Skip to main content

How the immune system keeps the Epstein-Barr virus in check!!

A protein called PD-1, which is found on immune cells called CD8+ T cells, plays a key role in controlling infection with the Epstein-Barr virus, according to a study published May 30 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Christian Münz of the University of Zurich, and colleagues. The results from this study indicate that monitoring PD-1 signaling during future vaccination and immunotherapy studies may inform patient outcomes.
Since its discovery as a tumor virus by Epstein and colleagues in 1964, the Epstein-Barr virus has been implicated in many serious diseases. This virus is one of the most ubiquitous human pathogens in the world, persistently infecting more than 90% of the adult human population. It drives some of the strongest human CD8+ T cell responses, which can be observed during the initial symptomatic (or primary) stage of infection known as infectious mononucleosis. Despite high viral loads and prolonged CD8+ T cell stimulation during infectious mononucleosis, the Epstein-Barr virus enters latency and is under lifelong immune control in most individuals that experience this disease. Currently, in vivo studies are lacking to understand the comprehensive immune control of the Epstein-Barr virus in most healthy virus carriers, and, in particular, the characteristics of the CD8+ T cells involved in this process.
To address this gap in knowledge, Münz and colleagues examined CD8+ T cells in patients with active infectious mononucleosis, as well as in a well-characterized mouse model for Epstein-Barr virus infection. The researchers found that even though CD8+ T cells express multiple receptors that normally inhibit immune responses, including PD-1, during primary Epstein-Barr virus infection, these T cells appear to retain the ability to produce cytokines, kill infected cells, and proliferate. Importantly, blocking the PD-1 pathway leads to specific defects in controlling the Epstein-Barr virus and increases virus-induced tumor formation in infected animals, indicating that this pathway is important for viral control. This is in contrast to previous studies showing that PD-1 helps keep the body's immune responses in check, and releasing this inhibitory block is important for reinvigorating immune responses against cancer. Because PD-1 function is required to keep the Epstein-Barr virus in check, this study provides evidence against blocking inhibitory pathways in disease settings that require improved immune control of chronic virus infections.
"Although immune checkpoint blockade constitutes a major breakthrough in cancer therapy, our results suggest that reactivation of persistent virus infections should be monitored as a possible side effect at least during anti-PD-1 treatment." says Bithi Chatterjee, first author of the study.
Story Source:
Materials provided by PLOS. 
Note: Content may be edited

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Size matters: New data reveals cell size sparks genome awakening in embryos

Transitions are a hallmark of life. When dormant plants flower in the spring or when a young adult strikes out on their own, there is a shift in control. Similarly, there is a transition during early development when an embryo undergoes biochemical changes, switching from being controlled by maternal molecules to being governed by its own genome. For the first time, a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found in an embryo that activation of its genome does not happen all at once, instead it follows a specific pattern controlled primarily by the various sizes of its cells. The researchers published their results this week as the cover story in  Developmental Cell . In an early embryo undergoing cell division, maternally loaded RNA and proteins regulate the cell cycle. The genomes of the zygote -- a term for the fertilized egg -- are initially in sleep mode. However, at a point in the early life of the embryo, these zygotic nuclei "wake...
Post a Comment
Read more

Home births as safe as hospital births: International study suggests

A large international study led by McMaster University shows that low risk pregnant women who intend to give birth at home have no increased chance of the baby's perinatal or neonatal death compared to other low risk women who intend to give birth in a hospital. The results have been published by  The Lancet 's  EClinicalMedicine  journal. "More women in well-resourced countries are choosing birth at home, but concerns have persisted about their safety," said Eileen Hutton, professor emeritus of obstetrics and gynecology at McMaster, founding director of the McMaster Midwifery Research Centre and first author of the paper. "This research clearly demonstrates the risk is no different when the birth is intended to be at home or in hospital." The study examined the safety of place of birth by reporting on the risk of death at the time of birth or within the first four weeks, and found no clinically important or statistically different risk between home...
Post a Comment
Read more

Molecular adlayer produced by dissolving water-insoluble nanographene in water

Molecular adlayer produced by dissolving water-insoluble nanographene in water : "Nanographene incorporated micelle capsules" can be prepared by simply pulverizing and mixing nanographene with amphiphilic V-shaped anthracene molecules in water at room temperature. Even though nanographene is insoluble in water and organic solvents, Kumamoto University (KU) and Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) researchers have found a way to dissolve it in water. Using "molecular containers" that encapsulate water-insoluble molecules, the researchers developed a formation procedure for a nanographene adlayer, a layer that chemically interacts with the underlying substance, by just mixing the molecular containers and nanographene together in water. The method is expected to be useful for the fabrication and analysis of next-generation functional nanomaterials. Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in sheet form. It is lighter than metal wit...
Post a Comment
Read more