login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
New Vaccine for CMV Infection
June 23, 2007 at 5:35 PM
Research News
CMV, a type of herpes virus, is the leading viral cause of birth defects and a serious problem in patients with compromised immune systems. The bodys natural immunity doesnt protect against infection by the virus, estimated to be present in 50 to 75 percent of all adults.
Until now, scientists havent been able to develop a vaccine to protect against CMV, said Deborah H. Spector, Ph.D., UCSD Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and faculty member of the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Using a two-pronged approach, we successfully created and tested a vaccine in a mouse model with CMV that shows enormous promise for re-directing the bodys immune system, enabling it to fight the virus.
The mouse vaccine generates an immune response that protects against both infection and development of disease when the virus is present by completely disarming the viruss ability to replicate and establish a persistent infection.
Our approach generates an immune response that is different from the normal response to the virus, and we hope to have found an Achilles heel in the defenses that the virus uses to evade the immune system, said Spector.
The virus has evolved to persist in the host by evading the immune responses either by hiding or by misdirecting the hosts immune responses. We found a way to teach the host immune system to not be tricked by the virus. She added that the next step is to apply this strategy to create a vaccine for use in humans.
|
|
|
More News on: Flu
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
- News Quick Links
| News Categories: |
| » | Vivek Oberoi Says There is No Smoking on His Sets |
| » | Gasoigne Swaps Booze for Botox |
| » | Michelle Obama: Name of Olive Tree in Italy |
| » | Beyonce: Most Beautiful Women in the World |
| » | Robin Gibb Recovers from Coma Wakes Up to Cancer |
| More Celebrity News | |
|
