Helicobacter pylori neutrophil-activating protein:From molecular pathogenesis to clinical applications

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) neutrophil-activating protein (HP-NAP) was originally identified as a virulence factor of H. pylori for its ability to activate neutrophils to generate respiratory burst by releasing reactive oxygen species. Later on, HP-NAP was also found to be involved in the protection of H. pylori from DNA damage, supporting the survival of H. pylori under oxidative stress. This protein is highly conserved and expressed by virtually all clinical isolates of H. pylori. The majority of patients infected with H. pylori produced antibodies specific for HP-NAP, suggesting its important role in immunity. In addition to acting as a pathogenic factor by activating the innate immunity through a wide range of human leukocytes, including neutrophils, monocytes, and mast cells, HP-NAP also mediates adaptive immunity through the induction of T helper cell type I responses. The pro-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties of HP-NAP not only make it play an important role in disease pathogenesis but also make it a potential candidate for clinical use. Even though there is no convincing evidence to link HP-NAP to a disease outcome, recent findings supporting the pathogenic role of HP-NAP will be reviewed. In addition, the potential clinical applications of HP-NAP in vaccine development, clinical diagnosis, and drug development will be discussed.

Immunotherapy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: an overview of clinical trials

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma（PDAC） is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death and current therapeutic strategies are often unsatisfactory. Identification and development of more efficacious therapies is urgently needed. Immunotherapy offered encouraging results in preclinical models during the last decades, and several clinical trials have explored its therapeutic application in PDAC. The aim of this review is to summarize the results of clinical trials conducted to evaluate the future perspective of immunotherapy in the treatment of PDAC.

A Collaborative Service to the Community: A COVID Vaccine Clinic Provided by a Mid-State University

The opportunity to offer immediate service to a local community in need of an additional COVID Vaccine Clinic was welcomed by the School of Nursing (SON) at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). This opportunity not only opened a door by providing a much-needed community service but also afforded students an enriching opportunity to enhance their clinical skills in a venue not always recognized as an available or accessible resource. A COVID Vaccine Clinic was planned in collaboration with the School of Nursing, University Health Services, and the County Health Department to provide COVID vaccines to the Middle Tennessee area. A multidisciplinary committee met weekly to organize the COVID Vaccine Clinic opening this opportunity to the community two days per week. During the initial COVID Vaccine Clinic planning committee meetings, a variety of roles and responsibilities were identified to ensure the clinic would be planned, coordinated, and organized as efficiently as possible. When the clinic opened, weekly meetings continued to identify issues such as supply distribution problems, procedures related to various aspects of care, and debriefings describing the activities of each clinic day to note any areas in need of improvements. The School of Nursing Lobby, located on the MTSU campus, was the designated area chosen for the clinic. Many faculty and students along with numerous campus volunteers worked together enabling thousands of members of the community to receive vaccinations. The interdisciplinary experience was a success and served to bring positive learning outcomes to all members of the faculty and students involved.

Conservation of T cell epitopes between seasonal influenza viruses and the novel influenza A H7N9 virus

A novel avian influenza A(H7N9) virus recently emerged in the Yangtze River delta and caused diseases, often severe, in over 130 people. This H7N9 virus appeared to infect humans with greater ease than previous avian influenza virus subtypes such as H5N1 and H9N2. While there are other potential explanations for this large number of human infections with an avian influenza virus, we investigated whether a lack of conserved T-cell epitopes between endemic H1N1 and H3N2 influenza viruses and the novel H7N9 virus contributes to this observation. Here we demonstrate that a number of T cell epitopes are conserved between endemic H1N1 and H3N2 viruses and H7N9 virus. Most of these conserved epitopes are from viral internal proteins. The extent of conservation between endemic human seasonal influenza and avian influenza H7N9 was comparable to that with the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1. Thus, the ease of inter-species transmission of H7N9 viruses(compared with avian H5N1 viruses) cannot be attributed to the lack of conservation of such T cell epitopes. On the contrary, our findings predict significant T-cell based cross-reactions in the human population to the novel H7N9 virus. Our findings also have implications for H7N9 virus vaccine design.

The COVID-19 Vaccine in Clinical Trials: Where Are We Now?

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to scale up around the world, costing severe health and economic losses. The development of an effective COVID-19 vaccine is of utmost importance. Most vaccine designs can be classified into three camps: protein based (inactivated vaccines, protein subunit, VLP and T-cell based vaccines), gene based (DNA or RNA vaccines, replicating or non-replicating viral/bacterial vectored vaccines), and a combination of both protein-based and gene-based (live-attenuated virus vaccines). Up to now, 237 candidate vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are in development worldwide, of which 63 have been approved for clinical trials and 27 are evaluated in phase 3 clinical trials. Six candidate vaccines have been authorized for emergency use or conditional licensed, based on their efficacy data in phase 3 trials. This review summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate COVID-19 vaccines from various platforms, compares, and discusses their protective efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity according to the published clinical trials results.

SARS-CoV-2 virus: Vaccines in development

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,caused by SARS-CoV-2,is an imprecedented challenge to humanity.Global herd immunity may be necessary before resumption of normal economic and societal activities.Since the beginning of the outbreak,the development of COVID-19 vaccines has proceeded at record speed using nearly all available platforms or strategies to maximize vaccine success.A total of 42 vaccine candidates have now entered clinical trials and encouraging data from several vaccine candidates in phase 1 or 2 clinical trials have been reported.In this review,we examine current COVID-19 vaccine candidates,discuss their strengths and weaknesses,summarize published clinical data and analyze future challenges.