How do you make the perfect vaccine?April 02, 2002A big challenge in vaccine design is how to trigger a protective immune response with the safest possible vaccine. Research into how Salmonella bacteria cause infection is leading to safer, more effective, vaccines against typhoid and other diseases, scientists heard today (Tuesday 09 April 2002) at the spring meeting of the Society for General Microbiology at the University of Warwick. Dr Pietro Mastroeni of Cambridge University, UK says, "We have been studying the many ways in which new generations of live attenuated vaccines protect against disease. Producing an immune response against an infectious bacterium or virus is not always enough to give protection, and in some cases can worsen the disease." Vaccine-induced immunity requires a sophisticated cross-talk between different parts of the immune system. Long lasting immunity relies on the presence and activation of species-specific T- and B-cells. Both T-cell and B-cell dependent immunity is needed to clear bacteria from tissues. “This research is leading to more rational strategies to fight Salmonella infections in man and domestic animals. By introducing proteins from different micro-organisms we can also use Salmonella as a delivery vehicle to protect against other diseases," says Dr Mastroeni. "Recent advances in DNA technology and genetic information have led to new approaches in which to safely modify the Salmonella genome. We now have vaccine strains that can induce solid immunity after only one dose without significant side effects," says Dr Mastroeni. Salmonella typhi causes typhoid fever in humans, leading to 16 million cases (600,000 deaths) worldwide each year. Other Salmonella species cause food-borne disease. There were about 17,000 cases of Salmonella food poisoning reported in the UK in the year 2000 and twice as many were reported in the year 1998. An increasing number of clinical isolates are multi-antibiotic resistant and so are difficult to treat with existing drugs. Society for General Microbiology |
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| Related Bacteria Current Events and Bacteria News Articles Factors from common human bacteria may trigger multiple sclerosis Current research suggests that a common oral bacterium may exacerbate autoimmune disease. The related report by Nichols et al, "Unique Lipids from a Common Human Bacterium Represent a New Class of TLR2 Ligands Capable of Enhancing Autoimmunity," appears in the December 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology. Exposure to both traffic, indoor pollutants puts some kids at higher risk for asthma later New research presents strong evidence that the "synergistic" effect of early-life exposure to both outdoor traffic-related pollution and indoor endotoxin causes more harm to developing lungs than one or the other exposure alone. New study finds MRSA on the rise in hospital outpatients The community-associated strain of the deadly superbug MRSA-an infection-causing bacteria resistant to most common antibiotics-poses a far greater health threat than previously known and is making its way into hospitals, according to a study in the December issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases. Researchers establish common seasonal pattern among bacterial communities in Arctic rivers New research on bacterial communities throughout six large Arctic river ecosystems reveals predictable temporal patterns, suggesting that scientists could use these communities as markers for monitoring climate change in the polar regions. Biologists discover bacterial defense mechanism against aggressive oxygen Bacteria possess an ingenious mechanism for preventing oxygen from harming the building blocks of the cell. Saving the single cysteine: new antioxidant system found We've all read studies about the health benefits of having a life partner. The same thing is true at the molecular level, where amino acids known as cysteines are much more vulnerable to damage when single than when paired up with other cysteines. Beyond sunlight: Explorers census 17,650 ocean species between edge of darkness and black abyss Census of Marine Life scientists have inventoried an astonishing abundance, diversity and distribution of deep sea species that have never known sunlight - creatures that somehow manage a living in a frigid black world down to 5,000 meters (~3 miles) below the ocean waves. Surface bacteria maintain skin's healthy balance On the skin's surface, bacteria are abundant, diverse and constant, but inflammation is undesirable. Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine now shows that the normal bacteria living on the skin surface trigger a pathway that prevents excessive inflammation after injury. On the Trail of a Vaccine for Lyme Disease: Yale Researchers Target Tick Saliva A protein found in the saliva of ticks helps protect mice from developing Lyme disease, Yale researchers have discovered. The findings, published in the November 19 issue of Cell Host & Microbe, may spur development of a new vaccine against infection from Lyme disease, which is spread through tick bites. Cigarettes Harbor Many Bacteria Harmful to Human Health Cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with bacteria, including some known to cause disease in people, concludes a new international study conducted by a University of Maryland environmental health researcher and microbial ecologists at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France. More Bacteria Current Events and Bacteria News Articles |
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