Immune Regulation News Volume 3.10 | Mar 18 2011

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Personalized Dendritic Cell Vaccine Increases Survival in Patients With Deadly Brain Cancer
A dendritic cell vaccine personalized for each individual based on the patient’s own tumor may increase median survival time in those with a deadly form of brain cancer called glioblastoma, an early phase study at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has found. [Press release from ScienceDaily discussing online prepublication in Clinical Cancer Research]

New Lupus Drug Results from Scripps Research Technology
Scientific advances at The Scripps Research Institute were key to laying the foundation for the new drug Benlysta® (belimumab), approved March 9, 2011, by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Benlysta®, which treats the most common type of lupus, is the first in a new class of pharmaceuticals that prevents the body from attacking its own critical tissues. [The Scripps Research Institute Press Release]

Pushing HIV out the Door: How Host Factors Aid in the Release of HIV Particles
Scientists have now analyzed the involvement of particular components of the infected cell in virion release, and discovered that the enzyme VPS4A plays a more active role in the process than was previously thought. [Press release from ScienceDaily discussing online prepublication in Nature Cell Biology]

Versatile Vitamin A Plays Multiple Roles in the Immune System
This study sheds light on how this critical vitamin integrates into both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory immune responses in the gastrointestinal tract. [Press release from EurekAlert! discussing online prepublication in Immunity]

Curbing Cholesterol Could Combat Infections
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have shown a direct link between the workings of the immune system and cholesterol levels. [Press release from the University of Edinburgh discussing online prepublication in PLoS Biology]

Scientists Find Candidate for New TB Vaccine
In this study, scientists identified a protein, called EspC, that triggers a stronger immune response in people infected with the TB bacterium than any other known molecule. [Press release from Imperial College London discussing online prepublication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA]

Study Helps Explain how Pathogenic E. coli Bacterium Causes Illness
Scientists have shown how the O157:H7 strain of Escherichia coli causes infection and thrives by manipulating the host immune response. The bacterium secretes a protein called NleH1 that directs the host immune enzyme IKK-beta to alter specific immune responses. [Press release from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases discussing online prepublication in Nature Immunology]

Tumor Suppressor Blocks Viral Growth in Natural HIV Controllers
Elevated levels of p21, a protein best known as a cancer fighter, may be involved in the ability of a few individuals to control HIV infection with their immune system alone. [Press release from Massachusetts General Hospital discussing online prepublication in the Journal of Clinical Investigation]

Whitehead Scientist Helps Revisit “Hallmarks of Cancer”
Renowned cancer researchers Robert Weinberg and Douglas Hanahan have updated their seminal review, “Hallmarks of Cancer,” which has influenced the study of cancer and the development of therapeutics for more than a decade. [Press release from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research discussing online prepublication in Cell]

Hallmarks of Cancer: The Next Generation
The hallmarks of cancer constitute an organizing principle for rationalizing the complexities of neoplastic disease. Conceptual progress in the last decade has added two emerging hallmarks of potential generality to this list – reprogramming of energy metabolism and evading immune destruction. [Cell]

Alum Interaction with Dendritic Cell Membrane Lipids is Essential for its Adjuvanticity
Here researchers report that, independent of inflammasome and membrane proteins, alum binds dendritic cell plasma membrane lipids with substantial force. [Nat Med]

IKKβ Phosphorylation Regulates RPS3 Nuclear Translocation and NF-κB Function during Infection with Escherichia coli strain O157:H7
Here researchers report that phosphorylation of ribosomal protein S3 (RPS3) Ser209 by the kinase IKKβ was crucial for nuclear localization of RPS3 in response to activating stimuli. [Nat Immunol]

Essential Role for Retinoic Acid in the Promotion of CD4+ T Cell Effector Responses via Retinoic Acid Receptor Alpha
Vitamin A and its metabolite, retinoic acid (RA) are implicated in the regulation of immune homeostasis via the peripheral induction of regulatory T cells. Here researchers showed RA was also required to elicit proinflammatory CD4+ helper T cell responses to infection and mucosal vaccination. [Immunity]

RelA and RelB Transcription Factors in Distinct Thymocyte Populations Control Lymphotoxin-Dependent Interleukin-17 Production in Gamma-Delta T Cells
Here, researchers report that IL-17, but not interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), production by gamma-delta T cells required the NF-kappaB family members RelA and RelB as well as the lymphotoxin-beta-receptor. [Immunity]

RIG-I RNA Helicase Activation of IRF3 Transcription Factor Is Negatively Regulated by Caspase-8-Mediated Cleavage of the RIP1 Protein
Researchers report that activation of the transcription factor IRF3 by the ribonucleic acid sensor RIG-I was restricted by caspase-8-mediated cleavage of the RIP1 protein, which resulted in conversion of RIP1 from a signaling enhancer to a signaling inhibitor. [Immunity]

Live-Cell Visualization of Dynamics of HIV Budding Site Interactions with an ESCRT Component
Using live-cell imaging, researchers show late-domain-dependent recruitment of VPS4A to nascent HIV particles at the host cell plasma membrane. [Nat Cell Biol]

CD4+ T Cells from Elite Controllers Resist HIV-1 Infection by Selective Upregulation of p21
Here, researchers show that compared with HIV-1 progressors and HIV-1–negative persons, CD4+ T cells from elite controllers are less susceptible to HIV-1 infection. [J Clin Invest]

Host Defense against Viral Infection Involves Interferon Mediated Down-Regulation of Sterol Biosynthesis
Here researchers report an intimate link between the innate immune response to infection and regulation of the sterol metabolic network characterized by down-regulation of sterol biosynthesis by an interferon regulatory loop mechanism. [PLoS Biology]

Gene Expression Profile Correlates with T-Cell Infiltration and Relative Survival in Glioblastoma Patients Vaccinated with Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy
The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility, safety, and toxicity of autologous tumor lysate–pulsed dendritic cell vaccination and toll-like receptor agonists in patients with newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma. Clinical and immune responses were monitored and correlated with tumor gene expression profiles. [Clin Cancer Res]

Genesis Biopharma Announces Plans to Develop Active Immunotherapy Platform
Genesis Biopharma, Inc., a biotechnology company developing targeted cancer therapies, announced it is expanding its therapeutic strategy to include active immunotherapies to treat various cancers.  The Company will focus on establishing a therapeutic development program based on Adoptive Cell Immunotherapy. [PR Newswire]

Oxford BioMedica Announces Publication of TroVax® Phase III Analyses in Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy
Oxford BioMedica plc, a leading gene therapy company, announces that further analyses of the TroVax® Renal Immunotherapy Survival Trial (“TRIST”), a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase III study, have been accepted for publication in Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy, the official journal of the Association for Cancer Immunotherapy. [Oxford BioMedica Press Release]

Tolerx and GlaxoSmithKline Announce Phase 3 Defend-1 Study of Otelixizumab in Type 1 Diabetes Did Not Meet Its Primary Endpoint
Tolerx, Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline announced that the Phase 3 DEFEND-1 study of otelixizumab, an investigational humanized anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, did not meet the primary efficacy endpoint of change in C-peptide at month 12 in patients with new-onset autoimmune type 1 diabetes. [Tolerx, Inc. Press Release]
 
Seattle Genetics and Millennium Expand Antibody-Drug Conjugate Collaboration
Seattle Genetics, Inc. announced that Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, has paid an undisclosed fee to exercise an option to designate a second antigen target under the parties’ existing antibody-drug conjugate collaboration. [Seattle Genetics, Inc. 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 EMBO Conference: Homeostasis and Perturbations of Immunity
May 16-20, 2011
Capo Caccia, Italy

NEW 31st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Immunology
May 19-22, 2011
Salt Lake City, United States

NEW Keystone Symposium: Pathogenesis of Influenza: Virus-Host Interactions
May 23-28, 2011
Hong Kong, China

NEW 9th Annual Meeting of the Association for Cancer Immunotherapy
May 25-27, 2011
Mainz, Germany

Visit our events page to see a complete list of events in the immune regulation community.

Lab Technologist – Human Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (STEMCELL Technologies)

Assistant Professor (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Center for Cellular and Molecular Engineering)

Scientist – Pathology (Immunology) (Genentech)

Scientist – Human Monoclonal Antibody Discovery (Arsanis Biosciences)

Implementation Coordinator – Maternity Leave Contract (STEMSOFT Software Inc.)
 
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