Two papers in the Feb. 8, 2023, issue of Cell Host & Microbe have reported new insights into the relationship between myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and alterations in the gut microbiome, and how those relationships change over time. A reliable way to diagnose ME/CFS would be a huge step forward for the study of ME/CFS. Currently, the condition is diagnosed purely by symptoms, which are assessed via questionnaire.
Research led by Indiana University School of Medicine and the University of Notre Dame shows a new treatment for peanut allergy is effective in a mouse model. The therapy, a covalent heterobivalent inhibitor (cHBI), differs from most allergy treatments in that it is more of a preventative therapy rather than a drug to treat immediate acute symptoms.
An allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation that triggers graft-vs.-host-disease (GVHD) involves T cells that do not come from the patient's bloodstream, but rather from the local progenitor cells of the donor tissue. A study from the University of Pittsburgh confirmed this finding after cloning and following these cells, revealing their origin and peculiarities.
“I have had this idea for a pretty long time. In the tissues there are antigen-presenting cells and there are T cells. And I felt like there is no reason why they are needed to be input from blood that it could be a largely local response. Then, the question was whether there would be a subset of cells in the tissues that could continue to sustain it,” lead author Warren Shlomchik told BioWorld.
Splicing junctions between transposable elements and regular exons are transcribed, and can serve as targets for anticancer therapies, researchers from the Institut Curie and Mnemo Therapeutics SAS reported in a pair of papers published in Science Immunology on Feb. 3, 2023.
Immunomolecular Therapeutics Inc. has described compounds targeting HLA-DQ2 reported to be useful for the treatment of type 1 diabetes, myasthenia gravis, Stiff-man syndrome, Addison and celiac diseases.
The interleukin-2 receptor subunit γ (IL-2RG), also known as γc cytokine receptor or CD132, family of cytokines includes interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, IL-7, IL-9, IL-15 and IL-21. These γc cytokines exert broad pleiotropic effects on the innate and adaptive immune system, and they all share the IL-2RG chain as part of its signaling receptor complex. Researchers from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. aimed to assess whether targeting γc cytokines may serve as a strategy for the prevention and treatment of T-cell-mediated disease.
Greenlight Biosciences Holdings PBC has received regulatory approval from the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority (Rwanda FDA) to start a first-in-human phase I/II trial of its mRNA vaccine candidate against COVID-19, GLB-COV2-043, as a booster for previously vaccinated individuals.
The combination of two sequencing techniques has unveiled features of a subpopulation of cells that could be producing plaques in atherosclerosis. This process is associated with an autoimmune component driven by CD4+ T cells, according to a study from researchers at Leiden University.
“I think that we can clearly say now that atherosclerosis is a very clear autoimmune component. It is a multifactorial disease, a combination of genes, and lifestyle, but also inflammation and the immune system,” Ilze Bot and Bram Slütter, associate professors at the Division of Biotherapeutics of Leiden University, told BioWorld.
Escient Pharmaceuticals Inc. has obtained FDA clearance of its IND application for EP-262, a first-in-class, potent, highly selective small-molecule antagonist of Mas-related G-protein coupled receptor member X2 (MRGPRX2) for mast cell-mediated disorders.