Transgenic mice expressing simian virus 40 large T antigen in enterocytes develop intestinal hyperplasia that progresses to dysplasia with age. Hyperplasia is dependent on T antigen binding to the retinoblastoma (pRb) family of tumor suppressor proteins. Mice expressing a truncated T antigen that inactivates the pRb-family, but is defective for binding p53, exhibit hyperplasia but do not progre...

An initial step in the replication of simian virus (SV40) DNA is the ATP-dependent formation of a double hexamer of the SV40 large tumor (T) antigen at the SV40 DNA replication origin. In the absence of DNA, T antigen assembled into hexamers in the presence of magnesium and ATP. Hexameric T antigen was stable and could be isolated by glycerol gradient centrifugation. The ATPase activities of he...

Vaccination is the cornerstone for controlling many pathogen infections [1-8], and is also under scrutiny for cancer Immunoprophylaxis/immunotherapy [9,10]. Induction of both antibody and cell-mediated immune (CMI) defences is preferable for ensuring robust immune defence against most pathogen infections, although defence against certain pathogens may require a more dominant CMI response as exe...

Autoimmune encephalitis associated with antibodies targeting the neuronal surface antigen leucine-rich, glioma-inactivated 1 (LGI1) protein is accompanied by faciobrachial dystonic seizures (FBDS) in up to half of patients. These hallmark episodes can be mistaken for psychiatric disorders, particularly as the ictal episodes are usually not detectable with surface EEG electrodes. Accompanying im...

MEMBRANE-BOUND IMMUNOMODULATORS AS ADJUVANTS IN A CELLCULTURE-BASED AVIAN INFLUENZA VACCINEbyDAVID D. FISCHERDecember 2012Advisor: Dr. Roy SundickMajor: Immunology & MicrobiologyDegree: Doctor of PhilosophyInactivated viral vaccines often generate suboptimal immune responses. Adjuvants areincorporated into vaccines to increase their immunogenicity, however cu...

Receptor editing is the process of ongoing antibody gene rearrangement in a lymphocyte that already has a functional antigen receptor. The expression of a functional antigen receptor will normally terminate further rearrangement (allelic exclusion). However, lymphocytes with autoreactive receptors have a chance at escaping negative regulation by "editing" the specificities of their receptors wi...

As is true for other intracellular pathogens, immunization with live Chlamydia trachomatis generally induces stronger protective immunity than does immunization with inactivated organism. To investigate the basis for such a difference, we studied immune responses in BALB/c mice immunized with viable or UV-killed C. trachomatis mouse pneumonitis (MoPn). Strong, acquired resistance to C. trachoma...

Influenza A viruses of the H3N8 subtype are a major cause of respiratory disease in horses. Subclinical infection with virus shedding can occur in vaccinated horses, particularly where there is a mismatch between the vaccine strains and the virus strains circulating in the field. Such infections contribute to the spread of the disease. Rapid diagnostic techniques are available for detection of ...

In this study, we evaluated the relative role of the structural and nonstructural proteins of the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in inducing protective immunities and compared the results with those induced by the inactivated JEV vaccine. Several inbred and outbred mouse strains immunized with a plasmid (pE) encoding the JEV envelope protein elicited a high level of protection against a leth...