Scientists in California have provided the first detailed look at how human antibodies, proteins critical for the body’s defense against invading pathogens, may actually drive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to mutate and escape detection by the immune system. The findings, reported online March 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may be key in efforts to develop an effective AIDS vaccine.
In a critical scene in the film remake of the classic 1960s TV series “The Fugitive,” actor Harrison Ford sheds his coat and replaces it with another. This simple deception allows him to escape detection by the swarm of police officers trailing him. The African trypanosome, a blood parasite that causes African sleeping sickness, is, like Ford’s character in the film, a fugitive that changes its “coat” each time the human immune system is about to nab it. Woven of 10 million copies of a single sugar-coated molecule called a glycoprotein, the trypanosome’s surface changes every few days by virtue of a switch that activates a new gene.
A person’s state of mind may influence the body’s response to a vaccine against meningitis C, suggests new research. The findings support previous research showing a link between psychological factors and antibody response to vaccines. The results of a broad survey revealed that a high level of perceived life stress, but not actual stress, was associated with low antibody levels. A low level of psychological well being – feeling anxious or under strain, for example – was also linked to low antibody levels.