Archive for November, 2014

More Surprises in the Development of an HIV Vaccine

14 November, 2014

More Surprises in the Development of an HIV Vaccine

In the current issue of Frontiers in Immunology, Jean-Marie Andrieu and collaborators, report results from non-human primate experiments designed to explore a new vaccine concept aimed at inducing tolerance to the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) (1). This approach, which is significantly different from other vaccine concepts tested to date, resulted in a surprisingly high level of protection. If the results are confirmed and extended to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), this approach may represent a game changing strategy, which should be welcomed by a field that has been marred by mostly disappointing results.

 

HIV Graphic from Russell Kightley Media

 

Source: journal.frontiersin.org

This is a commentary by two well-respected friends of mine on a very surprising result published by the Andrieu group recently, which seems to have been ignored by the mainstream HIV vaccine world.

This is not surprising, in that Andrieu is an outsider in this field – he is a cancer researcher – but is typical of the disappointing tendency in science to ignore contributions from outside the various "Golden Circles" that exist for various specialties.

Something that should elicit interest, though, is that this group has shown that a previously obscure 

"…population of non-cytolytic MHCIb/E-restricted CD8+ T regulatory cells [that] suppressed the activation of SIV positive CD4+ T-lymphocytes".

This is interesting because Louis Picker’s groups’ recent findings, announced at the recent HIVR4P conference in Cape Town, highlighted the involvement of MHC-E proteins in what amounted to a cure of SIV infection in macaques by a modified Rhesus cytomegalovirus (RhCMV) HIV vaccine vector (see here: http://www.iavireport.org/Blog/archive/2013/09/13/cmv-based-vaccine-can-clear-siv-infection-in-macaques.aspx). 

I tweeted at the time:

"Universal MHC-E-restricted CD8+ T cells – break all the rules for epitope recognition"

Could this be a link between the two mechanisms – both from way outside the orthodoxy, I will point out?

It will be interesting to see.

See on Scoop.it – Virology News

Posted in biotechnology, Evolution, General Virology, HIV, Vaccines: General, Viruses | Leave a Comment »

Ethical dilemma for Ebola drug trials

13 November, 2014

Public-health officials split on use of control groups in tests of experimental treatments.

With clinical trials of experimental Ebola treatments set to begin in December, public-health officials face a major ethical quandary: should some participants be placed in a control group that receives only standard symptomatic treatment, despite a mortality rate of around 70% for Ebola in West Africa?

Two groups planning trials in Guinea and Liberia are diverging on this point, and key decisions for both are likely to come this week. US researchers meet on 11 November at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, to discuss US-government sponsored trials. A separate group is gathering at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11 and 12 November to confer on both the US effort and trials organized by the WHO with help from African and European researchers and funded by the Wellcome Trust and the European Union.

Source: www.nature.com

I have to say – faced with a deadly disease, I think it is UNethical to have control / placebo arms of any trial.

Seriously: what about comparing ZMapp and immune serum, for example, with historical records of previous standard of care outcomes rather than directly?

I know if I were an Ebola patient, and I saw someone else getting the experimental therapy and I didn’t, that I would have a few things to say.

It’s not as if these therapies have not been tested in primates, after all – in fact, both the ChAd3 and MVA-based vaccines and ZMapp have been thoroughly tested in macaques, as have the other therapeutics, with no adverse events there.

I say if people say clearly that they want an experimental intervention, that they should get one: after all, the first use of immune serum was not done in a clinical trial, but rather as a last-ditch let’s-see-if-this-works intervention – yet its use does not seem controversial?

See on Scoop.it – Virology News

Posted in biofarming, biotechnology, Ebola, Ebola, Vaccines: General | 1 Comment »

Genetic Data Clarify Insect Evolution

13 November, 2014

Researchers create a phylogenetic tree of insects by comparing the sequences of 1,478 protein-coding genes among species.

Using an unprecedented quantity of genetic sequence information from insects, researchers have assembled a new phylogenetic tree showing when these invertebrates evolved and how they are related to each other. The tree suggests that insects evolved approximately 479 million years ago, around the time when plants colonized land, and that insects are most closely related to cave-dwelling crustaceans. The new study, published today (November 6) in Science, also confirms some previously suspected family groupings.

 

Source:

This bolsters my contention that it was the coevolution of insects and plants – because what else were insects going to eat? – that has driven much of viral evolution as well.

Because what else was there to infect? Basically, the only terrestrial organisms around some 450 million years ago were primitive green plants, insects, fungi and bacteria. So insects ate plants, fungi infected plants, viruses in insects entered plants and vice-versa; fungi got involved as well, and possibly even bacteria.

I have speculated on the possibilities here (http://www.mcb.uct.ac.za/tutorial/virorig.html), but it is pleasing to see new science that reinforces some of what I have been spreading about for some years now B-)

See on Scoop.it – Virology and Bioinformatics from Virology.ca

Posted in Evolution, General Virology, Viruses | 3 Comments »

Virology Africa 2015: consider yourselves notified!

7 November, 2014

Dear ViroBlogy and Virology News followers:

Anna-Lise Williamson and I plan to have another in our irregular series of “Virology Africa” conferences in November-December 2015, in Cape Town.

As previously, the conference will run over 3 days or so, possibly with associated workshops, and while the venue is not decided, we would like to base it at least partially in the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.

We also intend to cover the whole spectrum of virology, from human through animal to plant; clinical aspects and biotechnology.

We intend to make it as cheap as possible so that students can come. We will also not be inviting a slate of international speakers, as we have found that we always get quite an impressive slate without having to fund them fully.

It is also the intention to have a Plant Molecular Farming workshop – concentrating on plant-made vaccines – concurrently with the conference, in order to leverage existing bilateral travel grants with international partners. If anyone else has such grants that could be similarly leveraged, it would be greatly appreciated.

See you in Cape Town in 2015!

Ed + Anna-Lise

Posted in biofarming, biotechnology, Ebola, Ebola, Evolution, geminivirus, General, General Virology, HIV, Influenza viruses, Marine Viruses, plant viruses, prions, techniques, Vaccines: General, Viruses | 2 Comments »

The virus as art: Linda Stannard’s electron micrographs made colourful

3 November, 2014

Dr Linda Stannard was a virologist and electron micrsocopist of some repute, here at the University of Cape Town, when she retired some years back. She worked on a lot of interesting viruses, thanks to the diagnostic Virology lab at UCT’s Medical School as well as an eclectic mix of colleagues, and managed to create some stunning images of everything from TMV to poxviruses, herpesviruses, poliovirus, rotavirus, hepatitis B and adenoviruses.
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Then she retired – and took her image collection with her, to be recycled as imaginative colorised versions for commercial purposes.
So Anna-Lise Williamson commissioned her to beautify the rather sterile environs of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM), with the results that you see below. Her corridor and offices now look rather nice!

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We are opening a competition to name each virus: winner to get the satisfaction of knowing they’re smart.

Posted in General Virology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »