Viral

Flu :: Your genes may hold key to how sick you get from the flu

With the help of some high tech equipment, well-defined mouse models and analytical know how, researchers are trying to understand why a flu virus kills some people but not others. Studies to be presented at “Physiological Genomics and Proteomics of Lung Disease” found that a strain of mice more likely to die of influenza infection mounts a dramatically enhanced immune response in the lungs compared to a strain of mice that generally develops milder disease.

HIV :: New way to fight HIV / AIDS

For years researchers have been trying to understand how a few HIV-infected patients naturally defeat a virus that otherwise overwhelms the immune system. Last year, a research team at the University of Rochester Medical Center confirmed that such patients, called long-term non-progressors, maintain higher than normal levels of the enzyme called APOBEC-3G (A3G) in their white blood cells, which function to stave off infections. Now, the same group has teamed up with a structural biologist to provide the first look at the A3G structure. Such information represents an early step toward the design of a new class of drugs that could afford to all the same natural protection enjoyed by few, according to a study published today in The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Immunity :: Interaction between lymph and liver cells may affect immune response

A new study on the ability of liver cells to interact with T cells (lymph cells that play a role in regulating the immune response) found that such interactions do occur and demonstrated the mechanism by which they may take place. The results may help explain the altered immune responses that occur with aging and other conditions and may be useful in developing therapies for viral hepatitis and autoimmune diseases.

Sinusitis :: New, minimally invasive surgery to treat sinusitis

If drug therapy can’t open blocked sinuses, sufferers now have a novel option. Mayo Clinic ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeons have taken a page from the book of cardiology in performing a new, outpatient procedure to alleviate acute or chronic symptoms of sinusitis, an inflammation of the sinus cavities usually due to an infection.

Cancer :: Harnessing the Measles Virus to Attack Cancer

Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has opened a new clinical study using a vaccine strain of the measles virus to attack recurrent glioblastoma multiforme, a largely untreatable brain tumor. This is the second of several pending molecular medicine studies in patients using measles to kill cancer.

Hepatitis :: Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Baraclude, entecavir suppressed viral load to undetectable levels

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) announced data from a three-year cohort (ETV-022/901, n=119), which showed BARACLUDE? (entecavir) suppressed viral load to undetectable levels in 90 percent of nucleoside-na?ve chronic hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg) positive patients at week 144 who continued on-treatment from week 96. In this cohort, undetectable HBV DNA levels were defined as less than 300 copies per mL of blood as measured by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Suppression of viral load to undetectable levels is one of several measures of antiviral treatment response; a sustained, undetectable viral load is an important goal of chronic hepatitis B treatment. The results of this three-year cohort were presented today at the 57th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

Bronchiolitis :: Antibiotics, steroids, or bronchodilators to treat bronchiolitis not required

In a new clinical practice guideline, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) outlines recommendations for diagnosing and managing bronchiolitis, the most common lower respiratory infection in children under age 2. The symptoms of bronchiolitis often mirror those of asthma or bacterial pneumonia, resulting in misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment.

Influenza :: Good medicines for flu, influenza in alternative medicines

“Friends, as the winters are coming, they are bringing influenza with them. So, be prepared to fight the disease and know about it,” Dr. Poonam Singhal. Influenza, also called grippe or flu, an acute contagious viral infection characterized by inflammation of the respiratory tract and by fever, chills, muscular pain, and prostration, with cough, cold, sneezings, intense frontal headache, pain and aches in joints, fever (100 deg. F to 105 deg. F), nausea, etc.

Hepatitis :: PEG-INTRON, peginterferon and REBETOL, ribavirin in Hepatitis C — Schering-Plough

Schering-Plough reported data from EPIC3, a large ongoing clinical study, showing that retreatment with PEG-INTRON(R) (peginterferon alfa-2b) and REBETOL(R) (ribavirin, USP) combination therapy can result in sustained virologic response(1) (SVR) in patients with chronic hepatitis C who failed previous treatment with any alpha interferon-based combination therapy, including peginterferon regimens. In this study, 56 percent of patients who had undetectable virus (HCV-RNA) after 12 weeks went on to achieve SVR with a 48-week course of therapy. Of the first 1,354 patients retreated, approximately 38 percent had undetectable virus at week 12. Importantly, patients who did not have undetectable virus at 12 weeks had little chance of achieving SVR. Overall, 23 percent of patients achieved SVR.