Immunology of Infectious Disease News Volume 3.13 | Apr 8 2015

Biomarkers on Patient T Cells Diagnose Active Tuberculosis and Monitor Treatment Response
Scientists identified blood-based host biomarkers associated with active tuberculosis and hypothesized that immune activation markers on Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-specific CD4⁺ T cells would be associated with Mtb load in vivo and could thus provide a gauge of Mtb infection. [J Clin Invest] Full Article

Low Doses of Imatinib Induce Myelopoiesis and Enhance Host Anti-Microbial Immunity
Increasing neutrophil numbers by adoptive transfer sufficed to reduce mycobacterial load, and imatinib reduced bacterial load of Franciscella spp., which do not utilize imatinib-sensitive protein tyrosine kinases for pathogenesis. [PLoS Pathog] Full Article | Press Release

Hantaan Virus Infection Induces Both Th1 and ThGranzyme B⁺ Cell Immune Responses that Associated with Viral Control and Clinical Outcome in Humans
Based on the T-cell epitopes mapped on Hantaan virus glycoprotein, researchers studied the effects and characteristics of CD4⁺ T-cell responses in determining the outcome of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. [PLoS Pathog] Full Article

HIV

Viremia Suppressed in HIV-1-Infected Humans by Broadly Neutralizing Antibody 3BNC117
Scientists report the results of a first-in-man dose escalation Phase I clinical trial of 3BNC117, a potent human CD4 binding site antibody, in uninfected and HIV-1-infected individuals. 3BNC117 infusion was well tolerated and demonstrated favorable pharmacokinetics. [Nature] Abstract | Press Release

Epitope-Specific CD8⁺ T Cell Kinetics Rather than Viral Variability Determine the Timing of Immune Escape in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection
Scientists analyzed the epitope-specific CD8⁺ T cells in 25 SIV-infected pigtail macaques responding to three SIV epitopes. Two epitopes showed a variable escape pattern and one had a highly monomorphic escape pattern. [J Immunol] Abstract

Live Attenuated Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Vaccination Confers Superinfection Resistance against Macrophage-Tropic and Neurovirulent Wild-Type SIV Challenge
Investigators characterized the biological breadth of SIVmacC8 vaccine protection by assessing the ability of both the nef-disrupted SIVmacC8 and its nef-intact counterpart SIVmacJ5 viruses to prevent superinfection with the macrophage/neurotropic SIVmac239/17E-Fr isolate. [J Gen Virol] Abstract | Full Article

Acceleration of Age-Associated Methylation Patterns in HIV-1-Infected Adults
Researchers investigated whether HIV-1-infection would induce age-associated methylation changes. They evaluated DNA methylation levels at greater than 450,000 CpG sites in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of young and older adults in two separate groups of participants. [PLoS One] Full Article | Press Release 

Site-Specific Differences in T Cell Frequencies and Phenotypes in the Blood and Gut of HIV-Uninfected and ART-Treated HIV⁺ Adults
Researchers measured T cell frequencies and markers of memory, activation, anergy, and homing in the blood, ileum, and rectum of HIV^– and ART-suppressed HIV⁺ adults. [PLoS One] Full Article

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Duke Research Teams Win Large Federal Grants for HIV Vaccine Studies
Two research teams at Duke Medicine have received large, multi-year grants from the National Institutes of Health to pursue projects on HIV vaccine development. [Duke University] Press Release

Next Step for Proposed HIV Gene Therapy
Pre-clinical trials of a genetic treatment to permanently suppress HIV are about to begin at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, in Brisbane. [QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute] Press Release

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