Immunology and Microbiology

17 open-access papers in Immunology and Microbiology, free to watch.

Molecular evidence of Bartonella spp. in wild felids from Brazil

Molecular evidence of Bartonella spp. in wild felids from Brazil

Clara Morato Dias, Daniel Antônio Braga Lee, João Vitor dos Santos Alves da Silva, Laura Berger Nunes, Joares Adenilson May Júnior, Vinícius Baggio-Souza, Felipe Bortolotto Peters, Marina Ochoa Favarini, Ana Paula Neuschrank Albano, Suelen Dias Segui, Sílvia Resende Terra, Flávia Pereira Tirelli, Jorge Cherém, Hugo Borghesan Morzele, Marcos Adriano Tortato, Adriano Rodrigues Lagos, Felipe Viana Manzano, Tiago Chagas de Oliveira Tourinho, Rosângela Zacarias Machado, João Fábio Soares, Marcos Rogério André

Wild cats may be carrying bacteria linked not only to domestic cats, but also to the rodents and fleas they hunt. That changes how scientists think about disease moving through Brazil’s wildlife.

Overview In depth

Evaluating the effects of metronidazole, metformin, and onion extract on GAPDH activity and nitric oxide production in Blastocystis sp. cultures: a biochemical and therapeutic approach

Evaluating the effects of metronidazole, metformin, and onion extract on GAPDH activity and nitric oxide production in Blastocystis sp. cultures: a biochemical and therapeutic approach

Gehad A. Basuony, Alshaimaa Hamed, Amal M. Mahfoz, Abdel Wahab M. Mahmoud, Hala Ramadan, Magda Said Ahmed Abdeltawab

A common gut parasite may be vulnerable not only to its usual medicine, but also to a diabetes drug and onion extract. The surprise is that killing it may involve changing its energy system and its chemical surroundings.

Overview In depth

Expression patterns of CD24 and CD27 resolve the origins and gradual differentiation of CD11c+ atypical memory B-cells after malaria infection

Expression patterns of CD24 and CD27 resolve the origins and gradual differentiation of CD11c+ atypical memory B-cells after malaria infection

Alan‐Dine Courey‐Ghaouzi, Linn Kleberg, Zaynab Mousavian, Maximilian Julius Lautenbach, Marta Pirronello, Ganesh E. Phad, Mattias N.E. Forsell, Anna Färnert, Christopher Sundling

After malaria, some immune cells long treated as exhausted may actually be moving through a carefully ordered life cycle. The surprising part is that cells from different beginnings can end up in the same late state.

Overview In depth

Enhancedanti-tumor efficacy through a combination of intramuscularly expressed DNA vaccine and plasmid-encoded PD-1 antibody

Enhancedanti-tumor efficacy through a combination of intramuscularly expressed DNA vaccine and plasmid-encoded PD-1 antibody

Xun Liu, Yueyao Yang, Xiufeng Zheng, Ming Liu, Gang Wang

Cancer treatment may work better when the immune system gets both a clear target and help removing the brakes that hold its attack back. In mice, that combination slowed tumors, limited spread, and improved survival.

Overview In depth

TRIM6 ablation reverses ICB resistance in MSS gastric cancer by unleashing cGAS-STING-dependent antitumor immunity

TRIM6 ablation reverses ICB resistance in MSS gastric cancer by unleashing cGAS-STING-dependent antitumor immunity

Yinan Niu, Chen Ding, Quansheng Wang, Jingyi Yin, Lingmeng Li, Wenshuai Liu, Xuefei Wang, Liyu Huang

Some stomach cancers are “cold”: immune-based drugs barely work because the body’s defenders never arrive. This study points to a brake that may be keeping those defenders out, and shows what happened when the brake was removed.

Overview In depth

Assessment of Bacillus species capacity to protect Nile tilapia from A. hydrophila infection and improve growth performance

Assessment of Bacillus species capacity to protect Nile tilapia from A. hydrophila infection and improve growth performance

Leslye Macias, Víctor Mercado, Jorge Olmos

Fish farms can raise production, but crowded conditions also make fish more vulnerable to infection. This study tested whether helpful bacteria mixed into feed could protect fish and help them grow.

Overview In depth

Synthesis vs. salvage of ester- and ether-linked phosphatidylethanolamine in the intracellular protozoan pathogen Toxoplasma gondii

Synthesis vs. salvage of ester- and ether-linked phosphatidylethanolamine in the intracellular protozoan pathogen Toxoplasma gondii

Bingjian Ren, Xiaohan Liang, Jos F. Brouwers, Rosalba Cruz‐Mirón, Bang Shen, Nishith Gupta

A parasite invading human cells has a supply problem: it needs building material for new membranes, but it does not make every kind itself. This study finds it manufactures one form and steals another from its host.

Overview In depth

Local administration of mRNA encoding cytokine cocktail confers potent anti-tumor immunity

Local administration of mRNA encoding cytokine cocktail confers potent anti-tumor immunity

Zhigang Li, Ling Hu, Yiping Wang, Qi Liu, Jun Liu, Haiyan Long, Qi Li, Liping Luo, Yucai Peng

Cancer treatments often struggle with a basic problem: how do you wake up the immune system without inflaming the whole body? This study tries a more local answer, deliver the instructions directly inside the tumor.

Overview In depth

MCL1 inhibition targets Myeloid Derived Suppressors Cells, promotes antitumor immunity and enhances the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade

MCL1 inhibition targets Myeloid Derived Suppressors Cells, promotes antitumor immunity and enhances the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade

Nabanita Mukherjee, Elizabeth Katsnelson, Tonya M. Brunetti, Kylie Michel, Kasey L. Couts, Karoline A. Lambert, William A. Robinson, Martin D. McCarter, David A. Norris, Richard P. Tobin, Yiqun G. Shellman

What if a melanoma drug works not by attacking the cancer directly, but by removing the cells that stop the immune system from attacking it? This study points to that unexpected possibility.

Overview In depth

Prospective Molecular Targets for Natural Killer Cell Immunotherapy against Glioblastoma Multiforme

Prospective Molecular Targets for Natural Killer Cell Immunotherapy against Glioblastoma Multiforme

Luke C. Cooksey, Derek C. Friesen, Enrique D. Mangan, Porunelloor A. Mathew

Glioblastoma is a devastating brain cancer, and standard treatment has not produced lasting survival gains. This review asks whether the body’s natural killer cells can be directed toward the tumor in several different ways.

Overview In depth

Current state of NK cell-mediated immunotherapy in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Current state of NK cell-mediated immunotherapy in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Zonghan Wang, Wei Li, Hao Dong, Fujun Han

When standard leukemia treatments fall short, the body may already have another weapon: immune cells that can recognize and attack cancer without needing the same target as other immune therapies.

Overview In depth

Non-invasive investigation of Polychromophilus parasite infections in bat populations in Serbia using bat flies

Non-invasive investigation of Polychromophilus parasite infections in bat populations in Serbia using bat flies

Branka Bajić, Oskar Werb, Ivana Budinski, Jelena Blagojević, Juliane Schaer, Jaap van Schaik

A bat can carry a hidden infection without giving researchers an easy way to check. This study finds that the bat fly riding on its body can act like a tiny, non-invasive warning signal.

Overview In depth