Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

Inducing melanoma for cancer vaccine development

Cancer vaccines are being investigated in early-phase clinical trials around the world, with many of those trials recruiting patients with melanoma.

28 Mar 2006

Flu vaccination program could save more than 6,500 lives

To increase influenza vaccinations rates among the elderly - those ages 65 and over who are at high risk for influenza-related mortality - the federal government could consider borrowing a page from the pharmaceutical companies' prescription drug advertising campaigns.

27 Mar 2006

It's time for Britain to adopt universal hepatitis B immunisation

The United Kingdom is one of the few developed countries that have not implemented universal immunisation. Instead, it follows a policy of selective immunisation of high-risk groups, and screening all women attending antenatal clinics.

27 Mar 2006

Phagocytosis depends more on particle shape than size

The research, which has far-reaching implications for immunology, vaccine development and drug delivery, is published today online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Samir Mitragotri, a UCSB professor of chemical engineering, and graduate student Julie A. Champion. The paper will be published in print on March 28.

23 Mar 2006

Immune system protein LL-37 critical in controlling replication of vaccinia virus

Scientists supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have identified a defect in the immune response of people with the skin condition atopic dermatitis that puts them at risk of developing serious complications following smallpox vaccination.

23 Mar 2006

Potential therapeutic targets against serious side effects of smallpox vaccine

Smallpox is considered a potential terrorist weapon, but millions of people in the United States are currently advised not to get a vaccine to the disease because they are susceptible to developing a severe adverse reaction.

23 Mar 2006

There is little chance the U.S. will be able to manufacture enough vaccines to stop a bird flu pandemic

A group of medical experts who attended a national avian flu conference last fall believe there is little chance the United States will be able to manufacture and stockpile enough vaccine or antiviral medication to stop a bird flu pandemic should the virus mutate into a form that can be spread easily from human to human

23 Mar 2006

U.S. buys more Relenza and Tamiflu for future influenza pandemics

The United States Department of Health and Human Services has announced additional purchases of antiviral drugs that could be used in the event of a potential influenza pandemic.

23 Mar 2006

First evidence that dendritic cells show unprecedented sensitivity to thimerosal

A team of cell biologists, toxicologists and molecular bioscientists at UC Davis has published a study connecting thimerosal with disruptions in antigen-presenting cells known as dendritic cells obtained from mice.

22 Mar 2006

Swedish scientists move closer to a cancer vaccine

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have helped to identify a molecule that can be used as a vaccination agent against growing cancer tumours. Although the results are so far based on animal experiments, they point to new methods of treating metastases.

21 Mar 2006

U.S. screening for highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in migratory birds

Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt have moved to further ensure the protection of people, domestic poultry and wild birds by unveiling an enhanced national framework for early detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in wild migratory birds in the United States.

21 Mar 2006

Novel vaccine approach to listeria - potential protection against other intracellular bacterial pathogens

When bacterial pathogens attack the surface of a cell, vaccine-induced antibodies can mount a formidable defense and fend off the bad bugs.

21 Mar 2006

HIV reveals another secret to its success

In HIV infection, a protein produced by infected cells penetrates immune B cells, preventing them from producing antibodies that could do the virus real harm.

20 Mar 2006

Vaccinated adults less likely to die from pneumonia

Adults hospitalized for pneumonia who have received the pneumococcal vaccine are at a lower risk of dying from the disease than those who haven't been vaccinated, according to an article in the April 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

19 Mar 2006

A new strategy to tuberculosis

The new "Stop TB Strategy" addresses the current challenges facing countries in responding to TB - how to continue scaling-up TB control activities while also addressing the spread of TB and HIV coinfection and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).

17 Mar 2006

New agreement on Chinese malaria vaccine candidate

In a move that promises to expand the clinical testing of another promising malaria vaccine candidate, the US-based PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) and the Chinese company Shanghai Wanxing Bio-Pharmaceuticals today announced an agreement that supports the development of a pediatric malaria vaccine against Plasmodium (P.) falciparum, the most deadly strain of malaria.

15 Mar 2006