Immunology of Infectious Disease News Volume 4.28 | Jul 20 2016

TOP STORY

Specificity, Cross-Reactivity and Function of Antibodies Elicited by Zika Virus Infection

By characterizing memory cells from Zika virus (ZIKV)-infected patients, the authors dissected ZIKV-specific and Dengue virus-crossreactive immune responses. Antibodies to NS1 were largely ZIKV-specific and were used to develop a serological diagnostic tool. [Science] Abstract | Press Release

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

A Quantitative Analysis of Complexity of Human Pathogen-Specific CD4 T Cell Responses in Healthy M. tuberculosis Infected South Africans

Scientists performed a quantitative analysis of the HLA restriction, antigen and epitope specificity of human pathogen specific responses in healthy individuals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, in a South African cohort as a test case. [PLoS Pathog] Full Article

Disruption of Early Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha Signaling Prevents Classical Activation of Dendritic Cells in Lung-Associated Lymph Nodes and Development of Protective Immunity against Cryptococcal Infection

The authors investigated the mechanism by which disruption of early tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) signaling results in the development of nonprotective immunity against Cryptococcus neoformans. They found that transient depletion of TNF-α inhibited pulmonary fungal clearance and enhanced extrapulmonary dissemination of C. neoformans during the adaptive phase of the immune response. [mBio] Full Article

CD4⁺ and γδ T Cells Are the Main Producers of IL-22 and IL-17A in Lymphocytes from Mycobacterium bovis-Infected Cattle

In M. bovis-infected animals, bovine tuberculin specific IL-22 and IL-17A responses were observed in both CD4⁺ T cell and γδ T cell populations. Although both cytokines were detected in both cell types, IL-22/IL-17A double producers were rare and confined mainly to the γδ T cell population. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Heat Shock Enhances the Expression of the Human T Cell Leukemia Virus Type-I (HTLV-I) Trans-Activator (Tax) Antigen in Human HTLV-I Infected Primary and Cultured T Cells

Heat shock (HS) treatment at 43°C for 30 minutes for 24 hours led to marked increases in the level of Tax antigen expression in all HTLV-I-infected T cell lines tested including a number of HTLV-I-naturally infected T cell lines. HS also increased the expression of functional HTLV-I envelope gp46 antigen, as shown by increased syncytium formation activity. [Viruses] Abstract | Download Full Article

Involvement of the Interleukin-23/Interleukin-17 Axis in Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection and Its Treatment Responses

Researchers investigated the role and molecular mechanisms of the interleukin-23 (IL-23)/Th17 axis in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and the efficacy of IL-23/Th17 modulation in response to anti-HCV therapy. [Int J Mol Sci] Full Article

HIV

Exhaustion of Activated CD8 T Cells Predicts Disease Progression in Primary HIV-1 Infection

Investigators evaluated participants recruited to the SPARTAC randomized clinical trial to determine whether CD8 T cell exhaustion markers PD-1, Lag-3 and Tim-3 were associated with immune activation and disease progression. [PLoS Pathog] Full Article

Epithelium-Innate Immune Cell Axis in Mucosal Responses to SIV

Researchers systematically analyzed the cellular events and chemoattractant profiles in cervical tissues that precede CD4 T-cell recruitment. They showed that vaginal exposure to the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) inoculum rapidly induces chemokine expression in cervical epithelium including CCL3, CCL20, and CXCL8. [Mucosal Immunol] Abstract

Standard Vaccines Increase HIV-1 Transcription during Antiretroviral Therapy

Scientists investigated whether vaccination against non-HIV pathogens can induce HIV transcription and thereby play a role in future eradication strategies. [AIDS] Abstract

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Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: Immune Responses in Protection and Pathogenesis

Scientists discuss the early events associated with infection, the CD4⁺ T cells that mediate protective immunity and the pathological role that CD8⁺ T cells can have in cutaneous leishmaniasis. [Nat Rev Immunol] Abstract

Assessing the Global Threat from Zika Virus

Researchers review what is known about the epidemiology, natural history, and public health impact of Zika virus infection, the empirical basis for this knowledge, and the critical knowledge gaps that need to be filled. [Science] Full Article

Vaccines and Immunization Strategies for Dengue Prevention

Scientists summarize the recent progress in the development of dengue vaccines and novel immunization strategies and propose some prospective vaccine strategies for disease prevention in the future. [Emerg Microbes Infect] Full Article

Visit our reviews page to see a complete list of reviews in the immunology of infectious disease research field.

NIH Expands Investment in HIV Cure Research

The National Institutes of Health has awarded approximately $30 million in annual funding over the next five years to six research collaborations working to advance basic medical science toward an HIV cure. The awards comprise the second iteration of the Martin Delaney Collaboratory: Towards an HIV-1 Cure program and are a part of President Barack Obama’s pledge to invest in HIV cure research. [The National Institutes of Health] Press Release

Viracor-IBT Laboratories, Inc.’s Zika Virus RT-PCR Test Receives Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA

Viracor-IBT Laboratories, Inc. announced that it received Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Zika Virus Real-time RT-PCR assay. [Viracor-IBT Laboratories, Inc.] Press Release

Yisheng Biopharma and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases Announce Positive Animal Results of Vaccine Against Ebola Virus

Yisheng Biopharma Co., Ltd. and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases announced preliminary positive animal results of a virus-like particle-based vaccine in combination with PIKA adjuvant, a Toll-Like Receptor 3 agonist. [Yisheng Biopharma Co., Ltd. (PR Newswire Association LLC.] Press Release

U.S. FDA Approves PREZISTA^® (Darunavir) for Use in Pregnant Women with HIV

Janssen Therapeutics announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an expansion to the PREZISTA^® U.S. Prescribing Information to include data and results from a study investigating the use of PREZISTA^® during pregnancy and the postpartum period. [Janssen Therapeutics (PR Newswise Association LLC.)] Press Release

South Africa Ushers in a New Era for HIV

The country has developed the biggest programme of antiretroviral therapy in the world. Now scientists are exploring the long-term consequences of the drugs. [Nature News] Editorial

Drugs Watchdog Thwarting UK Progress in Stem Cell Therapy, Report Says

Britain’s hopes of leading the world in revolutionary therapies that regenerate damaged body parts are under threat because the NHS drugs watchdog cannot properly evaluate them, a report says. [The Guardian] Editorial | Report

Science’s Status Shifts in New Brexit Government

Three weeks after UK voters chose to leave the European Union, the country has a new prime minister, Theresa May — and a revamped administration that is poised to change science’s place in government. [Nature News] Editorial

Science Under Siege: How Venezuela’s Economic Crisis Is Affecting Researchers

The political and economic crisis in Venezuela continues to worsen. As the price of oil — the country’s major export — has fallen, Venezuela has struggled to pay for imported goods while maintaining socialist economic policies put in place by former president Hugo Chávez. [Nature News] Editorial

Research Charities Help Marry Two Major South African HIV/Tuberculosis Institutes

As the International AIDS Conference kicked off in Durban, South Africa, two of the nation’s most prominent biomedical research institutions announced that they will marry and combine resources to attack the raging coepidemic of tuberculosis and HIV in the region. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW 6^th European Congress of Virology
October 19-22, 2016
Hamburg, Germany

Visit our events page to see a complete list of events in the immunology of infectious disease community.

NEW Senior Researcher – Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases (El Colegio de la Frontera Sur)

NEW Postdoctoral Fellow – Infectious Disease (Metabiota)

Research Associate – Immunology and Cell Separation (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Research Technologist – Cell Separation (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Scientist – Bioengineering (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Senior Scientist – Immunology and Cell Separation (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Malaria Genetics (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute)

Resource Technologist (The University of Pennsylvania)

Research in HIV-Host DNA Repair Interactions – HIV-1 Infection of Macrophages and Monocytes (Johns Hopkins University)

Two Postdoctoral Positions – Viral Hepatitis (Inserm)

Postdoctoral Scientist – Immune Focused In Vitro Research (King’s College London)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow – HIV Vaccine Research (Universitätsklinikum Essen)

Pharmacologist/Toxicologist (The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Immune Response to Infection (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

Principal Investigators – Infectious Diseases (CCID)

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