Publications by authors named "Tamar Ratishvili"

Article Synopsis
  • T cell responses are crucial for measles immunity, helping in both antibody production and the elimination of infected cells.
  • The study identified 13 measles-derived peptides that trigger immune responses in a mouse model, particularly focusing on four that showed strong immunogenicity.
  • A vaccine using these four peptides significantly reduced illness and weight loss in mice after exposure to the measles virus, highlighting the potential for peptide-based vaccines.
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B cell transcriptomic signatures hold promise for the early prediction of vaccine-induced humoral immunity and vaccine protective efficacy. We performed a longitudinal study in 232 healthy adult participants before/after a 3 dose of MMR (MMR3) vaccine. We assessed baseline and early transcriptional patterns in purified B cells and their association with measles-specific humoral immunity after MMR vaccination using two analytical methods ("per gene" linear models and joint analysis).

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Article Synopsis
  • SARS-CoV-2 remains a significant global health threat, highlighting the need for in-depth studies on COVID-19 immunity due to declining antibody responses and the emergence of new variants.
  • * The study emphasizes the importance of T-cell-mediated cellular immunity for long-lasting protection against the virus, which is more durable and versatile compared to antibody responses.
  • * A procedure using the ELISPOT assay is presented to assess T-cell responses in human blood samples post-infection or vaccination, which can also be adapted for research on other viral pathogens.
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SARS-CoV-2 remains a major global public health concern. Antibody waning and immune escape variant emergence necessitate the development of next generation vaccines that induce cross-reactive durable immune responses. T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 demonstrate higher conservation, antigenic breadth, and longevity than antibody responses.

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We designed a prospective study to evaluate the humoral (using a surrogate virus neutralization test) and cellular (using an IFN-γ ELISpot) immune response among patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) against Wuhan-Hu-1 and Omicron BA.2 strains of SARS-CoV-2, after mRNA-based vaccination. The proportion of patients with a functional humoral response was higher among untreated CLL patients compared to treated CLL patients against both Wuhan-Hu-1 and Omicron BA.

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Background: A third dose of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR3) is recommended in mumps outbreak scenarios, but the immune response and the need for widespread use of MMR3 remain uncertain. Herein, we characterized measles-specific immune responses to MMR3 in a cohort of 232 healthy subjects.

Methods: Serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were sampled at day 0 and day 28 after MMR3.

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Low vaccination rates among health care providers (HCPs) pose a risk to themselves, their colleagues, their patients, and the general public. This paper seeks to frame the issues surrounding health care provider vaccine hesitancy and vaccination rates, as well as explore factors influencing respective decision-making, including health care occupation and demographic characteristics. This paper will then propose the use of the Preferred Cognitive Style and Decision-Making (PCSDM) Model and the Empathy Tool to increase health care provider vaccination rates, and will end by discussing several recommendations.

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The United States continues to experience lower than expected vaccination rates against COVID-19 due to a variety of barriers such as lack of trust, lack of planning, cultural perspectives and issues, suboptimal communication, and political/economic conflicts of interest. In this paper issues of human behavior and decision-making are highlighted as integral to understanding the generally poor US response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In particular, the US pandemic response was significantly distorted through a combination of cultural and human behavior issues related to conflicting leadership, cultural individualism, the prevalent idea of the democratization of expertise, and a false epistemological lens for decision-making.

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