Category: Vaccine

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mRNA vaccines came to the rescue, developed in record time and saving lives worldwide. Researchers in the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Childrens Hospital have developed two novel technologies that could make these and future mRNA vaccines more potent and longer-lasting at smaller doses and with fewer side effects.

The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines currently used instruct cells to make the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. This helps the immune system recognize the virus and quickly make antibodies against it. However, these vaccines offer only short-lived immune protection, requiring frequent boosters, and work poorly in people over 60. They also induce an inflammatory reaction throughout the body, causing side effects.

The lab of David Dowling, PhD, sought something better. In current mRNA vaccines, delivery is not controlled, Dowling says. Immunomodulation is kind of random and not built into the vaccine. We wanted to solve both of those problems through rational design.

Dowlings lab has long studied a naturally occurring immune protein called interleukin-12 (IL-12). In 2012, the lab showed that IL-12 potently activates dendritic cells, crucial first responders in the immune system. Dendritic cells can activate helper and killer T cells, and can provide a supportive environment to develop effective B-cell responses and antibody production.

To optimize the immune response, the new study harnessed a specific IL-12, IL-12p70. Byron Brook, PhD, of the Precision Vaccine Program, co-led the work with Valerie Duval, PhD, of the biotechnology company Combined Therapeutics, Inc.

The current BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA vaccine against COVID-19, they found, doesnt induce production of IL-12p70 in human cells. So, as described in Science Translational Medicine, they designed an mRNA that explicitly directs cells to make it.

We wanted to give the signal needed to optimize the immune response, says Dowling.

They designed the mRNA so it could stand alone, or be used as an adjuvant to turbocharge other vaccines. When they gave it to mice as an adjuvant to the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, the animals produced large amounts of IL-12p70 in addition to the spike protein. The adjuvant boosted multiple elements of the immune response not just antibody production, but also cytokine production and immune cell activity each important for protection from SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, in aged mice, the immune response with the adjuvant reached levels similar to those in young adult mice.

The adjuvant-vaccine combination also produced more long-lasting immunity than the current vaccine alone. Animals receiving the adjuvant showed signs of amplified immunity even one year later. Though more research is needed, the adjuvant could reduce the need for frequent vaccine boosters in humans.

The new mRNA incorporates a second technology a so-called Multi-Organ Protection (MOP) sequence designed to reduce side effects.

With the MOP system you get controlled distribution just to muscle cells, where the vaccine is injected, says Dowling. This is unconventional and a step forward.

Although the mRNA does travel to cells throughout the body, the MOP sequence ensures that it acts only on muscle tissue, which the team found when they tested it in mice. In other tissue types, like vital organs, MOP binds to microRNAs inside the cells, signaling them to recycle the mRNA so they cant use it to make IL-12p70. MOPwas compatible with mRNA encoding the SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen and amplified the effects of the IL-12p70 mRNA, inducing immunity in both mice and hamsters.

Finally, because of the potency of boosting IL-12p70 production, very low doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA vaccine were needed to stimulate a strong immune response. This could help ensure theres enough vaccine supply should it be needed quickly.

Our technology gives the ability to reduce the vaccine dose but get the same level of immune response, says Brook. This is whats needed for mRNA vaccines to be used more widely.

The team believes the technology could be adapted for other mRNA vaccines in development, such as flu vaccines. Alternatively, their mRNA could be given as an adjuvant together with any existing vaccine. Theyve moved on to testing it in primates, whose immune systems more closely resemble those of humans, with the ultimate goal of starting a Phase 1 clinical trial.

Brook and Dowling are inventors on a pending patent application on the technology. Several co-investigators are employees of Combined Therapeutics, which was a major sponsor of the research together with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. See the paper for further disclosures and acknowledgments.

Learn more about the Precision Vaccines Program.

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A shot in the arm for mRNA vaccines? - Boston Children's Discoveries

County health officials are reminding parents and guardians to put vaccines on their childs back-to-school list.

As kids across the County head back to the classroom, now is a great time to revisit immunization records.

California requires some vaccines for children to attend school fromTK through 12th grade.

They include DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis/whooping cough), Hepatitis B, MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine), chickenpox, polio and more.

This exciting time for families is a good opportunity to get the kids up to date on their vaccines, said Kelly Motadel, M.D., M.P.H, County Child Health Officer. Parents are encouraged to schedule well-child checkups with a healthcare provider to make sure their children are on track with milestones and ready for a healthy and fun school year.

While the HPV vaccine is not one that is required for schools, it is an important vaccination for boys and girls ages 9 to 13 that helps prevent six types of cancers in adulthood.

The HPV vaccine is safe, effective and will protect your kids later in their lives, Dr. Motadel explained. I really encourage parents and caregivers to ask their childs doctor about getting them the HPV vaccine. Doing it now can prevent 90% of future cancers caused by HPV.

August also is a good time for everyone to revisit vaccine records because it isNational Immunization Awareness Month. This annual observance highlights the importance of getting recommended vaccines throughout your life.

More information about school vaccines and where to get them is available on theCounty websiteor by calling 211.

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County Recommends Vaccines including HPV Shots Ahead of the School Year - countynewscenter.com

The new recombinant shingles vaccine Shingrix is associated with a reduced risk of dementia compared to an earlier shingles vaccine, according to a major new study published in Nature Medicine.It is also more protective than vaccines against other infections.

A study of more than 200,000 people by researchers at the University of Oxford funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (OH BRC) found at least a 17% reduction in dementia diagnoses in the six years after the new recombinant shingles vaccination, equating to 164 or more additional days lived without dementia.

The benefit was seen in both sexes but was greater in women, and the findings suggest that the recombinant shingles vaccine may have additional value in terms of protection against dementia.

Shingles is a painful and serious condition afflicting many elderly people. It is caused by the Herpes zoster virus that can flare up in people who previously had chicken pox. After the introduction of a vaccine against shingles (Zostavax) in 2006, several studies have suggested that the risk of dementia might be lower in people who had received the vaccine, although results were not conclusive. In many countries, including the UK and USA, Zostavax has now been withdrawn and replaced by a much more effective vaccine (Shingrix). In the UK, Shingrix is being offered by the NHS to all elderly people and certain other groups.

In the new study, researchers at the University of Oxford and NIHR OH BRC used the USA TriNetX electronic health records network. In the USA, there was a switchover between Zostavax and Shingrix in October 2017. This allowed the researchers to compare the risk of dementia in the six years following Shingrix compared to otherwise similar people who had received Zostavax. More than 100,000 people were in each group. Shingrix was also compared to people who had received vaccines against other infections (flu and tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis).

Shingrix was associated with 17% lower risk of dementia than Zostavax, and 23-27% less than with the other vaccines. This equates to 5-9 more months lived without dementia for those who had been given the Shingrix vaccine compared to the other vaccines. The beneficial effects were present in both sexes but greater in women than in men.

Various additional analyses showed that these findings are robust but the researchers say further research is needed before any suggestion is made that the shingles vaccine should be used to help prevent or delay dementia onset.

Dr Maxime Taquet, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford, who led the study said: 'The size and nature of this study makes these findings convincing, and should motivate further research. They support the hypothesis that vaccination against shingles might prevent dementia. If validated in clinical trials, these findings could have significant implications for older adults, health services, and public health.'

John Todd, Professor of Precision Medicine at the University of Oxfords Nuffield Department of Medicine, said: 'A key question is, how does the vaccine produce its apparent benefit in protecting against dementia? One possibility is that infection with the Herpes zoster virus might increase the risk of dementia, and therefore by inhibiting the virus the vaccine could reduce this risk. Alternatively, the vaccine also contains chemicals which might have separate beneficial effects on brain health.'

Paul Harrison, Professor of Psychiatry and OH BRC Theme lead for Molecular Targets, who supervised the study, said: 'The findings are intriguing and encouraging. Anything that might reduce the risk of dementia is to be welcomed, given the large and increasing number of people affected by it.'

The paper The recombinant shingles vaccine is associated with a lower risk of dementia is published in Nature Medicine.

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New shingles vaccine could reduce risk of dementia - University of Oxford

As previously mentioned, we analyzed the bands associated with the humoral and cellular immunological responses generated on newborns by vaccinated mothers, establishing a relationship between the immunity induced in mothers and their children.

According to the data obtained in this research, the VV vaccine was the most frequently used in mothers' immunization against SARS-CoV-2. The Ministry of Health of the government of Mexico declared that 150 million 345 thousand 255 vaccines against COVID-19 were applied in the country from December 24, 2020, to October 24, 2022, corresponding 54.78 million doses (36.44%) to the AstraZeneca brand (VV vaccine), being the most applied vaccine against COVID-19 in Mexico19, which is concordant with the data obtained herein.

On the other hand, the height and weight of the infants were as expected, like those data reported by other studies on Mexican people20.

Moreover, as mentioned in the results section, some differences between the saliva samples of the mothers and their children were observed. It is essential to note that most of the knowledge of salivary composition has been driven in adults, and very little is known about saliva in newborns. However, Hyyppa et al., among other authors, declared that salivary total protein content is significantly higher among adults than in children21. And it has been reported that neonatal salivary amylase concentrations are moderately low but rise to adult levels by one year22,23,24, which is concordant with the spectra obtained herein where the absorption bands related to proteins (amide I and amide II) are under-expressed in saliva newborns compared to the mothers.

On the other hand, the band associated with carbohydrates showed shifts, indicating the hydrolysis and metabolism during fermentation25. Gothefors et al. stated that the saliva of newborns has a very high lactoperoxidase activity, and it is known that pancreatic amylase does not contribute substantially to starch or glucose polymer digestion in newborns. Salivary amylase and mucosal -glucosidases appear adequate for glucose polymer digestion26.

Concerning the analysis of the humoral immune response, maternal immunization is a critical way to protect infants younger than six months of age from COVID-19. The vaccine produces SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies in maternal circulation, which are transferred across the placenta barrier. It is well known that IgG is the only isotype actively transported from mother to child. However, several studies have demonstrated the presence of IgA in umbilical cord blood and fetal tissues, suggesting that the IgA detected in neonatal blood is exclusively of fetal origin27. Nevertheless, the effect of maternal COVID19 vaccines before pregnancy on infants has not been deeply studied. Yang et al. declared that maternal SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies produced from inactivated COVID-19 vaccine before pregnancy can be transferred to newborns by the placenta, which has been helpful for infants28. In this regard, it was observed that the mothers that received the VV and mRNA vaccines BP could generate a greater content of IgG and IgA in their children, noticing that this content decreased according to the time of vaccination during pregnancy (Fig.3). Nonetheless, the analysis of the integrated areas did not show statistical significance for IgG and IgA in the VV vaccine. However, the mRNA vaccines showed statistical significance in the immunoglobins and cytokine analyzed (Fig.4).

In the same way, the spectra of the saliva samples of the mothers evidenced that the band attributed to IgG showed that for VV and mRNA vaccines, the BP subgroup depicted a higher absorbance compared to the subgroups that received the vaccine during pregnancy (Fig.6), showing statistical significance only the mRNA vaccine in the analysis of the integrated areas (Fig.7). The above is probably because, during pregnancy, significant adaptations occur in the maternal immune system to avoid detrimental immune responses against the fetus. Moreover, some authors have reported reduced circulating B in the third trimester because of the elevated estrogens on lymphopoiesis. However, some studies suggest that total IgG levels remain stable during pregnancy, while others show a decrease in late pregnancy. In the same way, some evidence, mainly from the 1960s-1970s, supports no significant change in IgA levels during pregnancy; other data suggest more dynamic changes to occur during pregnancy29.

Moreover, some authors have stated that human infants receive most maternal immunoglobulins, predominantly IgG, via the placenta. IgG antibodies are usually passively transferred across the placenta from mother to fetus from the second trimester of pregnancy30. The IgG levels in the fetal circulation are relatively low (510% of maternal levels) between weeks 17 and 22, reaching 50% of maternal levels by week 32)31. Herein, we demonstrated that passive immunity is also activated from the first trimester of pregnancy, showing even a more significant amount of IgG in the mother's vaccinated newborns employing the mRNA vaccine (Fig.4).

It has been reported that the pathogenesis of COVID-19 involves both humoral and cellular immunological responses, and it is supposed that COVID-19 vaccines also elicited effective cell immune response, specifically IFN-, which is secreted by SARS-CoV-2-specific T-helper 1 and T-cytotoxic cells, reason by which in this research we also decided to analyze IFN-32.

The results of the band related to IFN- in the BP subgroup in newborns depicted a lower absorbance in the VV vaccine compared to the groups that received the vaccination during pregnancy. On the contrary, in the mRNA group, the higher absorbance was observed in the BP subgroup, decreasing after that in the subgroups that received the vaccination during pregnancy (Fig.3), showing statistical significance (Fig.4).

It has been reported that the numbers of T cells during pregnancy are lower than before pregnancy and that the percentage of IFN--producing CD4+cells is lower in the third trimester29, concordant with the results observed in the mRNA group.

For all those mentioned above, we can state that both vaccines (mRNA and VV) generated a more significant immune response in the newborns and their mothers when they applied BP compared to the vaccines used during pregnancy, showing statistical significance with the mRNA vaccine. However, when comparing the vaccine's humoral immune response BP, we observed no differences in the newborn's response, but their mother's mRNA vaccine generated a more significant humoral immune response. It has been reported that mRNA vaccines in a homologous regimen induce strong antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 compared to other vaccine platforms. In contrast, viral vector and inactivated vaccines show satisfactory immunogenicity in a heterologous regimen, especially in combination with mRNA vaccines33. However, it is essential to mention that the patients included in this study only received one dose in the last year. Moreover, Rijkers reported that mRNA vaccines induced a potent humoral response. Upon influenza mRNA vaccination of non-human primates, germinal centers were observed in the draining lymph nodes, and antigen-specific follicular helper T cells were detected, being an ideal niche conducive to B cell activation, antibody isotype switching, and affinity maturation, leading to long-lived memory B cells and plasma cells34.

Analyzing all these results, we can state that the VV vaccine generated a greater humoral and cellular immune response than the mRNA vaccine in the mothers when it was applied in the STP; in the same way, the newborns of these mothers evidenced more significant amounts of IgA and IFN-. On the contrary, in the mothers, the mRNA vaccines showed a greater humoral immune response (IgG and IgA) when the vaccine was applied BP, compared to the VV vaccine, evidencing statistical significance (Fig.8).

About the cellular and humoral immune response correlation between newborns and their mothers, it was observed that the two vaccines (VV and mRNA) exhibited a positive correlation regarding IgG when the vaccine was administrated BP, which has been previously explained by the IgG passively transferred across the placenta from mother to fetus30,35. Moreover, Palmeira et al. reported that IgG is the only antibody class that significantly crosses the human placenta, which might depend on different factors, one of them the maternal levels of total IgG and specific antibodies, being the total IgG concentrations in cord sera lower than in their mothers36, which was also seen in this research.

It is essential to mention that BP in the VV group, a positive correlation was observed between newborns and mothers in IgG, IgA, and IFN-; the above might be explained once VV vaccines induce both innate and adaptive immune responses, recapitulating the natural infection process of specific pathogens, triggering classical acute inflammation and immune detection through the natural production of PAMPs37.

In the same way, a strong positive correlation was observed between newborns and their mothers on IgG and IgA when the mRNA vaccine was administrated at the STP. About this, Konje et al. have stated that the transplacental transfer of antibodies starts in the second trimester38. Similarly, Kugelman et al. declared that mRNA vaccination in the third trimester was associated with a strong maternal humoral IgG response that crossed the placenta and approached maternal titers in the newborn39, which might explain the results obtained herein.

Fouda et al. reported that maternal IgG can be detected in cord blood as early as 810weeks of gestation. However, only small amounts of maternal IgG are transferred in the first trimester ( 10%), reaching 50% of the maternal IgG in infant cord blood by the 30weeks of gestation, possibly due to an increase in the surface area of IgG uptake from maternal blood with higher gestational age40.

So, despite the VV vaccine being evidenced to produce a significant humoral and cellular immune response in newborns and their mothers when they received the vaccine at the STP, compared with the mRNA vaccine, no correlation was observed between newborns and their mothers. However, a moderate positive correlation was observed when BP applied this vaccine.

Moreover, even though the mRNA vaccine showed a more significant humoral immunity generation in newborns and their mothers when it was administrated BP, compared with the VV vaccine, it only showed statistical significance in the mothers. However, IgG showed a moderate positive correlation between the newborns and their mothers.

Finally, as mentioned before, in the correlation between cellular and humoral response on newborns and their mothers, only the mRNA vaccine group evidenced a strong correlation in mothers between IFN- and IgG when it was applied at the FTP, noticing no correlation or moderate correlation at the others moments of application or with the VV vaccine (Table 5). Some authors have indicated a difference between humoral and cellular responses41. Moreover, some authors, such as Menges et al., reported heterogeneity of antibody and T cell immune responses after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Indicating that the relationship between antibody and T-cell responses showed a weak to moderate positive correlation early after infection, which decreased over time42.

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Analysis of the immune response using FTIR spectroscopy in mothers and their newborns with different vaccination schemes for COVID-19 - Nature.com

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Aircraft will drop rabies vaccination baits across Allegheny County next month as part of a massive effort to eventually eradicate the raccoon variant of the virus from the country.

The vaccination program is spearheaded by the United States Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services, which the Allegheny County Health Department partners with annually. This year, volunteers will distribute baits containing the vaccine from Aug. 1 through Aug. 30, both by hand and by air.

The health department says residents may see aircraft slowly moving over the same area multiple times over a short period of time, which could be alarming to people who don't know about the program. The county has asked local municipalities to help them alert residents.

Raccoon rabies can be found throughout the state, and the disease is almost always fatal to both people and animals, the health department says. The goal is to eventually push the westward boundary of raccoon rabies all the way to the East Coast, basically eradicating raccoon rabies from the United States.

If you find a bait, don't do anything, the health department says.

However, if it's still intact and is out in the open where it's likely to come in contact with pets or kids, put on gloves and toss it into an area with more cover.

While the exposure risk to humans is very slight, the health department says people should be aware and encourage their kids to leave them alone.

If you touch a bait or the liquid vaccine inside, make sure to wash the area thoroughly with soap and water.

If the bait is still intact, place it in an area of thick ground cover. But if the bait is leaking the vaccine, the health department says to thoroughly wash the affected area with soap and water.

It's not possible to get rabies from the vaccine, the health department says.

If you or your child are exposed to the vaccine or need advice, you can call the Pennsylvania Public Health Information Line at 1-877-PA HEALTH or the Allegheny County Health Department at 412-350-4046.

People are asked to keep their pets inside or keep their dogs on leashes to allow the raccoons to eat the baits.

But if a pet does eat the bait and vaccine, the health department says not to worry. The vaccine isn't harmful to wild animals or pets.

This vaccine also can't be used to vaccinate your cat or dog against rabies. A veterinarian should do that, the health department says, adding that regular pet vaccination is "essential" to protect them against rabies.

Madeline Bartos is a digital web producer for CBS Pittsburgh who has worked with KDKA since 2019.

Originally posted here:

Raccoon rabies vaccinations will drop from the sky in Allegheny County next month. Here's what you need to know. - CBS Pittsburgh

The recombinant shingles vaccine (Shingrix) was associated with a larger reduction in dementia risk than the live shingles vaccine (Zostavax), an analysis of more than 200,000 U.S. older adults showed.

Over a 6-year follow-up period, adults who predominantly received the recombinant herpes zoster vaccine had a 17% increase in time without a dementia diagnosis (restricted mean time lost ratio 0.83, 95% CI 0.80-0.87, P<0.0001) compared with those who received the live vaccine, reported Maxime Taquet, PhD, of the University of Oxford in England, and co-authors.

This translated into 164 additional days without a dementia diagnosis, Taquet and colleagues reported in Nature Medicine. The reduction in dementia risk was present in both men and women, but greater in women.

The recombinant shingles vaccine also was tied to a lower risk of dementia compared with two other vaccines commonly used in older people -- influenza and tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis (Tdap) vaccines.

"The size and nature of this study makes these findings convincing, and should motivate further research," Taquet said in a statement.

"They support the hypothesis that vaccination against shingles might prevent dementia," he continued. "If validated in clinical trials, these findings could have significant implications for older adults, health services, and public health."

Several studies have linked viral illnesses with subsequent dementia. Human herpesvirus 6A (HHV-6A) and human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7) have been found in postmortem tissue samples of people with Alzheimer's disease at levels up to twice as high as non-Alzheimer's disease samples, for example.

Researchers also have suggested that herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) coupled with an APOE4 gene may raise Alzheimer's risk considerably. Based on early HSV-1 research, a trial of the antiviral drug valacyclovir (Valtrex) in mild Alzheimer's disease is currently underway.

Last year, a preprint study in Wales suggested that the live shingles vaccine may be associated with a 20% reduction in dementia risk, with the relationship stronger in women than men.

"Although previous studies have suggested immunization against herpes viruses might protect against dementia, particularly in women, this took advantage of a change in vaccine type to overcome the many confounding variables that may have provided alternative explanations," noted Robert Howard, MD, of University College London, who wasn't involved with the new Oxford study.

"The next question is how does vaccination exert this dementia protection effect?" Howard asked in a post on the U.K. Science Media Centre. "Is it through suppression of virus or is the induced immune response targeting a step in the molecular pathology of Alzheimer's disease?"

In the U.S., the recombinant shingles vaccine was approved in October 2017. In 2018, it received a preferential recommendation by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) over the live shingles vaccine. As of November 2020, the live shingles vaccine was no longer available, according to the CDC.

Taquet and co-authors used TriNetX electronic health records in the U.S. to study 103,837 individuals ages 65 and older who received a first dose of shingles vaccine between November 2017 and October 2020; 95% received the recombinant vaccine. These older adults were propensity-score matched with 103,837 individuals who received their first dose between October 2014 and September 2017 (98% had the live vaccine). People with previous diagnoses of dementia or neurodegenerative disease were excluded from the study.

Median follow-up was 4.15 years in the recombinant vaccine group, and 6.0 years in the live vaccine group. The primary outcome was a first diagnosis of dementia from 3 months (to exclude possible pre-existing dementia) to 6 years post-vaccination in a time-to-event analysis, based on ICD-10 codes.

Associations between recombinant shingles vaccination and dementia were consistent across dementia types except frontotemporal and Lewy body dementia. Older adults vaccinated after October 2017 also were less likely to have a herpes zoster infection post-vaccination.

The study was observational and cannot show causality, the researchers acknowledged. It relied on electronic health records, which may have had errors. Being diagnosis-free does not mean participants were disease-free, they pointed out.

Nonetheless, the findings are "intriguing and encouraging," said co-author Paul Harrison, FRCPsych, also of the University of Oxford. "Anything that might reduce the risk of dementia is to be welcomed, given the large and increasing number of people affected by it."

Judy George covers neurology and neuroscience news for MedPage Today, writing about brain aging, Alzheimers, dementia, MS, rare diseases, epilepsy, autism, headache, stroke, Parkinsons, ALS, concussion, CTE, sleep, pain, and more. Follow

Disclosures

This research was supported by the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre.

Taquet and Harrison had no disclosures.

One co-author was a consultant for GSK, maker of Shingrix. GSK was not aware of the study until after the manuscript had been accepted.

Howard reported no conflicts of interest.

Primary Source

Nature Medicine

Source Reference: Taquet M, et al "The recombinant shingles vaccine is associated with lower risk of dementia" Nat Med 2024; DOI: 10.1038/s41591-024-03201-5.

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Dementia Risk Drops With Shingles Vaccine - Medpage Today

Dementia

Shingrix linked to substantial reduction in diagnoses in the six years after people received the shot

Thu 25 Jul 2024 11.00 EDT

Researchers have raised hopes for delaying dementia after finding that a recently approved shingles vaccine was linked to a substantial reduction in diagnoses of the condition in the six years after receiving the shot.

The discovery, based on US medical records, suggests that beyond the health benefits of preventing shingles, a painful and sometimes serious condition in elderly people, the vaccine may also delay the onset of dementia, the UKs leading cause of death.

Dr Maxime Taquet at the University of Oxford, the first author on the study, said the results supported the idea that shingles vaccination may prevent dementia. If validated in clinical trials, these findings could have significant implications for older adults, health services, and public health.

Shingles is caused by the herpes zoster virus and can flare up in people who have previously had chickenpox. When a shingles vaccine, Zostavax, was first rolled out in 2006, a number of studies found hints that the risk of dementia seemed to be lower in those who got the shots.

The development of a new and more effective shingles vaccine, Shingrix, led to a rapid switch in the US in October 2017, meaning those who were vaccinated before that date received Zostavax, while those vaccinated after tended to have Shingrix.

The Oxford team studied the health records of more than 200,000 US citizens vaccinated for shingles, about half of whom received the new vaccine. Over the next six years, the risk of dementia was 17% lower in those who received Shingrix compared with Zostavax.

For those who went on to develop dementia, that amounts to an extra 164 days, or nearly six months, lived without the condition. The effect was stronger in women, at 22%, than in men at 13%.

The researchers went on to examine dementia rates in people who received other vaccines. Writing in Nature Medicine, they describe how those given Shingrix had a 23 to 27% lower risk of dementia than people who were vaccinated against flu, tetanus, diphtheria or pertussis. One of the authors of the study, Prof John Todd at Oxford, is a consultant to GSK, the manufacturer of Shingrix, but the researchers said the study was conducted without any involvement from the pharma company, who were informed of the work when it was accepted for publication.

Last year, the NHS made Shingrix available to people turning 65. The expectation is that if this is indeed a causal effect, then we would see a reduction in dementia in the UK once people start taking up the Shingrix vaccine, said Taquet.

There are more than 55 million people globally living with dementia and more than 900,000 in the UK alone. One in three people will develop the condition in their lifetime, and while drugs that appear to slow the disease have recently been approved, there is no cure.

The latest study does not prove that Shingrix delays dementia, but Prof Paul Harrison, a senior author on the paper, said more groups were working on the question. If the vaccine does protect against dementia, it is unclear how. One possibility is that the resurgence of virus in shingles drives pathological changes that lead to dementia. Another is that chemicals called adjuvants in the vaccine, which make the immune response to the vaccine more potent, play a role.

Also unclear is whether any protection against dementia would be more effective if the vaccine were given to younger people, such as those in their 50s, or whether it would wear off too soon.

It will be interesting to see if these data become publicised, that more people choose to take [Shingrix] when theyre offered it, said Harrison. I certainly wouldnt recommend that people should start demanding the vaccine just because they think itll reduce the risk of dementia.

Andrew Doig, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Manchester, said: This is a significant result, comparable in effectiveness to the recent antibody drugs for Alzheimers disease. Administering the recombinant shingles vaccine could well be a simple and cheap way to lower the risk of Alzheimers disease.

Now, we need to run a clinical trial of the [new] vaccine, comparing patients who receive the vaccine with those who get a placebo. This is the most reliable way to find out how well the vaccine works. We also need to see how many years the effect might last and whether we should vaccinate people at a younger age. We know that the path to Alzheimers disease can start decades before any symptoms are apparent, so the vaccine might be even more effective if given to people in their 40s or 50s.

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Study raises hopes that shingles vaccine may delay onset of dementia - The Guardian

Until theres a cure or a vaccine, we will need to sustain the AIDS response beyond 2030, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said last month.

When drugmaker Gilead Sciences announced interim late-stage trial results of its injectable HIV prevention drug last month, researchers, advocates and Wall Street collectively rejoiced. None of the more than 2,000 women at high risk for contracting HIV who were given two annual injections of lenacapavir were infected. It is gobsmackingly exciting to see zero in a clinical trial, Mitchell Warren, executive director of the global HIV prevention nonprofit AVAC told Forbes.

The results were so promising that an independent committee recommended all of the 5,300 women participating in the trial get the twice-yearly injections rather than continuing with comparison groups taking daily oral pills, which averaged around two out of every 100 women getting infected. As the 25th annual International AIDS Conference kicks off in Munich this week, California-based Gilead is expected to release the full data from the Phase 3 trial; additional data from a trial including men and transgender people is expected by early next year. But the potential of a new long-acting HIV prevention tool could be short-lived as the perennial political football enters the equation: cost.

There's so much trepidation in the HIV community about how it's going to be made accessible, Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine and director of the UCSF Center for AIDS Research, told Forbes. Who's going to get it? Only rich people in the United States, not anyone in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Lenacapavir is already approved as a twice-yearly antiretroviral treatment for people with multi-drug resistant HIV (which costs $42,250 for the first year of treatment and $39,000 each year after in the U.S.). This most recent trial is focused instead on using it as a prevention tool known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, which is for people at high-risk of contracting the disease. As Gilead waits for more clinical trial data and pursues regulatory clearance, it is too early to state the price of lenacapavir for PrEP, Gilead spokesperson Meaghan Smith told Forbes in an email.

In a press release, Gilead said it plans to ensure supply in countries where the need is greatest, until it negotiates voluntary licensing agreements, which usually allow for some lower income countries to get generic versions of brand name drugs at a fraction of the cost. The concern is that even at a much-lower price point, it would still be out of reach for many people in the most hard-hit regions of the world. Gilead would not say whether it specifically intends to work with the U.N.-backed Medicines Patents Pool on these agreements.

Around 39.9 million people worldwide are living with HIV and there are an estimated 1.3 million new infections each year, with cases rising in the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe, central Asia and Latin America, according to the latest numbers from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, or UNAIDS. In 2016, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a target of ending AIDS by 2030, but this is unlikely. Even UNAIDS acknowledges the world is off track. New HIV infections are three times higher than the 2025 target, funding for HIV prevention is shrinking worldwide, a quarter of people infected arent receiving treatment and regressive policies from authoritarian governments are hindering access to prevention.

While there have been amazing advances with PrEP options, people need to continue taking the medication as long as they remain at-risk, which could be an entire lifetime. The obvious solution would be a much cheaper vaccine that could provide years of protection, but its a research puzzle that has eluded top scientists in government, academia and industry for more than two decades. Until theres a cure or a vaccine, we will need to sustain the AIDS response beyond 2030, in every part of the world, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said last month.

Governments, nonprofits and companies have spent upwards of $18 billion on HIV vaccine research since 2000, per AVAC estimates; not a single clinical trial has made it beyond Phase 3. In January of last year, Johnson and Johnson pulled the plug on its Mosaico trial after it failed to show an effective response. And in December 2023, PrEPVacc, the final remaining late-stage HIV vaccine trial, was stopped early when it was determined there was little or no chance of an effective response.

AIDS activists demonstrating in Spring 1991 at Grand Central Station in New York City, NY. Today a person dies from AIDS-related causes every minute.

In an untreated person, HIV will generate around 10 billion new virus particles per day. While antiretrovirals have done wonders to prevent and control HIV infection, most people have to stay on them for life, or else the virus will start replicating in their bodies with a vengeance. Its for this very reason that developing a vaccine that would help the body generate its own active immune response to keep the virus in check is the holy grail of HIV prevention, Jim Kublin, executive director of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network based at Fred Hutch Cancer Center told Forbes.

The dream would be to have a vaccine that protects a person for years on end like the ones that exist for tetanus or smallpox or, even better, for a lifetime, like the measles vaccine. Gileads lenacapavir results for the twice-yearly shot only raise the bar for any future vaccines, said Warren of the prevention nonprofit AVAC. The vaccine would have to have a similarly high rate of stopping infections, last much longer in duration and be priced much lower.

There are several big challenges with HIV that boil down to the same principle: its a very sneaky escape artist that is constantly changing and using decoys to evade capture by the immune system. The usual approach for many vaccines is to introduce inactivated virus or pieces of virus into the body so that the immune system can prepare a response in advance of infection. But HIV relies on a series of tricks that makes it incredibly challenging for the body to even recognize it is an invader in the first place, including infecting the very cells that are supposed to trigger the response.

As a point of comparison, take Sars-CoV-2, the virus that caused the coronavirus pandemic, which takes its name from the Latin word for crown. Thats because when it enters the body, its like a brilliant glittering diamond-encrusted tiara, in which each diamond is a spike protein that tells the body it's an invader. HIV, on the other hand, is just a plain metal crown with only a handful of diamonds placed few and far between and some of those are decoys. That makes it not only hard for the body to recognize it as a virus, but it also acts as a form of armor preventing antibodies from latching on.

HIV is also mutating at an extremely high rate, so even if the body does end up spotting the invader, HIV has already come up with another disguise by the time it generates a response. It's constantly evolving, sacrificing what it was before in order to try to evolve to its environment very, very quickly, Katharine Bar, an infectious disease doctor and associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania told Forbes.

Most vaccines on the market for other diseases try to jumpstart the bodys natural immune response. In the case of HIV, the natural [response] fails, Otto Yang, professor and associate chief of infectious diseases at UCLA Health, told Forbes. If you try to copy it, he said, you're copying a failing process. One potential solution is to re-engineer the immune system to generate a response that attacks the rare spots in the virus structure that are less likely to mutate. There's some parts of the viruses that hopefully are like Achilles heels, said Yang.

He likens the current efforts by scientists working on multiple types of vaccine responses to top-secret World War II codebreakers in Englands Bletchley Park. You're trying to solve something that's unknown, and you're getting together the best minds to figure out how to decode the enigma machines, said Yang, though he is not confident that an HIV vaccine is currently possible without a major breakthrough. And theres generally agreement in the research community that any successful vaccine would need to combine multiple methods.

And even if it ever does come to pass, an HIV vaccine wont be a silver bullet. The key, says Gandhi of UCSF, is to give people who are at-risk of HIV infection a choice. Theres so far been low uptake of PrEP in Africa, particularly among high-risk groups like young women, due to a combination of factors, including stigma, lack of awareness and distrust. Some people will be okay with a daily pill, while others might want a shot. It's really a matter of providing these options, just like contraception, Gandhi said.

While the decades-long quest for an HIV vaccine has yet to be successful, what scientists have learned along the way has majorly contributed to how the world has responded to other pandemics, like the rapid development of Covid-19 vaccines. The Nobel Prize-winning research of Katalin Karik and Drew Weissman underpinning the mRNA Covid vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech originated two decades ago in the quest for an HIV vaccine. We learn a ton from trying to do the hardest thing, said Bar.

When will it finally pay off? There's this sort of sad aphorism that we're always 10 years away from an effective HIV vaccine, she said. But I think science doesn't necessarily move at a linear pace. It's a big breakthrough followed by iterative changes, followed by another breakthrough.

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Despite Gileads Promising HIV Prevention Drug, A Vaccine Is Still The Holy Grail - Forbes

The 24-hour news cycle is just as important to medicine as it is to politics, finance, or sports. At MedPage Today, new information is posted daily, but keeping up can be a challenge. As an aid for our readers, and for a little amusement, here is a 10-question quiz based on the news of the week. Topics include the Shingrix vaccine, doctors' PTSD during the pandemic, and the "Best Medical Schools" rankings. After taking the quiz, scroll down in your browser window to find the correct answers and explanations, as well as links to the original articles.

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What Was the Shingrix Vaccine Associated With? - Medpage Today

Hello, health and wellness readers. My name is Kaitlin, your guide to the latest news you may have missed.

Lets take a look at what our team wrote about this week:

Pesticide exposure may be just as bad as smoking, a new study found and Natalie Rahhal spoke with experts about how to avoid them.

Super-gonorrhea?! Its rare but smart, writes Rachel Bender, and doctors are concerned.

Kerry Justich caught up with your 90s boy band crush Lance Bass to talk about how his type 1.5 diabetes diagnosis is a full time job to manage.

Having excess belly fat and arm fat, specifically, could raise your risk of dementia and Parkinsons. Can we do anything about it? Natalie found some answers.

Did TikTok convince you that you have a hormonal imbalance? Kerry writes about why you may want to take a step back before exploring social medias solutions to cortisol face.

Fruit may help alleviate depression, Korin Miller writes but you cant exactly watermelon your way to better mental health. Heres why.

Heres what else to know:

A twice-yearly shot from pharmaceutical company Gilead was 100% effective in preventing HIV infections in women, per new research. The study, which involved 5,338 HIV-free participants in South Africa and Uganda, found that none of the women who received the shots of drug Lenacapavir contracted HIV, while 2% of those using existing daily prevention pills did. This result led researchers to stop the study early and offer the shots to all participants.

Why it matters: Winnie Byanyima, head of UNAIDS, called Lenacapavir a miracle product and it could make a major difference in the fight against HIV and AIDS, particularly for communities where infection rates are high. Right now, we have tools to prevent HIV, but there are some drawbacks. PrEP (a short term for pre-exposure prophylaxis) is a highly effective preventive option, but it involves taking a daily pill, which may be difficult for some people to stick to and is prohibitively expensive.

The goal now will be to make the drug, which the Associated Press reported will be sold under the name Sunlenca, affordable so it can be easily accessible in developing countries. Gilead has yet to state how much they believe it will cost per patient.

Wildfires burning across California, Oregon, Arizona, Washington and Canada have caused significant smoke and haze. This has led to air quality alerts in many parts of the western United States, with Oregon seeing the most fires of any state. The uncontained Durkee Fire is the largest active fire in the country and is located near the Oregon-Idaho border.

Why it matters: Smoke from fires can cause respiratory problems and worsen existing health conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart disease.

You dont need to see fire or even smoke in order to feel the effects on your health. You can check your air quality by going to AirNow.gov and typing in your zip code, which can give you updated information on how to protect yourself depending on reported levels.

In general, you can protect yourself from smoke by staying indoors with windows and doors closed and using air purifiers with HEPA filters. If you must go outdoors, avoid exerting yourself and wear an N95 or P100 mask.

Research from Oxford University suggests that the shingles vaccine, Shingrix, might delay the onset of dementia by five to nine months. Exactly why this happens is unclear, but researchers think it may have to do with Shingrix reducing the impact of the herpes zoster virus, which is linked to dementia. Its also possible that the vaccine's ingredients may support brain health. Right now Shingrix is offered to people ages 70 to 79, as well as those with a weakened immune system, but it is being gradually rolled out to people 65 and older.

What it means: Over 50 million people worldwide live with dementia, with this number only expected to increase possibly to as much as 230 million people by 2050. Delaying the onset of dementia can give people more time to make caretaking plans and critical medical decisions, improving the quality of life for patients and reducing the overall burden on loved ones. However, more research is needed to confirm the potential dementia benefits and determine the best timing for the vaccine.

This news also comes on the heels of new drugs for the treatment of Alzheimers, a type of dementia. Eli Lillys drug Donanemab showed a 35% reduction in progress of the disease in 18 months, in people between 60 and 85.

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A 'miracle' HIV shot, surprising shingles vaccine benefit and health-threatening wildfires: What to know about this week's health news - Yahoo Life