Results from a study carried out by the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative show that rare deleterious variants in the immune-system gene TLR7 make carriers more than five times more likely to have a severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. The TLR7 gene encodes Toll-like receptor 7 protein, which plays a protective role in the immune system by identifying pathogens and activating innate immunity.
At the Saturday, Oct. 22 session, ‘Basic Science: Correlates of protection, immune response and the host-microbe interaction,’ of the IDWeek 2022 infectious disease conference, moderator Luiz Bermudez, professor at Oregon State University, introduced the latest advances to prevent infections with Treponema pallidum during neurosyphilis (NS), Staphylococcus aureus and osteomyelitis, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis during influenza.
Three years after WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic, some patients are still reporting symptoms from long-ago infections. And the scientific community is studying the reasons for the post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC). Until now, the studies provided varied reasons related to persistent COVID or PASC, such as acute SARS-CoV-2 injury in different organs, or reservoirs of the virus in certain tissues, as it happens with other pathogens like HIV. At the IDWeek 2022 infectious disease conference held this week in Washington, D.C., Eric Daar, chief of the Division of HIV Medicine at the Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, moderated the session, 'COVID-19: Post-acute sequelae', where talks offered new results on the symptoms of people who have suffered prolonged COVID during the pandemic.
At first blush, to say that depression occurs with other diseases may seem like belaboring the obvious. After all, to put it in the bluntest possible terms, it’s sad to be sick. But by looking more closely, it soon becomes clear that the association is stronger than that. The strongest association between depression and other diseases, Stefan Gold told the audience at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) annual conference in Vienna this week, is “not necessarily the most severe or most immediately life-threatening disorders… [it’s] across the spectrum."
Tyrosine kinase SYK (spleen tyrosine kinase), an enzyme involved in immune signaling, could play a key role in Alzheimer's disease (AD), multiple sclerosis (MS), and other neurodegenerative diseases, according to a study from the University of Virginia (UVA). SYK regulates the activity of microglia, preventing the accumulation of secretions associated with AD or MS produced in these pathologies.
Cabaletta Bio Inc. has announced CABA-201, a newly designed, fully human CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) containing a 4-1BB co-stimulatory domain.
Finding a vaccine that provides universal protection against seasonal influenza remains a public health priority. Although influenza neuraminidase (NA) undergoes slower antigenic changes than hemagglutinin (HA) and therefore constitutes a desirable vaccine target, NA standalone vaccination strategies present a limited breadth of NA immunity.
Failure of integrin inhibitors in clinical trials can be avoided by redesigning the chemical conformation of these proteins, as shown by a study led by Timothy Springer, a professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Boston Children's Hospital, and one of the winners of the 2022 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award.
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