How do viruses that cause chronic infections, such as HIV or hepatitis c virus, manage to outsmart their hosts' immune systems? The answer to that question has long eluded scientists, but new research from McGill University has uncovered a molecular mechanism that may be a key piece of the puzzle. The discovery could provide new targets for treating a wide range of diseases.
An international team of researchers has shown that two different compounds-one, an older malaria drug, the other a common laboratory dye with known antimalarial properties-can safely and effectively be added to treatment regimens to block transmission of the most common form of malaria in Africa.
Cellular models of fetal and adult intestinal tissues generated by investigators from the Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center (MIBRC) at MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) have identified differences in the immune response to natural intestinal bacteria at different developmental ages. The findings, described in a paper published online in Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, support the use of this model to investigate conditions including necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a dangerous gastrointestinal disease affecting premature infants.
Research on HIV over the past decade has led to many promising ideas for vaccines to prevent infection by the AIDS virus, but very few candidate vaccines have been tested in clinical trials. One reason for this is the technical difficulty of manufacturing vaccines based on the envelope proteins of the virus, according to Phil Berman, who led development of a major component of the only vaccine to have shown any efficacy against HIV in a clinical trial.
Millions of unapproved antibiotics are being sold in India each year, according to a new study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. The study also revealed that multinational pharmaceutical companies continue to manufacture dozens of unapproved formulations, despite the global health crisis of rising antimicrobial resistance.
