Keystone Symposia SciTalks:
Optimal Combinations of Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies for Prevention & Therapy of HIV-1 Clade C Infection
Recorded: March 20 - 24, 2016
Keystone Symposia meeting: HIV Vaccines [X8]
Location: Resort at Squaw Creek, Olympic Valley, CA
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About Keystone Symposia:
Keystone Symposia is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1972 that convenes 50-60 open, international scientific research conferences each year across the full range of the life sciences – from cardiovascular disease to immunology to neurobiology. The conferences accelerate life science discovery by bringing together and fostering collaboration among the world’s leading and next generation of research scientists.
Website: www.keystonesymposia.org
Keystone Symposia SciTalks:
A novel conserved-region T-cell mosaic vaccine with very globale coverage of HIV-1 variants is recognized by protective responses in chronic untreated infection
Recorded: March 20 - 24, 2016
Keystone Symposia meeting: HIV Vaccines [X8]
Location: Resort at Squaw Creek, Olympic Valley, CA
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Copyright Keystone Symposia, 2017. All rights reserved.
About Keystone Symposia:
Keystone Symposia is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1972 that convenes 50-60 open, international scientific research conferences each year across the full range of the life sciences – from cardiovascular disease to immunology to neurobiology. The conferences accelerate life science discovery by bringing together and fostering collaboration among the world’s leading and next generation of research scientists.
Website: www.keystonesymposia.org
Recorded on February 19, 2017
Pre Meeting Workshop
Malaria: From Innovation to Eradication
Feb 19 - Feb 23, 2017 | Kampala, Uganda
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This Keystone Symposia SciTalk was made possible by a grant from the
The goal of the pre meeting workshop is to provide valuable background on what to expect for the upcoming Keystone Symposia. The intent is to bring participants up to speed on the concepts to be presented at the meeting and enable the them to maximize their experience.
Recorded on May 22, 2016
Pre Meeting Workshop
Vaccines for Tropical Diseases
May 22 - May 26, 2016 | Cape Town , South Africa
The goal of the pre meeting workshop is to provide valuable background on what to expect for the upcoming Keystone Symposia. The intent is to bring participants up to speed on the concepts to be presented at the meeting and enable the them to maximize their experience.
This Keystone Symposia SciTalk was made possible by a grant from the
Recorded on March 26, 2017
Pre Meeting Workshop
HIV VACCINES
March 26 - March 30, 2017
Steamboat Springs, Colorado, USA
This Keystone Symposia SciTalk was made possible by a grant from the
The goal of the pre meeting workshop is to provide valuable background on what to expect for the upcoming Keystone Symposia. The intent is to bring participants up to speed on the concepts to be presented at the meeting and enable the them to maximize their experience.
Recorded on March 26, 2017
Recorded during the Keystone Symposia meeting:
Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy: Taking a Place in Mainstream Oncology
Mar 19 - Mar 23, 2017 | Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
In silico B-cell epitope prediction: developing differential diagnosis for haemorraghic diseases caused by orthohantaviruses
Orthohantaviruses are the etiological agents of serious rodent-borne neglected human diseases named as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and orthohantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS). These distinct clinical manifestations of disease are related to specific orthohantavirus species and it is believed that HFRS-associated orthohantavirus mainly circulate into Old World (Asia and Europe) whereas HCPS-associated orthohantaviruses are predominant into New World countries (Americas). However, since Seoul orthohantavirus, associated with HFRS, was isolated in America and its natural host (Rattus norvegicus) are widely distributed around the world, it raised the question if the viral underreporting is associated to lower medical awareness of the symptoms or if it is associated to misdiagnosis with other tropical hemorrhagic diseases (leptospirosis, yellow fever). In this context, considering that the HFRS are clinically indistinguishable from order hemorrhagic diseases, and that serological tests are predominantly based on serology tests against nucleoprotein, a highly conserved protein among different orthohantavirus, we hypothesize that current available tests do not detect all HFRS-associated orthohantavirus. In this sense; we aimed to identify B-cell linear epitopes exclusively conserved on HFRS-associated orthohantavirus nucleoprotein, using a combination of in silico and experimental approaches, to identify targets that could be applied in the development of novel immunodiagnostic tools able to identify different HFRS orthohantavirus species.
SCARF1 in the Pathogenesis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
April Jorge1, Taotao Lao1, Terry K. Means1,2, Zaida G. Ramirez-Ortiz1,3
1 Massachusetts General Hospital. Department of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology. Charlestown, MA 02129
2 Sanofi Immunology and Inflammation Research Therapeutic Area. Cambridge, MA 02139
3 University of Massachusetts Medical School. Department of Medicine. Worcester MA 01605
Defects at the cellular level in the detection and clearance of apoptotic cells (ACs) contribute to the pathogenesis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). We previously identified Scavenger Receptor Class F 1 (SCARF1) expressed on dendritic cells (DCs) where it functions as a receptor for C1q and mediates capture and engulfment of apoptotic cells. Deficiency in SCARF1 results in impaired removal of ACs (Figure 1) SCARF1 deficient mice develop a lupus-like autoimmune disease with symptoms similar to human SLE, such as production of anti-nuclear and anti-chromatin antibodies, nephritis and dermatitis. However, the role of human SCARF1 in the removal of ACs is unknown. We hypothesize a dysregulation of SCARF1 in SLE patients results in the accumulation of ACs and contributes to SLE disease activity. In order to identify which cells express SCARF1, we used flow cytometry from healthy donors PBMCs. We found that SCARF1 was highly expressed on DCs and monocytes. Treatment with ACs results in a significant decrease in the cell surface expression of SCARF1. Furthermore, using Nanostring and qPCR, we observed an upregulation in autophagy, TLR, and anti-inflammatory genes in cells expressing high levels of SCARF1. Next, we tested whether soluble SCARF1 (sSCARF1) can interact with ACs. Opsonizing ACs for 30 min with recombinant SCARF1 results in an upregulation of SCARF1 expression measured by flow cytometry and qPCR. Lastly, we obtained serum and PBMCs from SLE patient samples. First, we measured the expression of SCARF1 by flow cytometry in the PMBCs. Unexpectedly, there was no significant difference in SCARF1 expression in the SLE patients compared to healthy donors. Next, we measured the concentration of sSCARF1 in the serum by ELISA. We observed a significant increase in sSCARF1 in the SLE patients compared to control patients. We also detected anti-SCARF1 autoantibodies in 26% of SLE patients, which was associated with dsDNA antibody positivity and higher SLE disease activity. Our data demonstrates that human SCARF1 is an ACs receptor in DCs, playing a role in maintaining tolerance and homeostasis.