Immunology of Infectious Disease News Volume 5.34 | Aug 30 2017

TOP STORY

Systems Vaccinology Identifies an Early Innate Immune Signature as a Correlate of Antibody Responses to the Ebola Vaccine rVSV-ZEBOV

The authors found an early gene expression signature linked to interferon-γ-inducible protein 10 (IP-10). This comprehensive characterization of early innate immune responses to the recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus-Zaire Ebola virus (rVSV-ZEBOV) vaccine in humans revealed immune signatures linked to IP-10. [Cell Rep] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

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Naïve B Cells Reduce Fungal Dissemination in Cryptococcus neoformans Infected Rag1^-/- Mice

Investigators developed an intranasal C. neoformans infection model in B and T cell deficient Rag1^−/− mice and found they also exhibit earlier fungal dissemination and higher brain CFU than wild-type C57Bl/6 mice. [Virulence] Abstract

Infection with the Makona Variant Results in a Delayed and Distinct Host Immune Response Compared to Previous Ebola Virus Variants

Researchers present a comprehensive approach in understanding Zaire Ebolavirus-Makona pathogenesis in cynomolgus macaques by measuring changes in immune cell frequencies, plasma levels of immune mediators, and differentially expressed genes within whole blood and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. [Sci Rep] Full Article

CD8⁺ T Cell Immune Response in Immunocompetent Mice during Zika Virus Infection

Scientists investigated the immune response, especially CD8⁺ T cell response in C57BL/6 wild type mouse during Zika virus (ZIKV) infection. They found that robust CD8⁺ T cell response was elicited, MHC-I restricted CD8⁺ T cell epitopes were identified, and a tetramer that recognized ZIKV specific CD8⁺ T cells was developed. [J Virol] Abstract | Full Article

Anti-CD25 Monoclonal Antibody Enhances the Protective Efficacy of Schistosoma japonicum GST Vaccine via Inhibition of CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ Regulatory T Cells

The effect of anti-CD25 monoclonal antibody on the protection efficacy of S. japonicum 26 kDa glutathione-S-transferase (GST) vaccine was evaluated. [Parasitol Res] Abstract

Specific Inhibition of NLRP3 in Chikungunya Disease Reveals a Role for Inflammasomes in Alphavirus-Induced Inflammation

Researchers showed that Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection activates the NLRP3 inflammasome in humans and mice. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from CHIKV-infected patients showed elevated NLRP3, caspase-1 and interleukin-18 messenger RNA expression and, using a mouse model of CHIKV infection, they found that high NLRP3 expression was associated with peak inflammatory symptoms. [Nat Microbiol] Abstract

HIV

HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein Stimulates Viral Transcription and Increases the Infectivity of the Progeny Virus through the Manipulation of Cellular Machinery

Scientists investigated the effect of virus-associated envelope glycoprotein (vEnv) on HIV-infected T cells and demonstrated that the vEnv was able to stimulate HIV transcription in HIV-infected cells, including peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from HIV patients. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Immune Characterization of the HBHA-Specific Response in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-Infected Patients with or without HIV Infection

Among latent tuberculosis (TB) infection individuals, heparin-binding hemagglutinin (HBHA) stimulation induced interferon γ release in all the HIV-uninfected, while only 4/15 HIV-infected responded. Within the active TB, only 5/13 HIV-uninfected and 1/12 HIV-TB patients responded. [PLoS One] Full Article

Evidence for Altered Glutamine Metabolism in HIV-1 Infected Primary Human CD4⁺ T Cells

Researchers compared HIV-1 infected with uninfected activated primary human CD4⁺ T cells with regards to glutamine metabolism. They report that glutamine concentrations were elevated in HIV-1 infected cells and that glutamine was important to support HIV-1 replication, though the latter is closely linked to the glutamine-dependency of cell survival. [AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses] Abstract

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T-Cell Therapy for Chronic Viral Hepatitis

The authors review the development of T-cell therapy for hepatitis B virus (HBV), highlighting its potential antiviral efficiency but also its potential toxicities in different groups of chronic HBV patients. [Cytotherapy] Abstract

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

Texas Biomed Part of Team Receiving Five-Year, $4.4 Million NIH Grant for Novel TB Vaccine Testing

Texas Biomedical Research Institute Associate Scientist, Dr. Marie-Claire Gauduin, has partnered with Dr. Chinnaswamy Jagannath, Professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in Houston to test a modified tuberculosis (TB) vaccine that, if effective, could prove more powerful and provide longer lasting immunity. [Texas Biomedical Research Institute] Press Release

FDA Approves First U.S. Treatment for Chagas Disease

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to benznidazole for use in children ages 2 to 12 years old with Chagas disease. It is the first treatment approved in the United States for the treatment of Chagas disease. [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] Press Release

Science Suffers as China’s Internet Censors Plug Holes in Great Firewall

China is tightening the screws on internet access, again. The latest crackdown—an evolving effort to ban virtual private networks not under government control—could seriously erode scientists’ ability to stay connected with peers abroad. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. on the FDA’s New Policy Steps and Enforcement Efforts to Ensure Proper Oversight of Stem Cell Therapies and Regenerative Medicine

In the last few days alone, the FDA has taken steps in Florida and California to address a number of especially troubling products being marketed. But unfortunately, these are examples of a larger pool of actors who claim that their unproven and unsafe products will address a serious disease, but instead put patients at significant risk. [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] Editorial

FDA Warns US Stem Cell Clinic of Significant Deviations

The FDA posted a warning letter issued to US Stem Cell Clinic of Sunrise, Florida, and its Chief Scientific Officer Kristin Comella for marketing stem cell products without FDA approval and for significant deviations from current good manufacturing practice requirements, including some that could impact the sterility of their products, putting patients at risk. [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] Editorial

NEW Keystone Symposia: Regulation and Dysregulation of Innate Immunity in Disease
February 18-22, 2018
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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NEW Professorship – Infection Biology (Hannover Medical School)

Postdoctoral Scientist – Immunology/Microbial Pathogenesis (Nationwide Children’s Hospital)

Assistant or Associate Professor – Virology (University of Iowa)

Faculty Positions – Host-Pathogen Interactions (University of Chicago at Illinois)

Junior Professorship – Systems Biology of Human Parasites (Universität Hamburg)

Senior Bioinformatician – Malaria Genomics (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute)

Mouse Scientist – T Cell-Based Therapy (Tessa Therapeutics Pte. Ltd.)

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

Full Faculty Member – Immunology (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

Postdoctoral Position – Cell Biology and Innate Immunity (Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden)

Lab Aide – Infectious Disease Sciences Program (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

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