Asthma development is associated with low mucosal IL-10 during viral infections in early life.

Background: Viral infection is a common trigger of severe respiratory illnesses in early life and a risk factor for later asthma development. The mechanism leading to asthma could involve an aberrant airway immune response to viral infections, but this has rarely been studied in a human setting.

Objectives: To investigate in situ virus-specific differences in upper airway immune mediator levels during viral episodes of respiratory illnesses and the association with later asthma.

Design of the 18-year follow-up of the Danish COPSAC birth cohort.

Background: Atopic diseases, obesity and neuropsychiatric disorders are lifestyle-related and environmental-related chronic inflammatory disorders, and the incidences have increased in the last years.

Objective: To outline the design of the 18-year follow-up of the Copenhagen Prospective Study on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC) birth cohort, where risk factors of atopic diseases, obesity and neuropsychiatric disorders are identified through extensive characterisation of the environment, along with deep clinical phenotyping and biosampling for omics profiling.

Methods: COPSAC is a Danish prospective clinical birth cohort study of 411 children born to mothers with asthma who were enrolled at 1 month of age and closely followed at the COPSAC clinical research unit through childhood for the development of atopic diseases.

Preventive effects of prenatal administration of OM-85/BV on asthma and respiratory infection risk in the offspring: A review of animal models.

Asthma is the most common chronic disease in childhood affecting the daily lives of many patients despite current treatment regimens. Therefore, the need for new therapeutic approaches is evident, where a primary prevention strategy is the ultimate goal. Studies of children born to mothers in farming environments have shown a lower risk of respiratory infections and asthma development.

Participants' Experience from a Clinical Trial on Fish Oil Supplementation during Pregnancy in a Mother-Child Cohort.

Fish Oil Supplementation during Pregnancy This Patient Platform describes the experiences of two families who participated in a study of fish oil supplementation during pregnancy to prevent asthma. Enrolled families were not only participants in observational epidemiologic research, but they also served as a resource for enrollment in controlled trial interventional research.

Atopic and non-atopic effects of fish oil supplementation during pregnancy.

Background: We recently conducted a double-blinded randomised controlled trial showing that fish-oil supplementation during pregnancy reduced the risk of persistent wheeze or asthma in the child by 30%. Here, we explore the mechanisms of the intervention.

Methods: 736 pregnant women were given either placebo or n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) in the third trimester in a randomised controlled trial.

25 Years of translational research in the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC).

The Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC) mother-child cohorts have provided a foundation of 25 years of research on the origins, prevention, and natural history of childhood asthma and related disorders. COPSAC's approach is characterized by clinical translational research with longitudinal deep phenotyping and exposure assessments from pregnancy, in combination with multi-omic data layers and embedded randomized controlled trials. One trial showed that fish oil supplementation during pregnancy prevented childhood asthma and identified pregnant women with the highest benefits from supplementation, thereby creating the potential for personalized prevention.

Broadening CD4 and CD8 T Cell Responses against Hepatitis C Virus by Vaccination with NS3 Overlapping Peptide Panels in Cross-Priming Liposomes.

Despite the introduction of effective drugs to treat patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, a vaccine would be the only means to substantially reduce the worldwide disease burden. An incomplete understanding of how HCV interacts with its human host and evades immune surveillance has hampered vaccine development. It is generally accepted that in infected individuals, a narrow repertoire of exhausted T cells is a hallmark of persistent infection, whereas broad, vigorous CD4 and CD8 T cell responses are associated with control of acute hepatitis C.

Induction of CD8+ T-cell responses against subunit antigens by the novel cationic liposomal CAF09 adjuvant.

Vaccines inducing cytotoxic T-cell responses are required to achieve protection against cancers and intracellular infections such as HIV and Hepatitis C virus. Induction of CD8+ T cell responses in animal models can be achieved by the use of viral vectors or DNA vaccines but so far without much clinical success. Here we describe the novel CD8+ T-cell inducing adjuvant, cationic adjuvant formulation (CAF) 09, consisting of dimethyldioctadecylammonium (DDA)-liposomes stabilized with monomycoloyl glycerol (MMG)-1 and combined with the TLR3 ligand, Poly(I:C).

Enhanced and sustained CD8+ T cell responses with an adenoviral vector-based hepatitis C virus vaccine encoding NS3 linked to the MHC class II chaperone protein invariant chain.

Potent and broad cellular immune responses against the nonstructural (NS) proteins of hepatitis C virus (HCV) are associated with spontaneous viral clearance. In this study, we have improved the immunogenicity of an adenovirus (Ad)-based HCV vaccine by fusing NS3 from HCV (Strain J4; Genotype 1b) to the MHC class II chaperone protein invariant chain (Ii). We found that, after a single vaccination of C57BL/6 or BALB/c mice with Ad-IiNS3, the HCV NS3-specific CD8(+) T cell responses were significantly enhanced, accelerated, and prolonged compared with the vaccine encoding NS3 alone.

Current status of a hepatitis C vaccine: encouraging results but significant challenges ahead.

Persistent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects 170 million people worldwide. Acute HCV infection is often asymptomatic, but many infected individuals develop persistent infections that may lead to development of end-stage liver diseases, including liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Thus, an HCV vaccine that could significantly lower the chronicity rate would have a major impact on the disease burden.

Effects of spironolactone on human blood mononuclear cells: mineralocorticoid receptor independent effects on gene expression and late apoptosis induction.

1 Spironolactone (SPIR) binds to cytoplasmic mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) and functions as an aldosterone antagonist. Recently, the drug was shown to have an early suppressive effect on several immunoactive and proinflammatory cytokines. 2 To elucidate the mechanism behind this, the four MR-binding steroids SPIR, canrenone, 7alpha-thiomethyl-spironolactone and aldosterone (ALDO) were investigated for effects on lipopolysaccharide- and phytohemagglutinin-A-activated human blood mononuclear cells.