Scientists reveal how the Yellow Fever virus vaccine triggers different immune responses online in Nature Immunology. This work paves the way to rapidly predict whether vaccinated individuals will respond in a way that likely provides them with immune protection.
Using a myriad of genetic, biochemical, analytical and mathematical approaches, Bali Pulendran and colleagues screened gene expression patterns in individuals who received the Yellow Fever vaccine. By choosing subsets of genes on the basis of specific bioinformatic criteria, they extracted two distinct gene expression 'signatures' that correlated with lymphocyte immune responses. A subsequent test of the predictive power of these signatures demonstrated between 90 and 100% accuracy on a second group of individuals who had received the vaccine. Accurately predicting, on the basis of 'gene signatures', if a given vaccine effectively induces immune responses has never been accomplished before. Whether this model can be used to predict efficacy of other vaccines types remains to be tested. Author contact: Bali Pulendran (Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA) E-mail: bpulend@emory.edu Abstract available online. (C) Nature Immunology press release.
Message posted by: Trevor M. D'Souza
|