La tuberculose touche 1 million d'enfants chaque année dont moins de la moitié sont diagnostiqués et traités, ce qui entraîne plus de 200 000 décès par an. Dans une nouvelle étude, des chercheurs et cliniciens de l’Université de Bordeaux, de l'Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) de l’Inserm et MU-JHU (collaboration de recherche entre l’Université de Makerere et l’Université de John Hopkins en Ouganda) regroupés au sein du...
The ANRS DOXYVAC trial, conducted by a research team from the Paris public hospitals group (AP-HP), Université Paris Cité, Inserm and Sorbonne Université in collaboration with AIDES and Coalition PLUS, demonstrates the efficacy of both a meningococcal B vaccine in reducing the risk of gonorrhea infection and the use of doxycycline as preventive intervention for sexually transmitted infections when taken within 72h after sexual intercourse.
How can we increase the efficacy of vaccines used to protect against viral respiratory diseases such as influenza and COVID-19? Scientists from Inserm, CNRS and Aix-Marseille Université at the Center of Immunology Marseille-Luminy are opening up new prospects in the field, with the triggering of memory B cells directly in the lungs looking to be a promising avenue. At present, the vaccines are administered intramuscularly and do not trigger...
While bacteriophages – viruses that kill bacteria – could be a solution for fighting antibiotic-resistant pathogens, various obstacles stand in the way of their clinical development. To overcome them, researchers have developed a model to better predict the efficacy of phage therapy and possibly develop more robust clinical trials.
Seasonal influenza is a major public health issue because it continues to remain associated with considerable mortality, particularly among people who are elderly, immunocompromised, or both. With vaccination and current treatments still being of limited efficacy, research teams are trying to develop new therapeutic approaches. Scientists have shown that in a context of influenza infection, a metabolite called succinate, which is naturally present in the body, has an antiviral...
A very small percentage of people with HIV-1, known as "post-treatment controllers" (PTCs), are able to control their infection after interrupting all antiretroviral therapy. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms that govern their immune response is essential in order to develop HIV-1 vaccines, novel therapeutic strategies to achieve remission, or both. A recent study investigated the humoral immune response – also known as antibody-mediated immunity – in some PTCs in whom...
Scientists have discovered a mechanism that enables cells infected with Listeria monocytogenes to escape immune responses. This mechanism provides infected cells circulating in the blood with a higher probability of adhering to and infecting cells of cerebral vessels, thereby enabling bacteria to cross the blood-brain barrier and infect the brain.
Researchers report that the MICA gene is a new histocompatibility gene, in that it helps to better explain and predict the success or failure of a kidney transplant. Their findings have been published in Nature Medicine.
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and Inserm discovered that innate effector cells – group 3 innate lymphoid cells – act not only during the early stages of infection but can also be trained to develop an innate form of immunological memory that can protect the host during reinfection.
Monoclonal antibody therapy can be very effective in treating numerous illnesses, such as cancers, chronic inflammatory conditions, and infectious diseases. Researchers from Inserm, Université de Paris, Sorbonne Université and CNRS1 have designed and tested a new immunotherapy approach that uses pre-existing antibodies directed against the Epstein-Barr virus – part of the herpes family of viruses and present in over 95% of the world's population – in order to target...