MedWorm: Allergy & Immunology Top 20

Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow To Travel To Chad To Highlight Polio

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:00:00 +0100

Internationally acclaimed actress, humanitarian and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow is travelling to Chad this weekend to raise awareness of the importance of vaccinating children against polio. The visit is timed to coincide with the country's upcoming national polio immunization campaign. During her week-long visit, Ms... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)

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CDC's Advisory Committee On Immunization Practices Recommends Pfizer's Prevnar 13™ Vaccine For The Prevention Of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:00:00 +0100

Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) announced that the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended the use of Prevnar 13™ (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine [Diphtheria CRM197 Protein]) for healthy children aged 2 months through 59 months for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)

Pharmacy Swine Flu Trial Moves Into Phase II - Pharmaceutical Society Of Australia

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:00:00 +0100

The first phase of a swine flu vaccination program trial conducted in Tasmania by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and the Department of Health and Human Services has proved popular with the community. Phase II of the pandemic vaccination program will now be rolled out to allow pharmacy-based clinics to support other elements of the swine flu vaccination program... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)

Regulatory T cells (CD4(+)CD25(bright)FoxP3(+)) expansion in systemic sclerosis correlates with disease activity and severity.

Cellular Immunology — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:34:03 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: Increased numbers of Treg cells are present in patients with SSc, correlating with activity and severity of the disease. This expansion of Treg cells was not accompanied, however, by heightened TGF-beta or IL-10 production. Further studies to elaborate the causes and functional significance of Treg cell expansion in SSc are needed. PMID: 20096404 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] (Source: Cellular Immunology)

Genome Study Shows How Strep Throat Germ Circumvents Our Immune System

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:00:00 +0100

Investigators at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Houston examined for the first time the long-term response to strep throat on a genome-wide level, shedding light on how group A streptococcus interacts with the patient's immune system and attempts to circumvent it. Results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)

BioVex Initiates Phase 1 Clinical Trial With Its Genital Herpes Vaccine, ImmunoVEXHSV2

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:00:00 +0100

BioVex Inc, a private biotechnology company developing new generation biologics for the treatment of cancer and prevention of infectious disease, announced that the first subject had been dosed in the Phase 1 study of its live attenuated genital herpes vaccine, ImmunoVEXHSV2. The Phase 1 study is an open label ascending dose trial, assessing safety and immune response in healthy volunteers... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)

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Trillium Expands Immunology Pipeline And Enters Stem Cell Field Through In-licensing Of Two New Programs

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0100

Trillium Therapeutics Inc... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)

Suppression of murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by interleukin-2 receptor targeted fusion toxin, DAB(389)IL-2.

Cellular Immunology — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:34:03 +0100

Authors: Phillips SM, Bhopale MK, Hilliard B, Zekavat SA, Ali MA, Rostami A Previously we have shown that DAB(389)IL-2, a recombinant fusion toxin targeting IL-2R bearing cells, suppressed disease in the rat experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of acute multiple sclerosis (MS). Our present study demonstrates that DAB(389)IL-2 can also effectively suppress acute (A)-EAE, relapsing (R)-EAE and chronic (C)-EAE in mouse demyelinating models. DAB(389)IL-2 significantly suppressed mitogenic proliferation of spleen cells while mutant fusion proteins DA(glu53)B(389)IL-2 and DAB(389)IL-2(8-10) did not. EAE was successfully suppressed when DAB(389)IL-2 was administered in various regimens between days 1 and 15 post immunization in all three models. CD4(+)IL-2R(+) cells were redu...

News From The American Journal Of Pathology, March 2010

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:00:00 +0100

Toxin Does Not Affect MRSA-Induced Pneumonia A group led by Dr. James M. Musser at the Center for Molecular and Translational Human Infectious Diseases Research of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Houston, Texas has demonstrated that the cytotoxin Paton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) does not affect methicillin-resistant Staphlococcus aureus (MRSA)-induced pneumonia... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)

Strategic variety

Nature Reviews Immunology — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:38:09 +0100

Nature Reviews Immunology 10, 156 (2010). doi:10.1038/nri2736 Four new studies show the ever-increasing complexity of vaccine approaches that are being developed to increase immunogenicity, improve safety and decrease production costs.Perhaps the 'simplest' approach to vaccination is to use the whole microorganism, which contains both the protective antigen or antigens and natural (Source: Nature Reviews Immunology)

Three New Research Projects Into Coeliac Disease

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:00:00 +0100

Coeliac UK, the national charity for people with coeliac disease, announces it has granted funding for three medical projects totaling Â£300,000 over three years. 1 in 100 people in the UK has coeliac disease, an autoimmune disease caused by intolerence to gluten but only 1 in 8 or 12.5% of those have been diagnosed... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)

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European Data Suggest Switching Patients To IgPro20 May Significantly Reduce Drug Administration Volume

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0100

Data from a European multicenter (non-IND study) showing that patients with PI who switched to IgPro20 from previously available SCIg formulations achieved comparable IgG trough levels without dosage adjustment, resulting in significantly less administration volume. The data were presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, US... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)

WHO Recommends H1N1 Be Added To Next Year's Seasonal Flu Virus

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:00:00 +0100

The WHO is recommending the H1N1 (swine flu) virus be added to the regular flu vaccine for the Northern Hemisphere's 2010-2011 regular flu season, the Associated Press reports (2/18). The recommendations, announced Thursday, came after a "closed-door four-day meeting" of WHO influenza experts, Reuters reports... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)

Aggressive Response Helped Chilean Hospital Improve H1N1 Influenza Outcomes

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:00:00 +0100

A Chilean hospital's early use of antiviral treatment in influenza patients and other aggressive measures helped reduce the number of severe H1N1 cases and related deaths. Those are the findings of a new study, now available online, published in the March 15, 2010 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)

A cell permeant peptide containing the cytoplasmic tail sequence of Fc receptor type IIA reduces calcium signaling and phagolysosome formation in neutrophils.

Cellular Immunology — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:34:03 +0100

Authors: Clark AJ, Petty HR Receptors for the Fc domain of IgG mediate target recognition, signal transduction, and effector functions including antibody-dependent cytolysis, phagocytosis, and phagolysosome formation. To better understand FcR-mediated functions and to identify potential therapeutic strategies, we employed cell-penetrating ("Trojan") peptides to deliver "wild-type" (LTL) or modified (AAA) FcgammaRIIA tail sequences to the neutrophil's cytoplasm. The Trojan-LTL peptide appeared to label the endoplasmic reticulum whereas the Trojan-AAA peptide distributed throughout the cytoplasm. The Trojan-LTL peptide, but not the Trojan-AAA peptide, decreased Ca(2+) signaling at the phagosome and reduced phagolysosome formation. These studies suggest that FcgammaRIIA's tail can act as ...

Immune responses of Helicoverpa armigera to different kinds of pathogens

BMC Immunology — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: These data suggest that the granulocytes are the major phagocytes in H. armigera. All haemocytes can be infected by AcMNPV. The transcripts of 14 immune related genes have different expression patterns in H. armigera infected by different pathogens, which means that the immune-related genes may have different functions against various kinds of pathogens. (Source: BMC Immunology)

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G-protein-coupled receptor independent, immunomodulatory properties of chemokine CXCL9.

Cellular Immunology — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:34:03 +0100

Authors: Gong JH, Nicholls EF, Elliott MR, Brown KL, Hokamp K, Roche FM, Cheung CY, Falsafi R, Brinkman FS, Bowdish DM, Hancock RE Certain chemokines possess anti-angiogenic and antibacterial activity, in addition to their ability to recruit leukocytes. Herein, we demonstrate that CXCL9/MIG induces the expression, by a monocytic cell line and peripheral blood mononuclear cells, of a variety of chemokines including CXCL8/IL-8, CCL3/MIP-1alpha, CCL4/MIP-1beta, CCL2/MCP-1 in a pertussis toxin insensitive manner. Similarly, another cationic chemokine CCL20/MIP-3alpha, but not the non-cationic chemokines CCL2 or CCL3, stimulated monocytic cells to produce substantial amounts of CXCL8 and CCL3. Microarray experiments demonstrated that CXCL9, but not CCL2, induced the expression of hundreds o...

Expression and functional analyses of liver expressed antimicrobial peptide-2 (LEAP-2) variant forms in human tissues.

Cellular Immunology — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:34:03 +0100

Authors: Howard A, Townes C, Milona P, Nile CJ, Michailidis G, Hall J The antimicrobial peptide Liver Expressed Antimicrobial Peptide-2 (LEAP-2) is proposed to function as part of the vertebrate innate immune system. However, the highly conserved nature of the LEAP-2 peptide primary structure among vertebrates suggests more fundamental physiological roles. RT-PCR analyses confirmed expression of LEAP-2 mRNA variants in human gastro-intestinal (GI) epithelial tissues and THP-1 monocytes. Three cDNA products indicative of at least three different spliced transcripts were observed. Translation of the cDNA sequences supported synthesis of transcripts encoding the secreted LEAP-2 peptide and two variants lacking signal sequences suggesting intracellular localisation. The synthesis and cytop...

NOVAVAX Presents Positive Clinical Results At The World Health Organization Conference, Geneva, Switzerland

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:00:00 +0100

Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX) presented to the world's leading pandemic influenza vaccine experts a summary of the recent preliminary safety and immunogenicity data from its Pivotal 2009 A/H1N1 VLP pandemic influenza vaccine study in Mexico. The presentation of the results were made by Maria Allende, M.D... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)

WHO Will Meet To Decide If H1N1 Has Peaked

Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:00:00 +0100

The WHO will convene a meeting of its emergency committee later this month to assess whether H1N1 (swine flu) has peaked, Keiji Fukuda, the special adviser to the WHO's director general for pandemic influenza, said Thursday, Bloomberg reports... (Source: Immune System / Vaccines News From Medical News Today)