Immune Regulation News Volume 3.05 | Feb 11 2011

Boosting Body’s Immune Response May Hold Key to HIV Cure
Australian scientists have successfully cleared an HIV-like infection from mice by boosting the function of cells vital to the immune response. A team has shown that a cell signaling hormone called interleukin-7 (IL-7) reinvigorates the immune response to chronic viral infection, allowing the host to completely clear virus. [Press release from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute discussing online prepublication in Cell]

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Circulating Blood Antibodies Are Not Required for HIV Protection, Study Suggests
New research shows that protective immunity against HIV can be achieved without the presence of virus neutralizing antibodies in the blood. The study demonstrates that a vaccine which stimulates production of specific anti-HIV antibodies in the vaginal tissue was sufficient to protect monkeys from exposure to live virus. [Press release from ScienceDaily discussing online prepublication in Immunity]

Human and Mouse Studies Sharpen Focus on Cause of Celiac Disease
Blocking a factor that can activate the human immune response against intestinal bacteria or certain foods could prevent the development of celiac disease in those most at risk, researchers report. [Press release from The University of Chicago Medical Center discussing online prepublication in Nature]

Loneliness Triggers Unhealthy Immune Response, Study Finds
In the analysis of 93 older adults, the researchers screened for gene function among different types of immune cells and found that genes originating from two particular cell types — plasmacytoid dendritic cells and monocytes — were overexpressed in chronically lonely individuals, compared with the remainder of the sample. [Press release from the University of California, Los Angeles discussing online prepublication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]

Study Suggests Why HIV-Uninfected Babies Born to Mothers with HIV Might be More Vulnerable to Infections
The new study, by scientists from Imperial College London and Stellenbosch University in South Africa, found that babies born to HIV-infected mothers had significantly lower levels at birth of antibodies against a range of bacterial infections (Hib, pertussis, pneumococcus and tetanus). [Press release from Imperial College London discussing online prepublication in The Journal of the American Medical Association]

Flu Breakthrough Promises a Vaccine to Kill All Strains
Developed by a team led by Dr Sarah Gilbert at Oxford’s Jenner Institute, the vaccine targets proteins inside the flu virus that are common across all strains, instead of those that sit on the virus’s external coat, which are liable to mutate. While traditional vaccines prompt the body to create antibodies, Gilbert’s vaccine boosts the number of the body’s T-cells. [The Guardian]

Early Infusion of Donor T Regulatory Cells Prevents Graft-versus-Host Disease and Enhances Immune Recovery in High-Risk Blood Cancer Patients
In a trial conducted at the University of Perugia in Italy by a group that has pioneered the use of partially matched donors, researchers explored the use of regulatory T cells that control immune reactions. [Press release from the American Society of Hematology discussing online prepublication in Blood]

Border Patrol: Immune Cells Protect Body from Invaders, According to Penn Researchers
Scientists have identified an immune cell population that acts as the body’s border patrol with the outside world. They discovered that these lymphoid tissue inducer cells maintain immunity in the intestine of mice. [Press release from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discussing online prepublication in Immunity]

The Role of HLA-DQ8 Beta57 Polymorphism in the Anti-Gluten T-Cell Response in Coeliac Disease
Here researchers show that beta57 polymorphism promotes the recruitment of T-cell receptors bearing a negative signature charge in the complementary determining region 3beta (CDR3beta) during the response against native gluten peptides presented by HLA-DQ8 in coeliac disease. [Nature]

IL-7 Engages Multiple Mechanisms to Overcome Chronic Viral Infection and Limit Organ Pathology
Mice infected with LCMV clone-13 have persistent high-level viremia and a dysfunctional immune response. Interleukin-7, a cytokine that is critical for immune development and homeostasis, was used here to promote immunity toward clone-13, enabling elucidation of the inhibitory pathways underlying impaired antiviral immune response. [Cell]

Different B Cell Populations Mediate Early and Late Memory During an Endogenous Immune Response
Memory B cells formed in response to microbial antigens provide immunity to later infections; however, the inability to detect rare endogenous antigen-specific cells limits current understanding of this process. Using an antigen-based technique to enrich these cells, researchers found that immunization with a model protein generated B memory cells that expressed isotype-switched immunoglobulins (swIg) or retained IgM. [Science]

Maternal HIV Infection and Antibody Responses Against Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in Uninfected Infants
The objective was to study the association of maternal HIV infection with maternal- and infant-specific antibody levels to Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), pneumococcus, Bordetella pertussis antigens, tetanus toxoid, and hepatitis B surface antigen. [JAMA]

Immunization with HIV-1 gp41 Subunit Virosomes Induces Mucosal Antibodies Protecting Nonhuman Primates against Vaginal SHIV Challenges
Researchers evaluated the protective efficacy of a vaccine active at mucosal sites. Macaca mulatta monkeys were immunized via both the intramuscular and intranasal routes with an HIV-1 vaccine made of gp41-subunit antigens grafted on virosomes, a safe delivery carrier approved in humans with self-adjuvant properties. [Immunity]

CD4+ Lymphoid Tissue-Inducer Cells Promote Innate Immunity in the Gut
Researchers demonstrate that after infection with Citrobacter rodentium, CD4+ lymphoid tissue inducer cells were a dominant source of interleukin-22 (IL-22) early during infection. [Immunity]

Dendritic Cells with Lymphocyte Stimulating Activity Differentiate from Human CD133 Positive Precursors
Researchers have addressed whether human cord blood cells selected for CD133 can generate dendritic cells, and Langerhans cells in particular, in conditions which promote that generation from CD34+ progenitors. [Blood]

Tregs Prevent GvHD and Promote Immune Reconstitution in HLA-Haploidentical Transplantation
Researchers show for the first time in humans that adoptive transfer of T regulatory cells (Tregs) prevented GvHD in the absence of any post-transplant immunosuppression, promoted lymphoid reconstitution, improved immunity to opportunistic pathogens and did not weaken the Graft vs Leukaemia effect. [Blood]

Transcript Origin Analysis Identifies Antigen-Presenting Cells as Primary Targets of Socially Regulated Gene Expression in Leukocytes
To clarify the biological rationale for social regulation of gene expression, this study sought to identify the specific immune cell types that are transcriptionally sensitive to subjective social isolation (loneliness). [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA]

Tolerx Presents Preclinical Data on Novel Cancer Immunotherapeutic, TRX518, a First-in-Class Anti-GITR Antibody
Tolerx, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies to treat autoimmune diseases and cancer by normalizing the immune response, presented results from preclinical studies with TRX518, a first-in-class immunomodulatory agent for the treatment of cancer. [Tolerx, Inc. Press Release]

UCB and PDL BioPharma Resolve Patent Disputes
UCB SA (Euronext Brussels: UCB), on behalf of its affiliate UCB Pharma S.A. (UCB), and PDL BioPharma, Inc. (PDL) jointly announced that the companies have entered into a definitive settlement agreement that resolves all legal disputes between them, including those relating to UCB’s pegylated humanized antibody fragment, Cimzia (certolizumab pegol), and PDL’s patents known as the Queen et al. patents. [PDL BioPharma Press Release]

$3M AIDS Grant Awarded to CWRU School of Medicine and Cleveland Clinic
A three-year, $3 million gift from the Richard J. Fasenmyer Foundation will fund research by a pair of Cleveland physicians into HIV and the body’s response in autoimmune diseases. [Case Western Reserve University Press Release]

Elan and Boehringer Ingelheim Announce Development and Manufacturing Agreement for Elan’s Antibody-Based Therapeutics Pipeline
Elan plc and Boehringer Ingelheim announced that they have entered into a global technical development and manufacturing agreement for antibody-based therapeutics. [Boehringer Ingelheim Press Release]

Denise Galloway and Colleagues at Hutchinson Center and University of Washington Receive AACR Team Science Award
A team of researchers from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington whose work was instrumental in the development of the vaccine for cervical cancer and other human papillomavirus-related malignancies will receive the fifth annual AACR Team Science Award, the American Association for Cancer Research announced. [Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Press Release]

National Institutes of Health (United States)

Food and Drug Administration (United States)

Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (United States)

European Medicines Agency (European Union)

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (United Kingdom)

Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia)

NEW Keystone Symposium: New Frontiers at the Interface of Immunity and Glycobiology
March 6-11, 2011
Lake Louise, Canada

NEW Keystone Symposium: HIV Evolution, Genomics and Pathogenesis
March 20-25, 2011
Whistler, Canada

NEW WIRM-V: World Immune Regulation Meeting
March 24-27, 2011 
Davos, Switzerland

NEW Keystone Symposium: Immunoregulatory Networks
April 1-6, 2011 
Breckenridge, United States

NEW Keystone Symposium: New Insights into Normal versus Dysregulated B Cell Function
April 12-17, 2011
Whistler, Canada

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Director, Academic Division of Infectious Disease (University of Minnesota)

Process Technical Development Scientist (StemCells, Inc.)

Field Applications Specialist – Cell Therapy (Medical) (Pall Corporation)

Scientist – Pathology (Immunology) (Genentech)

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