由于致病病原體, 如細(xì)菌等能夠迅速突變來逃避人體免疫的識(shí)別，開發(fā)具有廣泛保護(hù)作用的免疫疫苗是近年來公共衛(wèi)生領(lǐng)域研究的熱點(diǎn)。
哈佛大學(xué)公共衛(wèi)生學(xué)院研究人員李元博士等人經(jīng)過多年努力，近日***了免疫系統(tǒng)限制細(xì)菌進(jìn)化過程中一個(gè)極為重要的***制。論文在線發(fā)表發(fā)表在美國(guó)《公共科學(xué)圖書館*病原體》雜志上，并且成為該雜志被瀏覽次數(shù)最多的論文。
研究過程中，李元博士及合作者發(fā)現(xiàn)一種特定的人體免疫***制， 細(xì)胞免疫，能夠防止肺炎鏈球菌的感染，卻不允許細(xì)菌通過突變來逃避識(shí)別。
經(jīng)過深入研究，科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)這種細(xì)胞免疫具有'愛屋及烏' 的特性：如果一個(gè)細(xì)菌被這種免疫識(shí)別，周圍的其他細(xì)菌也會(huì)被清除。 這大大的限制了細(xì)菌的突變進(jìn)化。
應(yīng)用生物信息學(xué)的方法和云計(jì)算, 研究人員進(jìn)一步分析了肺炎鏈球菌的基因組序列并發(fā)現(xiàn)，這種細(xì)胞免疫識(shí)別的細(xì)菌蛋白的確缺失快速突變的跡象。
哈佛大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)院教授麥克思說，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)是病原體與人體免疫反應(yīng)研究的重大突破，將使研究者更高效更高質(zhì)量地制備新型疫苗，抑制致病細(xì)菌對(duì)免疫的逃逸。
這將有望使根除細(xì)菌性肺炎， 流行性感冒等傳染性疾病真正得到實(shí)現(xiàn)。
轉(zhuǎn)自伍佰藝書畫
www.500art***
英文原文如下：
Efficacy of Vaccine Could be Enhanced by Novel Immunity
Bacteria pathogens evolve particularly fast to avoid recognition by
antibody. It has been a major problem in preventing diseases caused by
infection of, for example, pneumococcus.
Now scientists from Harvard University have published an exciting
study in PLOS Pathogens that suggests a solution: one form of human
immunity can limit pneumococcus infection but seems not to allow the
bacteria to evade easily.
The T cell immunity-based vaccine design is one of the most
significant developments in pneumococcal diseases control in many
years', said lead author Yuan Li, a research fellow at Harvard School
of Public Health (HSPH). 'Our study is first to look how the bacteria
have been responding to this type of immunity in humans.'
Dr. Li, senior author Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at
HSPH, and collaborators examined all proteins encoded by the bacterial
genome, and found that 58 proteins are commonly recognized by human T
cell immunity.
With the help from a computer cloud of 4708 CPUs, the scientists
implemented a bioinformatics method to assess the signals of evading
immunity by scanning whole genome sequences. Dr. Li and colleagues
found that proteins recognized by T cell immunity show no detectable
signs of being under selective pressure, in sharp contrast to proteins
known to be strong target of antibody.
Although the study suggests escape from T cell immunity may be slower,
Dr. Li urged caution in interpreting his findings since this is the
first study of its kind. Still, he said, 'As we get more and more
certain of how our immune system drives evolution of pathogens, it
means that alternative vaccine design may be more effective.'
from:
www.500art***
