2023-08-09 20:00:00
Summer reading special: National Geographic Magazine for only €5/month + GIFT to choose
Enjoy our special editions at a unique price for being a subscriber.
He Epstein-Barr virus -VEB- also known as the human Herpes Virus 4, It is a member of the herpes family of viruses. It is one of the most common viruses in humans. In fact, EBV is found throughout the world and it is estimated that the vast majority of people, approximately 95% of the world’s population, have been infected with EBV at some point in their lives.
The Eptein-Barr virus is transmitted mainly through saliva, causing Pfeiffer’s disease, better known as infectious monocleosis, or even more so, as the kissing disease. The primary infection with this virus can cause an acute fever and is usually rejected by the body, generally within 2 to 3 weeks.
Unlike other viruses, however, the human immune system does not clear EBV after primary infectionwhich is why once incubated it can be transmitted for life.
But in addition to the primary infection, EBV is also a risk factor for the development of other much more serious, aggressive, and dangerous diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and some throat or nose cancers; and despite the potential danger of this virus to public health, a vaccine against it had never been developed.
Multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects more young women
The good news is that now, however, a team of researchers from the Berghofer Institute for Medical Research in Brisbane, Australia, appears to have found a nueva candidate vaccine for Epstein-Barr virus; his findings, which have shown promise in mouse trials are published this week in the journal Nature Communications.
“As no vaccine has currently been approved for protection against this widespread virus, there is a pressing global need for it,” he said. Rajiv Khannaleader of the team that designed the potential lymph node-targeted vaccine.
Hope against multiple sclerosis
After testing their vaccine in mice, the scientists found that administration of the vaccine resulted in the production of potent antibodies and T cells specific for the Epstein-Barr virus, and that these were maintained for at least seven months after vaccination in the mouse model. The authors also demonstrated the vaccine’s ability to induce immunity to control the spread of EBV-associated tumors and thus control tumor growth in a mouse model of lymphoma.
The researchers state that more research is still needed to determine how well the vaccine would work in the setting of primary infection, how well the results transfer to human trials, and what the long-term stability of vaccine-induced immunity will be. the vaccine, however, is optimistic for the future.
#Developing #potential #vaccine #EpsteinBarr #virus