StemCell Therapy

Researchers sought to delineate what benefit moderate-intensity exercise could have among the PD population, particularly whether this intervention may assist in protecting against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, through strengthening the immune system. Moreover, they wanted to assess its impact on modifying the immune system and improving health outcomes in PwP.

In first examining how exercise may modify the immune system, researchers note that both cross-sectional and longitudinal data have associated moderate-intensity exercise with fewer upper respiratory tract infections.

A common theme across groups, though, is that an increased level of fitness due to exercise training is associated with lower circulating concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines and higher circulating concentration of anti-inflammatory cytokines, expanded the researchers.

They highlighted that through exercise, an optimal balance may be achieved between pro- and anti-inflammatory benefits, caused by an initial increase in immunosurveillance and an overall reduction in excessive local pro-inflammatory markers.

Next, researchers examined the role of exercise on health outcomes among PwP. In prior animal models, evidence has shown that exercises anti-inflammatory properties can potentially be harnessed in a neuroprotective role, which would then mitigate the neuroinflammation known to occur in the immune systems of those with PwP.

Importantly, mouse models provide mechanistic insight into how exercise promotes change at the molecular, cellular, and neural network levels, they wrote.

In human models, the majority of studies of PwP show that sustained moderate exercise can improve QOL among PwP and is likely to assist in down-regulating neuroinflammation. However, the researchers noted that understanding how exercise promotes neuroplasticity in humans has been difficult, with 2 studies currently underway examining this topic.

Lastly, researchers addressed whether exercise could provide protection against COVID-19. They suggested 4 responses to the immune system that exercise could provide, including balancing pro- and anti-inflammatory benefits in preventing acute inflammatory tissue damage, restoring damaged lung tissue, preventing and reducing reactive oxygen species, and providing a targeted decrease in the main health risk factors of COVID-19.

In managing risk and potential presence of comorbidities associated with adverse COVID-19 outcomes, such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart issues, each of these conditions can be lessened or improved through exercise, the researchers wrote.

Older adults, with or without PD, are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 viral infection, and moderate exercise may help to improve the immune response to COVID-19 infection, the authors concluded. Moderate-intensity exercise may also help boost the immune system response to the COVID-19 vaccination when it becomes available.

Reference

Hall MFE, Church FC. Exercise for older adults improves the quality of life in Parkinson disease and potentially enhances the immune response to COVID-19. Brain Sci. Published online September 6, 2020. doi:10.3390/brainsci10090612

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Review Associates Exercise With Improved Quality of Life, Immune Response in Parkinson Disease - AJMC.com Managed Markets Network

Covid-19 has been the biggest health concern of 2020, but another virus the flu isn't going anywhere.

Though you can get the flu during any time of year, flu season in the U.S. happens during the fall and winter months usually reaching its peak between December and March. Getting a flu shot this year may help cut down on the potential effects of a "twindemic," which could happen if a Covid-19 surge and a severe flu season overlap.

With that in mind, you might be wondering if the pandemic changes any of the usual flu vaccine guidelines and if getting a second dose will increase immunity. Below, health experts weigh in:

The short answer is no.

Flu shot recommendations remain the same, and unless you are under nine years old and have never gotten a flu shot before, a second dose is not recommended, saysDr. Kelly Moore, associate director for immunization education at the Immunization Action Coalition.

Children ages six months through eight years who have never been vaccinated against the flu benefit from two doses the first season they get the vaccine, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionsays.

"If your immune system has never seen influenza before and you're getting the vaccine for the first time, your immune system doesn't quite know what to do with that," Dr. Moore tells CNBC Make It. "It learns, but it doesn't learn quite well enough, and it needs that second dose to really mount a protective response."

However, past the age of eight, just one yearly dose will do.

"When you're older and you've had flu vaccines before, or you've had influenza before, then your immune system responds quite quickly to one dose of vaccine," Dr. Moore explains. "We don't see a noticeable benefit from getting multiple doses of the vaccine.

Other vaccines such as measles, chickenpox and hepatitis require two doses, which can be confusing, Moore adds.

"People may think, 'If one is good, two must be better,' but in reality, that's not how our immune system works," she says. "And while that is the case for certain vaccines and certain viruses, it's not the case for the influenza vaccine."

The flu vaccine works by presenting the immune system with a portion of the virus, allowing the body to develop an immune response so that when it encounters the real thing, it's much better prepared to fight it off.

According to the CDC, it is recommended that everyone over the age of six months gets vaccinated against the flu every year, with very rare exception (such as those with a severe allergy to the flu vaccine or an ingredient in it).

While getting the vaccine does not guarantee that you won't suffer the misery that is the flu, it mayreduce the risk of infection by 40% to 60%, and help prevent severe illness.

Though the exact timing of flu season varies year to year, infections generally start to ramp up around October. The best time to get your flu shot is in the early fall, ideally before the end of October.

"But if you miss that deadline, then get it as soon as you can afterward," Dr. Moore says. "There's no point at which it's too late to get your influenza vaccine."

Until a Covid-19 vaccine is approved, flu vaccinations are among the most effective ways to ensure that hospitals can weather the pandemic, according toDr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.

The flu sends hundreds of thousands of Americans to the hospital and causes tens of thousands of deaths annually. Even during a normal season, hospitals often become inundated with patients, Dr. Adalja says.

"Both the flu and the coronavirus are going to be competing for the same emergency department beds, the same hospital beds, the same ICU beds, the same mechanical ventilators, the same personal protective equipment and even the same diagnostic test [materials]," Dr. Adalja tells CNBC Make It. "The more we can decrease the burden of influenza, the more room we'll have to take care of Covid-19 patients."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has also insisted that people get the shot, "so that you could at least blunt the effect of oneof those two potential respiratory infections."

If we keep up all the habits we've learned to protect ourselves from Covid-19 like frequently washing our hands, social distancing and wearing masks on top of getting the flu shot, Dr. Moore adds, we can hopefully have a much milder flu season this year.

Serena McNiff is a journalist covering health and science. Her work has appeared on HealthDay, U.S. News and MedicineNet.Follow her on Twitter @SerenaMcNiff.

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Will 2 flu shots this year boost immunity? When is the best time to get it? Here's what health experts say - CNBC

Ever since the first cases of a mysterious disease in the early 1980s exploded into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, researchers have been searching for ways to outsmart the deadly virus. Now thanks to anti-retroviral therapy, people living with HIV can live relatively normal lifespansas long as they take their medications every day.

If they ever stop, in short order the virus rebounds and resets at the high levels seen before starting and that seems to be the case even after decades of therapy, says Mark Painter, Ph.D., a graduate student in the University of Michigan Medical Schools department of microbiology and immunology.

The reason is that HIV can hide inside the human genome, lying dormant and ready to emerge at any time. Because of this, a true cure for HIV relies on waking the latent virus and eliminating it before it has a chance to again take hold of the bodys cells, an approach known as shock and kill.

Working with a team under the direction of Kathleen Collins, M.D., Ph.D., they set out to find a weapon to kill HIV by targeting a protein called Nef. In 1998, Collins, who is a professor of internal medicine and microbiology and immunology, discovered that HIV uses Nef to evade the bodys immune system by overriding the functioning of a protein on a cells surface that lets immune cells know that the cell is infected and in need of elimination. By disabling this protein, called MHC-I, infected cells are able to proliferate.

The research tried determine if there was an FDA-approved drug or molecule already on the market that could override Nef, restore the functioning of MHC-I and allow the bodys own immune system, specifically cells known as cytotoxic T lymphocytes, to recognize the HIV-infected cells and destroy them.

We started out screening a library of 200,000 small molecules and found none inhibited Nef, says Painter. Undeterred, they approached David Sherman, Ph.D. of the U-M Life Sciences Institute, whose lab studies the biosynthesis of natural products from microbes, such as cyanobacteria.

Often synthetic molecules have quite a low molecular weight, meaning they are fairly small. And if you need to disrupt a large protein surface or interface, such as with Nef, a small molecule wont work well or at all, explains Sherman. A natural products library like the one at the LSI, on the other hand, is going to have molecules with a large range of weights and sizes.

After screening approximately 30,000 molecules, they discovered that a class of antibiotic molecules called pleicomacrolides inhibited Nef.

Pleicomacrolides are widely used in lab experiments when you want to shut down the lysosome. Because of this, they are considered toxic and risky to use as drugs, says Painter. The lysosome is an essential cell organelle used to break down worn out cell parts, viruses and bacteria.

However, the team determined that a pleicomacrolide called concanamycin A inhibits Nef at much lower concentrations than those needed to inhibit the lysosome. As a lead compound for drug development, its fairly exciting because we can use a very low dose, and inhibit Nef without short-term toxicity to the cells, said Painter.

In a proof of concept experiment, they treated HIV-infected, Nef expressing cells with concanamycin A and found that cytotoxic T cells were able to clear the infected T cells.

Its been extremely gratifying for this project, which began in my lab over a decade ago to finally come to fruition. I had hoped we would find something that worked as well as this compound does but it was never a guarantee that we would actually be successful. This type of research is risky but extremely important because of the potential reward, says Collins. But, she adds, the molecule is not yet ready to be used as a drug for treatment of HIV infected people. More research will be needed to optimize the compound. We will need to further separate the potent Nef inhibitory activity from the more toxic effect on lysosomal function to make it a viable therapy.

Collins, Painter and their colleagues are continuing work on refining the chemistry of concanamycin A to make it even more viable as a potential therapy. When combined with ART and future treatments that shock latent HIV awake, Painter notes the therapy could be used to clear any remaining virus, essentially curing HIV.

ReferencePainter M et al. Concanamycin A counteracts HIV-1 Nef to enhance immune clearance of infected primary cells by cytotoxic T lymphocytes, PNAS. September 11, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2008615117

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Antibiotic Molecule Enables HIV Infected Cells To Be Killed by the Immune System - Technology Networks

Immune systems are complicated systems that help protect our bodies and shield us from all things harmful. Ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic weve managed to get ourselves into quite a spin over our own immunity. Instead of panicking, lets chat about some fun facts about your powerful immune system. Theyre stronger and more resilient than you think.

Think of your immune system as your bodys version of the military. Its designed to defend you against anybody or anything who threatens your chance of survival. Itll never surrender or let you down. Unless you abandon it. This is all because immune systems have millions of strong warriors who can help make this possible.

When you nourish your immune system youll have protection against diseases, infections, viruses and injuries.

Its as simple as sneezing or coughing to spread bacteria and viruses. Even when youre talking to somebody who is sick, it increases your risk of getting their sickness. You can get sick just by touching bacteria-infected surfaces and then touching your face. So it is pertinent to keep up your hygiene discipline, which we should be doing in any case. When you keep yourself clean, you give your immune system a fighting chance. Simply washing your hands for 20-seconds is still one of the best ways to keep yourself healthy and stop the spread of bacteria and viruses.

In fact, the immune system isa complex fighting system powered by five liters of blood and lymph. According to Healthline, Lymph is a clear and colorless liquid that passes through the tissues of the body. Experts explain that these two fluids transport all the elements of the immune system so they can do their jobs.

Literally, were made up of millions of tiny white knights. These are our white blood cells.

Theyre just like brave knights heading out into battle every time something tries to plunder their kingdom. They need to protect their king or queen, you. Immune systems have two different types of white blood cells: phagocytes and lymphocytes.

Lets have a mini biology lesson.

Then, every pathogen carries a specific type of antigen. Moreover, each lymphocyte in your body carries antibodies meant to fight the antigens carried by pathogens. There are three main types of lymphocytes in the body: B cells, T cells, and natural killer cells.

Your B cells are your fighters. They are the antibodies which attack bacteria, viruses, and toxins that enter the body. All immune systems have T cells which kill cells in the body that have been overtaken by viruses or that have become cancerous. Just like T cells, natural killer cells kill infected or cancerous cells. However, instead of producing antibodies, they make a special enzyme, or chemical, that kills the cells.

Basically, immune systems create new antibodies whenever theyre infected with a new antigen. If the same antigen infects you a second time, immune systems can quickly make copies of the corresponding antibody to destroy it. However, these warriors only live up to a few weeks, so its a good thing theres a lot of them. In fact, a single drop of blood can contain up to 25,000 white blood cells. Amazing, right?

Dont be. Its a very healthy sign that youve got a fever or are experiencing some sort of inflammation.

Sure, it is very unpleasant and feels horrific. But its a sure sign that your immune system is doing its work hard. The reason you contract fever is due to the release of white blood cells. This then increases your metabolism and stops certain organisms from multiplying.

Inflammation happens when each damaged cell releases histamines. Histamines cause the cell walls to dilate. This creates redness, heat, pain, and swelling of inflammation. As a result, your body limits the effects of the irritant.

There are a variety of reasons why its integral to get in your beauty sleep. They call it that for a reason, so dont start skimping on it guys and girls. If youre running around like a mad horse, and now youre starting to feel off. Then you might get sick. And no, thats not as surprising as you might think.

This is when immune systems are taking action. Its your bodys defence mechanism, working hard and taking revenge against your relentless on-the-go mentality. Slow down. Sleep, my child.

Especially if you have been clocking all-nighters or getting less than five hours of sleep per night. Not only will your happiness deplete, but immune systems get depressed too. So, youre basically opening up the door to all kinds of colds, flus, and infections.

Theres tons of research proving that our immune systems thrive when theyre exposed to more sunlight and vitamin D. Interestingly, there are even new light therapies available because of the power of light. Getting regular sunlight is great because it shows how your body naturally produces vitamin D. This vitamin helps protect you from a variety of harmful illnesses like depression, heart disease, and certain cancers. Its even good for people with autoimmune disorders.

Dermatologists recommend that everyone should wear sunscreen with broad-spectrum UVA, UVB protection, and Sun Protection Factor (SPF) 30 or higher. Generally, its also best to avoid the sun between 10 am and 14,00 because thats when its the hottest. When the sun is very strong, you should also wear protective clothing, such as:

Immune systems dont function at their finest when youre completely stressed out. In fact, you will only damage yours. It can only handle so much, even though it can tackle most problems. Constant stress releases cortisol, adrenaline, and other stress hormones from the adrenal gland. Combined they help your body cope with stress. Normally, cortisol is helpful because it decreases the inflammation in the body that results from the immune responses caused by stress.

However, if youre chronically stressed, stress hormones can affect the way our immune systems function over time. This increases your risk of health problems, including:

Its important to find healthy ways to deal with your stress. This will decrease your risk of long-term stress and its related health problems. Some good ways to reduce stress include:

This might sound cliche but theres honestly so much truth in the remark. Every time you laugh, your brain releases dopamine and other feel-good chemicals which can all help decrease stress.

Experts say that just twenty minutes of laughter a day may not keep the doctor away, but it may help keep your immune system working properly.

It does seem counterintuitive. But you cant be overly hygienic because your gut needs lots of bacteria to be healthy. Some bacteria can help you digest your food. In fact, most people think that every kind of dirt, germ or bacteria outside your body is bad. This just isnt the truth. Our immune systems need those germs to stay healthy.

Immune systems can adapt, which is why human beings have been around for so long. Once your body comes in contact with a foreign substance, it attacks it and remembers it. If it comes back, your body knows what to do.

Dont be afraid of allergies. Seasonal allergies or hay fever are perfectly normal. Even if you feel like cursing every molecule of pollen or dust in the air. These microscopic particles cause the release of histamines, which create some of the nasty symptoms of allergies. This just proves how strong our immune systems are!

We dont all experience allergies, but theyre often caused when your body mistakes something harmless, as a threat. Usually, this happens with pollen or a type of food. Your body launches an immune response against it, causing you to experience allergic symptoms.

Unfortunately, this can happen. Certain people have immune systems that start to attack healthy tissue in the body, which causes disease. This is called autoimmunity.

Most people have immune systems that get used to their own tissue before they are born. They do this by turning off the cells that would attack them. Autoimmune disorders occur when the body mistakenly attacks healthy tissue. This is what occurs in people with autoimmune diseases such as:

These diseases are treated with drugs that suppress the immune system.

The bottom line: Work hard to protect your immune system and it will do the same for you.

Fruits and vegetables are easy to get our hands on nowadays. Even when its not the right time of year for certain ones to grow, there are still stores that will have what youre looking for. Here is why.

Fun Facts About the Immune System. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/cold-flu/fun-facts#1

The Secrets to Never Getting Sick. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/cold-flu/cold-flu-secrets#1

The Importance of Washing your Hands. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/17474-hand-washing

How to Prepare for the Coronavirus. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/article/prepare-for-coronavirus.html

Healthy Habits to Help Prevent Flu. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/actions-prevent-flu.htm

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Immune Systems Are Complex, But Filled With Fun Facts - Longevity LIVE

Too much stress can keep you up at night. A pressing deadline, watching the news, anxietysometimes you can find yourself tossing and turning, even though you are so tired from stress. Many research studies have linked stress to sleep issues, and insomnia. And now scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have pinpointed the neural circuit responsible for sleepless nights due to stress. Their findings also revealed that the same circuit induced changes in the immune system.

The mouse study, Hypothalamic circuitry underlying stress-induced insomnia and peripheral immunosuppression, is published in the journal Science Advances. The studys corresponding authors are Luis de Lecea, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and Shi-Bin Li, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow in de Leceas lab.

The neural substrates of insomnia/hyperarousal induced by stress remain unknown. Here, we show that restraint stress leads to hyperarousal associated with strong activation of corticotropin-releasing hormone neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus and hypocretin neurons in the lateral hypothalamus, noted the researchers.

This sort of stress-induced insomnia is well known among anybody thats tried to get to sleep with a looming deadline or something the next day, explained Jeremy Borniger, PhD, a co-author of the study who was a former postdoc in de Leceas lab and is now an assistant professor at CSHL. And in the clinical world, its been known for a long time that chronically stressed patients typically do worse on a variety of different treatments and across a variety of different diseases.

The scientists discovered a connection between neurons sensitive to stress in the brain that motivated cortisols release and nearby neurons that promote insomnia. The researchers found that signals from the hormone-releasing brain cells have a strong effect on the insomnia-inducing neurons.

The researchers interfered with the connection, which enabled mice to sleep peacefully even after being exposed to a stressful situation. It seems like its a pretty sensitive switch, in that even very weak stimulation of the circuit can drive insomnia, Borniger added.

To their surprise, they also discovered the immune system went under extensive changes to cell distribution by the connection. The amount of immune cells in the blood, as well as signaling pathways inside, were disrupted. The researchers were able to mimic the changes simply by stimulating the same neurons that link stress to insomnia.

Single-cell mass cytometry by time of flight (CyTOF) revealed extensive changes to immune cell distribution and functional responses in peripheral blood during hyperarousal upon optogenetic stimulation of CRHPVN neurons simulating stress-induced insomnia, observed the authors.

Looking towards the future, Borniger is interested in discovering how distinct circuits in the brain can be manipulated that are associated with systemic inflammation such as inflammatory bowel disease or cancer. if we can understand and manipulate the immune system using the natural circuitry in the body rather than using a drug that hits certain targets within the system, I think that would be much more effective in the long run, because it just co-opts the natural circuits in the body, Borniger concluded.

Their work highlights a new potential target for the treatment of insomnia and stress-induced changes in systemic physiology.

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The Neural Circuit That Fuses Stress, Insomnia, and the Immune System - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Coronavirus prevention: Vitamin C, vitamin D and other key nutrients to keep your immune system healthy  |  Photo Credit: iStock Images

New Delhi: As the threat of the novel coronavirus infection continues to spread worldwide, having an optimally functioning immune system is more important than ever. In fact, some experts advise that taking supplements containing vitamin C and vitamin D may help boost immunity to fight COVID-19 and other respiratory infections. The good news is, following a healthful, balanced diet consisting of a variety of foods loaded with nutrients and antioxidants can help strengthen your immunity.

The food you eat can have an impact on your thoughts, action, behaviour, mood, temper and well-being. Similarly, it also impacts immensely on the immune system. The immune system acts as a first line of defense towards the invasion by micro-organisms and foreign bodies. Eating a well-balanced diet loaded with essential macro and micronutrients is very important to build strong immunity. But, did you know the role diet plays in keeping your immune system healthy?

The role of nutritional support for immune function can be traced back to 1800 BC when studies proved that malnourishment leads to poor immune outcome. For instance, proteins, as we know are considered to be the building blocks of life. They also make up hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters, immune cells and antibodies. Similarly, the carbohydrates serve as a quick fuel and lipids acts as a reserved energy. Also, micronutrients like vitamins, minerals and water are equally important. Focusing on nutrition, regular physical activity, stress management and getting enough sleep or rest can contribute to a stronger immune system.

Additionally, dietary interventionhas promisingly proven that it can improve gut health, which influences the balance of your immune system. Studies using animal models with gut inflammation have shown significant improvement in terms of reducing the gut inflammation using probiotics or certain fermented foods. Good hut health can help improve your immunity. The community of microbes that lives in the GI tract is collectively called as gut microbiota. Any harm done to this community will have a direct impact on health posing a serious risk of developing chronic illness.

Some micronutrients and dietary components like vitamins C, D, amino acids and certain minerals such as zinc, selenium play a specific role in maintaining an effective immune system, said Divya R, senior executive nutritionist, Cloudnine Group of Hospitals, Jayanagar, Bangalore. Here are some key nutrients that can help boost your immunity and protect you from infections, including COVID-19:

Protein: Plays a vital role in bodys healing, repair and recovery mechanism. Also, antibodies and immune cells rely on proteins. Eating a variety of protein foods, including seafood, lean meat, poultry, eggs, beans and peas, soy products and unsalted nuts and seeds, milk and dairy products will help in maintaining optimal health.

Vitamins: A vitamin is a substance that makes you ill if you dont eat it. Among them vitamins A, B, C, D and E are considered to be playing a major role in boosting immunity. They act as effective antioxidants, antimicrobial agents, reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines and promote healthy gut microbiota. They also stimulate antibody formation and supports cellular function.

Sources of vitamins

Minerals: Zinc, selenium, iron, magnesium, copper etc, are very important for optimal immune system function. Sources include Whole grains, dal and pulses, seeds, millets, green leafy vegetables, poultry, eggs, fishes etc.

Probiotics: Probiotics are specific strains of live bacteria present in certain foods. They can help boost the immune system and inhibit the growth of harmful gut bacteria. Some probiotics have been shown to promote the production of natural antibodies in the body. Sources include fermented milk, yogurt, kefir and other fermented food products.

Prebiotics: Prebiotics stimulates the immune system by directly or indirectly increasing the population of probiotics in the gut. Sources are banana, barley, flax seeds, apple, garlic etc.

Water: Staying well hydrated is very important to ward off infections and also to eliminate toxins and harmful bacteria that may cause infections. Plain water is the best fluid. Other forms of fluids can be coconut water, lime water, buttermilk, soups, infused water, etc.

Always rely on these medicinal value of herbs and spices from your kitchen garden as a cure-all remedy. Herbs like tulsi, methi, ashwagandha, aloe vera, and spices like pepper, cloves, turmeric etc, are all antifungal, antibacterial agents loaded with antibiotic and antioxidant properties.

Supplementing regularly with these essential food constituents will help in lowering the risk of being infected as they help in boosting up the immunity against a wide range of disease-causing microbes.

Disclaimer: Tips and suggestions mentioned in the article are for general information purpose only and should not be construed as professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor or a dietician before starting any fitness programme or making any changes to your diet.

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Coronavirus prevention: Vitamin C, vitamin D and other key nutrients to keep your immune system healthy - Times Now

By Paul Gill and Menno van Zelm, Monash University

The Oxford vaccine trial at the centre of safety concerns this week highlights the idea that peoples immune systems respond to vaccines differently.

We dont yet know whether reports of immune complications in one or two trial participants have been linked to the COVID-19 vaccine itself, or if they were given the placebo vaccine.

But it does highlight the importance of phase 3 clinical trials in many thousands of people, across continents. These not only tell us whether a vaccine is safe, but also whether it works for people of different ages or with particular health issues.

So what are some of the immune factors that determine whether any of the 180 or so COVID-19 vaccine candidates being developed around the world actually work?

An effective vaccine should generate long-lasting protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

This can be by generating antibodies to neutralise the virus and likely also by helping the immune system memorise and quickly respond to infection.

How vaccines work with your immune system to protect against disease.

We know, from developing vaccines against other viruses, that peoples immune response to a vaccine can vary. Theres every reason to believe this will also be the case for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Many COVID-19 vaccine candidates contain parts of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to stimulate protective immunity. However, there are many different ways of delivering these proteins to the body, and some may be more effective than others at stimulating your immune system.

For example, the Oxford vaccine combines the spike protein with another virus to mimic the actions of SARS-CoV-2.

Meanwhile, the candidate developed by the University of Queensland contains the spike protein packaged with another compound (an adjuvant) to stimulate the immune system.

Some people will likely need a follow-up booster shot to ensure longer-lasting immunity.

We may also see some vaccines delivered as a nasal spray. This may elicit a more effective immune response to COVID-19 in the upper respiratory tract, including the nostrils, mouth and throat.

Previous infections may prime our immune system to respond differently to vaccination.

For instance, the SARS-CoV-2 virus belongs to a large family of human coronaviruses, four of which are responsible for common colds.

Being exposed to these cold-causing coronaviruses, and developing immune memory cells against them, may mean a stronger or quicker response to a COVID-19 vaccine.

Some people have poor protective immune responses to COVID-19 vaccine candidates. These people may have existing immunity to the adenovirus used in some vaccines to deliver the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

In other words, their body mounts an immune response to the wrong part of the vaccine (the delivery mechanism) and not so much to the characteristic part of the virus (the spike protein).

Our genes play a large part in regulating our immune system.

Researchers have already seen sex differences, which are partly governed by genes, in the immune response to the flu vaccine. They have also seen sex differences in the immune response to COVID-19.

So larger clinical trials should help us understand whether men and women respond differently to a COVID-19 vaccine.

People with inherited immune deficiencies may also be unable to generate protective immunity in response to vaccination.

The composition of our immune system changes throughout the course of our lives, and this affects our ability to mount a protective immune response.

Infants and childrens immune systems are still developing. So their immune response may be different to adults.

Some COVID-19 vaccines may be more effective for children, or recommended for them, as we see already with the flu vaccine.

As we get older, changes in our immune system mean we cannot efficiently maintain long-lasting protective immunity; we are less able to make new antibodies in response to infection.

We already know older people are less likely to mount a protective immune response with the flu vaccine.

So we need the data from large trials to verify whether COVID-19 vaccines work in children and elderly people.

Diet, exercise, stress and whether we smoke influence our immune response to vaccination. So we can look after our immune system with a healthy lifestyle where possible.

There is also an emerging hypothesis that our gut microbes may influence our immune response to vaccination. But more research is needed to confirm this could occur during COVID-19 vaccination.

Paul Gill, Post-doctoral Researcher (Gastroenterology and Immunology), Monash University and Menno van Zelm, Associate Professor, Immunology, Monash University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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The immune response to COVID-19 vaccines - Cosmos

A global push is on to develop a vaccine to slow the spread of COVID-19, and experts hope several will be ready in 2021. Yet even with one, the coronavirus is likely to remain with us for years, demanding long efforts to find a cure for those who still fall sick.

In humanity's millennia-long struggle against viruses, prevention with vaccines has been far more successful than treatment with drugs. In fact, modern medicine has come up with a true cure for only one viral infection. For many serious infections, the best approaches are a cocktail of drugs that throw speed bumps in front of the infection.

It's a lackluster medical armory, belied by the seeming simplicity of our viral foes.

"They can't live by themselves, they aren't independent, they can't process food, take in oxygen, reproduce themselves without the master support system of being the parasite inside a living cell," said Paula Cannon, a professor at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine.

So why do viruses give humans so much trouble? Outside of the body, a vigorous hand-washing is enough to kill many. Inside, the immune system's long memory is enough to make short work of most.

It's when we run into a new virus that the problems start.

The coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is the latest in a procession of new infectious diseases that have surprised the world in recent years. The best hope against it is a vaccine, which can stop infections before they take hold.

A vaccine is, essentially, a shortcut to immunity. But if we don't have immunity and get sick, things get more complicated. Because viruses can't survive on their own, they hijack our cells to multiply. That parasitic dependence makes them hard to treat with most traditional drugs. A virus is so interwoven with its host that it's difficult to hurt one without hurting the other. SARS-CoV-2 infects the airways and lungs the very things we need to breathe.

That leaves an unappealing choice, according to Cannon. "I can kill the virus, but I would have to kill you to do it."

Some vaccines, such as for measles, have created enough herd immunity that the virus can no longer take hold and spread in the population. In the best case, as with smallpox, the shots have driven the disease out of the human host population and into extinction.

Treating an active infection is another matter. There's a pharmaceutical cure for only one virus: hepatitis C. Because of the "kill the virus, kill the host" problem, the best bet is often to slow the virus down enough that the body's own defenses can do their job.

"When we can't kill a virus, the best thing we can do is stop them from replicating," said Raed Dweik, chair of the Cleveland Clinic's Respiratory Institute. "All we can do is shorten the period of infection, not cure. Even when the infection is over, the patient is more recovered than cured."

Remdesivir, the only drug in wide use that targets SARS-CoV-2 itself, works by messing with the virus's ability to replicate. It causes errors when the virus tries to copy itself. It was also a product of luck: The drug was originally developed as a treatment for Ebola, but it wasn't terribly effective and the waning outbreak in Africa made it difficult for its manufacturer, Gilead Sciences Inc., to study.

Clinical trials have shown that remdesivir can help hospitalized COVID-19 patients recover more quickly. But it's not a cure, and it's unlikely there will be one anytime soon.

"It will take years to have potent and specific drugs that can stop coronavirus in its tracks," Cannon said. "The vast majority of drug candidates fail."

In the future, patients will likely get a cocktail of therapies that attack the virus and others that help keep them stable. Currently, remdesivir is part of a cocoon of care that includes the only other cleared therapy, the steroid dexamethasone, as well as standard fare like fluids, plus aggressive approaches when needed, including putting patients on ventilators. Other medicines are layered on top: blood thinners and experimental approaches to calm a potentially overactive immune system.

As new approaches reach the market, they'll be added to the mix. But for most people, any viral treatment will have to outperform an already formidable and existing approach: the human immune system.

Continued here:
When will there be a COVID-19 cure? Your body is still the best virus-killer - Crain's Cleveland Business

The severity of Covid-19 is generally mediated by the human body's immune response. Everyone's immunity is different which is why reactions to the virus are so varied and there are various genetic, environmental and chronic disease factors that can influence this response.

One such factor is obesity. Those who have a BMI of more than 40 are 2.6 times more likely to die from a coronavirus infection.

A new study published byEndocrine Society investigates how this condition exacerbates inflammation in the body, which, in turn, puts strain on the immune system.

Early studies of the virus took place in China, and there was no focus on obesity because it is so rare in that country. But that changed when the virus hit the US, a country with one of the highest rates of obesity in the world.

South Africa also has a high rate of obesity, making it important to understand the interaction between Covid-19 and obesity.

READ | Don't wait to lose weight: Shedding obesity in youth extends life

How does obesity affect the immune system?

Metabolic inflammation, or meta-inflammation, is a chronic type of inflammation caused by obesity due to increased tissue and circulating myeloid cells. These cells develop an immunosuppressive environment and have been linked to the promotion of tumour growth.

This meta-inflammation might be part of the reason why obese patients are so susceptible to severe Covid-19.

"While obesity and diabetes may complicate the delivery of supportive care in critical illness, regardless of the underlying disease, lessons learned from the interaction of obesity with other systemic inflammatory syndromes suggest that obesity modifies biologic factors related to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the Covid-19 syndrome," explain the researchers.

They add that obesity also has the potential to do long-term reprogramming of the immune system through this chronic inflammation.

This isn't restricted to Covid-19; the syndrome can also make a patient more prone to other diseases like bird flu and bacterial infections. With global obesity rates expected to rise in the future, understanding endocrine, metabolic, and inflammatory shifts caused by obesity would be vital for future pathological treatments.

READ MORE | Scientists warn that lockdowns could increase levels of obesity around the world

Cytokine storms and macrophages

In severe cases of Covid-19, the coronavirus infection induces a cytokine storm that floods the immune system. It also does this by shifting monocyte populations in the body a type of white blood cell that can influence adaptive immunity and helps drive the infection throughout the body.

With meta-inflammation, cytokine levels are always at higher levels than normal, including chemokines. Throw Covid-19 into the mix, and you're left with a much more virulent attack on the body.

Another element increased by obesity and Covid-19 are macrophages.

"Macrophages from obese animals and humans have been described as metabolically active, M1 polarised, and pro-inflammatory with both regulatory and detrimental activity. These macrophages produce cytokines, chemokines, reactive oxygen species, and factors regulating fibrosis and metabolism."

A high fat diet morphs obesity myeloid cells into metabolically active macrophages, which in turn, has an impact on organs and hematopoiesis, the process through which the body produces blood cells.

Enhancinghematopoiesis, in turn, impairs the immune response to, for example, a viral infection. The increased cytokine production can also cause tissue damage when the storm is triggered.

READ | Canada moves away from weight to classify obesity

Respiratory system

Obese people also tend to have high blood sugar, called hyperglycemia, which can concentrate glucose in the lungs and the rest of the respiratory system. This helps colonisation and replication of bacteria, and also damages the intestinal barrier that protects us against infection.

"On top of the direct effects that obesity may have on macrophage function in infection, diaphragm excursion is also inhibited due to obesity, which restricts ventilation and can inhibit the clearance of pulmonary pathogens."

This also prevents the body from effectively identifying and killing off any bad bacteria, maintaining the infection for longer. For similar reasons, an obese person is then just as susceptible to a viral infection.

"Along with possible impairments in pathogen clearance, obese hosts are more likely to experience the breakdown of respiratory epithelium during a pulmonary infection, which leads to increased fluid in the airway space.

"This allows the pathogen to have the opportunity to more easily spread throughout the body and leaves the host with reduced lung function."

READ MORE |Obesity ups odds for severe Covid-19, but age matters

Other factors

ACE2 receptors one of the main entry points into cells for the coronavirus are also more prevalent in the fat cells of obese and diabetic patients. This might become a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 replication that increases Covid-19 severity.

The gut is also another factor to consider, as studies have proven the influence that its microbiota have on health and the immune system. Covid-19 tends to make changes in the gut that encourage more inflammation, but more in-depth research is needed.

It's important to note, however, that not all obese people suffer from meta-inflammation or necessarily develop other chronic conditions, like heart disease or diabetes. But if you're male, you're far more likely than obese pre-menopausal women to develop these conditions, which also helps explain men's susceptibility to severe Covid-19.

Vaccine efficacy

Being obese might also impact the effectiveness of a potential coronavirus vaccine.

Flu shots tend to not work as well for them, probably due to impaired T-cell function.

According to the researchers, this makes it vital that obese individuals are included in the vaccine trials to ensure efficacy in this high-risk group.

READ | Why can Covid-19 be so dangerous where patients are obese?

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The immune system's response to Covid-19 may be altered by obesity - Health24

Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part letter.

So, we know that many people are getting near sleepless nights, not eating well and not exercising at all during the pandemic. Long-term stress and poor sleep can both result in dysregulation of the immune system in such a way that the production of good immune cells is suppressed and the amount of bad immune cells are upregulated. A cascade of events can create the setting of low-grade inflammation throughout the body and result in a decrease in the proper functioning of immunoprotective cells. This makes a person not only more susceptible to various infections, it also increases the risk of cancers, and chronic cardiovascular diseases (high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and heart diseases). We label a patient in this state as being immunocompromised or immunosuppressed. Maintaining an adequate amount of sleep is truly fundamental to keeping our immune system in a balanced equilibrium. The National Sleep Foundation has published recommendations for adequate sleep duration for all ages in order to maintain well-being. School-age children (6-13 years) need 9-11 hours, teenagers (14-17 years) need 8-10 hours, adults (18-64 years) need 7-9 hours, and adults over 65 need 7-8 hours.

Sleep experts also recommend that we stick to a regular sleep schedule, go to bed and get up at roughly the same time every day. We should not go to bed hungry or stuffed. Avoid consuming nicotine and caffeine due to their stimulating effects, especially in the evening. Even though alcohol makes us sleepy, it disrupts sleep later in the night and is to be avoided after dinner hours. We need to create a restful environment best is a cool, dark, quiet place. Avoid prolonged use of light-emitting screens before bedtime. We all benefit if our eyes and brains rest for 30 minutes before sleep with no TV, computer or cellphones. Regular daytime physical activity promotes better sleep.

Eating a well-balanced diet can modulate and improve our immune responses. There is science that indicate that some foods boost the immune system more than others. These include citrus foods (grapefruits, oranges, tangerines, lemons, calamansi, limes), red bell peppers, broccoli, garlic, ginger, spinach, yogurt, almonds, sunflower seeds, turmeric, green tea, papaya, kiwi, shellfish, oily fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel) and poultry (chicken and turkey). They contain vitamins C, A, B6, E and D, minerals (like zinc and selenium), iron, folic acid and probiotics. My overall advice is that variety is the key to proper nutrition. Eating right will help build a strong immune system.

There is an abundance of science supporting a compelling link between physical activity and the bodys defense system. Regular physical exercise has an overall anti-inflammatory influence through multiple pathways. Epidemiologic studies consistently show decreased levels of inflammatory biomarkers in adults with higher levels of physical activity. Physical exercise also helps us control our weight, reduce our risk of heart attack, help our body manage blood sugar and insulin levels, improve our mental health and mood, help keep our thinking, learning, and judgement skills sharp as we age, strengthen our bones and muscles, reduce our risk of some cancers and falls, improve our sleep and increase our chance of living longer

The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data revealed that 94% of people who died with COVID-19 had other chronic health issues, which probably increased their risk of contracting the virus. I recommend that everyone, especially people with underlying chronic medical conditions, better their health and immune status to help fight an infection successfully.

It remains an enigma to many health experts as to why many people (at least 80%) infected with COVID-19 are asymptomatic or just have mild symptoms, while others succumb from the same infection. This conundrum can probably be answered by how our immune system defends us with a positive impact or hurts us with negative contributions to the bodys ability to fight this novel and perplexing virus. With the COVID-19 pandemic, its particularly important to understand that we need to supplement the 3 W's of protection: wear a mask, watch your distance, wash your hands. We need more than protection. Prevention needs to become widely adopted in our community.

Dr. Ramel Carlos is a board-certified neurologist practicing in Guam for 18 years and a specialist in epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology. He is also a pediatrician, a diplomate of the American Board of Disability Analysts and the editor-in-chief of The Guam Medical Association Journal.

Originally posted here:
A doctor's Rx: How to boost our immune system during the pandemic, Part 2 - The Guam Daily Post

Sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, or even shortness of breath. According to estimates by the rzteverband Deutscher Allergologen (DA, German Medical Allergy Association), around 20 to 30 million people in Germany suffer from allergies such as hay fever, a drug allergy, or a food allergy. And this trend is on the rise. Thes types of allergic reactions are usually due to the release of histamine, proteases, or cytokines from cells of the innate immune system.

These so-called mast cells are activated by IgE antibodies. These make up the components of a specific immune response. If these antibodies are sensitive to certain allergens, they in turn activate the mast cells with each new contact. These then release histamines, proteases, or various cytokines. That person subsequently develops typical allergic symptoms. Up until now, however, the evolutionary background of this well-rehearsed system has remained unclear. Or why this system has survived throughout the course of evolution.

In a joint study by the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (AW), the Medical University of Vienna, and the Stanford University School of Medicine, researchers have come one step closer to finding the answer to this question. They have discovered that IgE antibodies, together with mast cells, are able to increase the bodys resistance to bacterial infections

The assumption has been around for a long time that the interaction of IgE with mast cells is not just negative for the body where allergies are concerned. Previous studies had already shown that mast cells play a role in the innate immune response to the venom of certain snakes and the honeybee. Building on these studies, scientists have now examined the importance of the interaction of mast cells and IgE antibodies in the defense against toxic organisms. Especially when dealing with pathogenic bacteria. They have published the results of the study in the scientific journal Immunity.

Because of its enormous clinical relevance and its broad range of toxins, the researchers chose the antibiotic-resistant bacterium Staphylococcus aureus as the pathogen model. This is considered one of the most feared hospital germs. As part of their research, they infected genetically modified mice with the pathogen. They also studied in vitro mast cell models in order to decode the functions of selected components of the IgE effector mechanisms.

It was found that the mice that had experienced mild skin infections with S. aureus developed specific IgE antibodies against bacterial components. This immune response made the mice more resistant to severe secondary lung or skin and tissue infections. Genetically-modified mice lacking the IgE effector mechanism, or mast cells, did not build up the resistance that is needed to fight severe secondary infections.

The authors write that these findings would suggest that the interaction of the IgE effector mechanism with mast cells, (which is often only recognized today within allergic contexts), might not only be pathological but also beneficial. The defense against toxin-producing pathogenic bacteria could therefore be an important biological function of the allergy module. Moreover, this function seen from an evolutionary perspective might be the reason why this immunological interaction has persisted throughout the course of human evolution. And this happens, despite the fact that it can even cause life-threatening reactions in those cases where there is a particular sensitivity towards other foreign substances.

Publication:

IgE Effector Mechanisms, in Concert with Mast Cells, Contribute to Acquired Host Defense against Staphylococcus aureus. Authors: Philipp Starkl, Martin L. Watzenboeck, Lauren M. Popov, Sophie Zahalka, Anastasiya Hladik, Karin Lakovits, Mariem Radhouani, Arvand Haschemi, Thomas Marichal, Laurent L. Reber, Nicolas Gaudenzio, Riccardo Sibilano, Lukas Stulik, Frdric Fontaine, Andr C. Mueller, Manuel R. Amieva, Stephen J. Galli, Sylvia Knapp, Immunity, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2020.08.002

Title picture: Not only allergies but also positive health benefits can result when antibodies and cells work together. CeMM/AW

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Allergic reactions as protection against bacterial infections - Innovation Origins

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced from Monday the number of people allowed to gather will be slashed from 30 down to six in a new clampdownto lower infection rates. Under the current rules, no more than 30 people can meet inside with up to one other household, but the new rules stipulate that six people from different households will be allowed to congregate. Yesterday, 3,497 new cases were announced and researchers at Imperial College London have said infection rates are doubling roughly every 7.7 days in England, with the reproduction rate as high as 1.7.

But scientists have also been studying the effects of diet, exercise, psychological stress and other factors on the immune response to COVID-19, next months issue of BBC Science Focus Magazine reveals.

Public Health England recently released a report on how being obese or excessively overweight increases the risk of illness and death from COVID-19 and theres some evidence of a link between vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 severity.

But having high blood pressure, heart disease, or smoking, can reportedly increase the likelihood that youll be hospitalised from COVID-19.

Theimmune systemis a complex network of cells and proteins that defends the body against infection, and a healthy one can be key to defeating invading pathogens.

Dr Madhvi Menon, a research fellow at Manchester Universitys Institution of Immunology and infection, told BBC Science Focus: Maintaining a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise, a balanced diet, adequate sleep and minimal stress has been shown to keep our immune systems strong and healthy.

But very little is currently known about ways to avoid the severest form of COVID-19.

A healthy immune system will not necessarily keep the virus out of our bodies, but it could be vital against the fight.

According to health experts, 80 percent of the bodys immune system is in the gut.

The Mediterranean diet, with its emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fatty fish, nuts, and olive oil has been tipped by experts.

READ MORE:Coronavirus: Chilling psychological impact of mask-wearing laid bare

The diet provides large amounts of vitamins, including vitamins A, B2, B6 and B12, C, D, and E.

It also provides zinc, iron, selenium, and other plant-derived minerals and antioxidants.

Recent studies suggest that older adults on a Mediterranean-style diet who also took a vitamin D supplement had higher levels of T cells whichplay a central role in the immune response.

But it is also important to be sceptical of products that claim to magically boost the immune system or fight off the virus.

During the Spanish flu in 1918 which killed up to 50 million people a number of bizarre methods were tipped to improve the bodys defence from the virus.

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And the recent outbreak has been no different.

Social media has been filled with bizarre claims from eating garlic to drinking silver to help protect against COVID-

US President Donald Trump has also fuelled controversy by promoting the drug hydroxychloroquine, claiming he was taking it daily.

The drugwas granted emergency use authorisation by the FDA in March after Trump backed it as a game-changer in the pandemic.

Shortly after, the President said: What do you have to lose? Take it.

In April, the FDA issued a warning about the risk of cardiac arrhythmias in some patients, reiterating that it should only be used in selected cases where there is a serious medical need.

The best way to prevent getting the virus in the first place is to adhere to the guidance on social distancing, wearing masks and hand-washing.

The Government website explains: The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are recent onset of a new continuous cough, high temperature or a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell.

Wash your hands more often than usual, for 20 seconds using soap and water or hand sanitiser, particularly after coughing, sneezing and blowing your nose, before you eat or handle food, or when you get to work or arrive home.

Cover your mouth and nose with disposable tissues when you cough or sneeze.

If you do not have a tissue, sneeze into the crook of your elbow, not into your hand.

Dispose of tissues into a disposable rubbish bag and immediately wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds or use hand sanitiser.

It also explains the importance of wearing a face mask, unless you are exempt and social distancing.

It adds: You must wear a face-covering by law in some public places unless you have a face-covering exemption because of your age, health or another condition.

Social distancing, hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes, remain the most important measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Clean and disinfect regularly touched objects and surfaces using your regular cleaning products to reduce the risk of passing the infection on to other people.

You can subscribe to BBC Science Focus Magazine here.

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Coronavirus: How to boost immune system and 'lower risk of virus' as cases soar in UK - Express

MCLEAN, Va., Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education), the world's largest private funder of food allergy research, has awarded a three-year, $15 million grant to the Food Allergy Science Initiative(FASI) at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to support a three-year project "Untangling Neuroimmune Communications in Food Allergy." This grant was made possible by the support of FARE board member Christine Olsen and her husband Robert Small, with funds matched by FARE.

The interdisciplinary research team, led by world renowned immunologist, Ruslan Medzhitov, includes scientists from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, Yale School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Mount Sinai, and Rockefeller University.

Food allergies occur when the body's immune system mistakenly identifies a food protein as a threat and triggers a response. When the immune system then attacks the food, the resulting allergic reaction can cause mild, localized symptoms, or it can affect multiple organ systems in the potentially life-threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis. Once considered rare, food allergy has become increasingly common in recent decades and now affects one in 10, or 32 million, Americans, resulting in an emergency room visit once every three minutes in the U.S.

"Thirty-two million Americans currently live with potentially life-threatening food allergies, affecting up to 85 million families across the country every day, and while this number continues to climb, there is so much more we do not yet understand about the complexities of this disease," explains Bruce Roberts, Chief Research, Science and Innovation Officer of FARE. "This innovative project between FARE and FASIwill advance the field of food allergy research in exciting new directions that may reveal new potential targets for treatments."

Currently, diagnosing and treating food allergy is a major challenge: allergic reactions are the primary means of diagnosis, and treatment is limited to avoiding known allergy-causing foods and epinephrine injections, which are only administered once an allergic reaction has been triggered. Understanding the basic mechanisms that drive the allergic response to food is necessary for developing new treatments.

Using a suite of innovative molecular tools developed over the last decade, the project is structured around three primary goals:

"The interplay of the brain, the gut and the immune system is largely uncharted territory for researchers," Ruslan Medzhitov, director of FASI, principal investigator on the grant and the Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at the Yale School of Medicine as well as an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "As we map these connections, we expect to find hidden details that no one has anticipated and leads for diagnostics and therapeutics that will ultimatelymake life safer and simpler for children and adults with food allergies."

FARE's grant to the Broad Institute will enable researchers to identify and explore how the brain, digestive system, and nervous system together examine foodin the gut and determine whether or notto trigger an allergic reaction. Understanding this crucial decision-pointis key to developing treatments someday that can stop an allergic reaction before it even happens.

This work will also address other important questions, including why some individuals can develop allergy-related antibodies to foods without having reaction symptoms and why symptoms vary so widely among allergic individuals, and even from one reaction to the next.

"We will likely uncover a potential treasure trove of clinically relevant insights," said Ramnik Xavier, one of the scientific leaders of FASI. "Once we know where the key players are positioned in healthy gut tissue, we can identify, understand and ultimately manage their organizational changes in food allergy." Xavier is a core institute member of the Broad Institute, director of the immunology program at Broadand member of the Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

"We now strongly believe that understanding this interplay between the nervous and immune systems will lead us to the true culprits of food allergy and develop the diagnostics and treatments that will save lives," said Vijay Kuchroo, institute member of the Broad, the Samuel L. Wasserstrom Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and senior scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Kuchroo is also on the FASI scientific leadership team.

FASI supports foundational research that aims to transform the field of food allergy science and lead to new therapies and cures. We currently have a national network of scientists at leading labs working collaboratively on this mission. FASI convenes researchers from a variety of disciplines, broadening beyond traditional allergy researchers to include other fields such as gastroenterology, neuroscience, engineering and immunology. Bringing together such a diverse team of specialists, many of whom have been instrumental in pioneering new technologies like single-cell sequencing, will help researchers find innovative solutions that overcome the fundamental hurdles of food allergy research.

About FAREFARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) is the world's leading food allergy advocacy organization and the largest private funder of food allergy research. Our mission is to improve the quality of life and the health of individuals with food allergies, and to provide them hope through the promise of new treatments. FARE is transforming the future of food allergy through innovative initiatives that will lead to increased awareness, new and improved treatments and prevention strategies, effective policies and legislation and novel approaches to managing the disease. For more information, please visit http://www.foodallergy.org. To join FARE's transformative five-year fundraising and awareness campaign, Contains: Courage, supporting families living with food allergies and educating ALL communities about the disease, visit http://www.foodallergy.org/containscourage.

SOURCE Food Allergy Research & Education

https://www.foodallergy.org

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FARE To Grant $15m To The Broad Institute Of MIT And Harvard To Decipher Brain-Gut Connections In Food Allergy - PRNewswire

The leading infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci recommends taking your vitamins now that school has started and flu season is nearing.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gavean Instagram Live interview with the actress Jennifer Garner on Thursday in which he specifically suggested taking vitamin D and C supplements and said he took them himself.

"If you're deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection.I would not mind recommending, and I do it myself, taking vitamin D supplements," he said. "The other vitamin that people take is vitamin C because it's a good antioxidant, so if people want to take a gram or so of vitamin C, that would be fine."

There's a large body of research supporting Fauci's recommendations. Studies suggest vitamin D and C are your best bet for supplementing immune health. However, many of the other products sold for this purpose are useless or worse.

Extensive evidence has linked vitamin D deficiency to greater risk of infection, particularly from respiratory diseases like COVID-19.

That's led many researchers to investigate the use of vitamin D supplements to help prevent or lessen the effects of the coronavirus. While the findings are somewhat contentious, since researchers don't fully understand if vitamin D supplements can cause better health outcomes, studies have consistently linked vitamin D deficiency to greater risk of severe infection.

And many people are deficient in vitamin D, especially while sheltering indoors during the pandemic or in darker winter months, since our bodies naturally produce the nutrient in response to sunlight.

People with darker skin may be particularly susceptible, since melanin can slow the process of producing vitamin D. As a result, there's evidence certain people could benefit from supplementing it.

Similarly, vitamin C is awell-documented antioxidant, and getting enough of it is crucial for a healthy immune system. It hasn't been shown to prevent disease, but there's some evidence it may make it easier for people to recover from illnesses such as the common cold.

However, neither of these supplements is a cure-all, and too much of either can have serious side effects.

Fauci still recommends masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene as the best practices for keeping yourself and others safe.

Aside from vitamin D and C, there's little evidence that pills, powders, plants, or potions can make a significant difference in warding off illness.

Garner asked if concerned parents could help boost children's immune systems by giving them more spinach, elderberry, or other supplements.

"The answer, to the dismay of many, is no," Fauci said.

Despite this, many products claim to boost your immune system. These are at best a waste of money and at worst can have harmful side effects.

Colloidal silver, for instance, is commonly touted to cure or prevent disease, but there's no evidence it works, and it can interfere with common medications, cause kidney damage, and even permanently turn your skin blue-gray.

Chlorine dioxide, advertised as "miracle mineral solution," is even more dangerous. Chemically speaking, the product is industrial bleach, and drinking it can cause liver failure, extremely low blood pressure, and other toxic effects.

More innocuously, many herbal remedies or vitamins are expensive, and there's no evidence they provide benefits to otherwise-healthy people.

As such, Fauci recommends ditching any other immune-boosting products, and science is on his side.

"Forget about them," he said. "Any of the other concoctions and herbs I would not do."

Read more:

Fauci: We won't be able to sit in theaters until a year after an effective coronavirus vaccine is created

Is it safe to go to the gym or an exercise class? Here's the research we have on fitness centers and the coronavirus.

Wearing a mask doesn't reduce your oxygen levels, and 6 other mask myths you should stop believing now

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Fauci says he takes vitamin D and C supplements, which boost immunity - Insider - INSIDER

A new study, led by neuroscientists from Stanford University, has homed in on the specific brain circuit responsible for stress-induced insomnia. The research suggests this same circuit is responsible for stress-related immune system dysfunction, pointing to a close relationship between stress, insomnia and weakened immunity.

It is well known that psychosocial or environmental stress can lead to immune system abnormalities. Insomnia is also commonly associated with stress. But ... do these two stress-induced conditions share the same neural circuitry?

This sort of stress-induced insomnia is well known among anybody thats tried to get to sleep with a looming deadline or something the next day, says Jeremy Borniger, one of the authors on the new study. And in the clinical world, its been known for a long time that chronically stressed patients typically do worse on a variety of different treatments and across a variety of different diseases.

Using a transgenic mouse model, the researchers first pinpointed a cluster of neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus responsible for the stress-induced release of cortisol. Activity in this brain area was found in stimulate a nearby cluster of neurons in the lateral hypothalamus. This area in the lateral hypothalamus was seen to elicit a kind of hyperarousal associated with insomnia.

Using optogenetics the researchers could either block this novel neural circuit, causing the mice to sleep comfortably after exposure to a stressful experience, or specifically activate the stress-responsive neurons and watch the animals immediately wake from slumber.

It seems like its a pretty sensitive switch, in that even very weak stimulation of the circuit can drive insomnia, adds Borniger.

The researchers then looked closely at the effects of stimulating this stress-induced neural pathway on immune system activity. Peripheral immunosuppression was indeed triggered by this same neural pathway. This suggests the effect stress has on both wakefulness and the immune system is, in part, related to this initial, cortisol-releasing, neural pathway.

Borniger says understanding how stress triggers both insomnia and immunosuppression helps researchers look to novel treatments for a number of autoimmune diseases. Interfering with this brain circuit could offer new ways to treat disease. And, of course, new ways to potentially reduce the negative effects of stress on our sleep.

"I'm really interested in how we can manipulate distinct circuits in the brain to control not just the immune system at baseline, but in disease states like inflammatory bowel disease or in cancer or in psoriasisthings that are associated with systemic inflammation, says Borniger. Because if we can understand and manipulate the immune system using the natural circuitry in the body rather than using a drug that hits certain targets within the system, I think that would be much more effective in the long run, because it just co-opts the natural circuits in the body."

The new study was published in the journal Science Advances.

Source: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

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Brain circuit linking stress, insomnia and the immune system discovered - New Atlas

(Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part letter.)

The health and safety of our island community should be the number one priority of our government. The focus must include our physical and our too often overlooked psychological well-being. We are all the recipients of the current health directives - wear a mask, practice reasonable social/physical distancing and proper hygiene. These are efforts at protecting ourselves. There is something else equally important we can do. We also need measures to prevent severe illness if we do get infected.

We need to keep our immune systems functioning at peak performance. After almost all COVID-19 related deaths, we learn that the patients had other illnesses or conditions that weakened their ability to fight the infection and we refer to these as comorbidities. Even if we are in the greatest of shape physically, we should strive to boost our immune system, our internal defense system, to potentially help our bodies fight infections, especially COVID-19. I am not about to ask you to buy some sort of hocus-pocus immune booster concoction for $39.99 plus shipping. The reason those types of advertisements appeal to so many is that we are not often told of the immune boosting things we can do on our own. Much research has arrived at the same conclusions and recommended the same thing: managing our daily stress, getting enough sleep, eating a well-balanced diet and daily physical exercise.

The immune system is an armamentarium of cells and proteins that defend our body against infection. It safeguards us from invaders including viruses, bacteria, fungus and foreign bodies. Our internal warriors are composed of battalions of defenders, armies and specialized soldiers that attack the invaders. This is a truly complex intricate network of cells, antibodies and molecules which are labeled with names that look like highly secure passwords, such as CD8+, IL-1, IFN-, TNF-, TGF-.

Excess stress weakens the immune system. The science behind that statement is a mountain of research that supports the concept of small amounts of chemicals being released from the brain during stress. The weakening of our immune system from the released chemicals can be silent. The impact of the stress chemicals can be physical and thus more evident. Many have experienced this as acid reflux during stressful times at home or work. The brain sends the stress-related neurotransmitters (tiny chemical signals) to the nerves that control the muscle that keeps acid in the stomach. The signal causes the muscle to malfunction and the patient feels it as heartburn. Yes, clearly stress can have a significant impact on the function of our bodies. The silent impact on the immune system can be much worse than heartburn or stress-induced headaches.

All of us, to some degree, are stressed just by living during this COVID-19 pandemic and have been for the many months it has been around. Most are at least a little worried about themselves or a loved one contracting and dying from the virus. This is compounded by the plethora of the psychosocial and economic impacts of the pandemic we see every day. Most are making this worse by checking their phones for updates several times a day or more. The additional burden of unemployment, piles of unpaid bills, social isolation and increasing marital discord are felt in many homes. Current data show that divorce rates in the U.S. have soared by 34% during the COVID-19 pandemic with marriages starting to crumble just three weeks into quarantine. Newlywed separation has doubled. The overall prevalence of anxiety, depression, insomnia and harmful alcohol use has increased. There are numerous reports in the psychiatric literature regarding COVID-19 related suicides. Social isolation and difficulty getting help have increased suicides rates in the USA and other countries. The Office of the Guam Chief Medical Examiner has recorded 26 suicides from January to August - more than have died from COVID-19. It may be getting worse as 15 suicides were recorded in the last 3 months alone.

Stress management does not need to be painful, overwhelm our schedules or ruin our budgets. A daily 10-minute walk is a great place to start. Dont set an unrealistic goal. Just take a 10-minute stroll every day and take it from there. It is a good idea to avoid caffeine and alcohol. I am concerned about the use of alcohol to self-treat stress and using caffeine as a substitute for sleep. Nicotine consumption here I am actually saying that the goal is zero. Smoking is a surefire way to weaken your immune system. If you are having trouble quitting, get help. Finally, talk to someone you trust. The more you communicate your frustrations of daily life, the better you will be able to handle them and the less likely your stress will negatively impact your immune system.

Dr. Ramel Carlos is a board-certified neurologist practicing in Guam for 18 years and a specialist in epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology. He is also a pediatrician, a diplomate of the American Board of Disability Analysts and the editor-in-chief of The Guam Medical Association Journal.

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A doctor's Rx: How to boost our immune system during the pandemic, part 1 - The Guam Daily Post

Men's delayed immune-system responses to the coronavirus could put them at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than women, according to a study from University of Washington researchers.

They found that, for women under the age of 60, their immune systems produced a near immediate defense against the virus. However, for men of all ages, it took an average of three days for their bodies to deploy T cells (white blood cells that sense and destroy virus-infected cells)to fight the novel coronavirus.

The researchers came to this conclusion after looking at 430 COVID-19 nasal swab tests 176 from men and 201 from women which they collected from the University of Washington Virology Laboratory between March and August.

This study expanded on previous research, which found women who have COVID-19 (the disease caused by the coronavirus) tend to develop more T cells, which help the body kill coronavirus-infected cells, than men who have COVID-19.

The researchers said the new findings could help to explain why nearly twice as many men have died from COVID-19 than women.

The researchers' findings line up with previous research that suggests a person's sex affects how many virus-fighting cells a person develops when they become sick.

Females have greater amounts of the hormones estrogen, progesterone, and androgen than males, for example.

These hormones are believed to play a role in immune-system response when a person is sick.

An August study in the journal Nature found that women developed more coronavirus-fighting cells than men did, regardless of their age. For women, their age didn't affect how many cells they produced.

"We now have clear data suggesting that the immune landscape in COVID-19 patients is considerably different between the sexes and that these differences may underlie heightened disease susceptibility in men," Akiko Iwasaki, senior author of the August study, said in a press release.

The new study comes with caveats. The researchers of the new study said that their experiment should be duplicated with other bodily fluid samples, since nose swabs aren't the most effective way to test a person's immune response.

Additionally, factors like smoking and preexisting health conditions, not just a person's sex, can make them more susceptible to severe COVID-19 symptoms. Therefore, researchers can't definitively say whether sex created the delayed immune response in men.

Still, the findings suggest men and women's bodies respond differently when they're infected, and that could mean they need different approaches to treatment too.

As Iwasaki told the New York Times, "natural infection is clearly failing" men, who tend to have worse symptoms and higher mortality rates than women when it comes to COVID-19. They might need a more doses of a coronavirus vaccine than women due to their delayed immune responses.

"You could imagine scenarios where a single shot of a vaccine might be sufficient in young individuals or maybe young women, while older men might need to have three shots of vaccine," Marcus Altfeld, an immunologist at the Heinrich Pette Institute in Germany, told the New York Times.

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Men may have slower immune response to coronavirus than women: study - Business Insider - Business Insider

As the world awaits the arrival of a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine, a team of researchers has come forward with a provocative new theory: that masks might help to crudely immunize some people against the virus.

The unproven idea, described in a commentary published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, is inspired by the age-old concept of variolation, the deliberate exposure to a pathogen to generate a protective immune response. First tried against smallpox, the risky practice eventually fell out of favor, but paved the way for the rise of modern vaccines.

Masked exposures are no substitute for a bona fide vaccine. But data from animals infected with the coronavirus, as well as insights gleaned from other diseases, suggest that masks, by cutting down on the number of viruses that encounter a persons airway, might reduce the wearers chances of getting sick. And if a small number of pathogens still slip through, the researchers argue, these might prompt the body to produce immune cells that can remember the virus and stick around to fight it off again.

You can have this virus but be asymptomatic, said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease physician at the University of California, San Francisco, and one of the commentarys authors. So if you can drive up rates of asymptomatic infection with masks, maybe that becomes a way to variolate the population.

That does not mean people should don a mask to intentionally inoculate themselves with the virus. This is not the recommendation at all, Dr. Gandhi said. Neither are pox parties, she added, referring to social gatherings that mingle the healthy and the sick.

The theory cannot be directly proven without clinical trials that compare the outcomes of people who are masked in the presence of the coronavirus with those who are unmasked an unethical experimental setup. And while outside experts were intrigued by the theory, they were reluctant to embrace it without more data, and advised careful interpretation.

It seems like a leap, said Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease epidemiologist based in Arizona who was not involved in the commentary. We dont have a lot to support it.

Taken the wrong way, the idea could lull the masked into a false sense of complacency, potentially putting them at higher risk than before, or perhaps even bolster the incorrect notion that face coverings are entirely useless against the coronavirus, since they cannot render the wearer impervious to infection.

We still want people to follow all the other prevention strategies, Dr. Popescu said. That means staying vigilant about avoiding crowds, physical distancing and hand hygiene behaviors that overlap in their effects, but cant replace one another.

The coronavirus variolation theory hinges on two assumptions that are difficult to prove: that lower doses of the virus lead to less severe disease, and that mild or asymptomatic infections can spur long-term protection against subsequent bouts of sickness. Although other pathogens offer some precedent for both concepts, the evidence for the coronavirus remains sparse, in part because scientists have only had the opportunity to study the virus for a few months.

Experiments in hamsters have hinted at a connection between dose and disease. Earlier this year, a team of researchers in China found that hamsters housed behind a barrier made of surgical masks were less likely to get infected by the coronavirus. And those who did contract the virus became less sick than other animals without masks to protect them.

A few observations in humans seem to support this trend as well. In crowded settings where masks are in widespread use, infection rates seem to plummet. And although face coverings cannot block all inbound virus particles for all people, they do seem to be linked to less illness. Researchers have uncovered largely silent, symptomless outbreaks in venues from cruise ships to food processing plants, all full of mostly masked people.

Data linking dose to symptoms have been gathered for other microbes that attack the human airway, including influenza viruses and the bacteria that cause tuberculosis.

But despite decades of research, the mechanics of airborne transmission largely remain a black box, said Jyothi Rengarajan, an expert in vaccines and infectious disease at Emory University who was not involved in the commentary.

That is partly because it is difficult to pin down the infectious dose required to sicken a person, Dr. Rengarajan said. Even if researchers eventually settle on an average dose, the outcome will vary from person to person, since factors like genetics, a persons immune status and the architecture of their nasal passages can all influence how much virus can colonize the respiratory tract.

And confirming the second half of the variolation theory that masks allow entry to just enough virus to prime the immune system might be even trickier. Although several recent studies have pointed to the possibility that mild cases of Covid-19 can provoke a strong immune response to the coronavirus, durable protection cannot be proven until researchers gather data on infections for months or years after these have resolved.

On the whole, the theory has some merits, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University who was not involved in the commentary. But Im still pretty skeptical.

It is important to remember, she said, that vaccines are inherently less dangerous than actual infections, which is why practices like variolation (sometimes called inoculation) eventually became obsolete. Before vaccines were discovered, doctors made do by rubbing bits of smallpox scabs or pus into the skin of healthy people. The resulting infections were usually less severe than smallpox cases caught the typical way, but people definitely got smallpox and died from variolation, Dr. Rasmussen said. And variolation, unlike vaccines, can make people contagious to others.

Dr. Gandhi acknowledged these limitations, noting that the theory should not be construed as anything other than that a theory. Still, she said, Why not drive up the possibility of not getting sick and having some immunity while were waiting for the vaccine?

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A New Theory Asks: Could a Mask Be a Crude Vaccine? - The New York Times

A new study suggests immune responses to coronavirus in severely ill and critically ill patients are as strong or stronger than those of patients with milder illness. This adds to the evidence that the immune system itself is to blame for the most life-threatening form of the infection.

Immune cells known as T cells are responsible for recognizing pathogens, killing infected cells, and recruiting other branches of the immune system to combat infections.

However, according to the new study, T cell responses to the new coronavirus in critically ill patients appear to be just as robust as those with a less severe form of the illness.

The finding reinforces the conclusion that an inadequate immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, is not responsible for critical illness and death. Rather, an excessive immune response is to blame.

Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment.

The team of researchers, led by Marien Hospital Herne and Ruhr-Universitt Bochum in Herne, Germany, compared the T cell responses of 28 COVID-19 patients during the acute phase of the infection and after recovery in survivors.

Of these infections, 7 were categorized as moderate, 9 were severe, and 12 were critical.

The scientists measured the concentration of two T cell types in blood samples from each patient: helper T cells and killer or cytotoxic T cells.

They also analyzed the strength of these cells responses to three distinct parts of the virus: the three proteins that make up its spikes, its membrane, and the shell or nucleocapsid surrounding its nuclear material.

In addition, the team measured levels of cytokines immune signaling molecules that T cells produce to combat infection.

They found that in patients with critical illness, the scale of their immune responses was similar or even higher, compared with moderate or severe cases.

There were also no apparent associations between successful clearance of the virus or death and changes in T cell responses.

The total number of specific immune cells, as well as their functionality, was not better in patients who survived COVID-19 than in those who died from it, says Dr. Ulrik Stervbo, one of the authors.

The study features in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.

T cells migrate to a viral infection site, where they kill infected cells and select other parts of the immune system to neutralize the virus.

But these same T cells can also create a cytokine storm, which is responsible for a potentially fatal complication known as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Even though further studies will be necessary to understand the specific mechanism of COVID-19 development, our data suggest that excessive SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell response can cause [immune damage] leading to COVID-19-related lung failure, says lead author Prof. Nina Babel.

The new research adds to a growing body of evidence that excessive immune responses cause life-threatening COVID-19.

A major study published in June 2020 found that dexamethasone, a corticosteroid that suppresses the bodys immune response, saved the lives of around a third of all patients on ventilators over a 28-day period.

A more recent study, reported by Medical News Today, suggests that another kind of immune-suppressing drug, known as an interleukin-6 inhibitor, may help prevent severe COVID-19 infections from becoming life-threatening.

The authors of the new study acknowledge some limitations of their research.

They do not know exactly when patients in their research contracted the virus. Therefore, the slightly higher T cell response in critically ill patients may simply result from a longer period of infection.

In addition, they were unable to analyze the entire range of T cell subtypes and the cytokines they produce. So, it is possible that they missed protective or detrimental immune effects that impacted non-critical and critical patients differently.

For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.

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Critically ill patients have robust immunity to new coronavirus - Medical News Today

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Link:
Robust T Cell Response and Immune Memory in Recovered COVID-19 Patients - Medscape