases and cancer.

Adenovirus infections most often cause mild illnesses of the respiratory system, resulting in runny noses, coughs and sore throats. However, researchers have been interested in adenoviruses since the 1960s, when it was discovered that they can cause tumors in rodents. These tumors arise because adenovirus infected cells divide uncontrollably and escape the immune response, which are hallmarks of cancer.

One key component of antiviral immunity is interferon. "Interferons are proteins made and released by cells in response to the presence of viruses, bacteria, parasites or cancers," says Dr. Joseph Mymryk, a scientist at Lawson and a tumor virologist at London Health Sciences Centre. "Adenovirus is completely resistant to interferon."

Past studies have identified some of the ways in which adenovirus overcomes the interferon response, but Dr. Mymryk and Greg Fonseca, PhD Candidate and lead author on the study, have identified a new mechanism that relies on changes in epigenetic regulation. Epigenetics is an emerging field of study which involves non-genetic factors that cause an organism's genes to express differently.

The production of interferons is responsible for the majority of symptoms commonly associated with viral infection including fever, chills, muscle aches, and malaise. When a cell is exposed to interferon it increases the production of about 300 cellular genes that defend the cell from infection. The researchers have discovered that interferon-regulated genes require a specific epigenetic modification called monoubiquitination of histone 2B (H2B) to work. "There is still much to learn about this modification, but our studies are the first to show that it is absolutely required for the interferon response," says Fonseca. "This finding was totally unanticipated."

"Each cell has thousands of different genes and they can all be regulated in weird and wonderful ways," says Dr. Mymryk. "The monoubiquitination of H2B specifically results in large increases in the transcription of genes. We found that the interferon response uses this modification for the rapid increases in gene transcription (which leads to gene expression) that are needed to change the cell environment to respond to and stop the viral infection. What the virus does is essentially block the formation of the complex that performs the monubiquitination of H2B, thereby blocking its function."

Although the medical consequences of adenovirus are typically modest, the study's findings have implications in a broad range of diseases because of how influential the interferon response is to how we respond to infectious diseases and cancer.

"Many cancers are non-responsive to interferon," says Fonseca. "If we can more fully understand the mechanism of interferon response, we may be able to better treat these cancers. Overall, many of the tricks adenovirus uses may be similar to those used by other viruses and cancer cells."

### Dr. Mymryk is also Professor in the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, and Oncology at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.

Lawson Health Research Institute. As the research institute of London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care London, and working in partnership with Western University, Lawson Health Research Institute is committed to furthering scientific knowledge to advance health care around the world. www.lawsonresearch.com


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Web-based tool helps parents improve on kids' asthma treatment

Web-based tool helps parents improve on kids asthma treatment
2012-06-14
SEATTLE: June 13, 2012 — Asthma is the most common chronic illness in adolescents and children, affecting an estimated seven million children up to the age of 17 in the United States. The burden of asthma on children is substantial: kids with asthma have a three-fold greater risk of school absence than children without asthma, and asthma is the third leading cause of hospitalization among children under the age of 15. Some parents of children with asthma have a tough time complying with treatment guidelines. Numerous surveys report between 40 to 60 percent of kids ...

NightVision Outdoor Lighting Will Take Over Competitors' Atlanta Outdoor Lighting Systems

NightVision Outdoor Lighting Will Take Over Competitors Atlanta Outdoor Lighting Systems
2012-06-14
If you've been burned by your Atlanta outdoor lighting company, NightVision Outdoor Lighting is here to help. The company is happy to take over any competitor's outdoor lighting system if you are dissatisfied by the competitor's performance. Many Atlanta homeowners find themselves in the tough position of being unhappy with their Atlanta landscape lighting company but feeling like they can't leave. NightVision Outdoor Lighting wishes to put to bed the idea that only one lighting company can maintain your lighting system. A significant portion of NightVision's clientele ...

Got mass? Princeton scientists observe electrons become both heavy and speedy

Got mass? Princeton scientists observe electrons become both heavy and speedy
2012-06-14
VIDEO: This video displays heavy electrons at different energies and shows their standing wave patterns (like water in a pond) around individual atomic defects placed intentionally in a compound. The patterns... Click here for more information. A Princeton University-led team of scientists has shown how electrons moving in certain solids can behave as though they are a thousand times more massive than free electrons, yet at the same time act as speedy superconductors. The ...

Atlanta Exterminator, North Fulton Pest Solutions Warns Homeowners About Summer Ant Problems

2012-06-14
Summertime is ant season in Georgia, and Atlanta pest control company North Fulton Pest Solutions knows how difficult it can be for homeowners to eradicate ants from the home and yard once they've set up a colony. Georgia has many different varieties of ants and each of them presents its own dangers and challenges. Fire ants are, obviously, the worst of the bunch. Overly aggressive and intensely protective of their nests, fire ants operate as a group to attack and destroy anything that could pose a threat to their colony. If you, your child, or even your pet should ...

Atlanta Movers AC White Relocations Offers CityPointe to All Atlanta Moving Clients

Atlanta Movers AC White Relocations Offers CityPointe to All Atlanta Moving Clients
2012-06-14
Atlanta relocation specialists AC White Relocations are pleased to announce that they offer United Van Lines' CityPointe program to their moving clients. CityPointe is a program available through United Van Lines agents like AC White Relocations. It provides moving clients with relocation solutions which minimize some of the challenges of relocating. One of the relocation solutions CityPointe provides is real estate services. CityPointe finds local real estate agents who are the best of their field and then connects them with program members to help with their real ...

Increased use of hand held devices may call for new photo guidelines

2012-06-14
Rockville, Md. – Viewing Facebook and Flickr photos on a smart phone are becoming common practice. But according to a recently published Journal of Vision study, pictures on the small screen often appear distorted. Vision scientists found that perceptual distortions occur because picture takers do not take their viewing distance into account. The researchers propose the use of longer focal lengths — 100mm — to create content that is viewed on the small screens of mobile devices. Shorter lengths — 50 mm — should be used for photo images used on larger devices, such as ...

New drug-screening method yields long-sought anti-HIV compounds

New drug-screening method yields long-sought anti-HIV compounds
2012-06-14
LA JOLLA, CA – June 13, 2012 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have used a powerful new chemical-screening method to find compounds that inhibit the activity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS. Unlike existing anti-HIV drugs, the compounds bind to a protein called "nucelocapsid," which is unlikely to mutate into drug-resistant forms. "Most of the nucleocapsid-inhibiting compounds that have been identified to date are very toxic, but our screening method identified inhibitors that are less toxic and thus more likely to lead ...

Georgia Health Insurance Provider McCart Insurance Discusses Who Needs Individual Health Plans

2012-06-14
Georgia health insurance broker McCart Insurance wishes to inform the public about the different people who should have individual health insurance. There are many different career paths that can lead a person to end up without employer provided health insurance. Self-employed individuals, temporary or contract employees, job seekers, students, and even ineligible workers can all find themselves without the health insurance they need if they do not seek out individual healthcare options. This can be costly Georgia individual health insurance is one of the most important ...

Makers of Natural Weight Loss Supplement Healthe Trim Note Correlation Between Sleep and Weight Loss

Makers of Natural Weight Loss Supplement Healthe Trim Note Correlation Between Sleep and Weight Loss
2012-06-14
HealthyLife Sciences, makers of the all natural weight loss supplement Healthe Trim, remind those trying to lose weight that it is important to maintain a healthy sleep schedule to have the best weight loss success. Scientists have discovered that sleep schedules are a major part of weight loss management. This is because a healthy sleep schedule lowers hormones that trigger hunger, whereas sleep deprivation increases these hormones and causes people to eat more. By maintaining a healthy sleep schedule of around 7.5 hours each night, test subjects found they were able ...

Predicting post-traumatic stress disorder before it happens

2012-06-14
Most people have intense emotional reactions to traumatizing events like road accidents or combat. But some suffer far longer, caught in the grip of long-term debilitating disorders such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Because doctors cannot predict who will develop these disorders, however, early or preventive intervention is not available. Now, a new project led by researchers at Tel Aviv University seeks to identify pre-traumatic subjects — those who are more susceptible to long-standing disorders if exposed to a traumatic incident. The project, a joint ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Widely-used technique for assessing IVF embryos may be flawed, study suggests

Alzheimer’s disrupts circadian rhythms of plaque-clearing brain cells

Nanoparticle blueprints reveal path to smarter medicines

Researchers get wind of hydrogen’s role in the gut

Supersolid spins into synchrony

New gene-editing tech holds promise for treating complex genetic diseases

Plastic pollution could linger at ocean surfaces for over a century, new research finds

TU Graz conducts research into endangered cultural heritage in the Western Himalayas

AI can be trained to provide safe advice for treating opioid use disorder in pregnancy: New study

A platform of gold reveals the forces of nature’s invisible glue

Drug which stops tumors' blood supply could help kids with bone cancer live longer

Disrupted sleep in teens identified as suicide risk factor

Traffic noise joins land clearance as damaging to bird survival

Innovative online monitoring system for farmland non-point source pollution enables automated monitoring of continuous cropping farmland

Stabilized fertilizers improve nitrogen use efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Endangered Kangaroo Island ground dweller found in trees

Guardians of the coast: Philippine scientists unlock the climate power of mangroves in Eastern Visayas

Nano-biochar helps rice roots turn silver ions into less toxic nanoparticles

New ‘liquid metal’ composite material enables recyclable, flexible and reconfigurable electronics

Extinction rates have slowed across many plant and animal groups, study shows

Tiny fossil bone helps unlock history of the bowerbird

AI tool beats humans at detecting parasites in stool samples, Utah study finds

Innovative biochar research to boost circular economy: Join live talk by Prof. Salah Jellali on October 29

Early life sugar restriction linked to lasting heart benefits in adulthood

The Lancet: Study confirms cardiovascular benefits of semaglutide beyond weight loss

‘Weight loss’ drug helps heart regardless of amount of weight lost

First truly global picture of wide inequalities in care for women’s cancers

International Consortium of Women’s Mental Health Experts present scientific evidence to support classification of postpartum psychosis as a distinct disease

PET imaging of inflammation predicts recovery, guides therapy after heart attack

Pennington Biomedical awarded renewal of NIH-funded Center to Advance Metabolic Disease Research and train future scientists

[Press-News.org] London researchers discover novel mechanism involved in key immune response