my.bionity.com
With an accout for my.bionity.com you can always see everything at a glance – and you can configure your own website and individual newsletter.
02-02-2010: An experimental vaccine developed using non-infectious virus-like particles (VLP) has protected macaques and mice against chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen that has infected millions of people in Africa and Asia and causes debilitating pain, researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found.
Scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) developed the vaccine because there is no vaccine or treatment for chikungunya virus infection. Details about the vaccine were published in Nature Medicine .
"Increases in global travel and trade, and possibly climate change, may be contributing to the spread of disease-carrying mosquitoes into new areas," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "Finding safe and effective human vaccines for chikungunya virus and other insect-borne pathogens is an important global health priority."
To develop the vaccine, scientists in NIAID's Vaccine Research Center (VRC) identified the proteins that give rise to chikungunya VLPs. The VLPs mimic actual virus particles but cannot cause infection, so they can be used safely as a vaccine to elicit immune responses. The researchers immunized rhesus macaques with the VLPs, waited 15 weeks before exposing the animals to chikungunya virus, and observed that the vaccine provided complete protection from infection.
When the group found that antibodies were responsible for immune protection, they transferred antibody-containing serum from the vaccinated macaques to mice with deficient immune systems. The mice then were exposed to a lethal dose of chikungunya virus, but the immune serum protected them from infection.
"This virus-like particle vaccine provides a promising way to protect against an emerging infectious disease threat," says VRC Director Gary Nabel, M.D., Ph.D. "This same approach could possibly extend to viruses related to chikungunya that cause fatal diseases such as encephalitis." Dr. Nabel says his group plans to seek approval for clinical trials to further evaluate the safety and efficacy of the vaccine in humans.
Watchlist
This is where you can add this news to your personal favourites
Mechanism discovered which aids Legionella to camouflage itself in the organism
The feared Legionella pneumophila bacteria is responsible for legionellosis, an infectious disease that can lead to pneumonia. In order to infect us, this pathogen has developed a complex method enabling it to camouflage itself and go unnoticed in our cells, thus avoiding these acting again ... more
Margaret Gourlay wins Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award from Clinical Research Forum
For leading a study that was the first to define appropriate bone density screening intervals for older women, Margaret Gourlay, MD, MPH, of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine has been honored with a Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award from the Clinical Research Foru ... more
Recipe for large numbers of stem cells requires only one ingredient
Stem cells and tissue-specific cells can be grown in abundance from mature mammalian cells simply by blocking a certain membrane protein, according to scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their experiments, reported today ... more
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency—making important medical discoveries that improve health and save lives. more
Sanaria Inc and the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) of the University of Maryland College Park announce the receipt of a multi-year Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of t ... more
NIH renews research program to develop medical countermeasures against radiological, nuclear threats
A major research effort to develop medical products to diagnose, prevent and treat the short- and long-term consequences of radiation exposure after a radiological or nuclear terrorist attack has been renewed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the ... more
New approach to immune cell analysis seen as first step to better distinguish health and disease
Investigators have developed a new mathematical approach to analyze molecular data derived from complex mixtures of immune cells. This approach, when combined with well-established techniques, readily identifies changes in small samples of human whole blood, and has the potential to disting ... more
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) conducts and supports basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. For more than 60 years, NIAID research has led to new therapies, vaccines, d ... more
Über CHEMIE.DE
CHEMIE.DE Information Service GmbH runs specialist scientific internet portals. The secret to our success? We are familiar with what we publish.
Advertising at CHEMIE.DE
Our advertising formats support you in getting your message across to a clearly defined target audience.
© 1997-2013 CHEMIE.DE Information Service GmbH, All rights reserved
Netmeeting
