New publication in Frontiers of Immunology
A study by the team of Prof Annkristin Heine and Prof Christian Kurts from the IMMEI and the Department of Oncology and Hematology at the University Hospital Bonn investigated whether a post-exposure vaccination protocol that combines two adjuvants (a toll-like receptor ligand (TLR) and a natural killer T cell activator) accelerates the activation of antiviral cytotoxic CD8+ T cells (CTL). CTL are activated by dendritic cells, which in turn need to be activated by adjuvants to express among other things so-called signal 0-chemokines that attract naïve CTL to the dendritic cells. The study now published in Frontiers in Immunology shows that CTL induced by the combination of the two adjuvants, which both induce signal 0-chemokines, lead to a more rapid activation of functionally active CTL. These findings suggest that a combination of signal 0-chemokine-inducing adjuvants gains time in the fight against viral infections.
Publication
Heine A, Lemmermann NAW, Flores C, Becker-Gotot J, Garbi N, Brossart P, Kurts C:
Rapid protection against viral infections by chemokine-accelerated post-exposure vaccination
Front. Immunol. 2024, doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1338499
