Immunology of Infectious Disease News Volume 4.47 | Nov 30 2016

TOP STORY

Introduction of Neutralizing Immunogenicity Index to the Rational Design of MERS Coronavirus Subunit Vaccines

Scientists introduced a new concept ‘neutralizing immunogenicity index’ (NII) to evaluate an epitope’s neutralizing immunogenicity. To determine the NII, they masked the epitope with a glycan probe and then assessed the epitope’s contribution to the vaccine’s overall neutralizing immunogenicity. [Nat Commun] Full Article | Press Release

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Tissue-Specific Programming of Memory CD8 T Cell Subsets Impacts Protection against Lethal Respiratory Virus Infection

Researchers showed that lung environmental cues program recently recruited central-like memory cells with migratory potentials for their tissue-specific functions during lethal respiratory virus infection. After entering the lung, some central-like cells retain their original CD27^hiCXCR3^hi phenotype, enabling them to localize near the infected bronchiolar epithelium and airway lumen to function as the first line of defense against pathogen encounter. [J Exp Med] Abstract

Azidothymidine Sensitizes Primary Effusion Lymphoma Cells to Kaposi Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus-Specific CD4⁺ T Cell Control and Inhibits vIRF3 Function

To investigate how azidothymidine sensitizes primary effusion lymphomas to immune control the authors examined BJAB cells transduced with individual Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus-latent genes for their ability to resist apoptosis mediated by stimuli delivered through Fas and TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand receptors. This showed that in addition to the previously described vFLIP protein, expression of vIRF3 also inhibited apoptosis delivered by these stimuli. [PLoS Pathog] Full Article

Zika (PRVABC59) Infection Is Associated with T Cell Infiltration and Neurodegeneration in CNS of Immunocompetent Neonatal C57Bl/6 Mice

The authors established and characterized a new model of peripheral Zika virus infection using immunocompetent neonatal C57BL/6 mice and compare its clinical progression, virus distribution, immune response, and neuropathology with that of C57BL/6-IFNAR KO mice. [PLoS Pathog] Full Article | Press Release

Mucosal BCG Vaccination Induces Protective Lung-Resident Memory T Cell Populations against Tuberculosis

Using a mouse model of tuberculosis, investigators compared protection and lung cellular infiltrates of parenteral and mucosal Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination. Adoptive transfer and gene expression analyses of lung airway cells were performed to determine the protective capacities and phenotypes of different memory T cell subsets. [mBio] Full Article

Autocrine Type I IFN Signaling in Dendritic Cells Stimulated with Fungal β-Glucans or Lipopolysaccharide Promotes CD8 T Cell Activation

Researchers investigated whether type I IFNs regulate CD8 T cell activation by fungal β-glucan particle–stimulated dendritic cells (DCs). They demonstrated that β-glucan–stimulated DCs induce CD8 T cell proliferation, activation marker expression, and production of IFN-γ, IL-2, and granzyme B. [J Immunol] Abstract

Blocking Virus Replication during Acute Murine Cytomegalovirus Infection Paradoxically Prolongs Antigen Presentation and Increases the CD8⁺ T Cell Response by Preventing Type I IFN–Dependent Depletion of Dendritic Cells

Using a murine CMV that is highly sensitive to the antiviral drug famciclovir to modulate virus replication, investigators found that increased virus replication drove increased effector CD8⁺ T cell differentiation. [J Immunol] Abstract

HIV

Impairment of CCR6⁺ and CXCR3⁺ Th Cell Migration in HIV-1 Infection Is Rescued by Modulating Actin Polymerization

Scientists present evidence that persistent immune activation causes impairment of lymphocytes to respond to chemotactic stimuli, thus preventing their trafficking from the blood stream to peripheral organs. CCR6⁺ and CXCR3⁺ Th cells accumulate in the blood of aviremic HIV-1–infected patients on long-term antiretroviral therapy, and their frequency in the circulation positively correlates to levels of soluble CD14 in plasma, a marker of chronic immune activation. [J Immunol] Abstract

Glycosyl-Phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-Anchored Anti-HIV scFv Efficiently Protect CD4 T Cells from HIV-1 Infection and Deletion in hu-PBL Mice

Researchers employed a GPI-scFv X5 approach to confer resistance of human primary CD4 T cells to HIV-1. They showed that primary CD4 T cells expressing the GPI-scFv X5 were resistant to CCR5-, CXCR4- and dual tropic- HIV-1 and had survival advantage compared to control cells ex vivo. [J Virol] Abstract

Gut Homing CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-Cell Frequencies in HIV Infected Individuals on Antiretroviral Treatment

In an effort to understand the effect of antiretroviral treatment (ART) initiation and different ART regimens on the reconstitution of mucosal T cells within the gut associated lymphoid tissue, scientists quantified the frequency of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells expressing the gut homing receptors CCR9 and β7 in peripheral blood of HIV infected individuals naive to ART and treated individuals on both short-term and long-term ART. [PLoS One] Full Article

Interleukin-15 (IL-15) Strongly Correlates with Increasing HIV-1 Viremia and Markers of Inflammation

Investigators sought to measure the level of IL-15 in a large, well characterized cohort of HIV-1 infected patients and correlate this with well known markers of inflammation, including CRP, D-dimer, sCD163 and sCD14. [PLoS One] Full Article

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Cytomegalovirus Vaccines: Current Status and Future Prospects

The authors provide an overview of human cytomegalovirus vaccine candidates in various stages of development, as well as an update on the current status of ongoing clinical trials. Protective correlates of vaccine-induced immunity may be different for pregnant woman and transplant patients. [Drugs] Abstract

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Mylan Signs Sub-License Agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool to Increase Access to Hepatitis C Treatment in Developing Countries

Mylan N.V. announced that the company has signed an agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool to expand access to chronic hepatitis C medicines in developing countries. [Mylan N.V.] Press Release

BiondVax Phase IIb Trial Preliminary Safety Results: The Universal Flu Vaccine Candidate Is Safe and Well Tolerated

BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. announced positive preliminary safety results from its European Phase IIb clinical trial of M-001, its universal flu vaccine candidate. [BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd.] Press Release

New U.S. Research Policy Board Would Aim to Slash Regulatory Paperwork

Easing the regulatory burden on U.S. academic research certainly isn’t as sexy as curing cancer or understanding how the brain works. But creating an advisory body focused on eliminating government red tape—a tiny provision in a 996-page bill to accelerate medical research that could become law next month—is no less important to maintaining the health of the research community than is the infusion of billions of dollars, higher education lobbyists say. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

UK Moves Closer to Allowing ‘Three-Parent’ Babies

The United Kingdom may soon become the first country to explicitly permit the birth of children from embryos modified to contain three people’s DNA. At the same time, new research backs up concerns that such a treatment — which aims to erase diseases transmitted by the DNA found in cellular structures called mitochondria — may not always be 100% effective. [Nature News] Editorial

Trump’s Pick for US Health Secretary Has Pushed to Cut Science Spending

Republican congressman Tom Price of Georgia is US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the US Department of Health and Human Services. If he is confirmed by the Senate, Price would oversee the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. [Nature News] Editorial

Tracking the Trump Transition, Agency by Agency

As US president-elect Donald Trump begins to sketch out the priorities of his administration, Nature tracks the key issues and likely leaders of vital science and research agencies. [Nature News] Editorial

NEW 27^th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID)
April 22-25, 2017
Vienna, Austria

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

NEW Postdoctoral Research Fellow – CAR T Cell Therapy for HIV Infection (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

NEW Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Viral Infection Modeling (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

Research Technologist – Cell Separation (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Postdoctoral Position – Immunology of HIV-1 and Cancer (University of Alabama at Birmingham)

Postdoctoral Research Scientist – Infection (Rush University Medical Center)

Research Fellow – HIV Research (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Immunology of Chronic HBV Infection (F. Hoffmann-La Roche)

PhD Prize Studentships (University of Oxford)

Postdoctoral Position – Immunology (Klinikum der Universität München)

Faculty Position – Senior Immunologist (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Quantitative Infectious Disease Methods (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

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