Publications by authors named "Michelle Thom"

, the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), is a globally prevalent pathogen with significant animal welfare, economic and public health impacts. In the UK, the control of bTB relies on detection via tuberculin skin tests with ancillary interferon gamma (IFN-γ) release assays, followed by culling infected animals. Vaccination with Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) could be an important element of bTB control, and a number of studies have demonstrated its protective efficacy, particularly when young calves are vaccinated.

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Bovine tuberculosis caused by , is a significant global pathogen causing economic loss in livestock and zoonotic TB in man. Several vaccine approaches are in development including reverse vaccinology which uses an unbiased approach to select open reading frames (ORF) of potential vaccine candidates, produce them as recombinant proteins and assesses their immunogenicity by direct immunization. To provide feasibility data for this approach we have cloned and expressed 123 ORFs from the genome, using a mixture of and insect cell expression.

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RV521 is an orally bioavailable inhibitor of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) fusion that was identified after a lead optimization process based upon hits that originated from a physical property directed hit profiling exercise at Reviral. This exercise encompassed collaborations with a number of contract organizations with collaborative medicinal chemistry and virology during the optimization phase in addition to those utilized as the compound proceeded through preclinical and clinical evaluation. RV521 exhibited a mean IC of 1.

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Appropriate adjuvant selection may be essential to optimize the potency and to tailor the immune response of subunit vaccines. To induce protective responses against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-a highly prevalent childhood pathogen without a licensed vaccine-we previously engineered a pre-fusion-stabilized trimeric RSV F (pre-F) "DS-Cav1" immunogen, which induced high titer RSV-neutralizing antibodies, in mice and non-human primates, when formulated with adjuvants Poly (I:C) and Poly (IC:LC), respectively. To assess the impact of different adjuvants, here we formulated RSV F DS-Cav1 with multiple adjuvants and assessed immune responses.

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Article Synopsis
  • Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) is a significant cause of respiratory illness in calves and is closely related to human RSV, which affects infants.
  • Researchers created a modified version of the BRSV fusion glycoprotein, named "DS2," that maintains its prefusion state and generates a stronger immune response compared to the traditional post-fusion form.
  • Immunized calves showed no signs of infection when exposed to BRSV, demonstrating that the DS2-stabilized immunogen effectively induced protective immunity, which has implications for both bovine health and the development of human RSV vaccines.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) vaccine development through structural analysis of its fusion (F) glycoprotein, revealing three forms: monomeric, trimeric prefusion, and trimeric postfusion.
  • Experiments with BALB/c mice show that while postfusion F can provide some protection with lower amounts, prefusion F is more effective at inducing neutralizing antibodies and offers better protection with minimal pathology.
  • The research highlights that prefusion F should be prioritized in hRSV vaccine development due to its superior immunogenicity and protective efficacy compared to other F protein forms.
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Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is a major cause of lower respiratory tract disease in children and the elderly for which there is still no effective vaccine. We have previously shown that PanAd3-RSV, which is a chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine candidate that expresses a secreted form of the HRSV F protein together with the N and M2-1 proteins of HRSV, is immunogenic in rodents and nonhuman primates, and protects mice and cotton rats from HRSV challenge. Because the extent to which protection demonstrated in rodent models will translate to humans is unclear, we have exploited the calf model of bovine RSV (BRSV) infection, which mimics HRSV disease in children more closely than do experimental models of unnatural laboratory hosts, to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the PanAd3-RSV vaccine.

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Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a leading cause of severe respiratory disease in infants and the elderly. No vaccine is presently available to address this major unmet medical need. We generated a new genetic vaccine based on chimpanzee Adenovirus (PanAd3-RSV) and Modified Vaccinia Ankara RSV (MVA-RSV) encoding the F, N, and M2-1 proteins of RSV, for the induction of neutralizing antibodies and broad cellular immunity.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers are focusing on developing safe and effective vaccines for bovine and human respiratory syncytial viruses (BRSV, HRSV) that can work even with maternal antibodies present.
  • A study showed that calves vaccinated with a specific recombinant BRSV vaccine (ΔSHrBRSV) experienced nearly complete protection from severe disease and viral shedding after exposure to the virus.
  • Other vaccine formulations, while providing some protection, were less effective, and the immune responses generated by subunit vaccines were found to be non-neutralizing and not targeting crucial viral proteins.
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Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) causes inflammation and obstruction of the small airways, leading to severe respiratory disease in young calves. The virus is closely related to human (H)RSV, a major cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in young children. The ability to manipulate the genome of RSV has provided opportunities for the development of stable, live attenuated RSV vaccines.

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Article Synopsis
  • NK cells are key players in the immune response against infections and are found in high numbers in newborns, potentially helping to make up for their weaker specific immune defenses.
  • This study focused on the age distribution and characteristics of NK cell populations in the blood of cattle, finding that most NK cells were of similar phenotypes (CD3(-)CD2(+) and NKp46(+)).
  • While neonates showed a lower frequency of NK cells compared to younger calves, adult cattle exhibited a higher proportion of perforin(+) cells, indicating more developed immune function.
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The protective efficacy of Mycobacterium bovis-bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG) against tuberculosis (TB) is variable in both humans and cattle. Exposure to environmental mycobacteria is thought to result in inappropriate priming of host immune responses. To investigate the impact of environmental mycobacteria on BCG efficacy, cattle were infected with M.

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