We know that we often acquire immunity against various diseases by getting “injections” of dead or weakened bacteria or viri. Our body learns to recognize these “invaders” and when confronted with the “real McCoy”, it can draw upon its resources and repel the invasion or incursion. The end result is that our body’s learned responses keep us healthy.
I’m sure you recognize that this injection is not just comprised of the weakened or dead microbes/viri. No, there’s typically fluid and other materials in the injection. And, some of them are not just fillers- but adjuvants (come on, you know I would use this!!!!) to make the individual components of the mixture work better.
The adjuvants are chose to help the antigen (the part of the pathogen to which the body reacts after injection) persist- thereby enabling the body to develop a persistent immune response, building up a store of antibodies. That way when encountering the real pathogen, the body can fight and win the battle. Other adjuvants may be chose to activate dendritic cells; these cells travel from the skin to the lymph nodes to spawn the immune response.
Well, Dr. Soman Abaham and his research team of Dr. St. John (lead author), Chan, Staats, and Leong, at Duke University have tried out a new adjuvant- a nanoparticle-based one. Their paper was published in Nature Materials. Their choice was built upon the knowledge that mast cells in our skin release small capsules (granules) that contain tumor necrosis factor (the TNF chemical), and when these capsules reach the lymph nodes, the immune response is amplified.
The researchers developed a synthetic version of these mast cells, a carbohydrate backbone, with the inflammatory mediator (tumor necrosis factor) incorporated. This adjuvant was then added to the “conventional” influenza A virus injection mixture and administered to mice. And, when the mice encountered a lethal dose of the virus, those vaccinated mice had improved survival rates.
They also loaded the nanoparticles with IL-12, a different immune factor. IL-12 activates a different set of lymphocytes than the TNF factor. With different adjuvant choices, the researchers could tailor the response of the organism.
And, in so doing, make our immunizations truly super-injections.
Although the chances that you will be exposed to the flu virus that you were immunized against are only about 30% or less.
Marie recently posted..Where in the World…? (Part Deux)
I think that’s the odds it ISN’T the right strain, Marie. And, there are new ones coming out that will cover all four choices, not just three…
Roy
Space junk in our veins? Is that what you are implying? Or are you talking about more sick stuff attached to carbohydrates, like potatoes? I think I would prefer space junk to land on my head and potatoes to land in my mouth. Thank you.
Ann recently posted..Spreading Your Blog With OnlyWire
I am not sure I get your point, Ann.
Perhaps my reply to Ms. Budvietas will help, as well.
But, normally, any drug we ingest or with which we are injected is accompanied with many components. Some of it is a fluid (water) to render the material capable of being handled by our body and reach the destination. Others are buffers that protect it from the changes in environment it sees. Others insure the drug has a reasonable shelf life.
Now, we are considering providing it a component (adjuvant) that serves as a “GPS” of sorts to hone in on the target cells, so it works more effectively.
I hope that helps.
Roy
Interesting – so synthetics fight the real thing. I wonder, we keep putting synthetic things into our life and I just see plastic man coming. My love of science fiction coming out here – lets just decant the soul into a synthetic body and there is no need for medicine just engineers and spiritual guidance
Roberta recently posted..More Yeah, Yeah and less Blah, Blah
No, that’s not quite the target, Roberta.
The adjuvants are able to promote the activity of the active element. The synthetics themselves attack nothing.
Think of this as a bunch of fireman attempting to fight a fire. They have a total of 5 folks, where we know it takes 5 folks 1 hour to put out a fire. A new device, a heat sensor is now provided them (which does NOT fight fires). But, that device lets them target the hottest part of the fires (which is from where the fire normally spreads). So, they can now target more efficiently and take 30 minutes to put out the fire. The heat sensor, itself, does nothing, but adding that to the fire fighting team mixture renders them twice as capable as before.
Roy