Two new polio vaccine candidates designed to prevent the emergence of vaccine-derived virulent polioviruses have been shown to induce immune responses in mice, raising the possibility of eradicating the virus. For that to happen, the transmission of all poliovirus serotypes must be blocked. However, the vaccine used to control polio prevents disease but does not stop transmission, enabling the virus to mutate and regain virulence.
La Crosse virus (LACV) is one of the most common causes of arboviral encephalitis in children, which causes CNS damage owing to infection in children, but not adults. LACV pathology indicates significant breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, which is strengthened during developmental transition from child to adult.
Tuberculosis (TB) is the 13th leading cause of death in the world, and it is rising together with the increased prevalence of drug-resistant TB in many countries. The Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is the only available TB vaccine, and it has been given to more people than any other vaccine. While the BCG vaccine has saved tens of millions of lives, it confers suboptimal protection against pulmonary TB as it is limited to providing protection only until early childhood. Significantly, the BCG vaccine is administered intradermally to confer exceptional mucosal immunity as compared to most other vaccines, which are more commonly administered intramuscularly. Novel strategies to improve the duration of TB mucosal immunity are urgently needed.
Bronchiectasis is an irreversible chronic respiratory condition arising from secondary infections that presents as chronic cough with daily purulent sputum due to a permanent abnormal widening of bronchi.
Aegis Life Inc. and its parent company Entos Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Entos) have entered into a grant agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the area of infectious disease.
Scientists from the Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute and collaborators have reported the application of a multispecific, multiaffinity antibody (Multabody, MB) platform derived from the human apoferritin protomer to enable the multimerization of antibody fragments against SARS-CoV-2. These MBs showed high potency to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 even at lower concentrations than their corresponding MAb counterparts.
Suzhou Spring-Sea Bio-Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. has prepared and tested prodrugs of N4-hydroxycytidine (NHC) that are reported to be useful for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19).
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