Immunology of Infectious Disease News Volume 6.41 | Oct 17 2018

TOP STORY

In Utero Priming of Highly Functional Effector T Cell Responses to Human Malaria

Researchers assessed the frequency, phenotype, and function of cord blood T cells from Ugandan infants born to mothers with and without placental malaria. They found that infants born to mothers with active placental malaria had elevated frequencies of proliferating effector memory fetal CD4⁺ T cells and higher frequencies of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells that produced inflammatory cytokines. [Sci Transl Med] Abstract

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A Single-Dose Live-Attenuated Zika Virus Vaccine with Controlled Infection Rounds that Protects against Vertical Transmission

Scientists developed a single-dose live-attenuated vaccine candidate that infected cells with controlled, limited infection rounds. The vaccine contained a 9-amino-acid deletion in the viral capsid protein and replicated to titers of > 10⁶ focus-forming units/mL in cells expressing the full-length capsid protein. [Cell Host Microbe] Abstract | Graphical Abstract

Non-Neutralizing Antibodies Elicited by Recombinant Lassa-Rabies Vaccine Are Critical for Protection against Lassa Fever

Investigators present the development and characterization of an inactivated recombinant Lassa virus (LASV) and rabies vaccine candidate that expressed a codon-optimized LASV glycoprotein and was adjuvanted by a TLR-4 agonist. [Nat Commun] Full Article | Editorial

MicroRNA-27a Controls the Intracellular Survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Regulating Calcium-Associated Autophagy

The authors showed that microRNA miR-27a was abundantly expressed in active tuberculosis patients, M. tuberculosis-infected mice and macrophages. The target of miR-27a was the ER-located Ca²⁺ transporter CACNA2D3. [Nat Commun] Full Article

Concurrent Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis Confers Robust Protection against Secondary Infection in Macaques

Researchers experimentally assessed the protection conferred by concurrent M. tuberculosis (Mtb) infection in macaques, a robust experimental model of human tuberculosis, using a combination of serial imaging and Mtb challenge strains differentiated by DNA identifiers. [PLoS Pathog] Full Article

Inhibiting Adenosine Receptor Signaling Promotes Accumulation of Effector CD4⁺ T Cells in the Lung Parenchyma During Severe Tuberculosis

To evaluate the pulmonary CD4⁺ T-cell response during severe tuberculosis, C57BL/6 mice were infected with approximately 100 bacilli of 3 hypervirulent mycobacterial isolates or the H37Rv M. tuberculosis strain as reference for mycobacterial virulence. [J Infect Dis] Abstract

Detection of Host Pathways Universally Inhibited after Plasmodium yoelii Infection for Immune Intervention

To identify pathways commonly inhibited after malaria infection, investigators infected C57BL/6 mice with four P. yoelii strains causing different disease phenotypes and 24 progeny of a genetic cross. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Quantitative B-Lymphocyte Deficiency and Increased TCRγδ T-Lymphocytes in Acute Infectious Spondylodiscitis

The authors performed extensive B and T-lymphocyte phenotyping in patients with acute infectious spondylodiscitis at diagnosis and after treatment cessation. In this prospective multicentre study, flow cytometric analysis of T and B-lymphocyte subsets was performed in 35 patients at diagnosis and three months after treatment cessation. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Epithelial Boost Enhances Antigen Expression by Vaccinia Virus for the Generation of Potent CD8⁺ T Cell-Mediated Antitumor Immunity following DNA Priming Vaccination

Investigators examined the immunogenicity of priming with intramuscular pNGVL4a-Sig/E7(detox)/HSP70 followed by TA-HPV boost through different administration routes. They observed that priming twice with a pNGVL4a-Sig/E7(detox)/HSP70 followed by a single TA-HPV immunization boost through skin scarification generated the strongest antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cell response in C57BL/6 mice. [Virology] Abstract

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Malaria Prevention: From Immunological Concepts to Effective Vaccines and Protective Antibodies

The authors focus on the current understanding of immunological mechanisms of protection from animal models and human vaccine studies, and on how these data should inform the development of next-generation vaccines. Furthermore, they introduce the concept of using passive immunization with monoclonal antibodies as a new approach to prevent and eliminate malaria. [Nat Immunol] Abstract

The Immune Response against Flaviviruses

Scientists examine the dual role of the adaptive immune response against flaviviruses, particularly emphasizing the most recent findings regarding cross-reactive T cell and antibody responses, and the effects that these concepts have on vaccine-development endeavors. [Nat Immunol] Abstract

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FluGen Completes Dosing of Phase II Study to Assess Effectiveness of Novel Influenza Vaccine Designed to Protect against Mismatched Strains

FluGen, Inc. announced that all subjects have completed dosing in a first-of-its-kind clinical study which challenged subjects with an influenza virus that was intentionally mismatched by six years from the influenza strain utilized in FluGen’s M2SR vaccine. [FluGen, Inc. (Business Wire, Inc.)] Press Release

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals Announces Positive Phase II LIMT Study End of Treatment Data with Pegylated Interferon Lambda Monotherapy in Hepatitis Delta Virus (HDV) Infection

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. announced positive data with pegylated interferon lambda in the Phase II LIMT HDV study. [Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc.] Press Release

‘We Are Headed for a Very Dark Period.’ Brazil’s Researchers Fear Election of Far-Right Presidential Candidate

Beset by economic woes and dissatisfied with the left-wing politicians in power for most of the past 15 years, Brazil appears poised to make a hard turn and elect a far-right candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, as its next president. His rapid ascent has unnerved local researchers, who worry about the future of Brazilian science, the protection of the country’s biodiversity, and its role in the global struggle against climate change. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

Outsider Takes Helm at Indian Research Giant

Shekhar Mande, a structural biologist, took over as director-general of India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), headquartered in New Delhi, which operates a network of 40 research labs around the country. Mande is the first outsider to take on the top job at CSIR since 1984. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

China Awaits Controversial Blacklist of ‘Poor Quality’ Journals

A proposal by the Chinese government to create a national blacklist of journals is creating much debate among the country’s scientists, who are still waiting for the list to be revealed, five months after the plan to create it was announced. [Nature News] Editorial

NEW Defence is the Best Attack: Immuno-Oncology Breakthroughs
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Faculty Positions – Infectious Disease Research (The Public Health Research Institute of New Jersey Medical School)

Associate/Full Specialist – Host-Pathogen Interactions (University of California, San Francisco)

Graduate Training Program – RNA & Infection (Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research)

Postdoctoral Scholar – Hepatitis B Infection (The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine)

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