Recent medRxiv pre-print reports on an interim analysis of an adenovirus type 26 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate (Ad26.COV2.S). This was a phase 1/2a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical study consisting of a non-replicating adenovirus 26 based vector...
September 2020
Why do people with the Dantu blood group have a lower risk of developing malaria?
Kariuki et al., demonstrate that individuals with Dantu blood groups express RBC surface proteins that play a role in parasite invasion into the RBC (e.g. CGYPA, GYOC, Band 3) at different levels as those with other blood group types. This differential protein expression significantly affects the ability...
Boosting of antibody responses against the V2 and V3 region of the HIV-1 Env
In the presented article the authors assessed the effect of a late boost in sustaining these desired antibody responses towards the HIV-1 Env in a multi-clade, multigene HIVIS-DNA priming, and heterologous recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA-CMDR) boosting regimen (HIVIS03/06).
SAIS/Immunopaedia COVID-19 Webinar on Severe vs mild COVID-19 immunity, and intersection between Nicotinamide pathway & COVID-19.
This article summarises webinar that featured talks by Prof Clive Gray: on severe vs mild/asymotmatic COVID-19 and Dr Melinda Suchard on Macrophage activation and Nicotinamide pathways in COVID-19.
A mechanism for severe COVID-19 in patients with obesity and diabetes?
A recent review in eLife synthesises data from multiple studies to propose a synergistic interaction between SARS-CoV-2 infection and obesity and/or diabetes leading to impaired endothelial function and gut barrier function. This impairment results in microbial translocation into the systemic circulation...
HIV Viral reservoir: quality rather quantity matters
This article focuses on recent virological findings by Jiang et al., that conducted a comparative investigation of the viral reservoirs of elite controllers and individuals with ART-induced functional cure. Authors demonstrated that the quality of viral reservoirs is potentially more important than the quantity of viral reservoir.
We need innovative tools to diagnose Coeliac disease
Coeliac disease is a complex autoimmune condition which currently affects 1% of the global population. Due to its complexity, the diagnosis of the diseases poses unique challenges and patients often face delayed treatment, particularly for those with mild pathology. In this review, current and putative diagnostics for coeliac disease are discussed.
IUIS Webinar: Tracking SARS-CoV-2 in Ghana
In this webinar researchers from the University of Ghana discuss the analysis of SARS-CoV-2 sequences which include imported and circulating viruses at the inception of Ghana’s outbreak, and circulating viruses 2-3 months after Ghana’s first reported cases. Joyce Ngoi’s describe the experimental workflow used to generate SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences and Peter Quashie presented data on the analysis of genomic data.
Inclusion of non-spike proteins in SARS-CoV-2 vaccines may be important for the induction of protective T cell memory.
A recent study published in Nature Immunology shows the presence of SARS-CoV-2 specific memory T cell responses in patients recovered from COVID-19. The breadth and strength of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses were higher in patients with more severe disease...
CD229 CAR: New therapy for multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma (MM) is a clonal plasma cell malignancy which causes an incurable disease. This summary discusses CD229 CAR as potential new therapy for Multiple myeloma. MM develops in bone marrow and causes bone lesions with fractures, kidney failure, bone marrow failure, and immunoparesis with fatal infections.