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Public release date: 11-Oct-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jennifer Kohm jkohm@cfri.ca 604-875-2401 Child & Family Research Institute

Development of a vaccine against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has taken a step forward with the Canadian discovery of how EBV infection evades detection by the immune system.

EBV causes infectious mononucleosis and cancers such as Hodgkin's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which is the most common cancer in China, as well as opportunistic cancers in people with weakened immune systems. A member of the herpes virus family that remains in the body for life, the virus infects epithelial cells in the throat and immune cells called B cells.

The researchers discovered that the virus triggers molecular events that turn off key proteins, making infected cells invisible to the natural killer T (NKT) immune cells that seek and destroy EBV-infected cells.

"If you can force these invisible proteins to be expressed, then you can render infected cells visible to NKT cells, and defeat the virus. This could be key to making a vaccine that would provide immunity from ever being infected with EBV," says Dr. Rusung Tan, the study's principal investigator. Dr. Tan is a scientist and director of the Immunity in Health & Disease research group at the Child & Family Research Institute at BC Children's Hospital, and a professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of British Columbia.

The findings were published this week in the print edition of the scientific journal Blood.

For this study, the researchers looked at cells from infected tonsils that had been removed from patients at BC Children's Hospital by Dr. Frederick Kozak. The researchers infected the tonsillar B cells with EBV, and then combined some of these cells with NKT cells. They found that more NKT cells led to fewer EBV-infected cells, while an absence of NKT cells was associated with an increase in EBV-infected cells.

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This research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research SLED Team for Childhood Autoimmunity, and BC Children's Hospital Foundation. Dr. Tan is a Michael Smith Foundation Senior Scholar.

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Immune system discovery could lead to EBV vaccine to prevent mono, some cancers

Manish Paul is the latest anchor to make his debut as a leading man in a Hindi film. Known for his wit and improvisation, Manish is playing the title role in Mickey Virus, scheduled to release later this month. It is my sense of humour that got me the role but the film is not just a comedy but comic-thriller and the role has given me an opportunity to express different emotions. Mickey is a middle-class boy who is not too keen to sit on the grocery store run by his mother. He looks lazy but is a master hacker and helps police in solving cases. The build-up is comic but after that the film takes a different turn, says Manish, who was recently seen giving good competition to his star guests in Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa, where he was one of the anchors. Up till now we were considered good enough only to be sidekicks but now producers are game to put money on our talent.

Manish says technology is proving to be a great leveller. I dont think a common man will find a film on a hacker to be too elitist. These days even the neighbourhood vegetable seller sends messages by mobile phone and i-pad is no longer a novelty. And it is not a one off as Manish has already signed the sequel of Tere Bin Laden. With Laden no longer around, the figure might become a metaphor but for now Manish is tight-lipped.

The other side

Known for pot boilers like The Train and The Killer, director Hasnain Hyderabadwala is taking a serious turn with a film on extremist elements in Islam. A Mahesh Bhatt protg, Hasnain says it was on the advice of his mentor that he decided to take up the subject. He says the film is an attempt to expose those who misinterpret Quran and its real meaning to breed terrorism by manipulating the young and vulnerable youth.

The film represents a clash of two ideologies. Dr Mazhar Ali Khan, played by Manzar Sahbai (of Bol fame), represents the Islamic principle of compassion and respect for human life while Maulana Jeelani, portrayed by Akhilendra Mishra, is a demagogic cleric, who incites youth to avenge alleged atrocities on Muslims. We were not afraid of anyone but were a little cautious. We dont want to hurt any sect or any Muslim. We consulted a lot of people as part of our research. Quran does not approve of terrorism in any way. Not a single verse in the holy book supports terrorism, says Hasnain, who last delivered a dud in the form of Jashn.

Headline hunters

These days headlines are becoming easy fodder for fiction. At one level there are big names like Prakash Jha and Ram Gopal Varma who are getting inspired quickly. At another level there are names which we havent heard but the subjects that they deal with are enough to make people curious, if not serious. While the biggies use terms like loosely based, these new arrivals have no such compunctions. Audience in metros might see through their plans but in small towns they can find an audience. Many would not know Don Gautham but the man is a director who has completed a film on the Delhi gang rape victim in a jiffy. Called Aaj Ki Freedom the film is ready for release and Gautham is coming up with statements like the motive of the film is to make the audience feel the pain of the victim. Similarly, Asharams controversy has yet to fade away from news channels but director Manoj Sharma has already announced a film on him. Titled Guru Ho Ja Shuru, the film has Hemant Pandey, known for his comic timing, in the lead. Pandey says the film will bring us face to face with a hard hitting reality of how a guru misuses the faith of his disciples. Perhaps, Sharma has outpaced Prakash Jha, who might be dusting off his script of Satsang! He was supposed to make this film on religious and spiritual gurus before Satyagraha but then the socio-political turn of events made him change the order.

Bhoot is back!

In the last couple of years, horror has taken a backseat on television. Now to revitalize the genre, Sony, known for its Aahat series is once again knocking at the doors of ghosts to bring back the eyeballs and in the process it is reigniting interest in the 11 p.m. slot which lying almost vacant across channels. But in times when everybody is looking for something realistic, even bhoot has to come with a real story. Yes, the channel says that Bhoot Aaya is based on true supernatural elements. The series also marks the return of Akashdeep and his wife Sheeba, who have produced the series.

Akashdeep, who has given some flop films on the big screen, says the stories will be fictionalised and interspersed with the narrations of the victims themselves. It tries to uncover the truth behind some of the most mystifying occurrences. Each episode will also introduce experts from the Indian Paranormal Society of India and other pertinent fields, who will be sharing their opinion on these encounters. Their findings will be revealed as a compelling conclusion of each episode. Let the paranormal activity begin on October 13!

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Rushes: Spreading virus!

Scientists believe they have reached a turning point in the fight against Alzheimers.

A research team has discovered the first chemical that could stop the death of brain tissue and fight the distressing neurodegenerative disease that can leave victims unable to recognise their own families.

More research is needed by the Medical Research Council Toxicology Unit, based at the University of Leicester, to develop a drug that could be taken by patients.

But experts say it has the potential to treat Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Huntingtons and other conditions too.

And this week at the Daily Mirrors Pride of Britain Awards, twin medical pioneers Trevor and Ray Powles told how some cancers could be cured within 15 years.

So how close are we to breakthroughs in the fight against our most common killer diseases?

Mutating: Flu kills up to 500,000 people a year

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Influenza is a mutating virus which kills up to half a million people a year.

nce in a generation a new strain appears, no one is immune to it, and a pandemic is triggered. Experts now say one is well overdue.

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How close are we to beating eight killer diseases?

Published: 10/8/2013 4:00 PM | Last update: 10/8/2013 4:58 PM

ATLANTA - Following a walk through nearly empty hallways, there is no receptionist at Dr. Thomas Frieden's outer office. Just a ring-for-service sign. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to manage a partial shutdown at an institution where nearly everything is ultimately a matter of life or death. "The longer it goes," he says, "the more complex it is. What isn't an imminent threat to health on day four is on day 10."

As of now, eight of 10 global disease detection centers - the field offices where outbreaks are identified and countered - are closed. No processing of blood samples for parasitic diseases is taking place. No testing of counterfeit malaria medicines.

Fortunately, the CDC's polio eradication effort has been largely exempted from the shutdown. It is part of one of the most ambitious medical enterprises in history - attempting to eliminate a highly contagious virus from the wild. This has been achieved only twice before, with smallpox and rinderpest. The end of polio transmission is a few hundred yearly cases away. Even a brief pause would risk losing ground.

Poliovirus - which destroys neuron cells controlling swallowing, breathing and use of limbs - was once a source of seasonal panic in the United States. Epidemics (usually arriving in summer) sometimes caused states to close their borders, with inspectors demanding certificates of health from children under 16. American infections peaked at nearly 58,000 in 1952. (Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Steve Cohen were both infected as children.) As late as 2004, dozens of Americans still lived in iron lungs.

But the use of the Salk and Sabin vaccines has chased the virus across the planet. The last American infections were in 1979 (among Amish who resisted vaccination). This was also the year that Rotary International started a campaign to eliminate polio transmission in the Philippines, beginning a global eradication movement that now includes the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Gates Foundation and the CDC. In 1999, Type 2 poliovirus (of three types) was eliminated in the wild. India has been polio-free since 2011 - an important proof of concept. (If polio can be eliminated in northern India - with its dense population and poor sanitary conditions - it can be defeated anywhere.)

More than 99 percent of poliovirus transmission has been stopped over the last few decades. But the final bit is the hardest.

In 2011, an independent review panel questioned if the opportunity for polio eradication was being squandered. It lit a fire under the movement. Partners increased their commitments. Frieden moved his effort into the CDC's Emergency Operations Center - a high-tech amphitheater in which the disease is minutely tracked in maps and charts.

There are two regions where wild polio transmission has never been eradicated: in the tribal areas along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border and in northern Nigeria. In Afghanistan, efforts by the ministry of health have been innovative and successful. There have been only six cases so far this year, all of which (when the CDC examined the genetic fingerprints of the viruses) originated in Pakistan. In Pakistan, infections are largely confined to North Waziristan, where the local Taliban commander has banned vaccination. In Nigeria, the government has recently improved the management of its program and infections are down. But the terrorist group Boko Haram - which rejects everything Western, including vaccines and education - is suspected of being responsible for the murder earlier this year of nine polio workers. Polio is a killer that finds allies among killers.

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A killer on the run

This is the time of year when cold and stomach virus make their way through the community.

Doctors at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center are using one of those viruses as medicine to change it into a cancer killer.

Inside this OSU center, Nancy Bennett is getting treated for ovarian cancer. The Reynoldsburg woman was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer two and a half years ago. The diagnosis shocked her.

"It was difficult," she said. "It was really hard. And then everything just happened so fast after that."

Her children persuaded her to seek help at the OSU James Cancer Center. After surgery, Bennett joined a clinical trial for a new treatment.

It's called Reolysin.

Doctors re-programmed a common stomach virus in a lab to fight ovarian cancer.

The virus then seeks out the cancer cells and attacks them, while leaving healthy cells alone. Dr. David Cohn, OSU Gynecologic Cancer Director said that he hopes the national trial not only proves Reolysin does a better job of treating patients like Bennett, but that it also makes treatment easier on them.

"We're used to traditional chemotherapy with hair loss and nausea and tiredness. This virus is very well tolerated and it's hoped that with improved treatments, that we may find that patients do better without the side effects of traditional chemotherapy," Dr. Cohn said.

"If it turns out the reo virus improves that chance of controlling the cancer, the next step would be to figure out in which patients the therapy is most effective," he said.

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Ohio State University Testing Virus Therapy To Battle Ovarian Cancer