Seeing through HIV's disguises - Cardiff University

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RESEARCH: HEAlTH RoUNd-Up SARTRE launches a new philosophy for Medicine Cardiff and Bristol Universities have joined forces in an unique alliance aimed at accelerating the translation of medical research into new treatments and therapies to benefit patients. The Severnside Alliance for Translational Research (SARTRE) has just secured more than £2M in funding from the Medical Research Council. This will build the infrastructure to allow more research projects at both Universities to move forward in the translational pipeline and facilitate partnerships with industry. It will also create the opportunity for more individual projects to bid for Research Council funding under its Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS). A keystone of the new Alliance will be the creation of a new Professor of the Practice of Translational Research. This will be a joint appointment, acting as a “talent scout” to identify research projects suitable for development and also engaging with industry and the biotechnology sector to facilitate translation. The postholder will work with two new Translational Operations Managers, one for each institution, who will ensure that resources are in place and appropriately targeted to support translational research projects. They will project-manage individual bids and guide researchers through the regulatory, intellectual property, ethical and research governance frameworks. The Alliance also received funding (£600K) under the Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS) portfolio to establish a facility for production of proteins in sufficient There’s so much going on… Cardiff News contains only a fraction of the University’s news output, the majority of which is published at www.cardiff.ac.uk/ news Here are just a few of the recently featured items. 4 quantity and quality for proof of concept testing and biological process development. The facility will be housed at Cardiff University, Central Biotechnology Services (www.cardiff.ac.uk/medic/ cbs) and help researchers overcome what can be a serious bottleneck preventing project development. The Alliance aims to bring forward projects right across the range of diseases and conditions tackled by experts at both Universities, combining significant strengths in patient cohorts across the region. Areas already identified for priority alliances include: • Colorectal and hematopoetic cancers • Early vascular disease and hypertension • Neuropsychiatric illnesses • Immunological and cell-based therapies Professor Paul Morgan, the Dean of Medical Research at the School of Medicine, Cardiff University said: “This award and the creation of SARTRE is great news for medical researchers, who should find swifter pathways to bring their projects to commercial development. Furthermore, it is good news for patients, as pioneering treatments and therapies will become available more rapidly.” Dental Annexe: The First Minister for Wales, Rhodri Morgan, has opened newly modernised teaching and administrative facilities at the School of Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education. They will bring together staff and students within the dental section on one site for the first time. Full story at: www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/dentalannexe Easing arthritis pain Arthritis sufferers might find some relief in a new compound found to ease bone damage in mice by researchers at the School of Medicine and colleagues. The laboratories of Dr Eddie Wang, a senior lecturer in Medical Biochemistry, and Dr Anwen Williams (Rheumatology) found that mice lacking a protein molecule called Death Receptor 3 (DR3) are freed from the bone damage usually caused by arthritis. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are more likely to have extra copies of the gene that codes for DR3. Perhaps of even greater significance, treatment with an antibody that blocked the binding of DR3 to its specific binding partner TL1A significantly reduced joint pathology, providing proof-ofprinciple of a potential therapy. New gum disease bacteria found A new species of oral bacteria has been found by School of Dentistry researchers working with colleagues in London. The bacteria, named Prevotella histicola, could contribute to gum disease and tooth decay and could help us understand how mouth problems develop. They have also been linked to infections in other parts of the body. The findings were reported in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology. The mouth is host to hundreds of different species of bacteria, many of them still unknown. Three strains of the bacteria were isolated from tissue specimens taken from patients with oral cancer at the Dental School, as part of a study to determine what, if any, bacteria were living inside mouth tumours. Laboratory tests have also shown how DR3 might also induce the development of bone destroying cells in humans. Dr Wang, of the School’s Infection Immunology and Inflammation (I3) Research Group, said: “A few stones remain unturned in the hunt for the proteins which cause bone damage, as blocking DR3 didn’t eliminate bone destruction altogether. However, it did reduce a lot of the damage, suggesting DR3 plays an important part in the onset of disease. It could therefore be an important target in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases where disrupted bone physiology is seen.” The research was carried out with colleagues at the University of Southampton. The findings have been published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. From DNA analysis the Cardiff team of Dr Sam Hooper and Dr Melanie Wilson realised that these strains didn't match any known species. Their collaborators at the King's College Infection Research Group confirmed this with an array of biochemical and physiological tests. The tests showed that the novel species was part of the Prevotella family of bacteria, which are known to cause many different, painful infections in the mouth and other body sites. Dr Hooper, of the School’s Oral Microbiology Group, said: “We suspect this new species might also play a role in disease. Discovering more of these unrecognised bacteria is important as it gives us a better picture of how oral diseases, such as tooth decay and gum disease, are caused and thus how they might be treated.” Dr Who: The 45th anniversary of Doctor Who is to be marked with an academic conference, the ‘Whoniversal Appeal’ , which will examine issues of morality, history, philosophy, fan culture, sexuality, and technology which surround the hit science fiction series. Full story at: www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/drwho
HIVʼs disguises no match for engineered killer T-cells Professor Andy Sewell of the School of Medicine is part of an international group of scientists which have engineered immune cells capable of seeing through HIV’s many disguises. When viruses enter our bodies, they hijack the machinery of host cells in order to replicate and spread infection. When our body’s cells are infected with a virus they expose small parts of the virus on their surface, offering a “molecular fingerprint” for killer T-cells from the immune system to identify and destroy. HIV however, has the ability to mutate and disguise its fingerprints, allowing it to hide from killer T-cells, such that the immune system is unable to rid the body of HIV. Professor Sewell, and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania and from Adaptimmune Ltd UK have engineered and tested a killer T-cell receptor that in the laboratory is able to recognise all of the different disguises which HIV is known to All-Wales initiative to tackle primary healthcare challenges Primary care - community based services such as GPs, pharmacists, dentists and midwives - plays a crucial role in the front line of the NHS. That is particularly the case in Wales, which has some of the most disadvantaged communities in Europe. Effective, comprehensive primary care improves not only health but also quality of life. However, the provision of primary care varies greatly across the country. Rural and post-industrial areas pose very different healthcare challenges. The Welsh Assembly Government’s vision is for locally accessible services There’s so much going on… Cardiff News contains only a fraction of the University’s news output, the majority of which is published at www.cardiff.ac.uk/news Here are just a few of the recently featured items. November 2008 Professor Andy Sewell have used to evade detection. The receptor can also eradicate HIVinfected cells in culture. Over 33 million people were estimated to be living with HIV worldwide in 2007. Although anti-retroviral drugs have been successful in delaying the onset of AIDS, no vaccine or cure yet exists and drug resistance is increasingly becoming a problem. offering patients integrated services from clinical, health and social care professionals, together with services for procedures where quality is enhanced by concentrating them in fewer, highly specialised centres. To support this vision, several Welsh Universities are collaborating to create the Wales School for Primary Care Research. Backed by the Welsh Assembly Government, this will provide relevant research to help the development of high quality primary care in General Practice, Pharmacy, Nursing, Optometry and Dentistry in the first instance. It aims to develop and share excellence in primary Foreign Secretary: The Vice-Chancellor welcomed David Miliband to the University as the Foreign Secretary visited to launch a safety campaign for students travelling abroad. Full story at: www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/foreignsecretary “In the face of our engineered assassin cells, the virus will either die or be forced to change its disguises again, weakening itself along the way,” said Professor Sewell, who is Infection, Immunology and Inflammation Interdisciplinary Research Group link chair. “We’d prefer the first option but I suspect we’ll see the latter. Even if we do only cripple the virus, this will still be a good outcome as it is likely care research and, in time, work with professionals across all relevant disciplines to improve the quality and quantity of primary care research in Wales. The School is a new partnership between the universities of Cardiff, Swansea, Glamorgan and Bangor. The Director, Professor Chris Butler, Professor of Primary Care Medicine at Cardiff University, said: “Worldwide, health care delivery is changing fast, with excellent primary care widely recognised as the key to a sustainable health service. But this has to be underpinned by world-leading research if it is to deliver. The Wales School for Primary Care RESEARCH to become a much slower target and be easier to pick off. Forcing the virus to a weaker state would likely reduce its A killer T-cell capacity to transmit within the population and may help slow or even prevent the onset of AIDS in individuals.” Pending regulatory approval, clinical trials using the engineered killer T-cells will begin shortly at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Sewell is also exploring using engineered receptors on killer T-cells as a way of improving immune responses to cancer. Initial results indicate that it is possible to engineer human anti-cancer killer T-cells that are substantially better than anything the body is able to produce naturally. The research has been published this month in Nature Medicine. Research brings together researchers from several primary care disciplines to develop and share research excellence so Wales can continue to punch way above its weight in this crucial field.” First Minister Rhodri Morgan said: “The main emphasis of the Wales School of Primary Care Research will be to promote a ‘step change’ improvement in the quality and quantity of multi-disciplinary research. Worldclass research of international standard will then generate evidence that is locally applicable and internationally relevant to inform practice and policy in Wales and beyond.” Building Blocks: Researchers from the South East Wales Trials Unit at the School of Medicine, Cardiff University have led a successful £4M bid to evaluate the Family Nurse Partnership programme in England. Full story at: www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/buildingblocks 5
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