Editorial, Volume 7, Issue 3

Editorial, Volume 7, Issue 3

Number

3

Issue Date

2016-03-01

Articles

Publication

Memory T cells established by seasonal human influenza A infection cross-react with avian influenza A (H5N1) in healthy individuals

(2008-10-01) Simmons, Cameron

The threat of avian influenza A (H5N1) infection in humans remains a global health concern. Current influenza vaccines stimulate antibody responses against the surface glycoproteins but are ineffective against strains that have undergone significant antigenic variation. An alternative approach is to stimulate pre-existing memory T cells established by seasonal human influenza A infection that could cross-react with H5N1 by targeting highly conserved internal proteins. To determine how common cross-reactive T cells are, we performed a comprehensive ex vivo analysis of cross-reactive CD4+ and CD8+ memory T cell responses to overlapping peptides spanning the full proteome of influenza A/Viet Nam/CL26/2005 (H5N1) and influenza A/New York/232/2004 (H3N2) in healthy individuals from the United Kingdom and Viet Nam. Memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells isolated from the majority of participants exhibited human influenza-specific responses and showed cross-recognition of at least one H5N1 internal protein. Participant CD4+ and CD8+ T cells recognized multiple synthesized influenza peptides, including peptides from the H5N1 strain. Matrix protein 1 (M1) and nucleoprotein (NP) were the immunodominant targets of cross-recognition. In addition, cross-reactive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells recognized target cells infected with recombinant vaccinia viruses expressing either H5N1 M1 or NP. Thus, vaccine formulas inducing heterosubtypic T cell-mediated immunity may confer broad protection against avian and human influenza A viruses.

Publication

Preservation of a critical epitope core region is associated with the high degree of flaviviral cross-reactivity exhibited by a dengue-specific CD4(+) T cell clone

(2008-04-01) Simmons, Cameron

Dengue is a member of the Flaviviridae, a large group of related viruses some of which co-circulate in certain regions (e.g. dengue and Yellow fever in South America). Immune responses cross-reactive between different dengue serotypes are important in the pathogenesis of dengue disease but it is not known whether previous infection with one flavivirus might affect the clinical course of subsequent infections with other members of the family. CD4+ T cells have been shown to be important in the production of cytokines in response to dengue infection and can demonstrate significant epitope cross-reactivity. Here, we describe the generation and characterisation of CD4+ T cell clones from a patient experiencing acute dengue infection. These clones were DRB1*15+ and recognised epitope variants not only within other dengue viruses but certain other flaviviruses. This cross-reactivity was dependent upon the presence of a five-amino acid core region, consistent with structural observations of class II MHC binding to TCR demonstrating that only a subset of residues within an epitope bound to a class II molecule are "read out" by the TCR. This capacity of CD4+ T cell clones to recognise a given epitope despite considerable variation between viruses may be of pathological significance, particularly in regions where related viruses co-circulate.

Description

The Journal of Financial Therapy would not exist without the time and efforts of our excellent reviewers. You may be asking, “what does a reviewer do?” JFT is a unique scholarly publication because papers require the rigor of academic standards, but also must be translatable to non-researchers. It is not uncommon for researchers and practitioners to fail to communicate effectively with one another because the two groups speak what seems like different languages. Therefore, it is the goal of JFT to publish quality scholarly research and to emphasize the practicality of the research.

Keywords

Financial Therapy
editorial
Journal of Financial Therapy
peer review

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