Einstein researchers' prototype vaccine could provide improved protection against tuberculosis
... Our secA2 mutant TB vaccine elicited protective immunity that was measurably superior to the standard BCG v...afer for human use without reducing the protective immunity it provides. The researchers now plan to knock out yet another gene to make the vaccine safer still....JCI table of contents: August 1, 2007
... University. TITLE: Enhanced priming of adaptive immunity by a proapoptotic mutant of Mycobacterium tuberculosis AUTHOR CONTACT: Steven A. Porcelli Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, New York, USA. Phone: (718) 430-3228; Fax: (718) 430-8711; E-mail: porcelli@aecom.yu.edu . William R. Jacobs...Congenital diaphragmatic hernia
...merica daveym@email.chop.edu Age and acquired immunity to Plasmodium falciparum John Aponte and collea...eractions in the development of naturally acquired immunity to Plasmodium falciparum and its clinical presentation. PLoS Med 4(7): e242. IN YOUR ARTICLE, PLEA...After a decades-long search, scientists identify new genetic risk factors for multiple sclerosis
...auses MS a puzzling mix of genes, environment and immunity and on potential treatments for at least 350,000 Americans who have the disease. "These studies describe the first genes conclusively linked to MS in more than 20 years," said Ursula Utz, Ph.D., a program director at the National Institute of Neur...Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology
...study demonstrates the ability to induce long-term immunity against H. pylori, provides correlates of protection, and illustrates the crucial role of the immunization route(s), say the researchers. (J.M. Taylor, M.E. Ziman, J. Fong, J.V. Solnick, M. Vajdy. 2007. Possible correlates of long-term protection...Ancient retrovirus sheds light on modern pandemic
...e found that during primate evolution, this innate immunity to one virus may have made us more vulnerable to HIV." Evidence of human immunity to this ancient retrovirus first emerged with the sequencing of the chimpanzee genome. "When the chi...Revealed -- Mosquito genes that could be controlling the spread of killer viruses
...tudent Robert Waterhouse, focused on comparing the immunity genes of the Aedes mosquito with similar groups of genes in the harmless fruit fly and the Anopheles mosquito that transmits malaria. When comparing the two different mosquitoes, the scientists found some similarities in the genes controlling their r...Invertebrate immune systems are anything but simple, conference finds
... even cross generations, with mothers transferring immunity to their offspring says Schmid-Hempel. This delicate management of immune responses has until now been regarded as a characteristic of vertebrates. Schmid-Hempel thinks that the molecular mechanisms found in invertebrate immune systems may rival t...Fever after smallpox vaccination tied to individual genetic variations
...h a live but weakened vaccinia virus that provides immunity against smallpox but which can cause complications ranging from fever and fatigue to more serious illness. About 15 percent of those being vaccinated for smallpox for the first time develop a fever over 99 degrees. Fevers related to vaccines are no...How 'memory' T cells curb the spread of viruses throughout the body
...s and mumps occurred only once in a lifetime. The immunity occurs when the immune system produces cells called lymphocytes that specifically attack and eliminate the virus at the time of infection. After the infection subsides, most of the lymphocytes die but some remain in the body as memory lymphocytes and...On the defense: Conserved features of plant innate immunity
...he MOS4-associated complex (MAC) to execute innate immunity in the mustard weed, Arabidopsis. Dr. Li and co...o find commonality between animal and plant innate immunity at the level of both receptors and signalling intermediates; the complex we describe, essential for ...Other highlights in JNCI, June 12
.... Our results illustrate the variable impact of immunity on the risk of AIDS-associated cancers with the range of CD4 counts in persons with AIDS, the authors write. Contact: National Cancer Institute Press Office, 301-496-6641, ncipressofficers@mail.nih.gov Oncogene Overexpression Is Associated ...Avian influenza survivors' antibodies effective at neutralising H5N1 strain
...ers found that the antibodies provided significant immunity to mice that were subsequently infected with the Vietnam strain of H5N1. This reduced significantly the amount of virus found in the lungs and almost completely prevented the virus reaching the brain or spleen. In those people in Vietnam who died fro...... Using blood from a group of people with natural immunity to the disease, a team from the School of Biology refined and strengthened the antibodies using a new animal testing system which, for the first time, mimics in mice the way malaria infects humans. When injected into mice, these antibodies protected ...Antibody-based therapies effective at controlling malaria
...ar if in vitro assays are predictive of functional immunity in humans, due to the lack of suitable animal models, according to this study antimalarial efficacy of human antibodies can be determined using rodent malaria parasites transgenic for P. falciparum antigens in mice and humans. An in vivo mouse model ...Burroughs Wellcome Fund awards $14M to support physician-scientists
....D. Case Western Reserve University Acquisition of immunity to blood stage Falciparum malaria in infants Mahalia Sabrina Desruisseaux, M.D. Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University Neuroparasitology: neurological complications of cerebral malaria Benjamin Levine Ebert, M.D., Ph.D. Har...LIAI scientists make important finding on cytomegalovirus transmission
...persistence, and two ways in which we can modulate immunity in vivo with the desired result of blocking virus spread to uninfected individuals. "The potential excitement in the findings is that we may be able to one day use this kind of treatment in humans to block or significantly reduce the spread of cyto...US control strategies may make flu epidemics worse, UCLA study shows
...nstruct their model. With seasonal flu, protective immunity a flu shot lasts only one year. Thus, individuals must decide each year whether or not to participate in a vaccination program. The model Blowers team developed is inspired by game theory, used in economics to predict how non-communicating, self...US control strategies may make flu epidemics worse, UCLA study shows
...nstruct their model. With seasonal flu, protective immunity a flu shot lasts only one year. Thus, individuals must decide each year whether or not to participate in a vaccination program. The model Blower's team developed is inspired by game theory, used in economics to predict how non-communicating, sel...... food enters the system, STAMP2 normally keeps the immunity response "button" from getting pushed, Hotamisligil said. "We suggest that, over time, the accumulation of small cellular stresses due to daily changes and fluctuations in nutrients in STAMP2-deficient mice may lead to the activation of inflammator...