A study on almost four thousand people of African descent has identified a gene that acts as natural defense against HIV by limiting its replication in certain white blood cells. An international effort co-led by EPFL, Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory, and Imperial College London, it paves the way for new treatment strategies and underscores the importance of studying diverse ancestral populations to better address their specific medical needs and global health disparities.
Researchers find potential path to a broadly protective COVID-19 vaccine using T cells eurekalert.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eurekalert.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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BOSTON Immunity often calls to mind the adaptive immune response, made up of antibodies and T cells that learn to fight specific pathogens after infection or vaccination. But the immune system also has an innate immune response, which uses a set number of techniques to provide a swift, non-specialized response against pathogens or support the adaptive immune response.
In the past few years, however, scientists have found that certain parts of the innate immune response can, in some instances, also be trained in response to infectious pathogens, such as HIV. Xu Yu, MD, a Core Member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, and colleagues recently published a study in the
Johnson & Johnson filed for emergency use authorization Thursday for its newly-created Covid-19 vaccine â developed with researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School â after announcing results from its phase three clinical trials last Friday.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is now awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration, was reported to have a 66 percent efficacy rate in preventing moderate-to-severe infection and a 85 percent efficacy rate in protecting against severe infection from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The vaccine also was said to offer recipients âcomplete protectionâ against hospitalization and death, according to the company.