antibodies tagged posts

A cross-section of mouse dorsal root ganglia stained for memory CD4 T cells (green) and the vascular cell adhesion molecule, VCAM-1 (red) after six days of genital herpes challenge. Credit: Norifumi Iijima

Yale scientists have solved a puzzle of the immune system – how antibodies enter the nervous system to control viral infections. Their finding may have implications for the prevention and treatment of a range of conditions, including herpes and Guillain-Barre syndrome, which has been linked to the Zika virus.

Many viruses, such as West Nile, Zika, HSV enter the nervous system, where they were thought to be beyond the reach of antibodies. Yale immunobiologists Dr...

Ultrasensitive Antibody Detection by Agglutination-PCR (ADAP)

A new technique is thousands of times more sensitive than current techniques in lab experiments, and it is now being put to test in real-world clinical trials. Tagging antibodies or related biomarkers involves designing a molecule that the biomarker will bind to, and which is adorned with an identifying “flag.” Through immunoassays, researchers can isolate that flag, and the biomarker bound to it, to provide a proxy measurement of the disease.

The new technique, developed in the lab of Prof. Carolyn Bertozzi, augments this standard procedure with powerful DNA screening technology...