scholarly journals Can immunological principles and cross-disciplinary science illuminate the path to vaccines for HIV and other global health challenges?

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1671) ◽  
pp. 20140152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher B. Wilson ◽  
Christopher L. Karp
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Pathogen Variation ◽  
Iterative Improvement ◽  
Human Immune ◽  
Effective Public Health ◽  
Structural Aspects

Vaccines are one of the most impactful and cost-effective public health measures of the twentieth century. However, there remain great unmet needs to develop vaccines for globally burdensome infectious diseases and to allow more timely responses to emerging infectious disease threats. Recent advances in the understanding of immunological principles operative not just in model systems but in humans in concert with the development and application of powerful new tools for profiling human immune responses, in our understanding of pathogen variation and evolution, and in the elucidation of the structural aspects of antibody–pathogen interactions, have illuminated pathways by which these unmet needs might be addressed. Using these advances as foundation, we herein present a conceptual framework by which the discovery, development and iterative improvement of effective vaccines for HIV, malaria and other globally important infectious diseases might be accelerated.

scholarly journals 21.H. Workshop: Incentivising vaccination uptake in Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Primary Prevention ◽  
Main Tool ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
Vaccination Rate ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Contagious Diseases ◽  
Effective Public Health

Abstract Vaccination is the main tool for primary prevention of disease and one of the most cost-effective public health measures available. Immunisation through vaccination is the best defence we have against serious, preventable, and sometimes deadly, contagious diseases. However, we have witnessed measles outbreaks in the last years that could have been avoided if vaccination rates had been sufficiently high. The vaccination rate against seasonal influenza for older people also remains much below the recommended level (75%) in most EU countries. We have also seen countries taking policy measures, such as introducing mandatory vaccination against certain childhood diseases (France, Italy, Germany), while other countries retain high vaccination rates without establishing such measures (e.g. Sweden, Denmark, Portugal). This session will bring together policy-makers at various levels (national, regional), experts and civil society (e.g. health care professional associations) to showcase recent policy initiatives, good practices and innovative collaborations aiming at increasing the vaccination rates for key vaccines and taking a life course approach. Key messages Vaccination is the main tool for primary prevention of disease and one of the most cost-effective public health measures available. Immunisation through vaccination is the best defense we have against serious, preventable, and sometimes deadly, contagious diseases.

Multi-Epitope Vaccines (MEVs), as a Novel Strategy Against Infectious Diseases

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 354-364
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mahmoudi Goumari ◽  
Ibrahim Farhani ◽  
Navid Nezafat ◽  
Shirin Mahmoodi
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Epitope Prediction ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Antimicrobial Drugs ◽  
Antibiotic Resistant ◽  
Time Consumption ◽  
Preclinical Evaluation ◽  
Structural Evaluation ◽  
Novel Strategy ◽  
Epitope Vaccines

Infectious diseases have caused historical pandemics in the world. Three strategies, including sanitation programs, antimicrobial drugs, and vaccines are considered for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. Today, some infectious diseases cause millions of mortalities universally. Due to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, as well as some limitations of traditional vaccines, focusing on novel strategies is essential. Multi-Epitope Vaccines (MEVs), as a novel strategy, have been designed based on immunoinformatics methods; epitope prediction by authentic servers, attachment of epitopes using proper linkers, physicochemical, immunological and structural evaluation by bioinformatics tools that are basic stages in MEVs designing. Advantages such as cost-effective, high safety, less time consumption in designing, the application of natural adjuvants, and satisfactory preclinical evaluation outstand MEVs than other types of vaccines. Therefore, MEVs are promising vaccines against resistant diseases such as lower respiratory infection and diarrhea.

Communicable and Other Infectious Diseases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Frischhut
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
European Union ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Environment Agency ◽  
And Control

This chapter discusses the most important features of EU law on infectious diseases. Communicable diseases not only cross borders, they also often require measures that cross different areas of policy because of different vectors for disease transmission. The relevant EU law cannot be attributed to one sectoral policy only, and thus various EU agencies participate in protecting public health. The key agency is the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Other important agencies include the European Environment Agency; European Food Safety Authority; and the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency. However, while integration at the EU level has facilitated protection of the public's health, it also has created potential conflicts among the different objectives of the European Union. The internal market promotes the free movement of products, but public health measures can require restrictions of trade. Other conflicts can arise if protective public health measures conflict with individual human rights. The chapter then considers risk assessment and the different tools of risk management used in dealing with the challenges of infectious diseases. It also turns to the external and ethical perspective and the role the European Union takes in global health.

scholarly journals Platforms for Production of Protein-Based Vaccines: From Classical to Next-Generation Strategies

Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1072
Author(s):  
Raquel Cid ◽  
Jorge Bolívar
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Insect Larvae ◽  
Subunit Vaccines ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Alternative Systems ◽  
Inactivated Vaccines

To date, vaccination has become one of the most effective strategies to control and reduce infectious diseases, preventing millions of deaths worldwide. The earliest vaccines were developed as live-attenuated or inactivated pathogens, and, although they still represent the most extended human vaccine types, they also face some issues, such as the potential to revert to a pathogenic form of live-attenuated formulations or the weaker immune response associated with inactivated vaccines. Advances in genetic engineering have enabled improvements in vaccine design and strategies, such as recombinant subunit vaccines, have emerged, expanding the number of diseases that can be prevented. Moreover, antigen display systems such as VLPs or those designed by nanotechnology have improved the efficacy of subunit vaccines. Platforms for the production of recombinant vaccines have also evolved from the first hosts, Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, to insect or mammalian cells. Traditional bacterial and yeast systems have been improved by engineering and new systems based on plants or insect larvae have emerged as alternative, low-cost platforms. Vaccine development is still time-consuming and costly, and alternative systems that can offer cost-effective and faster processes are demanding to address infectious diseases that still do not have a treatment and to face possible future pandemics.

scholarly journals The prevalence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 among blood donors in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Chang ◽  
Wangheng Hou ◽  
Lei Zhao ◽  
Yali Zhang ◽  
Yanbin Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Blood Donors ◽  
Antibody Testing ◽  
Old Adults ◽  
Viral Spread ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Independent Risk Factors ◽  
Effective Public Health ◽  
Age And Sex

AbstractIn this study, we investigate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among blood donors in the cities of Wuhan, Shenzhen, and Shijiazhuang in China. From January to April 2020, 38,144 healthy blood donors in the three cities were tested for total antibody against SARS-CoV-2 followed by pseudotype SARS-CoV-2 neutralization tests, IgG, and IgM antibody testing. Finally, a total of 398 donors were confirmed positive. The age- and sex-standardized SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among 18–60 year-old adults (18–65 year-old in Shenzhen) was 2.66% (95% CI: 2.24%–3.07%) in Wuhan, 0.033% (95% CI: 0.0029%–0.267%) in Shenzhen, and 0.0028% (95% CI: 0.0001%–0.158%) in Shijiazhuang, respectively. Female sex and older-age were identified to be independent risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity among blood donors in Wuhan. As most of the population of China remained uninfected during the early wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, effective public health measures are still certainly required to block viral spread before a vaccine is widely available.

scholarly journals Harnessing testing strategies and public health measures to avert COVID-19 outbreaks during ocean cruises

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerardo Chowell ◽  
Sushma Dahal ◽  
Raquel Bono ◽  
Kenji Mizumoto
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Contact Network ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Testing Strategies ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

AbstractTo ensure the safe operation of schools, workplaces, nursing homes, and other businesses during COVID-19 pandemic there is an urgent need to develop cost-effective public health strategies. Here we focus on the cruise industry which was hit early by the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 40 cruise ships reporting COVID-19 infections. We apply mathematical modeling to assess the impact of testing strategies together with social distancing protocols on the spread of the novel coronavirus during ocean cruises using an individual-level stochastic model of the transmission dynamics of COVID-19. We model the contact network, the potential importation of cases arising during shore excursions, the temporal course of infectivity at the individual level, the effects of social distancing strategies, different testing scenarios characterized by the test’s sensitivity profile, and testing frequency. Our findings indicate that PCR testing at embarkation and daily testing of all individuals aboard, together with increased social distancing and other public health measures, should allow for rapid detection and isolation of COVID-19 infections and dramatically reducing the probability of onboard COVID-19 community spread. In contrast, relying only on PCR testing at embarkation would not be sufficient to avert outbreaks, even when implementing substantial levels of social distancing measures.

scholarly journals P06.07 In vivo studies of immunomodulatory a-CTLA-4 antibody in a humanized mouse model

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. A22.1-A22
Author(s):  
C Reitinger ◽  
F Nimmerjahn
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Mouse Model ◽  
Cancer Immunotherapy ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Checkpoint Control ◽  
Human Immune System ◽  
Humanized Mouse ◽  
Humanized Mouse Model ◽  
Human Immune

BackgroundRecent findings in cancer immunotherapy have reinforced the hypothesis that the immune system is able to control most cancers. Immunomodulatory antibodies can enhance immune responses, having the potential to generate anti-cancer immunity.1–4Materials and MethodsMost current studies addressing this question are performed in murine mouse model systems or use in vitro culture systems, which do not reflect the human in vivo situation, potentially leading to results that cannot be fully translated into human cancer therapy. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a new mouse model, which allows the study of cancer immunotherapy in the context of a human immune system. We focused on the establishment of a humanized mouse model, in which different immunomodulatory antibodies can be tested in the presence of a human immune system.ResultsFirst experiments concerning the suitability to test immunomodulatory antibodies in the humanized mouse model, revealed that effects of checkpoint-control antibody a-CTLA-4 were similar to the effects seen in patients of clinical studies. To analyse the anti-tumor activities of immunomodulatory antibodies in vivo we are establishing a human melanoma-like tumor model in humanized mice.ConclusionsThis enables us to test the efficacy of immunomodulatory agonistic antibodies (such as CP-870,893) and checkpoint control antibodies (such as anti-CTLA-4) in eliminating a melanoma-like tumor. Furthermore, parameters like tumor infiltrating human cells und cytokine/chemokine production can be analysed.ReferencesSchuster M, Nechansky A, Loibner H. Cancer immunotherapy. Biotechnol J 2006;1:138–147.Mellman I, Coukos G, Dranoff G. Cancer immunotherapy comes of age. Nature rev 2011;480:480–489.Finn OJ. Immuno-oncology: understanding the function and dysfunction of the immune system in cancer. Annals of Oncology 2012;23:vii6–vii9.Langer LF, Clay TM, Morse MA. Update on anti-CTLA-4 in clinical trials. Expert Opin Biol Ther 2007;8:1245–1256.Disclosure InformationC. Reitinger: None. F. Nimmerjahn: None.

scholarly journals Efficient genome editing in multiple salmonid cell lines using ribonucleoprotein complexes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remi L. Gratacap ◽  
Ye Hwa Jin ◽  
Marina Mantsopoulou ◽  
Ross D. Houston
Keyword(s):  
Rainbow Trout ◽  
Atlantic Salmon ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Genome Editing ◽  
Cell Lines ◽  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Fish Cell ◽  
Ribonucleoprotein Complexes ◽  
Salmonid Species

AbstractInfectious and parasitic diseases have major negative economic and animal welfare impacts on aquaculture of salmonid species. Improved knowledge of the functional basis of host response and genetic resistance to these diseases is key to developing preventative and treatment options. Cell lines provide a valuable model to study infectious diseases in salmonids, and genome editing using CRISPR provides an exciting avenue to evaluate the function of specific genes in those systems. While CRISPR/Cas9 has been successfully performed in a Chinook salmon cell line (CHSE-214), there are no reports to date of editing of cell lines derived from the most commercially relevant salmonid species Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout, which are difficult to transduce and therefore edit using lentivirus-mediated methods. In the current study, a method of genome editing of salmonid cell lines using ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes was optimised and tested in the most commonly-used salmonid fish cell lines; Atlantic salmon (SHK-1 and ASK cell lines), rainbow trout (RTG-2) and Chinook salmon (CHSE-214). Electroporation of RNP based on either Cas9 or Cas12a was efficient at targeted editing of all the tested lines (typically > 90 % cells edited), and the choice of enzyme expands the number of potential target sites for editing within the genomes of these species. These optimised protocols will facilitate functional genetic studies in salmonid cell lines, which are widely used as model systems for infectious diseases in aquaculture.

scholarly journals Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases: a Cytopathologist’s Perspective

1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celeste N. Powers
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Fine Needle Aspiration ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Needle Aspiration ◽  
Clinical Correlation ◽  
Fine Needle ◽  
Presumptive Identification ◽  
Staining Methods

SUMMARY This review explores the role of the cytopathology laboratory in the detection and presumptive identification of microorganisms. Sample procurement by exfoliation, abrasion, and aspiration techniques, as well as a variety of cytopreparatory and staining methods, is reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the utility of fine-needle aspiration as a rapid, safe, and cost-effective diagnositic procedure. The role of rapid interpretation and specimen triage is also discussed. Cytomorphologic features and staining characteristics are presented for a spectrum of microorganisms potentially encountered in the cytopathology laboratory. Pitfalls in diagnosis and the usefulness of special stains and ancillary techniques are also evaluated. The importance of communication, collaboration, and clinical correlation is stressed.

scholarly journals Genomic Medicine and Advances in Vaccine Technology and Development in the Developing and Developed World

Vaccines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Rossella Cianci ◽  
Laura Franza
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Genomic Medicine ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Effective Public Health ◽  
Developed World

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