Search results for "Immunogenicity"

2019

Abstract Type B Coxsackieviruses (CVBs) belong to the enterovirus genus, and they cause both acute and chronic diseases in humans. CVB infections usually lead to flu-like symptoms but can also result in more serious diseases such as myocarditis, aseptic meningitis and life-threatening multi-organ infections in young infants. Thus, CVBs have long been considered as important targets of future vaccines. We have previously observed CVB1 capsid disintegration and virus concentration decrease with 12-day long formalin inactivation protocol. Here a scalable ion exchange chromatography purification method was developed, and purified CVB1 was inactivated with UV-C or formalin. Virus morphology and …

Enhanced immunogenicity of multivalent MUC1 glycopeptide antitumour vaccines based on hyperbranched polymers.

2015

Enhancing the immunogenicity of an antitumour vaccine still poses a major challenge. It depends upon the selected antigen and the mode of its presentation. We here describe a fully synthetic antitumour vaccine, which addresses both aspects. For the antigen, a tumour-associated MUC1 glycopeptide as B-cell epitope was synthesised and linked to the immunostimulating T-cell epitope P2 derived from tetanus toxoid. The MUC1-P2 conjugate is presented multivalently on a hyperbranched polyglycerol to the immune system. In comparison to a related vaccine of lower multivalency, this vaccine exposing more antigen structures on the hyperbranched polymer induced significantly stronger immune responses in…

Wharton’s Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells as Candidates for Beta Cells Regeneration: Extending the Differentiative and Immunomodulatory Benefits of Adul…

2010

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are uniquely capable of crossing germinative layers borders (i.e. are able to differentiate towards ectoderm-, mesoderm- and endoderm-derived cytotypes) and are viewed as promising cells for regenerative medicine approaches in several diseases. Type I diabetes therapy should potentially benefit from such differentiated cells: the search for alternatives to organ/islet transplantation strategies via stem cells differentiation is an ongoing task, significant goals having been achieved in most experimental settings (e.g. insulin production and euglycaemia restoration), though caution is still needed to ensure safe and durable effects in vivo. MSC are obtainable in …

Immunogenicity of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in BALB/c mice: identification of an H2-Kd-restricted CTL epitope

2000

Enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) is a novel marker gene product, which is readily detectable using techniques of fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, or macroscopic imaging. In the present studies, we have examined the immunogenicity of EGFP in murine models. A stable transfectant of the transplantable CMS4 sarcoma of BALB/c origin expressing EGFP, CMS4-EGFP-Zeo, was generated. Splenocytes harvested from mice immunized with a recombinant adenovirus expressing EGFP (Ad-EGFP) were restimulated in vitro with CMS4-EGFP-Zeo. Effector lymphocytes displayed strong cytotoxicity against CMS4-EGFP-Zeo, but not against mock-transfected CMS4-Zeo tumor cells. A number of candidate H2-Kd-bin…

Safety and Immunogenicity of a Vero Cell Culture-Derived Whole-Virus Influenza A(H5N1) Vaccine in a Pediatric Population

2013

BACKGROUND: Children are highly vulnerable to infection with novel influenza viruses. It is essential to develop candidate pandemic influenza vaccines that are safe and effective in the pediatric population. METHODS: Infants and children aged 6-35 months and 3-8 years, respectively, were randomized to receive 2 immunizations with a 7.5-µg or 3.75-µg hemagglutinin (HA) dose of a nonadjuvanted whole-virus A/Vietnam(H5N1) vaccine; adolescents aged 9-17 years received a 7.5-µg dose only. A subset of participants received a booster immunization with an A/Indonesia(H5N1) vaccine approximately 1 year later. HA and neuraminidase antibody responses were assessed. RESULTS: Vaccination was safe and we…

Behavior of a Short preS1 Epitope on the Surface of Hepatitis B Core Particles

1999

The major immunodominant region of hepatitis B core particles is widely recognized as the most prospective target for the insertion of foreign epitopes, ensuring their maximal antigenicity and immunogenicity. This region was mapped around amino acid residues 79-81, which were shown by electron cryo-microscopy to be located on the tips of the spikes protruding from the surface of hepatitis B core shells. Here we tried to expose a model sequence, the short immunodominant hepatitis B preS1 epitope 31-DPAFR-35, onto the tip of the spike, with simultaneous deletion of varying stretches from the major immunodominant region of the HBc molecule. Accessibility to the monoclonal anti-preS1 antibody M…

Priming of cytotoxic T cell responses to exogenous hepatitis B virus core antigen is B cell dependent

2003

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) core antigen (HBcAg) has a unique ability to bind a high frequency of naive human and murine B cells. The role of HBcAg-binding naive B cells in the immunogenicity of HBcAg is not clear. The HBcAg-binding properties of naive B cells were characterized using HBcAg particles with mutated spike region (residues 76-85) sequences. Deletion of residues 76-85 (HBcDelta76-85) destroyed naive B cell binding, whereas deletion of residues 79-85 did not. HBcAg particles with an Ile instead of the natural Ala at position 80 did not bind naive B cells, whereas reversion of Ile80--Ala restored B cell binding. Destroying the B cell-binding ability of HBcAg had a marginal effect …

Human Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells express several immunomodulatory molecules both in their naïve state and hepatocyte-like differe…

2011

Wharton’s jelly (WJ), the main constituent of umbilical cord, is a reliable source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). WJ-MSC show unique ability in crossing lineage borders. As other extraembryonic mesenchymal populations (placenta and amnionderived cells), WJ-MSC express several immunomodulatory molecules, essential during the initial phases of human development. Indeed, our recent work pointed out the expression of non-classical HLA molecules as HLA-G in such cells, together with a favorable combination of B7 costimulators. Very few data in literature suggest that some of the immune features of the naïve cells are maintained after performing differentiation. The aim of this work was extendi…

The immunogenicity of human and murine cytomegaloviruses.

2000

Cytomegaloviruses are strictly host-species-specific. During an aeon of co-evolution, virus and host have found an arrangement: the productive and cytopathogenic cycle of viral gene expression is held in check by the host's immune response. As a consequence, cytomegalovirus disease is restricted to the immunocompromised host. The virus has evolved strategies to avoid its elimination and eventually hides itself in a silent state, referred to as 'viral latency'. Redundant molecular mechanisms have been identified by which cytomegaloviruses interfere with antigen presentation pathways to 'evade' immune control. In the annual period covered by this review, the IE1 protein was revisited as an im…

Immune Response to Tumor Stress Proteins—Implications for Vaccine Development Against Cancer

2000

Publisher Summary Stress proteins or heat shock proteins (HSP) belong to the most conserved proteins. The conservation of stress proteins stems from their basic and vital role in cells: Prevention of protein aggregation under stress and physiological conditions. Stress proteins are important target antigens in autoimmune diseases and during certain bacterial infections. This chapter reviews the immunogenicity of stress proteins of tumor cells, stimulation of T cell response by tumor stress proteins and implications this Tcell response have for immunity against the tumor or autoimmunity. The expression of stress proteins in cancer is altered. An overexpression of constitutively expressed or …