TB tagged posts

First breathing ‘lung-on-chip’ developed using genetically identical cells

lung
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and AlveoliX have developed the first human lung-on-chip model using stem cells taken from only one person. These chips simulate breathing motions and lung disease in an individual, holding promise for testing treatments for infections like tuberculosis (TB) and delivering personalized medicine.

The research is published in the journal Science Advances.

Air sacs in the lungs called alveoli are the essential site of gas exchange and also an important barrier against inhaled viruses and bacteria that cause respiratory diseases like flu or TB.

Researchers have been working to recreate the battle between human cells and bacteria in the lab by building a lung-on-a-chip: small units of human lung on a plast...

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Delivering TB vaccine Intravenously dramatically Improves Potency, study shows

3D PET CT scans of monkey lungs showing inflammation (red and yellow) from TB infection. The top row were vaccinated the usual way with a shot into the skin The bottom row received the vaccine intravenously.
CREDIT
JoAnne Flynn, Ph.D., Alexander White, Pauline Maiello, and Mario Roederer, Ph.D.

Worldwide, more people die from tuberculosis (TB) than any other infectious disease, even though the vast majority were vaccinated. The vaccine just isn’t that reliable. But a new Nature study finds that simply changing the way the vaccine is administered could dramatically boost its protective power.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) discovered that intravenous TB vaccination is highly protecti...

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Old Vaccine BCG Trains Immune System

 

Both the acquired immune system and innate immune system has a memory. And BCG vaccine against tuberculosis can stimulate this memory. After a BCG vaccination, the innate immune system responds better to a wide range of other infections. Mihai Netea and colleagues from Radboud university medical center discovered and described how that works. They think that the old vaccine could be useful for specific target groups, such as the elderly.

BCG, a vaccine against TB, was discovered in the 1920s and is one of the most used vaccines worldwide. In the Netherlands, the vaccine no longer falls within the national vaccination program...

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