Immune Regulation News Volume 3.23 | Jun 24 2011

Who Goes There? Novel Complex Senses Viral Infection
Researchers identified a novel sensor that is necessary to activate the immune response to viral infection. [Press release from EurekAlert! discussing online prepublication in Immunity]

Acute Hepatitis A Evades Immune System More Effectively than Chronic Cousin
In comparing data from experiments with Hepatitis A and Hepatitis C, researchers found that Hepatitis A virus is more efficient at inhibiting the host’s interferon response, and that the virus can actually linger in the body for almost a year. [Press release from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine discussing online prepublication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA]

New Approach to Cancer Vaccines Proves Successful in Early Studies
Researchers have used a library of DNA to create a vaccine that could be used to treat cancer. [Press release from the University of Leeds discussing online prepublication in Nature Medicine]

Broad Antigenic Coverage Induced by Vaccination with Virus-Based cDNA Libraries Cures Established Tumors
Researchers show that a cDNA library of normal tissue, expressed from a highly immunogenic viral platform, cures established tumors of the same histological type from which the cDNA library was derived. [Nat Med]

Inositol Hexakisphosphate Kinase 1 Regulates Neutrophil Function in Innate Immunity by Inhibiting Phosphatidylinositol-(3,4,5)-Trisphosphate Signaling
Researchers demonstrate that disruption of inositol hexakisphosphate kinase 1 conferred enhanced phosphatidylinositol-(3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PtdIns(3,4,5)P3)-mediated membrane translocation of the pleckstrin homology domain of the kinase Akt and thus augmented downstream PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 signaling in mouse neutrophils. [Nat Immunol]

Perforin Pores in the Endosomal Membrane Trigger the Release of Endocytosed Granzyme B into the Cytosol of Target Cells
Researchers show that perforin formed pores in the gigantosome membrane, allowing endosomal cargo, including granzymes, to be gradually released. [Nat Immunol]

DDX1, DDX21, and DHX36 Helicases Form a Complex with the Adaptor Molecule TRIF to Sense dsRNA in Dendritic Cells
Researchers report the identification of a viral sensor, consisting of RNA helicases DDX1, DDX21, and DHX36, and the adaptor molecule TRIF, by isolation and sequencing of poly I:C-binding proteins in myeloid dendritic cells. [Immunity]

Acute Hepatitis A Virus Infection is Associated with a Limited Type I Interferon Response and Persistence of Intrahepatic Viral RNA
Researchers characterized Hepatitis A virus infections in three chimpanzees, quantifying viral RNA by quantitative RT-PCR and examining critical aspects of the innate immune response including intrahepatic IFN-stimulated gene expression. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA]

Emerging Tim-3 Functions in Antimicrobial and Tumor Immunity
Here, researchers focus on the emerging role for Tim-3 in tumor and antimicrobial immunity. [Trends Immunol]

Obstructive Jaundice Expands Intrahepatic Regulatory T Cells, Which Impair Liver T Lymphocyte Function but Modulate Liver Cholestasis and Fibrosis
The aim of this study was to determine the consequences of bile duct ligation on liver T cell phenotype and function. [J Immunol]

The Novel Costimulatory Programmed Death Ligand 1/B7.1 Pathway Is Functional in Inhibiting Alloimmune Responses In Vivo
The data indicate that the programmed death ligand 1 (PDL1) interaction with B7.1 plays an important role in the inhibition of alloimmune responses in vivo and suggests a dominant direction for PDL1 and B7.1 interaction. [J Immunol]

Therapeutic Efficacy of Polyclonal Tregs Does Not Require Rapamycin in a Low-Dose Irradiation Bone Marrow Transplantation Model
Researchers investigated whether polyclonal regulatory T cell (Tregs) therapy is effective in promoting chimerism and tolerance in an otherwise unsuccessful bone marrow transplantation protocol using low-dose total body irradiation (1 Gy) and costimulation blockade and determined whether Tregs do so on their own without rapamycin. [Transplantation]

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics to Present at 2nd World Cancer Vaccines Summit
The presentation titled, “Multiple Antigen Vaccines for Glioblastoma” will feature ICT-107, ImmunoCellular’s dendritic cell based cancer vaccine candidate for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme. [ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. Press Release]

Medicago USA Receives Third Milestone Payment of US$5.6 Million from the U.S. Department of Defense
Medicago USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Medicago Inc., announced it has received the third milestone payment of US$5.6 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. [Medicago Inc. Press Release]

Abbott and Biotest Announce Global Agreement to Develop and Commercialize Novel Antibody for Autoimmune Diseases
Abbott and Biotest AG announced a global agreement to develop and commercialize BT-061, a novel anti-CD4 antibody for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. [Abbott Laboratories Press Release]

iCo Therapeutics Executes Bertilimumab License with Immune Pharmaceuticals
iCo Therapeutics Inc. is pleased to announce that Immune Pharmaceuticals has licensed Bertilimumab (iCo-008) for systemic uses, pursuant to an option agreement previously announced in December 2010. [iCo Therapeutics 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 2011 FASEB Summer Conference on ‘Autoimmunity’
July 10-15, 2011
Saxtons River, United States

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

Research and Development Technologist, hPSC Media (STEMCELL Technologies) 

Scientist (iPSC) (STEMCELL Technologies)

Chemist (STEMCELL Technologies)

Research and Development Senior Technologist (STEMCELL Technologies)

Proteomics, Vascular Biology/Angiogenesis, or Immunology (St.Michael’s Hospital/University of Toronto)

PhD Scholarship (Tasmania University)

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