Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

Breakthrough findings point to targets for Ebola virus drugs and vaccines

Described in the July 10, 2008 issue of the journal Nature, the research reveals the shape of the Ebola virus spike protein, which is necessary for viral entry into human cells, bound to an immune system antibody acting to neutralize the virus. The structure provides a major step forward in understanding how the deadly virus works, and may be useful in the development of potential Ebola virus vaccines, or treatments for those infected.

10 Jul 2008

Enzyme may explain how hepatitis C infection causes fatty liver

A key enzyme may explain how hepatitis C infection causes fatty liver - a buildup of excess fat in the liver, which can lead to life-threatening diseases such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, report University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and School of Medicine researchers.

10 Jul 2008

Enzymes are the way to a virus' 'heart'

The arrival of bluetongue virus (BTV) in the UK last year posed a major threat to the economy and the increasing temperatures of our changing climate mean it is here to stay.

9 Jul 2008

New understanding of how malaria parasite survives in and totally changes red blood cells

A new study-done on a scale an order of magnitude greater than anything previously attempted in the field of malaria-has uncovered an arsenal of proteins produced by the malaria parasite that allows it to hijack and remodel human red blood cells, leaving the oxygen-carrying cells stiff and sticky.

8 Jul 2008

Transgenic tomatoes as edible vaccine carriers for Alzheimer's disease

The humble tomato could be a suitable carrier for an oral vaccine against Alzheimer's disease, according to HyunSoon Kim from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) in Korea and colleagues from Digital Biotech Inc. and the Department of Biological Science at Wonkwang University.

8 Jul 2008

The paradox of anti-HIV vaginal microbicides

With no HIV/AIDS vaccine or cure in sight, vaginal microbicides now in clinical trials are one of the most promising weapons that will protect women against HIV infection. Yet these microbicides could be of more benefit to men than to women, according to a new study co-authored by the University of New South Wales' National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR) and UCLA.

7 Jul 2008

Sex during adolescence doesn't predict future HPV infection

Predicting a child's future is a near impossible task - today's straight-A student may not become tomorrow's doctor, and the school-yard bully may actually grow up to become a member of the Peace Corps.

7 Jul 2008

Fourth edition of the British National Formulary for Children

The fourth edition of the British National Formulary for Children (BNFC) arms health professionals with the information they need to tackle recent controversial health concerns in young people, including rising rates of teenage pregnancy and the increasing incidence of sexually transmitted infections.

3 Jul 2008

Discovery of new drug candidates to combat bird flu

As the specter of a worldwide outbreak of avian or "bird flu" lingers, health officials recognize that new drugs are desperately needed since some strains of the virus already have developed resistance to the current roster of anti-flu remedies.

2 Jul 2008

Potential new way to vaccinate against avian flu

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a potential new way to vaccinate against avian flu. By delivering vaccine via DNA constructed to build antigens against flu, along with a minute electric pulse, researchers have immunized experimental animals against various strains of the virus.

1 Jul 2008

Yeast-based vaccine induces immune responses and reduces tumor size in mice

Scientists have found that vaccination with a heat-killed, non-toxic yeast that is genetically engineered to manufacture a common tumor protein can induce specific and repeated anti-tumor immune responses in mice.

1 Jul 2008

Bavarian Nordic files patent infringement suit against Oxford BioMedica

Bavarian Nordic has filed a patent infringement suit against Oxford BioMedica plc, Biomedica, Inc., and Oxford BioMedica Ltd., in the United States District Court of the Southern District of California.

30 Jun 2008

New approach to HIV vaccine research taps Rochester expertise

A new national effort to create a vaccine against HIV will include work by a University of Rochester Medical Center rheumatologist who is an expert on a portion of the immune system that has sometimes gotten short shrift in the fight against HIV.

30 Jun 2008

A safe and efficient gene delivery method that doesn't involve viruses

The potential of gene therapy has long been hampered by the risks associated with using viruses as vectors to deliver healthy genes, but a new University of Georgia study helps bring scientists closer to a safe and efficient gene delivery method that doesn't involve viruses.

26 Jun 2008

Sanofi Pasteur inaugurates high-tech vaccine production facility in France

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, announced today the inauguration of a high-tech vaccine production facility in France to respond to soaring demand worldwide.

25 Jun 2008

NIAID creates HIV vaccine discovery branch

To accelerate the translation of basic discoveries about HIV into advances in vaccine design and evaluation, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has formed a new Vaccine Discovery Branch within the Vaccine Research Program in the Division of AIDS (DAIDS).

25 Jun 2008

New HIV/AIDS threat in India found among youth working at call centers

Unprotected sex with multiple partners among young staff in India's call centers has emerged as a new HIV/AIDS threat in the country, Suniti Solomon, the researcher who detected the first HIV case in India in 1986, told the International Congress on Infectious Diseases on Saturday, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports.

24 Jun 2008

Jefferson scientists discover way to immunize mice against metastatic disease

Taking advantage of the fact that the intestines have a separate immune system from the rest of the body, scientists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia have found a way to immunize mice against the development of metastatic disease.

24 Jun 2008

FDA approves Kinrix - combination vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio diseases in one shot

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Kinrix [Diphtheria and Tetanus Toxoids and Acellular Pertussis Adsorbed and Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine], the first combination vaccine to offer protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio diseases in one shot.

24 Jun 2008

Neglected infections of poverty in the U.S. are disabling hundreds of thousands of Americans every year

An analysis published June 25th in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases highlights that diseases very similar to those plaguing Africa, Asia, and Latin America are also occurring frequently among the poorest people in the United States, especially women and children. These diseases - the "neglected infections of poverty" - are caused by chronic and debilitating parasitic, bacterial, and congenital infections.

24 Jun 2008