What’s New on the Swine Flu Vaccine Front
Jun 8 at 7:07pm by Aileen
The World Health Organization Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response Update as of June 5 is maintaining the pandemic alert at Level 5 for the time being, but seeking input from members for fine-tuning the system to account for virulence and other factors not currently considered. The system should be more receptive to the severity of outbreaks in different countries or regions to better characterize to the public and public health officials worldwide to monitor the actual situation in their areas in order to avoid excessive response or not enough response.
In the meantime, the mortality rate of this flu, while initially high in the Mexico City area, has fallen overall to around 2% or less, in line with annual deaths during flu season. Those who contract the virus are still those generally considered to be in the healthiest range of the population. On the vaccine development front there have been several developments since the 2009 Swine Flu epidemic began:
On April 29 vaccine researchers at St. Louis University announced that they’d accomplished the first step in developing a universal vaccine against pandemic influenza. To accomplish this the researchers used proteins (engineered a ‘bug’ that produced said proteins from genetic sequences coding for them) from both A and B influenza strains. The vaccine introduces those proteins so the body can engineer antibodies specific to them. More testing is needed, they say, before the vaccine is ready for prime time.
On May 1 Juergen A. Richt, a pathobiologist at Kansas State University’s college of veterinary medicine released findings that the current lineage of H1N1 Swine Flu is a descendant of the 1918 strain that killed more than 20 million people worldwide. For the study Richt and colleagues from Canada, USDA and Mount Sinai engineered their ‘bug’ in a biosafety-level-4 lab (like the one at UT-Austin) at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Canada using elements from both the 1918 virus and a 1930 descendent of that virus.
On May 22 researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Vaccine Research announced that they’d evoked a robust immune response with a vaccine made of virus-like particles [VLPs], which are just the protein coats of actual viruses without any genes inside. This approach, which like other approaches involves genetic manipulation to produce the “hollow” virus shells, may work better than attenuated virus vaccines. The new vaccine for Human Papilloma Virus is a VLP.
And finally, on June 4 Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News reported that scientists around the world are accelerating efforts to develop an effective vaccine against the current Chimera strain. This is ‘news’ in the GE/biotech community because genetic manipulation is standard operating procedure in the development of influenza vaccines, of any type – live, attenuated, killed and dissociated or VLP. Step #1 is to engineer your Chimera.
No matter how the Chimera came to be, Bellerophon is engineered very much on purpose. I personally like the idea of the VLP vaccine, as it ONLY has coat proteins and it excites a more robust immune response to those than to dissociated coat proteins. The robust response is to the form of the viral shell. Even better, if these beasties get out in an ‘oops’ it won’t kill anybody – it’ll just immunize ‘em. Let’s all hope one of these is available come September.
Popularity: 22% [?]
Connection Between Cold Sores and Alzheimer’s Disease?
Dec 8 at 6:06pm by Aileen
Researchers at the University of Manchester in England have discovered that the herpes simplex virus – the virus that causes cold sores – is a major cause of the beta amyloid protein plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s sufferers, suggesting new methods of treatment.
Cold Sore Virus Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease: New Treatment, or Even Vaccine Possible
A majority of people are infected with the herpes simplex virus, which remains in the peripheral nervous system for the life of the person, occasionally showing up to cause cold sores. It is treated, usually when the sores show up, with antiviral agents such as acyclovir, and outbreaks can often be shortened by taking L-Lysine amino acid supplements. The discovery of a connection between herpes simplex and the amyloid plaques of AD lends hope to the idea that Alzheimer’s may one day soon be treatable with antiviral drugs, or even that a vaccine could be developed against both the herpes infection and AD.
The research team examining plaques and neurofibrillary tangles from AD patients discovered that HSV1 viral DNA was found in 90% of those abnormal protein structures. The same team had previously found that HSV1 infection of nerve cells induces deposition of the plaques. Previous treatments for this dread disease of aging have focused on symptoms of the disease rather than any root causes. As the population ‘bump’ known as the “Baby Boom” generation ages, this discovery may help to prevent a great deal of suffering both for victims of the disease and their families.
The Manchester team hope to receive funding that will enable them to investigate in detail the effect of treating early Alzheimer’s patients with antiviral agents. The paper was published in the Journal of Pathology, Volume 217, entitled Herpes simplex virus type 1 DNA is located within Alzheimer’s disease amyloid plaques.
Popularity: 25% [?]
Resurrecting the 1918 Flu Pandemic
Aug 19 at 4:04pm by Aileen
…and the antibodies for survival
1918 Flu Antibodies Resurrected from Elderly Survivors
Back in 2005 some researchers journeyed to the Alaskan permafrost to dig up some bodies of victims of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50-100 million people worldwide as World War 1 came to a close. They were able to recover the virus from these bodies because they have been frozen since burial.
Now researchers at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt have recovered antibodies against this deadly flu virus from survivors of the pandemic. They collected blood samples from 32 survivors age 91 to 101, and found that all samples reacted to the virus – indicating that immunity has been preserved for 90 years. This represents the longest immune system ‘memory’ thus far observed.
The real test came when researchers at the CDC infected mice with the 1918 influenza and then administered the antibodies. Those receiving the lowest dose of antibodies died, all mice given the highest dose survived. The “extremely rare” B cells that produced the antibodies in all the survivors’ blood are some of “the most potent antibodies ever isolated against a virus,” and may prove invaluable against other viruses or for developing new antibodies against expected future pandemics.
Popularity: 20% [?]
Ebola Vaccines Successful in Primates
Mar 31 at 8:08pm by Aileen
Soon to enter human trials
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting this week that researchers from the US and Canada have successfully tested several vaccines for Ebola in primates, and are now seeking to modify them for human use.
This is a significant development not because Ebola in its natural habitat is such a grave danger to humanity, but because it’s got a 90% fatality rate and thus represents a threat to humanity as a bioweapon. While Ebola is not easily spread (direct contact with bodily fluids of an infected person or animal is required), officials have long been concerned that it could be “weaponized” – as has been done with anthrax, for instance – into a form that will be easily infective. There have been just over 1500 documented cases of Ebola in humans, and so far it does not seem to have been used as a bioweapon.
The Federation of American Scientists maintains an Ebola Fact Sheet indicating that the Soviet Union probably investigated weaponizing Ebola. There have been three reported incidents of researchers being infected after being stuck with contaminated syringes. Those in England and the U.S. recovered, one in Russia died. There is no effective treatment for the disease, and while the current research is hopeful, there is no vaccine to prevent it.
The biosafety threat level for Ebola is 4, a rating it shares with the 18 other hemorrhagic fevers it is akin to. Because the dead virus does not produce an effective immune response, researchers have been trying several different recombinant DNA techniques. The latest, most effective candidates are soon to be tested on humans. It is hoped that if the testing proves successful, the techniques will be as useful in developing vaccines for other hemorrhagic fever viruses, HIV and avian influenza.
Links:
Vaccine for Ebola Virus Successful in Primates
Ebola Fact Sheet
Popularity: 14% [?]
RECENT COMMENTS