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As part of the innate immune system natural killer cells (NK cells) play an important role in immune responses. For a long time they have been known as the first line of defense in the fight against infectious diseases. Therefore, researchers assumed that the body needs as many active NK cells as possible. However, scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) have now shown that the principle the more the better does not apply to this type of immune cells.

Adenoviruses commonly infect humans, causing colds, flu-like symptoms and sometimes even death, but now UC San Francisco researchers have discovered that a new species of adenovirus can spread from primate to primate, and potentially from monkey to human.

Mahyar Nouri-Shirazi, DVM, PhD, associate professor in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, has identified an immunologic agent that shows promise for optimizing vaccines efficacy, particularly in smokers, and in children or adults exposed to environmental tobacco. Shirazi aims to determine how this agent in contrast to other agents already in vaccines or late clinical development can restore vaccine responsiveness in nicotine-exposed hosts.

Diagnosing the presence of Yersinia pestis, the cause of plague, may soon be easier than ever before. Scientists working with Peter Seeberger, director at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPIKG) in Potsdam and professor at the Freie Universität Berlin, have come up with a simple, inexpensive and reliable method of detecting the bacterium. The research team, specializing in glycochemistry glycobiology, first identified and synthesized an oligosaccharide structure on bacterial surface before combining it with a protein to heighten the immunological effect. The presence of antibodies against this surface glycan in the blood of infected patients can be a biomarker of diagnostic value in Yersinia pestis infections.