Search

Vaccines against bovine babesiosis must, ideally, induce a humoral immune response characterized by neutralizing antibodies against conserved epitopes and a cellular Th1 immune response. In Babesia bovis , proteins such as AMA-1, MSA-2c, and RAP-1 have been characterized and antibodies against these proteins have shown a neutralizing effect, demonstrating the implication of B and T-cell epitopes in the immune response. There is evidence of the existence of B and T-cell epitopes in these proteins, however, it remains to be defined, the presence of conserved peptides in strains from around the world containing B and T-cell epitopes, and their role in the generation of a long-lasting immunity. The aim in this paper was to identify peptides of Babesia bovis AMA-1, MSA-2c, and RAP-1 that elicit a neutralizing and long-lasting Th1 immune response. Peptides containing B-cell epitopes of AMA-1, MSA-2c and RAP-1, were identified. The immune response generated by each peptide was characterized in cattle. All peptides tested induced antibodies that recognized intraerythrocytic parasites, however, only 5 peptides generated neutralizing antibodies in vitro : P2AMA-1 (6.28%), P3MSA-2c (10.27%), P4MSA-2c (10.42%), P1RAP-1 (32.45%), and P4RAP-1 (36.98%). When these neutralizing antibodies were evaluated as a pool, the inhibition percentage of invasion increased to 52.37%. When the T cellular response was evaluated, two peptides: P3MSA2c and P2AMA1 induced a higher percentage (>70%) of activated CD4 +/CD45RO+ T cells than unstimulated cells. Additionally, both peptides induced the production of gamma interferon (IFN−) in PBMCs from vaccinated cattle after one year proving the implication of a long-lasting Th1 immune response. In conclusion, we identified conserved peptides containing B and T-cell epitopes in antigens of B. bovis that elicit a Th1 immune response and showed evidence that peptides from the same protein elicit different immune responses, which has implication for vaccine development in bovine babesiosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zukamu granules (ZKMG), as the preferred drug for the treatment of colds in Uygur medical theory, has been used for 1500 years. It is also widely used in China and included in the National Essential Drugs List (2018 edition). It has unique anti-inflammatory, antitussive and analgesic effects. Aiming at the research of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with the characteristics of overall regulation of body diseases and the immune regulation mechanism with the concept of integrity, this paper put forward the integrated application of network composite module analysis and animal experiment verification to study the immune regulation mechanism of TCM. The active components and targets of ZKMG were predicted, and network module analysis was performed to explore their potential immunomodulatory mechanisms. Then acute lung injury (ALI) mice and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) rats were used as pathological models to observe the effects of ZKMG on the pathological conditions of infected ALI and IPF rats, determine the contents of Th1, Th2 characteristic cytokines and immunoglobulins, and study the intervention of GATA3/STAT6 signal pathway. The results of network composite module analysis showed that ZKMG contained 173 pharmacodynamic components and 249 potential targets, and four key modules were obtained. The immunomodulatory effects of ZKMG were related to T cell receptor signaling pathway. The validation results of bioeffects that ZKMG could carry out bidirectional immune regulation on Th1/Th2 cytokines in the stage of ALI and IPF, so as to play the role of regulating immune homeostasis and organ protection. The network composite module analysis and verification method is an exploration to study the immune regulation mechanism of TCM by combining the network module prediction analysis with animal experiments, which provides a reference for subsequent research. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since inactivated influenza vaccines mainly confer protective immunity by inducing strain-specific antibodies to the viral hemagglutinin, these vaccines only afford protection against infection with antigenically matching influenza virus strains. Due to the continuous emergence of antigenic drift variants of seasonal influenza viruses and the inevitable future emergence of pandemic influenza viruses, there is considerable interest in the development of influenza vaccines that induce broader protective immunity. It has long been recognized that influenza virus-specific CD8 + T cells directed to epitopes located in the relatively conserved internal proteins can cross-react with various subtypes of influenza A virus. This implies that these CD8 + T cells, induced by prior influenza virus infections or vaccinations, could afford heterosubtypic immunity. Furthermore, influenza virus-specific CD4 + T cells have been shown to be important in protection from infection, either via direct cytotoxic effects or indirectly by providing help to B cells and CD8 + T cells. In the present paper, we review the induction of virus-specific T cell responses by influenza virus infection and the role of virus-specific CD4 + and CD8 + T cells in viral clearance and conferring protection from subsequent infections with homologous or heterologous influenza virus strains. Furthermore, we discuss vector-based vaccination strategies that aim at the induction of a cross-reactive virus-specific T cell response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]