Category Archives: Immunology of Infectious Disease

Immunology of Infectious Disease News is an online publication and email newsletter dedicated to covering the latest research and developments in the field of infectious diseases.
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Immunology of Infectious Disease News was founded to keep the scientific community current with the latest developments in infectious disease research. We feature high-impact publications, news, jobs, and events focused on immune responses to and the development of treatments for infectious diseases such as COVID-19, HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, influenza, and malaria.

Vaxil Enters Into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (“USAMRIID”)

VAXIL BIO LTD. announced that it has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with USAMRIID under which USAMRIID will test CorVax™ for its ability to specifically prevent COVID-19 in mice.
[VAXIL BIO LTD. (GlobeNewswire, Inc.)]
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B Cells and the Microbiota: A Missing Connection in Food Allerg

Researchers focus on direct and indirect interactions between bacteria and B cells and how such interactions regulate B-cell phenotype, namely antibody production and regulatory B-cell function.
[Mucosal Immunology]
Campbell, E., Hesser, L. A., & Nagler, C. R. (2020). B cells and the microbiota: a missing connection in food allergy. Mucosal Immunology, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41385-020-00350-x Cite
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Modifying Bacterial Flagellin to Evade Nod-Like Receptor CARD 4 Recognition Enhances Protective Immunity Against Salmonella

Investigators showed that the cytosolic pattern recognition receptor Nod-like Receptor CARD 4 suppressed, rather than facilitated, effector and memory CD4+ T-cell responses against Salmonella in mice.
[Nature Microbiology]
Tourlomousis, P., Wright, J. A., Bittante, A. S., Hopkins, L. J., Webster, S. J., Bryant, O. J., Mastroeni, P., Maskell, D. J., & Bryant, C. E. (2020). Modifying bacterial flagellin to evade Nod-like Receptor CARD 4 recognition enhances protective immunity against Salmonella. Nature Microbiology, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-020-00801-y Cite
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Early Emergence of T Central Memory Precursors Programs Clonal Dominance During Chronic Viral Infection

By mapping the long-term development of CD8+ T cell families derived from single naive precursors, scientists found that fate decisions made during the acute phase of murine cytomegalovirus infection could alter the level of memory inflation by more than 1,000-fold.
[Nature Immunology]
Grassmann, S., Mihatsch, L., Mir, J., Kazeroonian, A., Rahimi, R., Flommersfeld, S., Schober, K., Hensel, I., Leube, J., Pachmayr, L. O., Kretschmer, L., Zhang, Q., Jolly, A., Chaudhry, M. Z., Schiemann, M., Cicin-Sain, L., Höfer, T., Busch, D. H., Flossdorf, M., & Buchholz, V. R. (2020). Early emergence of T central memory precursors programs clonal dominance during chronic viral infection. Nature Immunology, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-020-00807-y Cite
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Increased Circulation Time of Plasmodium Falciparum Underlies Persistent Asymptomatic Infection in the Dry Season

Scientists showed that low levels of P. falciparum parasites persist in the blood of asymptomatic Malian individuals during the five to six month dry season, rarely causing symptoms and minimally affecting the host immune response.
[Nature Medicine]
Andrade, C. M., Fleckenstein, H., Thomson-Luque, R., Doumbo, S., Lima, N. F., Anderson, C., Hibbert, J., Hopp, C. S., Tran, T. M., Li, S., Niangaly, M., Cisse, H., Doumtabe, D., Skinner, J., Sturdevant, D., Ricklefs, S., Virtaneva, K., Asghar, M., Homann, M. V., … Portugal, S. (2020). Increased circulation time of Plasmodium falciparum underlies persistent asymptomatic infection in the dry season. Nature Medicine, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1084-0 Cite
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Structure of Epstein-Barr Virus Tegument Protein Complex BBRF2-BSRF1 Reveals Its Potential Role in Viral Envelopment

Researchers present crystal structures of BBRF2 alone and in complex with BSRF1. BBRF2 has a compact globular architecture featuring a central β-sheet that is surrounded by ten helices, it represented a novel fold distinct from other known protein structures.
[Nature Communications]
Structure of Epstein-Barr virus tegument protein complex BBRF2-BSRF1 reveals its potential role in viral envelopment | Nature Communications. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19259-x Cite
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Polyreactive Broadly Neutralizing B cells Are Selected to Provide Defense against Pandemic Threat Influenza Viruses

By analyzing more than 500 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) derived from B cells induced by numerous influenza virus vaccines and infections, we found mAbs targeting conserved neutralizing influenza virus hemagglutinin epitopes were polyreactive.
[Immunity]
Guthmiller, J. J., Lan, L. Y.-L., Fernández-Quintero, M. L., Han, J., Utset, H. A., Bitar, D. J., Hamel, N. J., Stovicek, O., Li, L., Tepora, M., Henry, C., Neu, K. E., Dugan, H. L., Borowska, M. T., Chen, Y.-Q., Liu, S. T. H., Stamper, C. T., Zheng, N.-Y., Huang, M., … Wilson, P. C. (2020). Polyreactive Broadly Neutralizing B cells Are Selected to Provide Defense against Pandemic Threat Influenza Viruses. Immunity, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2020.10.005 Cite
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Endogenous Retroviruses Drive KRAB Zinc-Finger Protein Family Expression for Tumor Suppression

Scientists showed that human endogenous retroviruses activation in tumors leads to the up-regulation of hundreds of transcriptional suppressors, namely, Krüppel-associated box domain–containing zinc-finger family proteins.
[Science Advances]
Ito, J., Kimura, I., Soper, A., Coudray, A., Koyanagi, Y., Nakaoka, H., Inoue, I., Turelli, P., Trono, D., & Sato, K. (2020). Endogenous retroviruses drive KRAB zinc-finger protein family expression for tumor suppression. Science Advances, 6(43), eabc3020. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc3020 Cite
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Unbiased Screens Show CD8+ T Cells of COVID-19 Patients Recognize Shared Epitopes in SARS-CoV-2, Most of which Are Not Located in the Spike Protein

Scientists used an unbiased, genome-wide screening technology to determine the precise peptide sequences in SARS-CoV-2 that are recognized by the memory CD8+ T cells of COVID-19 patients.
[Immunity]
Ferretti, A. P., Kula, T., Wang, Y., Nguyen, D. M. V., Weinheimer, A., Dunlap, G. S., Xu, Q., Nabilsi, N., Perullo, C. R., Cristofaro, A. W., Whitton, H. J., Virbasius, A., Olivier, K. J., Buckner, L. R., Alistar, A. T., Whitman, E. D., Bertino, S. A., Chattopadhyay, S., & MacBeath, G. (2020). Unbiased screens show CD8+ T cells of COVID-19 patients recognize shared epitopes in SARS-CoV-2, most of which are not located in the Spike protein. Immunity, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2020.10.006 Cite
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Self-Amplifying RNA Vaccines for Infectious Diseases

Scientists explore how self-amplifying RNAs are emerging as important vaccine candidates for infectious diseases, the advantages of synthetic manufacturing approaches, and their potential for preventing and treating chronic infections.
[Gene Therapy]
Bloom, K., van den Berg, F., & Arbuthnot, P. (2020). Self-amplifying RNA vaccines for infectious diseases. Gene Therapy, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41434-020-00204-y Cite
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Resistance Mechanisms to Antimicrobial Peptides in Gram-Positive Bacteria

The authors discuss the mechanisms exploited by Gram-positive bacteria to circumvent killing by antimicrobial peptides. Specifically, the most clinically relevant genera, Streptococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp., Enterococcus spp. and Gram-positive bacilli, have been explored.
[Frontiers in Microbiology]
Assoni, L., Milani, B., Carvalho, M. R., Nepomuceno, L. N., Waz, N. T., Guerra, M. E. S., Converso, T. R., & Darrieux, M. (2020). Resistance Mechanisms to Antimicrobial Peptides in Gram-Positive Bacteria. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.593215 Cite
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