Category Archives: Immunology

Immunology

Assistant/Associate, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology job with UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNIVERSITY | 191835 – Times Higher Education…

Job Description

The Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences (CMHS), UAE University, seeks candidates for a faculty position at the rank of Assistant/Associate Professor in Microbiology. We are particularly looking for an innovative investigator who has an established, or a clear potential to establish an independent research program in host-parasite interactions at the cellular and molecular level. Preference will be given to candidates with a strong background in computational and systems biology, genomics or bioinformatics. The College of Medicine operates an internationally recognized, integrated, problem/team-based learning curriculum and provides excellent research facilities. English is the language of instruction. Current research in the department focuses on cancer immunology, autoimmune diseases, antibiotic resistance, host-pathogen interactions, retroviral RNA packaging, dimerization and gene expression, EBV and its role in the pathogenesis of human diseases, and public health.

Minimum Qualification

The successful candidate must have a PhD or MD/PhD from an accredited institution.

Preferred Qualification

As above

Expected Skills/Rank/Experience

It is expected that the successful candidate will also have experience in teaching medical students, and postgraduate students. Importantly, candidates must demonstrate the potential to establish an independent and sustained research program in their area of expertise and be able to obtain peer-reviewed internal and external funding. International collaboration is encouraged.

Special Instructions to Applicant

Attach CV and publication list, names & contact information of 3 referees, and a cover letter describing research and teaching experience.

Division College of Medicine&Health Sciences

Department Microbiology - (CMHS)

Job Close Date open until filled

Job Category Academic - Faculty

Salary 28000-35000 UAE Dirhams per month, based on experience

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Assistant/Associate, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology job with UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNIVERSITY | 191835 - Times Higher Education...

Immunology

Lava Therapeutics Appoints Immuno-Oncology Experts James Allison, Ph.D., and Padmanee Sharma, MD, Ph.D., to Advisory Board – BioSpace

Jan. 8, 2020 13:30 UTC

UTRECHT, Netherlands & PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Lava Therapeutics (LAVA) today announced that James P. Allison, Ph.D., a 2018 Nobel Prize recipient in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation, and Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., a scientific leader in oncology, specializing in renal, bladder and prostate cancer, have joined the companys Advisory Board.

We are thrilled to welcome Jim and Pam, two of the most respected leaders in the field of oncology, to our Advisory Board, said Steve Hurly, Chief Executive Officer of LAVA. We believe we are at the forefront of developing gamma-delta T cell engagers, which represents a novel class of potential treatments for a range of cancer indications. As we approach this next phase as a clinical-stage company, Jim and Pams collective insights and deep expertise will be invaluable, and we are excited to be collaborating with them.

Dr. Paul Parren, Executive Vice President and Head of R&D for LAVA added, Jims and Pams willingness to join LAVAs Advisory Board is a transformative event for our young company, as it strongly increases our potential for developing truly transformative cancer drugs based our exciting bispecific gamma-delta T cell engaging technology. We are pleased to have them on board and look forward to leveraging their expertise as we advance our programs.

Dr. James Allison Dr. Allison has spent his career studying the regulation of T cell responses. Dr. Allisons work led to the development of an antibody to human CTLA-4 called ipilimumab which became the first immune checkpoint blockade therapy ever approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The approval of ipilimumab cleared the path for the emerging field of immune checkpoint blockade therapy in the treatment of cancer. His current work is focused on improving immune checkpoint blockade therapies and identifying new targets to unleash the immune system and eradicate cancer. Dr. Allison is a member of the National Academies of Science and Medicine and is currently Regental Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology, the Vivian L. Smith Distinguished Chair in Immunology, the Executive Director of the Immunotherapy Platform and Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr. Padmanee Sharma Dr. Sharma is focused on understanding resistance mechanisms within the immune system that impact anti-tumor responses. For more than a decade, she has been a principal investigator for multiple clinical trials to improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies. Dr. Sharmas work on new pathways to treat prostate cancer implicated, for the first time in a human tumor, the checkpoint VISTA in inhibiting immune responses. In partnership with Dr. Allison, Dr. Sharma is currently exploring combinations of immunological therapies and targeted drugs in preclinical studies to treat a variety of cancers more effectively. Dr. Sharma is a professor of Genitourinary Medical Oncology and Immunology in the Division of Cancer Medicine, the T.C. and Jeanette Hsu Endowed Chair in Cell Biology, the Scientific Director of the Immunotherapy Platform and the Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

About Lava Therapeutics, Inc. Lava Therapeutics proprietary platform is focused on developing next generation T cell engaging bispecific antibodies to treat cancer. Our first-in-class immuno-oncology approach specifically activates V9V2 T cells upon binding to a tumor target. LAVAs vision is to develop therapeutics for the curative treatment of cancer. Founded in 2016, LAVA has grown into a start-up company with a highly experienced antibody research and development team located in Utrecht, the Netherlands (Headquarters) and Philadelphia. http://www.lavatherapeutics.com.

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Lava Therapeutics Appoints Immuno-Oncology Experts James Allison, Ph.D., and Padmanee Sharma, MD, Ph.D., to Advisory Board - BioSpace

Immunology

Cellectis: An Expert Review on Allogeneic CAR-T for Cancer Published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery – Yahoo Finance

Cellectis and World Experts Review New Avenue of Allogeneic CAR T-cells, Optimization and Promises in Oncology

Cellectis (Paris:ALCLS) (NASDAQ:CLLS) (Euronext Growth:ALCLS; Nasdaq:CLLS), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing immunotherapies based on gene-edited allogeneic CAR T-cells (UCART), announced today the publication of a review in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery by Prof. Stphane Depil1*, Dr. Philippe Duchateau2, Prof. Stephan Grupp3, Prof. Ghulam Mufti4 and Dr. Laurent Poirot2. The authors review the opportunities and challenges presented by universal allogeneic CAR T-cell therapies.

One of the most promising approaches in cancer treatment is chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, in which part of the bodys own immunological defendors, T-cells, are redirected against cancerous cells after being engineered to express CARs. Since their initial development in the early 90s, CAR T-cells have evolved through several generations. The use of autologous (patient-derived) CAR T-cells has proven to be successful in treating people with certain blood cancers such as B-cell malignancies. However, autologous CAR T-cell therapy is not suitable for all patients, and it often requires a long and expensive manufacturing process since each treatment must be made individually for each patient.

Cellectis was the first company to develop and test an allogeneic CAR T-cell therapy in patients, where T-cells are derived from healthy donors. This gives rise to off-the-shelf product candidates which aim to be suitable for many patients as opposed to only a single person.

"We realized early on that refined gene-editing techniques were what was needed to take an allogeneic approach to CAR T-cell therapy," said Dr. Laurent Poirot, VP, Immunology Division, Cellectis. "Despite the complexity of this approach, we decided to follow this route because we are confident that it can provide the most impact for a maximum number of people living with severe cancers. This comprehensive review underlines just how much this technology has evolved in very little time. It also gives us exciting areas to explore as we continue to improve our product candidates."

Story continues

One of the major challenges in the allogeneic approach involves mitigating the risk of graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD) a medical complication that can present itself in people that have received tissues or cells from another person. The review examines aspects of this challenge and helps weigh the pros and cons associated with the different methods used to create allogeneic CAR T-cells. It also outlines some of the gene-editing work that Cellectis has done in this area along with complementary approaches being taken by others in the field, such as using cells other than conventional T-cells, also known as alpha beta T-cells.

"Our immune system, including our T-cells, is incredibly sophisticated. We know that T-cells can now be retasked to successfully fight cancer. There are amazing approaches to gene editing that are driving progress towards the most safe and efficacious versions of allogeneic products. It is exciting to see these approaches applied to off the shelf CAR T-cell products," said Prof. Stephan Grupp, Chief of Cell Therapy and Transplant Section at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine, and a member of Cellectis Clinical Advisory Board. "Im looking forward to seeing emerging clinical data as well as even newer approaches, as Cellectis expertise in gene-editing technology continues to transform CAR-T."

Off-the-shelf allogeneic CAR T cells: new development and current challenges

Stphane Depil1*, Philippe Duchateau2, Stephan Grupp3, Ghulam Mufti4, Laurent Poirot2

1Formerly Cellectis, now Centre Lon Brard and Centre de Recherche en Cancrologie de Lyon, 28 rue Laennec, 69008 Lyon, France2Cellectis, 8 rue de la Croix Jarry, 75013, Paris, France3Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3401 Civic Center Blvd Philadelphia, PA 10104, USA4Kings College London and Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 9RS, United Kingdom

About CellectisCellectis is developing the first of its kind allogeneic approach for CAR-T therapies, pioneering the concept of off-the-shelf and ready-to-use gene-edited CAR-T cells to treat patients. As a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with over 20 years of expertise in gene editing, we are developing game-changer product candidates in immune-oncology. Utilizing TALEN, our gene editing technology, and PulseAgile, our pioneering electroporation system, we are harnessing the power of the immune system to target and eradicate cancer cells.

As part of our commitment to a cure, Cellectis remains dedicated to its goal of providing life-saving UCART product candidates to address unmet need for multiple cancers including B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and multiple myeloma (MM). Cellectis is listed on the Nasdaq (ticker: CLLS) and on Euronext Growth (ticker: ALCLS).

Cellectis headquarters are in Paris, France, with additional locations in New York, New York and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.cellectis.com.

Follow Cellectis on social media: @Cellectis, LinkedIn and YouTube.

TALEN is a registered trademark owned by Cellectis.

DisclaimerThis press release contains "forward-looking" statements that are based on our managements current expectations and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Further information on the risk factors that may affect company business and financial performance is included in Cellectis Annual Report on Form 20-F and the financial report (including the management report) for the year ended December 31, 2018 and subsequent filings Cellectis makes with the Securities Exchange Commission from time to time. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200106005969/en/

Contacts

Media:Jennifer Moore, VP of Communications, 917-580-1088, media@cellectis.comCaitlin Kasunich, KCSA Strategic Communications, 212-896-1241, ckasunich@kcsa.com

IR:Simon Harnest, VP of Corporate Strategy and Finance, 646-385-9008, simon.harnest@cellectis.com

Excerpt from:
Cellectis: An Expert Review on Allogeneic CAR-T for Cancer Published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - Yahoo Finance

Immunology

Working Together To Drug the Undruggable – Technology Networks

PhoreMost, a UK-based biopharmaceutical company dedicated to drugging undruggable disease targets, has announced that it has entered into a multi-project drug discovery collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, a pharmaceutical company developing therapies for diseases with unsatisfactory treatments. Under the terms of the agreement, PhoreMost will receive an upfront payment and research funding together with downstream success-based milestones.

PhoreMost will deploy its next-generation phenotypic screening platform, SITESEEKER, towards disease-relevant pathways nominated by Boehringer Ingelheim. Novel targets identified will be further validated and characterized by Boehringer Ingelheim as part of its internal Discovery Research pipeline. Boehringer Ingelheims Research programme is active in the fields of immunology and respiratory diseases, cardiometabolic diseases, oncology research and immuno-oncology, as well as diseases of the central nervous system.

The SITESEEKER platform is based on PhoreMosts core proprietary protein interference, or PROTEINi, technology. Using SITESEEKER, PhoreMost probes the entire proteome in a live cell environment for novel druggable targets linked to any chosen disease, using the vast 3-D shape diversity of natural protein fragment (sub-domain) libraries. This enables the systematic unmasking of cryptic druggable sites, directly linking them to useful therapeutic functions.

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Working Together To Drug the Undruggable - Technology Networks

Immunology

RAPT Therapeutics to Present at the 38th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference – BioSpace

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RAPT Therapeutics, Inc.,(Nasdaq: RAPT), a clinical-stage immunology-based biopharmaceutical companyfocused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral small molecule therapies for patients with significant unmet needs in oncology and inflammatory diseases, today announced that Brian Wong, M.D., Ph.D., its President and CEO, will present a corporate update and company overview at the 38th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Thursday, January 16th at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time in San Francisco.

A live webcast and audio archive of the presentation may be accessed on the RAPT Therapeutics website athttps://investors.rapt.com/events-and-presentations. Please connect to the website 10 minutes prior to the presentation to ensure adequate time for any software downloads that may be necessary to listen to the webcast.

AboutRAPT Therapeutics, Inc.RAPT Therapeuticsis a clinical stage immunology-based biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral small molecule therapies for patients with significant unmet needs in oncology and inflammatory diseases. Utilizing its proprietary discovery and development engine, the Company rapidly develops highly selective small molecules designed to modulate the critical immune drivers underlying these diseases. RAPT has a diversified portfolio with near-term clinical milestones expected in 2020. RAPT has discovered and advanced two unique drug candidates, FLX475 and RPT193, each targeting C-C motif chemokine receptor 4, for the treatment of cancer and inflammation, respectively. The Company is also pursuing a range of targets, including general control nonderepressible 2 (GCN2) and hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1), that are in the discovery stage of development.

Media Contact:Angela Bittingmedia@rapt.com(925) 202-6211

Investor Contact:Sylvia Wheelerswheeler@wheelhouselsa.com

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RAPT Therapeutics to Present at the 38th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference - BioSpace

Immunology

RootPath Raises $11 Million Series A to Accelerate Clinical Translation of its Proprietary Synthetic Immunology Platform – PRNewswire

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --RootPath, a preclinical-stage biotechnology company aiming to enable personalized, highly-potent T cell therapy powered by its proprietary Synthetic Immunology Platform, today announced a $11 million Series A funding round. New investors include Oriza Seed with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital China, Volcanics Venture, BV (Baidu Ventures) and Nest.Bio Ventures. The company will use the Series A proceeds to validate its tumor-reactive T cell receptor (TCR) discovery workflow, select a lead therapeutic candidate, demonstrate its safety and efficacy in preclinical models and begin IND-enabling development activities.

Launched in 2017 by Nest.Bio Ventures, RootPath has developed a suite of proprietary technologies that comprise its Synthetic Immunology Platform to rapidly and inexpensively recreate T cell immune repertoires and to emulate their antigen-driven selection process in vitro. The Synthetic Immunology Platform centers on the rapid and ultrahigh-throughput generation and functional selection of TCRs, and forms the basis of the personalized T cell therapy that RootPath is advancing. The company had previously announced a $7 M seed round in 2018 led by Sequoia Capital China.

Cell therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapies have delivered notable successes in hematological malignancies. "The hurdle to achieving effective cell therapies for solid tumors has been identifying safe and effective tumor-reactive agents for these T cells, either as CAR or TCR," said Xi Chen, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO. "Because of the way T cells recognize tumors, discovering tumor-reactive agents for each individual patient or each sub-population of patients has been economically infeasible using existing technologies. This is why we spent the past two years developing our proprietary Synthetic Immunology Platform, which takes advantage of many breakthroughs in synthetic biology and overcomes many intrinsic challenges in immunology-oriented research and drug discovery."

"We are excited to have the support from our new and existing investors to move from technology development to therapeutic translation of our platform," Chen continued.

"Solid tumors are substantially more challenging than hematological malignancies, but, at the same time, represent a more attractive and valuable market," said Grace Yang, Partner of Oriza Seed. "The unique approach RootPath takes effectively creates T cells armed with more targeted weapons, which should translate to increased efficacy and reduced toxicity to patients. We are confident in the Synthetic Immunology Platform, and look forward its clinical translation as well as synergy with potential product candidates from other companies in our existing immuno-oncology portfolio."

About RootPathRootPath is a preclinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering personalized immunotherapy and cell therapy for solid tumors using its proprietary Synthetic Immunology Platform. RootPath was launched by Nest.Bio Ventures in 2017 and has raised $18M in seed and Series A financing. RootPath is located in Cambridge, MA with additional research activities at two sites in China.

SOURCE RootPath

https://www.rootpath.com

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RootPath Raises $11 Million Series A to Accelerate Clinical Translation of its Proprietary Synthetic Immunology Platform - PRNewswire

Immunology

Molecular mechanism suggests new ways to bolster immunity to deadly rotavirus: U of T researchers – News@UofT

Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered how a brief disruption to a molecular pathway in the guts of mice before they are born can compromise immunity in adulthood to a common and often deadly intestinal virus.

The researchers found that in utero inhibition of molecular signalling in the lymphotoxin pathway, long known as important in the development of the immune system, prevented a robust antibody response in adult mice to rotavirus. In humans, rotavirus causes an estimated 215,000 deaths annually, mostly in the developing world.

That early disruption limits the ability of the immune system to later trigger and generate production of Immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies, the researchers showed. It also interferes with the nature and function of cells in the gut that support the antibody response, called mesenteric lymph node stromal cells.The research was recently published in the journal Science Immunology.

It was surprising that these non-immune stromal cells were so important to the immune response, saysJennifer Gommerman, a professor ofimmunologyin U of Ts Faculty of Medicine and principal investigator on the study.

It turns out that stromal cells affect the ability of immune B cells to produce IgA that neutralizes rotavirus. Were just beginning to understand the influence these stromal cells can have.

Gommerman says the findings highlight the growing importance of research on the environment in which immune cells function. We typically think of a lymph node as just a bag of lymphocytes, but there is also this supporting structure that clearly has an active role in shaping immunity.

The studys first author, post-doctoral researcherConglei Li, identified a broad subset of stromal cells that affect the immune response to rotavirus. But the key players are likely a subset of that subset, Gommerman says. New technology known as single-cell RNA sequencing should soon enable researchers to identify many more of those cells, she adds.

That work could, in turn, lead to a better understanding of the genetic and environmental factors that may undermine immunity to rotavirus in the developing world, where rotavirus vaccines are much less effective than in high-resource settings.

Gommerman says that while several dysfunctions in the immune system likely contribute to reduced immunity to rotavirus in low-income countries, the current study offers a hint that prevention may be possible.

The thinking would be that if youre pregnant in a resource-depleted area, you may take a dietary supplement at a specific point to ensure proper development of tissues that support immunity, and which enable a vaccine to be more effective, she says.

That kind of intervention is likely a long way off, adds Gommerman, and replicating her results in human pregnancy presents obvious ethical problems. A more immediate next step for her lab is a collaborative study on IgA immune responses to other pathogens such as norovirus, another highly contagious disease.

A focus on single pathogens is useful in studies of IgA, according to Gommerman, because so many factors can influence IgA response. If you simplify the system of study, you get more predictable kinetics and can ask more discrete questions, she says. Weve made a contribution with that approachon a question that has been percolating in several labs for years. That feels good.

The research received support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Molecular mechanism suggests new ways to bolster immunity to deadly rotavirus: U of T researchers - News@UofT

Immunology

of T, international researchers focus on ‘surprisingly high’ incidence of chronic pain in adolescents – News@UofT

An international research collaboration has been awarded a $9-million research grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health to tackle the complex problem of chronic musculoskeletal pain in adolescents.

The five-year research project, involving two distinct phases and an international team of researchers from the University of Toronto, the Hospital for Sick Children, Stanford University and Cincinnati Childrens Hospital, will work towards uncovering a biological signature for chronic pain, helping those for whom traditional therapies arent effective.

International in scope and global in its potential impact, the project represents an unprecedented opportunity to perform vital research on a largely unstudied population.

This is the first pediatric study of this magnitude, says project co-investigator Jennifer Stinson, professor in U of Ts Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and a nurse practitioner at the chronic pain clinic at the Hospital for Sick Children.

The study will shed light on a phenomenon not well understood. Up to five per cent of adolescents thats 3.5 million in the U.S. alone suffer from chronic musculoskeletal pain. The pain can stem from anything from injuries to juvenile fibromyalgia and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a condition affecting connective tissues in the body.

Childrens chronic pain is really, really underappreciatedin that the incidence of it is surprisingly high, but the awareness of it is surprisingly low, says co-investigator Robert Coghill, director of the Center for Understanding Pediatric Pain and professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center.

Not all pain is the same, though: A staggering 40 to 60 per cent of sufferers will be considered treatment-resistant. Those adolescents quickly grow into adults with chronic, untreatable pain. But by looking at chronic pain through an array of angles brain imaging, quantitative sensory testing, immunology and psychology the researchers hope to pinpoint which adolescents will or wont respond to treatments, and what underlying factors may be at work in those outcomes.

The first phase of the project will gather these types of data from 250 adolescents aged 14 to 18 who suffer from chronic musculoskeletal pain.

if we are able to capture enough measures across a whole slew of domains, we can then use unbiased machine learning and [big data] algorithms to predict whether patients will respond to treatment or not, explains Massieh Moayedi, assistant professor at U of Ts Faculty of Dentistry, a co-investigator who brings expertise in pain and brain imaging to the project.

A multimodal biomarker will allow us to classify those who are at high risk for pain persistence.

If successful at pinpointing a chronic pain signature, a second phase of the study will commencein which data from a second cohort of 125 adolescent recruits will help validate the pain signature.

This project is really unique, says Stinson, who also leads the iOuch lab at Sick Kids. If we can actually find this biological signature, we have a chance to do more precision medicine based on the phenotype of that child. Well be able to better tailor treatment.

Laura Simons, a psychologist and associate professor at Stanford University with expertise in psychological factors influencing childrens pain, will lead the study.

Im very excited about the immune profiling, says Simons, pointing to a burgeoning field of study that looks at the behaviour of immune cells after trauma or medical interventions such as surgery.

Equally, Simons is curious to see whether some of our pen and pencil measures [of psychology] will rise to the top, to see whether they are as informative as more invasive measures.

While each of the teams will perform their series of tests on their adolescent recruits, Stanford University and the Stanford University Medical Centre will additionally collate data and perform data analysis on the results. The data will remain at Stanford, where the researchers will begin collating one of the worlds largest biobanks of multimodal paediatric pain data for future studies.

Patient recruitment for phase one of the study begins as early as this month.

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of T, international researchers focus on 'surprisingly high' incidence of chronic pain in adolescents - News@UofT

Immunology

Single dose of antibody-based treatment can beat HIV in newborn babies – News-Medical.net

A single dose of an antibody-based treatment can prevent HIV transmission from mother to baby, new nonhuman primate research suggests for the first time. The findings are being published in the journal Nature Communications.

When that single dose is given is key, however. The study found rhesus macaque newborns did not develop the monkey form of HIV, called SHIV, when they received a combination of two antibodies 30 hours after being exposed to the virus.

Delaying treatment until 48 hours, on the other hand, resulted in half of the baby macaques developing SHIV when they were given four smaller doses of the same antibody cocktail. In comparison, the study found macaques that received the current standard HIV treatment - antiretroviral drugs - remained SHIV-free when they started a three-week regimen of that therapy 48 hours after exposure.

These promising findings could mean babies born to HIV-positive mothers can still beat HIV with less treatment."

Nancy Haigwood, Ph.D., study's corresponding's author, professor of pathobiology and immunology in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, as well as the director at the Oregon National Primate Research Center at OHSU

This is the first time a single dose of broadly neutralizing antibodies given after viral exposure has been found to prevent SHIV infection in nonhuman primate newborns. Previous research by Haigwood, Ann Hessell, Ph.D., and others showed four doses of antibodies started 24 hours after exposure prevented SHIV infection, with all 10 of the baby primates in that study not having any SHIV virus for six months. Both studies used a combination of two antibodies called PGT121 and VRC07-523.

The new study also suggests a much shorter course of antiretroviral therapy given after virus exposure could prevent HIV transmission to newborns. Human babies born from HIV-positive mothers typically take the drug cocktail - a personalized regimen of multiple drugs taken daily - for about six weeks before being re-tested. If the tests are then positive, they likely need to take HIV drugs for the rest of their lives. But this study showed nonhuman primate newborns didn't have SHIV after undergoing antiretroviral therapy for just three weeks starting 48 hours after exposure.

HIV-positive women typically take antiretroviral therapy drugs during pregnancy for their own health, as well as to prevent passing the virus onto their developing child. But mother-to-baby transmission sometimes still happens. Children born to HIV-positive mothers also are given antiretroviral therapy to further prevent infection. However, this drug cocktail can have many negative side effects, involves making special liquid formulations for newborns, and researchers worry about antiretroviral therapy's long-term consequences for development.

Antibodies, however, aren't toxic and can be modified to last a long time in the body, which reduces treatment frequency. This has led researchers to explore their potential to replace or supplement antiretroviral therapy for newborns with HIV-positive mothers as well as for HIV-positive adults.

Next, Haigwood and colleagues plan to see if different antibodies, or a combination of antibodies and antiretroviral therapy, could be even more effective. They also want to determine if the antibodies they evaluate actually eliminate HIV, or only prevent it from replicating.

The research team has regularly shared their primate research findings with the scientific community, including those involved in the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network, which is currently leading two trials evaluating a single antibody to treat HIV-exposed newborns.

Source:

Journal reference:

Shapiro, M.B., et al. (2020) Single-dose bNAb cocktail or abbreviated ART post-exposure regimens achieve tight SHIV control without adaptive immunity. Nature Communications. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13972-y.

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Single dose of antibody-based treatment can beat HIV in newborn babies - News-Medical.net

Immunology

30 babies in Bracknell have missed their vital ‘six in one jabs’ – Bracknell News

DOZENS of Bracknell Forest babies have missed out on important jabs which protect them from potentially deadly illnesses, figures reveal.

The British Society for Immunology has urged the new government to deliver on its promise to develop the UKs first vaccine strategy to protect communities against nasty diseases.

READ THIS: Bad parking - Bracknell News readers send in pictures

Young children should get the so-called six-in-one jab, which protects against six serious infections including polio, whooping cough and diphtheria, in the first few months of their lives.

Public Health England data shows that 30 children in Bracknell Forest who had their first birthday in the six months to September missed out on the vaccination.

But 95.9 per cent of one year olds did have it, meaning the area was above the 95 per cent rate recommended by the World Health Organisation to prevent outbreaks.

The uptake rate for the South East over the period was 93.2 per cent, while the figure across England stood at 92.1 per cent.

The British Society for Immunology said the uptake rate across England for the six-in-one vaccine among one year olds has averaged around 92 per cent over the past year.

ALSO READ: Girls born in Bracknell Forest face more than a dozen years of poor health in old age

Dr Doug Brown, the groups chief executive, said: Low levels of vaccination coverage matter as it means these diseases have the potential to spread within our communities, infecting unvaccinated people, with young babies and people with compromised immune systems particularly at risk.

We urge the new government to deliver on its promise to develop the UKs first vaccine strategy and to fully fund immunisation services to ensure our communities are protected against these preventable diseases.

But he also urged parents to make sure their children get the jabs.

He added: If you are worried your child hasnt received all the doses of the six-in-one vaccine, do make an appointment at your GP surgery.Its much better to get your child vaccinated than risk them catching one of these nasty diseases.

Babies should have three rounds of the six-in-one vaccination at eight, 12 and 16 weeks of age.

READ MORE: Home in Binfield for sale over 1.5 MILLION

It helps them develop a strong immunity to diphtheria, hepatitis B, haemophilus influenza type b, polio, tetanus and whopping cough all described by the NHS as serious childhood diseases.

Nicola Blackwood, Health minister said: Every child must be vaccinated against dangerous and potentially fatal diseases. Vaccine uptake is very high, at around 90 per cent, for most childhood vaccines, but we are determined to drive rates up even further.

"Our new vaccination strategy, published in the new year, will consider a range of approaches to improve uptake.

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30 babies in Bracknell have missed their vital 'six in one jabs' - Bracknell News