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 A free newsletter, sent 6 times a year, covering the latest developments from monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins to regulatory affairs and clinical trials. |
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Clinical cancer vaccine
trials
Antigens that are selectively or abundantly expressed in cancer cells
have been used for clinical trials and appear to be better vaccines than
whole cells. Candidate vaccines have emerged from different categories
of cancer antigens. Strategies involving various forms of peptides have
been used either alone or combined with different agents to enhance
specific immune responses. Although individual patients have benefited,
no strategy has emerged as universally applicable; neither has any route
of administration. Increasingly sensitive methods have correlated
clinical responses with measurable immune responses to vaccination in
some patients.From: Current Opinion in Immunology, 2002, 14:2:178-182  FREE
abstract *
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Antifertility vaccines
The possibility of vaccination as a method of birth control was first
mooted in the 1930s. Since then, several different sperm, egg or
hormonal antigens have been studied as suitable targets for
intervention. Substantial progress over the past decade suggests that
antifertility vaccines could be a valuable, additional method of family
planning. These two articles from the same authors review the current
status of the field and comment on the socio-economic implications of
birth control by vaccination.From: Trends in Immunology, 2002, 23:4:213-219 FREE
abstract *Trends in Immunology, 2002, 23:4:220-221 FREE
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| So who is Zerhouni? We'll
see The nominee for head of the US National Institutes of Health may have won his post for purely political reasons, some researchers fear. But others who know him say he is well-qualified. From: BioMedNet News FREE
full text |
| Insulin gene therapy for
type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes results from the loss of insulin-producing pancreatic cells following the action of â-cell-specific autoimmune responses. One possible treatment for type 1 diabetes is the development of â-cell substitutes by introducing an insulin-producing gene into non-â cells, which would evade the â-cell-specific autoimmune attack. However, this approach has been hampered for a variety of reasons. Recent attempts to solve these problems have sought new methods for effective gene transfer and have addressed issues such as the expression and release of insulin in response to the physiological stimulus of glucose, the production of biologically active insulin, and the selection of an ideal target cell for the expression of the insulin gene. From: Trends in Molecular Medicine, 2002, 8:2:62-68 FREE
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| Plantibodies: applications,
advantages and bottlenecks Various strategies have been developed to exploit plants as bioreactors for the production of pharmaceutical antibodies, to engineer antibody-mediated pathogen resistance or to alter the plant phenotype by immunomodulation. Recent research developments focus on the fine-tuning of expression systems and the detailed characterisation of recombinant products, including the implications of plant-specific glycosylation. Meanwhile, the first of these plant-derived antibody products has successfully completed early-phase clinical trials. From: Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 2002, 13:2:161-166 FREE
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| Vaccine against
hospital-acquired Staphylococcus aureus Staphylococcus aureus is winning the race against antibiotics but a vaccine that could finally beat this pathogen is in advances stages of development. A phase III clinical trial has shown partial immunity and protection against infection in a high-risk patient group - dialysis patients with end-stage renal disease. The vaccine includes two S. aureus capsular polysaccharides (CP5 and CP8) conjugated to an exotoxin protein to improve immunogenicity. Protection was good up to 40 weeks after vaccination but the trial fell just short of its original goal of effectiveness 54 weeks after vaccination. Another phase III trial is planned to begin next year. From: Drug Discovery Today, 2002 7(8):443-444 FREE
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| How to access full text * abstracts are free to all users. Full text is available in BioMedNet Reviews - the world's largest life science reviews database. Ask your librarian to subscribe, or to register for an institutional trial. |
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| The quest for the holy
grail: an effective malaria vaccine? The first results of a clinical trial of a vaccine to target the pre-erythrocytic stages of the malaria parasite in infected hepatocytes have been reported. The vaccine comprises a fusion protein combining most of the circumsporozoite protein and a surface antigen from hepatitis B virus, together with a complex adjuvant. From: BioMedNet Commentary FREE
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Two decades on, monoclonals
show true promise
After more than 20 years in development, therapeutic antibodies used to
treat cancer are now producing promising clinical results. Five
therapeutic antibodies have been approved in the United States to date -
Herceptin and Rituxan are two of the most notable.
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| Vector vaccine creeps
closer The hunt for a "universal" vaccine against a plethora of tick-borne infections is the ambitious goal of parasitologist Olivier Sparagano. From: BioMedNet News FREE
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< < ADVERTISEMENT > > Cancer Cell, the newest journal from the publisher of Cell,
brings you the latest developments in molecular biology and clinical
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until the end of April
http://www.cancercell.org/current.shtml |
| Recombinant protein
expression for therapeutic applications In recent years, the number of recombinant proteins used for therapeutic applications has increased dramatically. Many of these applications involve complex glycoproteins and antibodies with relatively high production needs. These demands have driven the development of a variety of improvements in protein expression technology, particularly involving mammalian and microbial culture systems. From: Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 2002, 13:2:117-123 FREE
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| Monitoring recombinant
protein products: a comparison of current technologies It is hard to measure the amounts of recombinant protein in a complex environment during industrial bioprocessing. Traditional immunoassay techniques are labor-intensive and time-consuming. Recently, however, developments in analytical technology have resulted in several improved methods for monitoring protein product during bioprocessing. The most commonly used technologies are electrochemiluminescence, optical biosensors, rapid chromatography and nephelometry. Which technology you should use for a particular bioprocess depends on the nature of your assay as well as instrument-specific factors. But what are the advantages and disadvantages of each technique when compared with the traditional immunoassays. From: Trends in Biotechnology, 2002, 20:4:149-156 FREE
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| Gene therapy to manipulate
the immune system? Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center (Baltimore, MD, USA) have introduced a marker gene into blood stem cells using a technique that enables the gene to be selectively activated in specific types of immune cell. Although still in its early stages, this research is a step towards making it possible to use targeted gene therapy to boost or suppress an immune response. It could lead to future gene therapy techniques that help the body fight cancer or that prevent transplant patients rejecting their new organ. From: Drug Discovery Today, 2002, 7:7:391-392 FREE
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| Growth factor rescues
dystrophic mice A growth factor boosts repair of the weak muscles in mice with muscular dystrophy, according to tantalizing evidence released today. The results may spark new research in muscle regeneration. From: BioMedNet News FREE
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