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The present shortage in the US influenza vaccine supply has finally focused public attention on recurrent problems faced by public health officials in ensuring the availability of many vaccines.
The natural history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has been altered through the development of drugs targeting two key viral enzymes, reverse transcriptase and protease. Continued advances from basic science have unearthed many other points of attack in the HIV life cycle that could lead to new classes of HIV therapeutics.
As part of the national effort in the US to protect civilians from bioterrorist attacks, the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) was charged with the development of diverse research resources. The NIAID Resources for Biodefense Research program is forging new collaborations between immunologists and infectious disease experts and is reinvigorating research in the general area of immune protection against pathogenic infection.
The combination of bioinformatic and biological approaches constitutes a powerful method for identifying gene regulatory elements. High-quality genome sequences are available in public databases for several vertebrate species. Comparative cross-species sequence analysis of these genomes shows considerable conservation of noncoding sequences in DNA. Biological analyses show that an unexpectedly high number of the conserved sequences correspond to functional cis-regulatory regions that influence gene transcription. Because research biologists are often unfamiliar with the bioinformatic resources at their disposal, this commentary discusses how to integrate biological and bioinformatic methods in the discovery of gene regulatory regions and includes a tutorial on widely available comparative genomics programs.
The spiraling costs of asthma treatment seem set to continue rising, given the equivocal performance of the latest generation of specific anti-inflammatory drugs in trials in adult asthmatics. We argue that the continuation of this trend is inevitable unless there is a substantial realignment of entrenched drug development policy in the pharmaceutical industry and a parallel shift in licensing policy by regulatory authorities to encourage the development of drugs capable of halting the progression from acute to chronic asthma when the disease first manifests in childhood. The theoretical framework for such an approach, including proof-of-principle data from studies in children with early-stage disease and a range of candidate drugs, already exists. What is needed is informed debate on the risks versus potential benefits of this approach.
Vaccination is a marvel of scientific endeavor that benefits the masses. Yet the laissez-faire economy may not provide a sufficient push for vaccine research and development. The current climate that drives this globally important venture is examined here.
Vaccination has attracted controversy at every stage of its development and use. Ethical debates should consider its basic goal, which is to benefit the community at large rather than the individual.
An ideal vaccine has certain biological and physical characteristics. Technological advances have provided new strategies that may help the design of such a vaccine.
Although the field of regulatory T cells has experienced a resurgence in recent years, the term 'suppressor T cell' has remained taboo. The explanation for this contradictory reaction to similar phenomena can be traced to the historical discovery and definition of each cell type.
Eliciting broadly neutralizing antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus could bring closer the goal of a successful AIDS vaccine. Here the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative Neutralizing Antibody Consortium discusses current approaches to overcome the problems faced.
Dendritic cell–based vaccines have been rapidly transferred from the laboratory to the clinic. As the full potential of these cells has not yet been entirely exploited, many strategies could improve the immunogenicity of these vaccines.
