Latest Articles - June 2016

Zika infection lingers longer in pregnancy, monkey study finds

By: Catharine Paddock PhD

A study of monkeys finds that infection with Zika virus protects against future infection and clears from the body quite quickly - within around 10 days. However, in pregnancy, the virus can take three to seven times longer to clear.

In the journal Nature Communications, researchers report how they are establishing rhesus macaque monkeys at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center as a model for researching the progress of Zika virus infections in people.

They note that what they have shown in the monkey model mirrors much of what has been observed in studies of humans.

Parkinson's disease: New protein discovery could fuel new treatments

By: Honor Whiteman

New treatments for Parkinson's disease could be in sight, after researchers reveal how inhibiting the activity of a specific protein in the brain could stop or slow development of the disease. What is more, there is already a drug approved for the treatment of leukemia that can block the protein in question.

Study co-author Dr. Ted Dawson, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, and colleagues publish their findings in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive neurological disorder characterized by movement problems.

Symptoms of PD include tremors in the hands, arms, legs, jaw, and face, problems with balance and coordination, stiffness of the limbs and trunk, and slowed movement. These symptoms worsen as the disease progresses.

Gut bacteria may have role in bile duct cancer

By: Catharine Paddock PhD

An international group of researchers has found a link between gut bacteria in the bile duct and a raised risk of developing bile duct cancer. The team hopes the finding will lead to new, more targeted therapies for the rare and aggressive disease.

The team, including researchers from Khon Kaen University in Thailand and the Genome Institute of Singapore, reports the discovery in the journal EBioMedicine.

It is a well-established fact that disease arises from interactions between our cells and our environment.

However, what is becoming increasingly clear is that a significant amount of this cell-environment interaction occurs inside the body, where cells interact with our microbiome - the trillions of bacteria that live inside us.

Could mimicking infants' immune response produce a faster-acting HIV vaccine?

By: Catharine Paddock PhD

An HIV vaccine based on how the adult immune system responds to the virus could take a long time to build protection, say researchers, who after looking at how HIV affects infants, suggest mimicking their immune response may offer a better model.

In the journal Cell, researchers led by a team from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, describe how broadly neutralizing antibodies to HIV can arise in infants within a year after infection - much more quickly than in adults.

Even though scientists have accumulated mountains of information on HIV, the prospect of a protective vaccine remains elusive. For a vaccine to be effective, it must act relatively quickly to trigger an immune response with the right mix of antibodies to eliminate the virus.

Moreover, an effective HIV immune response also adapts to the virus during the infection, and it tweaks its initial antibody response by adding antibodies that have undergone "somatic hypermutation."