Potential new therapeutic pathway to clear chronic viral infections


Date:
November 29, 2021
Source:
Monash University
Summary:
A recent study in mice has uncovered that during chronic viral
infection, a protein called BMI-1 gets turned on too early in
B cells and messes up the delicate balance of gene expression,
resulting in antibodies that are unsuccessful in their endeavor
to clear the virus from the body.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Chronic infectious diseases have a devastating effect on global
health. When someone is suffering from a chronic viral infection
such as HIV or hepatitis C, their B cells get altered resulting in
low-quality antibodies that are not strong enough to help the body clear
the infection.


==========================================================================
A recent study in mice conducted by the Monash Biomedicine Discovery
Institute (BDI), has uncovered that during chronic viral infection,
a protein called BMI- 1 gets turned on too early in B cells and messes
up the delicate balance of gene expression, resulting in antibodies that
are unsuccessful in their endeavour to clear the virus from the body.

However, when this protein is targeted, the nature of the B cell can be
changed to produce a higher quality antibody that accelerates clearance
of a virus and may provide a new therapeutic pathway to help improve
and regulate the body's antibody response to achieve better outcomes.

The findings have now been published in Nature Immunology.

B cells, a type of white blood cell, respond to infection and can
eventually turn into plasma cells. It is the plasma cells that make
and secrete antibodies. During an infection, some of the B cells that
become activated can quickly become plasma cells and start to produce antibodies in the first few days of the body's immune response. While
these antibodies are helpful, they are typically lower in quality and do
not clear the infection. However, they do give the immune system some
time to allow other B cells to undergo a "training period" to become high-quality memory B cells and plasma cells for immunity.

The memory B cells will act as sentinels for a long time, on guard for the
next time the body gets infected with the same pathogen. If reinfected,
they can quickly turn into plasma cells and make high-quality antibodies without having to undergo the training again, which helps your body
clear the infection quicker and are the reason why vaccines work.

When a patient can't clear the infection, the immune response reacts by altering the balance in favour of producing antibodies faster, without
the adequate training it needs to neutralise the virus and form protective memory B cells and plasma cells.

Lead researcher Associate Professor Kim Good-Jacobson said being able to modulate abnormal antibody responses to accelerate viral clearance and
reduce disease in chronic infection has significant benefits to patients
and the burden of disease.

"We haven't been able to produce effective vaccines for several chronic
viral infections that can cause long-term health problems for millions
of people. We wanted to figure out how antibody responses get disrupted,
so we could start to identify targets to regulate the antibody response
for better outcomes," said Associate Professor Good-Jacobson.

"Memory immune cells and high-quality antibodies are powerhouses
underpinning immune protection provided by successful vaccines, so working
on ways to deliver drugs directly to B cells to improve the antibody
response without affecting how well other immune cells work is crucial." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Monash_University. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Andrea Di Pietro, Jack Polmear, Lucy Cooper, Timon Damelang, Tabinda
Hussain, Lauren Hailes, Kristy O'Donnell, Vibha Udupa, Tian Mi,
Simon Preston, Areen Shtewe, Uri Hershberg, Stephen J. Turner,
Nicole L. La Gruta, Amy W. Chung, David M. Tarlinton, Christopher
D. Scharer, Kim L.

Good-Jacobson. Targeting BMI-1 in B cells restores effective humoral
immune responses and controls chronic viral infection. Nature
Immunology, 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41590-021-01077-y ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211129122800.htm

--- up 2 weeks, 4 days, 2 hours, 54 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)