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.

Immunologic Mechanisms of Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Administered by Microneedle Patch from a Randomized Phase I Trial

Investigators compared the humoral and cellular immunologic responses in a subset of participants receiving influenza vaccination by microneedle patches to the intramuscular route of administration.
[NPJ Vaccines]
Rouphael, N. G., Lai, L., Tandon, S., McCullough, M. P., Kong, Y., Kabbani, S., Natrajan, M. S., Xu, Y., Zhu, Y., Wang, D., O’Shea, J., Sherman, A., Yu, T., Henry, S., McAllister, D., Stadlbauer, D., Khurana, S., Golding, H., Krammer, F., … Prausnitz, M. R. (2021). Immunologic mechanisms of seasonal influenza vaccination administered by microneedle patch from a randomized phase I trial. Npj Vaccines, 6(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-021-00353-0 Cite
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Immune Responses against SARS-CoV-2 Variants after Heterologous and Homologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/BNT162b2 Vaccination

Researchers used Hannover Medical School’s COVID-19 Contact Study cohort of healthcare professionals to monitor ChAdOx1-nCov-19 (ChAd)-primed immune responses before and three weeks after booster with ChAd or BioNTech/Pfizer’s BNT162b2.
[Nature Medicine]
Barros-Martins, J., Hammerschmidt, S. I., Cossmann, A., Odak, I., Stankov, M. V., Morillas Ramos, G., Dopfer-Jablonka, A., Heidemann, A., Ritter, C., Friedrichsen, M., Schultze-Florey, C., Ravens, I., Willenzon, S., Bubke, A., Ristenpart, J., Janssen, A., Ssebyatika, G., Bernhardt, G., Münch, J., … Behrens, G. M. N. (2021). Immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants after heterologous and homologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/BNT162b2 vaccination. Nature Medicine, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01449-9 Cite
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ImmunityBio Announces Authorization to Proceed with Phase I/II/III Randomized Trial in South Africa of Their Dual-Antigen T-Cell Vaccine as a Universal Boost in Previously Vaccinated Participants Against COVID-19

ImmunityBio, Inc. announced authorization from the South Africa Health Products Regulatory Authority to proceed with the South Africa Sisonke T-Cell Universal Boost trial. The Phase I/II/III study, which will begin in Q3 2021, is designed to evaluate hAd5 Spike + Nucleocapsid as a boost for South African healthcare workers previously vaccinated with an S-only vaccine.
[ImmunityBio, Inc.]
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Macrophage and Neutrophil Death Programs Differentially Confer Resistance to Tuberculosis

Researchers defined crucial in vivo functions of the death receptor-mediated and BCL-2-regulated apoptosis pathways in mediating protection against tuberculosis by eliminating distinct populations of infected macrophages and neutrophils and priming T cell responses.
[Immunity]
Stutz, M. D., Allison, C. C., Ojaimi, S., Preston, S. P., Doerflinger, M., Arandjelovic, P., Whitehead, L., Bader, S. M., Batey, D., Asselin-Labat, M.-L., Herold, M. J., Strasser, A., West, N. P., & Pellegrini, M. (2021). Macrophage and neutrophil death programs differentially confer resistance to tuberculosis. Immunity, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2021.06.009 Cite
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CD27−CD38+ B Cells Accumulated in Early HIV Infection Exhibit Transitional Profile and Promote HIV Disease Progression

While investigating B cell subsets among individuals recently infected with HIV, the authors observe an accumulation of CD27−CD38+ B cells and find that these cells can directly facilitate HIV infection of primary CD4+ T cells in vitro.
[Cell Reports]
Fu, Y., Zhang, Z., Yang, Z., Jiang, Y., Han, X., Xu, J., Chu, Z., Ding, H., He, S., & Shang, H. (2021). CD27−CD38+ B cells accumulated in early HIV infection exhibit transitional profile and promote HIV disease progression. Cell Reports, 36(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109344 Cite
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A SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibody Selected from COVID-19 Patients Binds to the ACE2-RBD Interface and Is Tolerant to Most Known RBD Mutations

To develop human neutralizing anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, antibody gene libraries from convalescent COVID-19 patients were constructed and recombinant antibody fragments against the receptor binding domain of the spike protein were selected by phage display.
[Cell Reports]
Bertoglio, F., Fühner, V., Ruschig, M., Heine, P. A., Abassi, L., Klünemann, T., Rand, U., Meier, D., Langreder, N., Steinke, S., Ballmann, R., Schneider, K.-T., Roth, K. D. R., Kuhn, P., Riese, P., Schäckermann, D., Korn, J., Koch, A., Chaudhry, M. Z., … Hust, M. (2021). A SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody selected from COVID-19 patients binds to the ACE2-RBD interface and is tolerant to most known RBD mutations. Cell Reports, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109433 Cite
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Mechanical Strength of RNA Knot in Zika Virus Protects against Cellular Defenses

Unfolding a Zika virus xrRNA with optical tweezers revealed that it was the most mechanically stable RNA yet observed.
[Nature Chemical Biology]
Zhao, M., & Woodside, M. T. (2021). Mechanical strength of RNA knot in Zika virus protects against cellular defenses. Nature Chemical Biology, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-021-00829-z Cite
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Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Human Cytomegalovirus Coinfection of Infant Tonsil Epithelium May Synergistically Promote Both HIV-1 and HCMV Spread and Infection

Scientists showed that cell-free HIV-1 and its proteins gp120 and tat induce the disruption of tonsil epithelial tight junctions and increase paracellular permeability, which facilitates HCMV spread within the tonsil mucosa.
[Journal of Virology]
Sufiawati, I., Herrera, R., Mayer, W., Cai, X., Borkakoti, J., Lin, V., Rosbe, K., & Tugizov, S. M. (n.d.). Human immunodeficiency virus and human cytomegalovirus coinfection of infant tonsil epithelium may synergistically promote both HIV-1 and HCMV spread and infection. Journal of Virology, 0(ja), JVI.00921-21. https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00921-21 Cite
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An Isoform of Dicer Protects Mammalian Stem Cells against Multiple RNA Viruses

Researchers identified an isoform of Dicer, named antiviral Dicer, that protected tissue stem cells from RNA viruses—including Zika virus and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2—by dicing viral double-stranded RNA to orchestrate antiviral RNAi.
[Science]
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Effectiveness of an Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine in Chile

A countrywide mass vaccination campaign with the use of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine was conducted in Chile starting on February 2, 2021.
[New England Journal of Medicine]
Jara, A., Undurraga, E. A., González, C., Paredes, F., Fontecilla, T., Jara, G., Pizarro, A., Acevedo, J., Leo, K., Leon, F., Sans, C., Leighton, P., Suárez, P., García-Escorza, H., & Araos, R. (2021). Effectiveness of an Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine in Chile. New England Journal of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2107715 Cite
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Interactomes of SARS-CoV-2 and Human Coronaviruses Reveal Host Factors Potentially Affecting Pathogenesis

Researchers conducted a comprehensive interactome study between the virus and host cells using tandem affinity purification and proximity labeling strategies and identified 437 human proteins as the high-confidence interacting proteins.
[EMBO Journal]
Chen, Z., Wang, C., Feng, X., Nie, L., Tang, M., Zhang, H., Xiong, Y., Swisher, S. K., Srivastava, M., & Chen, J. (2021). Interactomes of SARS-CoV-2 and human coronaviruses reveal host factors potentially affecting pathogenesis. The EMBO Journal, n/a(n/a), e107776. https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.2021107776 Cite
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