Category Archives: Immunology, inflammation, infectiology and microbiology

For the first time, scientists from the Institut Pasteur and Inserm have demonstrated the key role played by a particular molecule in intestinal infection.

Éradiquer le VIH de l’organisme demeure inaccessible. En raison notamment de stocks de virus cachés dans des cellules du système immunitaire : les macrophages. L’équipe de Philippe Benaroch vient de montrer qu’il était possible, grâce à des anticorps, de bloquer la libération de ces ”troupes ennemies” des compartiments internes où elles sont regroupées. Cette découverte, publiée à la une de la revue Journal of Experimental Medicine, ouvre un nouveau front dans la bataille contre le virus du sida.

Des chercheurs du laboratoire de Génétique Humaine des Maladies Infectieuses (Université Paris Descartes, Inserm), sous la direction du Dr Anne Puel et du Pr Jean-Laurent Casanova, en étroite collaboration avec des équipes françaises et étrangères*, viennent de démontrer l’implication du gène CARD9 dans la dermatophytose profonde.

A study carried out by teams from the Institut Pasteur, the Institut Cochin (Inserm, CNRS, Paris Descartes University), and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology at the University of Glasgow, may very well redefine current approaches to malaria and toxoplasmosis research in terms of treatment development.

The ANRS-12126 “Bophelo Pele” Project implemented in the township of Orange Farm in South Africa has confirmed the effectiveness of a large-scale program of voluntary medical male circumcision in prevention of heterosexually acquired HIV infection. The follow-up of over 3300 men shows a 57% to 61% reduction in the rate of new HIV infections in circumcised men compared with uncircumcised men.

Scientists at the Institut Pasteur and Inserm have identified the group of cells within the immune system that make immunotherapy treatment (therapeutic antibodies) effective. Immunotherapy is frequently used to treat breast cancer. In animal models they showed that neutrophils, the most common white blood cells in the body, are not only necessary but suffice on their own to eliminate tumor cells.

A team from INSERM Mixed Research Unit 966 “Morphogenesis and Antigenicity of HI and Hepatitis Viruses” headed by Martine Braibant and Francis Barin in Tours, has confirmed, with the support of the ANRS, that the AIDS virus has gradually adapted itself to the immune response of the human population during the course of the epidemic.