Immunology of Infectious Disease News Volume 6.02 | Jan 17 2018

TOP STORY

Re-Programming Innate Immune Cells to Fight Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, an infectious disease which attacks the lungs, claims someone’s life every 20 seconds and 1.5 million lives worldwide every year. A cure has eluded scientists for more than a century, but now a Montreal team of researchers may have discovered a new weapon to combat this global killer. [Press release from McGill University discussing online prepublication in Cell] Press Release | Abstract | Graphical Abstract

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

Prevention of Tuberculosis in Rhesus Macaques by a Cytomegalovirus-Based Vaccine

Over two independent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) challenge studies, the authors demonstrated that subcutaneous vaccination of rhesus macaques with rhesus cytomegalovirus vectors encoding Mtb antigen inserts—which elicit and maintain highly effector-differentiated, circulating and tissue-resident Mtb-specific CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ memory T cell responses—can reduce the overall extent of Mtb infection and disease by 68%, as compared to that in unvaccinated controls, after intrabronchial challenge with the Erdman strain of Mtb at ~1 year after the first vaccination. [Nat Med] Abstract | Press Release

Memory B Cells that Cross-React with Group 1 and Group 2 Influenza A Viruses Are Abundant in Adult Human Repertoires

Researchers analyzed B cell memory compartments in three unrelated, adult donors and found frequent cross-group B cell antigen-receptors (BCRs), both hemagglutinin-head directed and non-head directed. Members of a clonal lineage from one donor had a BCR structure similar to that of a previously described antibody, encoded by different gene segments. [Immunity] Abstract | Graphical Abstract

Zika Virus Infection in Pregnant Rhesus Macaques Causes Placental Dysfunction and Immunopathology

The authors infected pregnant rhesus macaques and investigated the impact of persistent Zika virus (ZIKV) infection on uteroplacental pathology, blood flow, and fetal growth and development. They demonstrated a robust maternal-placental-fetal inflammatory response following ZIKV infection. [Nat Commun] Full Article

A Proline Deletion in IFNAR1 Impairs IFN-Signaling and Underlies Increased Resistance to Tuberculosis in Humans

The precise role of type I interferon (IFN) signaling in bacterial infection in humans is unclear. Investigators showed that genetic variation in the human IFNAR1 gene is associated with decreased susceptibility to tuberculosis and an increased risk of viral hepatitis in Chinese populations. [Nat Commun] Full Article

Lamin A/C Augments Th1 Differentiation and Response against Vaccinia Virus and Leishmania major

Scientists demonstrated that the absence of lamin A/C in naive T-cell reduces T helper (Th) 1 differentiation without affecting Th2 differentiation in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, Rag1^-/- mice reconstituted with Lmna^-/-CD4⁺CD25^– T-cells and infected with vaccinia virus show weaker Th1 responses and viral removal than mice reconstituted with wild-type T-cells. [Cell Death Dis] Full Article

Zika, Dengue and Yellow Fever Viruses Induce Differential Anti-Viral Immune Responses in Human Monocytic and First Trimester Trophoblast Cells

Investigators compared infection with a contemporary Zika virus (ZIKV) strain to YFV17D and DENV-4 in human monocytic cells and first-trimester trophoblasts. ZIKV induced strong type 1 IFN and inflammatory cytokine and chemokine production in monocytes and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. [Antiviral Res] Abstract

Loss of Disease Tolerance during Citrobacter rodentium Infection Is Associated with Impaired Epithelial Differentiation and Hyperactivation of T Cell Responses

Scientists performed deep RNA sequencing and systematically analyzed the global gene expression profiles of C. rodentium-infected colon tissues from susceptible and resistant congenic mice strains to determine the common responses to infection and the Rspo2-mediated dysfunction pathway signatures associated with loss of disease tolerance. [Sci Rep] Full Article

CD19 CAR T Cells Expressing IL-12 Eradicate Lymphoma in Fully Lymphoreplete Mice through Induction of Host Immunity

Researchers constructed fully mouse first and second generation anti-murine CD19 chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) with or without IL-12 secretion. They provide evidence that IL-12-expressing CAR T cells not only directly killed target CD19⁺ cells, but also recruited host immune cells to an anti-cancer immune response. [Mol Ther Oncolytics] Full Article

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Immune Responses to Retroviruses

The authors discuss the mechanisms by which immune responses to retroviruses are mounted at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels. They also discuss how intrinsic, innate, and adaptive immunity may cooperate or conflict during the generation of immune responses. [Annu Rev Immunol] Abstract

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

RXi Pharmaceuticals to Present at Immuno-Oncology Frontiers World Conference

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a clinical-stage company developing a new class of RNA interference-based therapeutics, announced that it will give an oral presentation highlighting the company’s proprietary therapeutic platform. [Press release from RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation discussing research to be presented at 2018 the Immuno-Oncology Frontiers World Conference, Miami] Press Release

$2.5M Grant Funds Research on Tuberculosis Treatment

Cornell researchers are investigating compounds they identified that offer hope for effective new drugs against tuberculosis. Over the span of the grant, VanderVen and collaborators hope to understand the precise mechanism of action of these compounds and evaluate the potential of these types of lipid inhibitors as therapies. [Cornell Unviersity] Press Release

UTHealth’s Jeffrey Actor, Ph.D., Awarded $1.7 Million for Tuberculosis Research

Jeffrey Actor, Ph.D., professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), has been awarded nearly $1.7 million for a two-year project to investigate a promising tuberculosis treatment using a natural molecule called lactoferrin. [The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston] Press Release

GSK Receives FDA Approval for Expanded Indication for FLUARIX^® QUADRIVALENT (Influenza Vaccine) for Persons 6 Months and Older

GSK announced it has received approval from the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research expanding the indication for FLUARIX^® QUADRIVALENT to include use in persons six months and older. [GlaxoSmithKline] Press Release

Laws Are Not the Only Way to Boost Immunization

The French government must mitigate the risks in its legal imposition of vaccinations by promoting more coherent and proactive vaccine policies. [Nature News] Editorial

Make Replication Studies ‘A Normal and Essential Part of Science,’ Dutch Science Academy Says

Scientists, universities, funding agencies, and journals alike should be doing much more to ensure the reproducibility of scientific research, according to a new report released by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

South Korean Universities Reach Agreement with Elsevier after Long Standoff

After a months-long standoff, a consortium of hundreds of South Korean universities has reached a new deal with scientific publisher Elsevier for access to ScienceDirect, a database containing content from 3,500 academic journals and thousands of electronic books. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW Gordon Research Conferences: Lysosomes and Endocytosis
June 17-22, 2018
Andover, New Hampshire, United States

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

NEW Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Malaria and Other Chronic Infectious Diseases (James Cook University)

NEW Postdoctoral Research Scientist – Clinical Vaccine Development (University of Oxford)

Research Technologist – Cell Separation (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Scientist – Immunology (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Postdoctoral Scientist – Immunology (The Infectious Disease Research Institute)

Postdoctoral Scientist – HCV Vaccine Model Development (University of Oxford)

PhD Position – Immunology and Infectious Diseases (University of Freiburg)

University Lecturer – Infection Biology (Umeå University)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Immunology/Infection Biology/Vaccinology (German Cancer Research Center)

Postdoctoral Fellows – Molecular Immunology and Infection Biology (CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)

Group Leader – Infection, Immunity and Tumour Immunology (University of Oxford)

Postdoctoral Training Opportunity – Infection and Immunity (Institut Pasteur of Shanghai – Chinese Academy of Sciences)

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