Knob protein enhances epithelial barrier integrity and attenuates airway inflammation.

Background: Altered epithelial physical and functional barrier properties along with T1/T2 immune dysregulation are features of allergic asthma. Regulation of junction proteins to improve barrier function of airway epithelial cells has the potential for alleviation of allergic airway inflammation.

Objective: We sought to determine the immunomodulatory effect of knob protein of the adenoviral capsid on allergic asthma and to investigate its mechanism of action on airway epithelial junction proteins and barrier function.

Non-replicating viral vector-based AIDS vaccines: interplay between viral vectors and the immune system.

During the past 20 years, the development of HIV vaccines has come a long way. The focus has progressively changed from the traditional protein-based HIV vaccines that induce humoral immunity to the live recombinant viral vector-based HIV vaccines capable of eliciting both cellular and humoral immune responses. These new viral vector-based vaccines encoding multiple HIV antigens, delivered either alone or in heterologous prime-boost modalities elicited antigen-specific CTL responses in immunized hosts and protected animals from disease.