immunity

Live Recombinant Adenovirus Vaccine Technique Explored

...cines for adenovirus years ago that safely provide immunity in one dose. We wanted to see if we could combine ...t HPV major capsid protein (L1) provides effective immunity to HPV infection. Dr. Ketner and his colleagues theorized that a live recombinant adenovirus could b...

Spider Venom Could Yield Eco-Friendly Insecticides

...tion of spider toxins. Many insects have developed immunity to DDT and other chemical controls because most insecticides are neurotoxins that act against only a small number of nervous system targets. King's spider-venom cocktails could be designed to thwart the resistance of specific insect pests by locking ...

Rats infected as newborns grew up vulnerable to memory problems during an immune challenge

...lt rats who were not infected as pups, after their immunity was challenged. The research is in February's Behavioral Neuroscience, published by the American Psychological Association (APA). The findings fit into a growing body of evidence that even a one-time infection can potentially permanently change phys...

Discovery may lead to better Candidiasis drug

... is difficult to treat in persons with compromised immunity and can be deadly if it infects vital organs. Researchers were aware that histatin usually can keep Candida albicans in check in persons with enough saliva and a healthy immune system, but they did not know precisely how histatin accomplished this. ...

Leprosy microbes lead scientists to immune discovery

...us insights about how the body develops protective immunity against bugs that invade our cells--or fails to. Now we know the players, and we would love to look at them in other diseases such as tuberculosis in the lungs and juvenile diabetes." Harvard School of Public Health is dedicated to advancing the pub...

Turning viruses into allies against cancer

...d into the virus the gene for a powerful antitumor immunity stimulant called GM-CSF, (granulocyte macrophage colon stimulating factor). Its job is to induce an immune response to any surviving cancer cells released during the initial viral attack, essentially preventing the spread of these cells to other part...

Edible bivalves as a source of human pathogens: signals between vibrios and the bivalve host.

...m the University of Genova explains: "In bivalves, immunity is carried out by circulating haemocytes and soluble haemolymph factors that act in a co-ordinate way to kill microorganisms. Our research examines available data on Vibrio interactions with both cellular and soluble components of the bivalve immune ...

NIAID begins clinical trial of West Nile virus vaccine

...ccine's exploitation of both cellular and antibody immunity offers a potentially potent defense against West Nile virus," says Barney Graham, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the VRC's Clinical Trials Core Laboratory. Adds Dr. Graham, "In our experience in clinical trials, DNA vaccines generally cause few side effects, ...

Defensins Ward Off HIV In Two Ways

...ts into the function of alpha-defensin-1 in innate immunity against HIV. In addition, this study provides a basis to develop defensin-like drugs for prevention of HIV and for therapeutic use in patients who are already infected. ...

Secret of smallpox's success may lead to bioterror cure

...em responds and eliminates the virus, also leaving immunity to smallpox and other pox viruses in its wake. "And there has been anecdotal evidence that if you get exposed to smallpox and get vaccinated within 4 days of exposure, the vaccine will protect you," Jacobs said. The immune system is apparently bette...

Important discovery about second most fatal cancer

...in right side of colon # Little evidence of tumour immunity # Frequent mutation of an oncogene called BRAF (also mutated in cancer of thyroid, ovary, and melanoma) # Frequent DNA methylation (chemical change which inactivates many genes) # Frequent but variable levels of DNA instability across different color...

Wake Forest scientists find new combination vaccine effective against plague

...at had never encountered flagellin before. "Prior immunity to flagellin does not impair its ability to function as an adjuvant," Mizel said. "This means that flagellin can be used multiple times with different types of vaccines. The new plague vaccine also has the advantage of not requiring a needle since on...

Ancient immune defense mechanism is no match for HIV-1

...y how HIV-1 successfully thwarts this rare form of immunity in vertebrate cells. However, elucidation of the m...er mammalian viruses naturally elicit this type of immunity in vertebrate cells. Drs. Yamina Bennasser and Kuan-Teh Jeang from the Molecular Virology Section a...

Bee mites suppress bee immunity, open door for viruses and bacteria

...f chemicals that disinfect the honey and for other immunity related chemicals. They also measured the amount of virus in each bee. Surprisingly, they found that the virus in mite-infested bees rapidly increased to extremely high levels when the bee was exposed to the bacteria. The virus levels in mite-free b...

Specialized immune-system B cells play double-barreled role

..."double-barreled" role in triggering both kinds of immunity -- innate and acquired, Duke University Medical Ce... role in the innate immune response -- the type of immunity that offers rapid, generalized responses to infections. Less understood has been any role in adaptiv...

New Vaccine To Be Used For First Time In Polio Outbreak Response

...types of wild poliovirus, mOPV1 provides a greater immunity to type 1 wild poliovirus with fewer doses. Use of mOPV1 is expected during a nationwide immunization campaign in the second half of May. Yemen had already conducted a mass campaign on 11-14 April, as the country was considered to be at high-risk of ...

Novel plague virulence factor identified

...of conserved virulence factors may regulate innate immunity in a broad variety of hosts, including C. elegans, fleas and mammals. "The importance of our work is that it will permit us to use a model whose genetics can be easily manipulated as a viable alternative not only for the identification of novel Y. p...

New Look at DNA Hints at Origin of UV Damage

...of conserved virulence factors may regulate innate immunity in a broad variety of hosts, including C. elegans, fleas and mammals. "The importance of our work is that it will permit us to use a model whose genetics can be easily manipulated as a viable alternative not only for the identification of novel Y. p...

Can our genes tell the story of our divergence?

...ggest that studying the genes' other functions, in immunity or spermatogenesis, may offer clues to selective pressures. It could be, for example, that there is a battle between the interests of sperm cells (favoring genetic changes that increase cell number and decrease cell death), and the need for the organ...

A vaccine to kill tapeworm

...of immunity. The team's aim is to provide lifelong immunity with one or two shots, though they say the vaccine will still be beneficial even it has to be given yearly. There is no reason why the vaccine would not work in people too. But safety issues make it much more costly to develop a human vaccine, and i...

The very defensive caterpillar

... resistance to another. Most experiments on insect immunity are conducted in the laboratory on insects often fed on antibiotic containing diet so these results suggest that the immune response of insect constantly exposed to pathogens in the field may be very different from all the work described in the labor...

Vaccine targets tumors where they live

...he tumor environment in order to induce anti-tumor immunity and provides a foundation upon which other vaccine strategies can be contemplated for local delivery. ...

Study: Plants use dual defense system to fight pathogens

...ntly of each other. Knowing how these pathways of immunity work may one day help researchers breed plants that can better resist a variety of pathogens, said David Mackey, the study's lead author and an assistant professor of horticulture and crop science at Ohio State University . He and his colleagues exp...

Experimental shingles vaccine proves effective in nationwide study

...d, where the virus persists in a dormant state. As immunity weakens with advancing age, the virus can reactivate, multiply in and damage sensory nerve cells to cause pain. It then migrates to the skin, causing the blistering rash of shingles. Generally, shingles first manifests as pain, itching or tingling i...

Researchers develop new testing methods for potential monkeypox or smallpox outbreak

... smallpox vaccination can provide cross-protective immunity against this virus. "In our study, we found one subject who had fully protective immunity that was maintained for 48 years after a single smallpox vaccination," said Slifka. "In a previous s...

No single gene for ageing

...od. "Stress, environment, nutrition, lifestyle and immunity play an additional role. Great variation between individuals can be seen in organisms such as round worms ?and in humans." Studies of ageing also give insight into the causes of cancer, because cancer and ageing have the same background causes, thin...

Hepatitis C complicated by morphine withdrawal

...ates hepatitis C by suppressing IFN-alpha-mediated immunity and enhancing virus replication. The paper by Wang...uggests that morphine withdrawal weakens host cell immunity and provides a favorable environment for HCV growth in the liver. The authors extended their stud...

New study shows measles immunization may prevent fatal brain infection

...is known to be highly effective. Two doses provide immunity to 99 percent of those vaccinated. Since the risk of SSPE was much higher than originally estimated, and since the vaccine had not caused SSPE in the cases studied, the researchers concluded that measles vaccination programs prevent many more of the ...

UT Southwestern researchers develop screening test for cells that activate immune system

...o the immune system so that you develop protective immunity for infection and cancer," said Dr. Takashima. The DC biosensor system should help pharmaceutical and biotech companies sift through large numbers of chemicals for ones that tell the dendritic cells to launch the immune response. It may also prove ...

Computer models aid understanding of antibody-dependent enhancement in spread of dengue fever

...reviously infected and have partial but incomplete immunity to the virus. Enhanced virus replication triggers ...esults could apply to any disease in which partial immunity increases pathogen replication rates. "Experimental dengue vaccines will soon be entering into lar...

Plants have a double line of defence

...it cannot host the pathogen. This durable type of immunity of a plant to parasites is called nonhost resistance. Although, in nature, nonhost resistance stops almost all parasite attacks, it has been the subject of little research. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Colo...

Penicillin, amoxicillin: Step aside for strep throat treatment

...at snuffing out future attacks, providing the boss immunity against threats that once were formidable. The new results are an extension of a report last year in Pediatrics by Pichichero and Casey, who is clinical associate professor of pediatrics at Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong. There they reported...

Polio vaccination strategies assessed as eradication nears

...ne. They found that two doses of IPV did produce immunity in the digestive tract. The researchers used shedd...ower in those receiving IPV. However, the mucosal immunity generated by IPV was less than that achieved by OPV. After two doses of OPV, only 22 percent of chi...

Effective, safe anthrax vaccine can be grown in tobacco plants

...elf, and scientists would then check the subjects' immunity levels. The vaccine later could be mass-produced and stockpiled for emergencies. Daniell conducted his study with part of a $1 million NIH grant and a $2 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant that cover research related to genetic engineering...

Human trial proves ricin vaccine safe, induces neutralizing antibodies; further tests planned

... engineered it to be safe and to induce protective immunity in humans." Dr. Vitetta's work with ricin receive...cally administered with an adjuvant and can confer immunity for years. Dr. Smallshaw is currently determining whether the vaccine protects against aerosol and...

Duke to test bird flu vaccine dosing

...of the Duke study. "If the smaller dose stimulates immunity against the virus, then more people could be immunized with existing supplies if a pandemic occurs," he said. The study will use an inactivated flu virus vaccine based on a strain taken from a Vietnamese patient in 2004. "There is no live flu virus ...

H5N1 avian flu virus vaccine induces immune responses in healthy adults

...uenza pandemic because humans have no pre-existing immunity to these viruses. The trial, conducted between March and July 2005, was carried out at three NIAID-supported Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units located at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, NY; the University of Maryland Sc...

Newly identified mechanism helps explain why people of African descent are more vulnerable to TB

...acillus has remained an additional puzzle. Innate immunity is the rapid immune response of host scavenger cel...r. "This study provides a new mechanism for innate immunity in humans and demonstrates how variations in vitamin D synthesis may make individuals susceptible to...

Boosting newborns' immune responses

... is fully functional and can be harnessed to boost immunity in these tiny infants, possibly making infections like respiratory syncytial virus, pneumococcus, pertussis, HIV and rotavirus much less of a threat. For about a decade it's been known that people's first line of defense against infection is a group...

Mice studies illustrate potential of chimp/human antibodies to protect against smallpox

...munization has been proven effective in generating immunity against smallpox virus and other orthopoxviruses, including monkeypox and cowpox. Although most reactions to the vaccinia virus are mild, the vaccine can cause serious and even life-threatening complications in individuals with weakened immune syste...

Commonly used antidepressants may also affect human immune system

...tions, it is possible that they might also bolster immunity to the point that they trigger autoimmune disease. "At this point we just don't know how these drugs might affect immunity, so we really need to clarify the normal role of serotonin in immune cell functioning," Ahern said. The surprising finding tha...

Lack of a key enzyme dramatically increases resistance to sepsis

... which appears to modulate inflammation and innate immunity in humans, increases the body's "vulnerability to bacterial infection and septic shock" while a deficiency confers strong resistance to sepsis. This new discovery suggests that caspase-12 antagonists could be a potentially useful in the treatment of ...

New influenza vaccine takes weeks to mass produce

...ccines produced using this system are safe, elicit immunity equal to or greater than egg-based vaccines, and are 100% effective in the prevention of cell culture confirmed influenza. Wang and his colleagues report the successful production of rHA from 4 strains of influenza that scientists believe to be lik...

Faster immune system testing set to improve poultry quality

...lu. Useful research and preventive tool Reduced immunity is a serious problem for commercial poultry producers worldwide. The major cause is viral infection. All viruses can cause immunosuppression to varying degrees but Marek's disease, infectious bursal disease and chicken anaemia are particular concerns...

Chemical guidance of T cells leads to immunologic memory and long-term immunity

...) describe a new understanding about how long-term immunity works--findings that may lead to new ways of thinking about how to enhance certain immune responses and how to improve vaccines. Led by immunologist Ronald Germain, M.D., Ph.D., the scientists took videos through a microscope to document what happen...

Genomics-based vaccine could prevent deadly cattle disease

...tial vaccine proteins. First, scientists know that immunity to the parasite, and thus East Coast fever, emerges from immune system cells known as killer T cells. Second, they know that T. parva is an intracellular pathogen--it infects and secretes proteins inside cattle white blood cells, which become malig...

How can we protect patients with weakened immune systems from influenza?

...ally far deadlier because there is no pre-existing immunity in the population. Furthermore, although it has never been known to have been developed as a bioterror weapon, the influenza virus may be relatively easy to manipulate for such purposes in a laboratory ?which is why the federal government is fundin...

Plant-derived vaccines safeguard against deadly plague

...vels of proteins, called antigens, which conferred immunity against the plague. "This current work represents a new direction in our research because we've come to the realization that plants also have the potential for the production of antigens that can be purified and delivered by typical intramuscular o...

For the first time: Longevity modulated without disrupting life-sustaining function

... and youthfulness -- without disrupting fertility, immunity or the organism's response to stress. "In past experiments, meddling with this versatile pathway to exploit its beneficial effects on aging and life span inevitably invited a host of problems," says Andrew Dillin, Ph.D., an assistant professor in th...

Gene thwarts some pathogens, gives access to others, could save crops

... gene and its defense mechanisms are similar to an immunity pathway found in people and in the laboratory rese...nt that doesn't have BIK1 actually shows decreased immunity to two pathogens, including Botrytis. But unexpectedly, it is completely resistant to virulent strai...

A step forward in the fight against bacterial infections

...mmation, but this small quantity also ensures that immunity is preserved. A next step in combating bacterial infections is to uncover the mechanism behind this reduced production. ...

Marrow-derived stem cells deliver new cytokine to kill brain tumor cells, offer protection

...als remained tumor free, evidence of the long-term immunity provided by IL-23's generation of memory T-cells. ...

Montreal researchers identify defects of immune cells

... mice by preventing T lymphocyte mediated acquired immunity to Candida albicans. The results also showed extensive perturbations in the production of cytokines required for protection against oral candidiasis in the transgenic mice. "These findings regarding the specific immune defects which trigger candidia...

Can you hear me now? Scientists find previously unknown receptors on adult stem cells

...eptors in stem cells. "It may be possible to boost immunity when necessary and also shut down inappropriate responses. That could provide a powerful tool to fight cancer, lupus and many other diseases." ...

T cells activated to fight HIV basis for dendritic cell therapeutic vaccine

... drug therapy does not completely restore CD8 cell immunity to the virus. So, in trying to figure a way to act.... Even with this somewhat generic approach, T cell immunity was enhanced. "Quite likely, it will be a combination of anti-viral drugs and some sort of immuno...

H5N1 vaccine could be basis for life-saving stockpile

...ude study was the first one to show cross-reactive immunity against current H5N1 variants in ferrets, accordin...nior author of the report in JID. Cross-reactive immunity is the protection that a virus vaccine confers against not only the same virus, but also against var...

Scientists to employ Arctic ice and polar bears to protect diversity of world's crops

...ude study was the first one to show cross-reactive immunity against current H5N1 variants in ferrets, accordin...nior author of the report in JID. Cross-reactive immunity is the protection that a virus vaccine confers against not only the same virus, but also against var...

UGA researchers find that hunting can increase the severity of wildlife disease epidemics

...ave contracted a virus but have developed lifelong immunity as a result of their infection. The researchers found that compensation and lifelong immunity conferred by a virus interact so that the timing of mating and birth seasons determine whether hunti...

HIV-1's high virulence might be an accident of evolution

...ratchets down the activation of critical agents of immunity called T cells following SIV infection, thereby limiting the detrimental effects otherwise caused by chronically strong immune activation. The HIV-1 Nef protein, and those of its closest related simian viruses, however, lack this protective functio...

Experimental vaccine protects lab animals against several strains of H5N1

...ns have so far been relatively poor stimulators of immunity in human trials. In the study, the ferrets were vaccinated intramuscularly with one or two doses of vaccine. Both schedules induced a protective antibody response, but the two-dose schedule induced higher levels of antibodies that were cross-reacti...