immunology

A clinical trial funded by Pfizer has tested a new influenza vaccine based on messenger RNA (mRNA). The phase 3 trial included more than 18,000 people aged 18 to 64, half of whom received the new compound and the other half a conventional vaccine. The results indicate that the mRNA vaccine was more effective, but it also caused more adverse reactions: for example, 5.6% of the volunteers who received it developed a fever, compared to 1.7% of those who received the conventional vaccine. The study is published in the journal NEJM. 

Even if they have not been diagnosed with coeliac disease or wheat allergy, one in 10 people say they experience symptoms – gastrointestinal, fatigue or headache – after eating wheat or other foods containing gluten, according to a meta-analysis published in the journal Gut. This sensitivity is strongly associated with being female, psychological distress and irritable bowel syndrome, according to the study.

The Karolinska Institute has awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi for describing how the immune system is regulated so as not to harm us. His groundbreaking discoveries on peripheral immune tolerance have spurred the development of new treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterised by progressive loss of motor neurons. An international team has discovered evidence that ALS may have an autoimmune component, meaning that the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells, a hypothesis that had been considered by the scientific community. The study shows that inflammatory immune cells—called CD4+ T cells—attack certain proteins that are part of the nervous system in people with ALS. ‘These findings highlight the potential of therapeutic strategies aimed at improving regulatory T cells,’ the authors note in the research, published in Nature.

Respiratory viruses trigger metastatic breast cancer cells to proliferate in lungs in mouse models of breast cancer, a study in Nature indicates. These findings are supported by human observational data. 

An Australian team has conducted a study involving mice and humans that suggests that vaccine boosters would be more effective if administered in the same arm as the previous dose, at least in the short term. However, other recent research has pointed in the opposite direction. The results are published in the journal Cell.

If immunisation rates continue to decline over an extended period, measles and even other eradicated diseases—such as rubella and polio—could re-emerge in the United States at endemic levels, according to a new study published today in the journal JAMA.

In mice, a therapy based on editing regulatory T-cells can suppress an immune reaction against gluten, according to a study in Science Translational Medicine. Studies in animals with coeliac disease would be needed to assess the efficacy of this cell therapy in restoring gluten tolerance, the authors say. 

A CNIC research team has identified a population of skin neutrophils that reinforce the physical protection of the tissue against infection. These immune cells are known for their microbicidal role, and the study published in Nature reveals that they also produce an extracellular matrix that reinforces the physical barrier of the skin.

According to a new study published in Science, a machine learning-based artificial intelligence (AI) system - called Mal-ID - can decipher an individual's history of infections and diseases in the immune system. The authors say this provides a powerful tool with the potential to accurately diagnose autoimmune disorders, viral infections and vaccine responses.