Search results for "immunostimulation"
showing 4 items of 4 documents
Prospective Cancer Therapies Using Stimuli‐Responsive DNA Nanostructures
2021
Financial support by the Emil Aaltonen Foundation, the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation, the Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation, Academy of Finland (grants no. 317042 and 331151), the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation and the Vilho, Yrjö and Kalle Väisälä Foundation of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters is gratefully acknowledged Nanostructures based on DNA self-assembly present an innovative way to address the increasing need for target-specific delivery of therapeutic molecules. Currently, most of the chemotherapeutics being used in clinical practice have undesired and exceedingly high off-target toxicity. This is a challenge in particular for small molecules, and hence, developing robust and ef…
Bioconjugation of Small Molecules to RNA Impedes Its Recognition by Toll-Like Receptor 7
2017
A fundamental mechanism of the innate immune system is the recognition, via extra- and intracellular pattern recognition receptors, of pathogen-associated molecular patterns. A prominent example is represented by foreign nucleic acids, triggering the activation of several signaling pathways. Among these, the endosomal toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) is known to be activated by single stranded RNA (ssRNA), which can be specifically influenced through elements of sequence structure and posttranscriptional modifications. Furthermore, small molecules TLR7 agonists (smTLRa) are applied as boosting adjuvants in vaccination processes. In this context, covalent conjugations between adjuvant and vaccine…
How Can We Improve Vaccination Response in Old People? Part I: Targeting Immunosenescence of Innate Immunity Cells
2022
Vaccination, being able to prevent millions of cases of infectious diseases around the world every year, is the most effective medical intervention ever introduced. However, immunosenescence makes vaccines less effective in providing protection to older people. Although most studies explain that this is mainly due to the immunosenescence of T and B cells, the immunosenescence of innate immunity can also be a significant contributing factor. Alterations in function, number, subset, and distribution of blood neutrophils, monocytes, and natural killer and dendritic cells are detected in aging, thus potentially reducing the efficacy of vaccines in older individuals. In this paper, we focus on t…
Characterizing the bacterial fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare, and some factors affecting its pathogenicity
2010
Flavobacterium columnare is a bacterial pathogen of fresh water fish causing lethal columnaris disease worldwide. At Finnish fish farms, columnaris disease has occurred since the early 1980s, and is a serious problem in salmonid farming in Finland. Currently, the only effective treatment is with antibiotics. Factors related to the pathogenicity of F. columnare, transmission of columnaris disease and the immunity of salmonids to columnaris infections are poorly known. F. columnare strains isolated from Finnish fish farms were characterized geno- and phenotypically, virulence and transmission experiments were conducted, and the efficacy of two immunostimulants against columnaris infections in…