Sartorisu-Sowmya eBook - 13

DECIPHERING THE IMMUNE RESPONSE TO VIRAL INFECTION

The inaugural "Immunotherapy for Infectious Diseases"
conference was recently held "to provide a forum for exchange
of results and ideas and to establish a community of interested
parties in the interphase between academia and industry,"
commented meeting organizer Magnus Hook, PhD, professor,
director, Center for Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases,
Texas A&M Health Center. A second conference is planned for
2020 in Italy.
Conference topics included coaxing lung cells to combat
infections, leveraging new technological innovations to create
mRNA vaccines, assessing unique therapeutic monoclonal
antibodies (mAbs) against Ebola, Zika, and other infectious
diseases, and utilizing electroporation-assisted delivery of naked
DNA to create "designer DNA vaccines."
LURING LUNGS TO ATTACK PATHOGENS
The epithelium of the lung, akin to a military perimeter, defends
against infection both as a passive barrier and as a battery of
active killing components, noted Burton F. Dickey, MD, professor
and chair of the department of pulmonary medicine at the
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. "Rather than
outsourcing all active antimicrobial defenses to leukocytes,
barrier epithelial cells, which face the onslaught of pathogen
attack, have developed their own potent innate defenses,"
Dickey explained.
13 | GENengnews.com

Researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center led by Burton F. Dickey, MD (right), have
shown that airway epithelial cells sense the presence of pathogens through innate
immune receptors such as Toll-like receptors (TLRs). Pathogen sensing and response
steps unfold as follows: (1) TLRs bind molecules shed by microbes. (2) Cells are
prompted to kill pathogens by releasing reactive oxygen species and antimicrobial
peptides. (3) Cells also recruit leukocytes to assist in pathogen defense. The response
steps can be induced by aerosolized drugs that mimic pathogen-associated
molecules.

Dickey along with Scott E. Evans, MD, associate professor in
the same department, and colleagues, developed a strategy to
induce lung cells to ramp up their defenses. The team identified
a synergistic combination of two Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists
that, when inhaled, could induce rapid lung resistance to
infection from more than 15 bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
According to Dickey, the discovery was exciting, but also
puzzling. "There was," Dickey pointed out, "no obvious link
between the two agonists that consisted of a diacylated
http://www.GENengnews.com
Sartorisu-Sowmya eBook

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sartorisu-Sowmya eBook
