A scalable and highly immunogenic virus-like particle-based vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 caused one of the most devastating pandemics in the recent history of mankind. Due to various countermeasures, including lock-downs, wearing masks, and increased hygiene, the virus has been controlled in some parts of the world. More recently, the availability of vaccines, based on RNA or adenoviruses, has greatly added to our ability to keep the virus at bay; again, however, in some parts of the world only.

Synthetic bacterial lipopeptide analogs: structural requirements for adjuvanticity.

Modern vaccines aim at conferring immune protection, independently of the nature of the etiological agent causing the disease. These new therapeutics are based on highly purified antigenic moieties that offer potential advantages over traditional vaccines, including a high degree of safety and the capacity of eliciting highly specific immune responses. In spite of these advantages however, subunit vaccines tend to be poorly immunogenic in vivo, and require the coadministration of adjuvants that indirectly enhance cellular immunity.

Synthetic bacterial lipopeptide analogs facilitate naive CD4+ T cell differentiation and enhance antigen-specific HLA-II-restricted responses.

Synthetic di- and tri-palmitoylated bacterial lipopeptide analogs (BLpA) can enhance HLA-I-restricted immune responses. Here we show that BLpA indirectly promote antigen-driven differentiation of naive CD4+ T lymphocytes in vitro, with mechanisms that require DC and are inhibited by CTLA-4/Ig. In mixed cultures of cord blood-derived PBMC and allogeneic DC, P3CSK4 lipopeptide facilitated the transition from CCR7(+)/CD45RA(+)/CD62L+ to CCR7(-)/CD45RA(-)/CD62L(dim) T cells with kinetics significantly exceeding those obtained with the unlipidated CSK4 analog.

Pretreatment cytokine profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and serum from patients with rheumatoid arthritis in different american college of rheumatology response groups to methotrexate.

Objective: To determine the role of putative target cytokines for methotrexate (MTX) treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as predictors for treatment outcome.

Methods: Fifty consecutive patients with RA were characterized according to demographic and disease associated features and followed prospectively before and after 6 months of treatment with MTX. Before starting MTX treatment, serum was obtained from each patient and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated.