All news from Pathology & Microbiology
For the first time, scientists have shown that in certain people living with HIV, a type of antibody called immunoglobulin G3 (IgG3) stops the immune system's B cells from doing their normal job of fighting pathogens. This phenomenon appears to be one way the body tries to reduce the potentially damaging effects of immune-system hyperactivity caused by the presence of HIV, according to the investigators, but in so doing, it also impairs normal immune function.
The innate immune response to lung infection takes priority at the expense of wound healing, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by a team of researcher at Brown University led by Amanda Jamieson.
To successfully infect its host, the rabies virus must move from the nerve ending to the nerve cell body where it can replicate. In a study published in the journal PLoS Pathogens, researchers from Princeton University reveal that the rabies virus moves differently compared to other neuron-invading viruses and that its journey can be blocked by a drug commonly used to treat amoebic dysentery.
When patients presented with unexplained fever at Mwananyamala Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, scientists compared two genetic sequencing methods used to identify the potential viruses behind the illnesses: VirCapSeq-VERT, a method developed at the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) and unbiased high-throughput sequencing.
Both methods yielded similar results. However, VirCapSeq-VERT was more efficient. Details of the study, the first to report on the use of VirCapSeq-VERT in a clinical setting, are published today in the journal mSphere.
Expansive arterial remodeling (EAR) comprises a genetically programmed biological response designed to restore homeostatic levels of arterial wall stress after an increase in vessel flow load occurs.
The magnitude and rate of EAR reactions relative to local hemodynamic stress fields and the tensile strength of vascular tissue determines whether the process will result in a stable mural structure (adaptive remodeling) or an unstable mural structure that progresses to form an aneurysm (maladaptive remodeling).
The human body produces many antimicrobial peptides that help the immune system fend off infection. Scientists hoping to harness these peptides as potential antibiotics have now discovered that other peptides in the human body can also have potent antimicrobial effects, expanding the pool of new antibiotic candidates. The study appears in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology.
New drug-resistant strains of the parasite that causes malaria tend to evolve in regions with lower malaria risk; in areas with high transmission rates, they get outcompeted by the more common, drug-sensitive strains inside the human host. In high-transmission settings, it takes a long time for drug-resistant strains to take hold, but once they do, they can spread rapidly, according to a new study.
Study shows that doctors with personal experience of cancer are more likely to act against established guidelines to recommend that low-risk women receive ovarian cancer screening.
In a new paper, researchers propose a mechanistic hypothesis that focuses on the potential impact infectious fever has on a particular subset of T cells, known as gamma/delta T cells.
SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc. (SAB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced that its anti-Ebola immunotherapy (SAB-139) provided "100% protection against a lethal dose of the Ebola virus" in a recent animal study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
A lineage of type 1 dengue virus found in Brazil is able to prevail over another even though it multiplies less in vector mosquitoes and infected human cells. This discovery was made under the scope of a Thematic Project supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP involving several Brazilian institutions as well as a university in the United States.
In Germany, 41 cases of tularemia were reported in 2016. The infections are mainly due to direct contact with infected animals or with insect vectors like ticks and mosquitos.
