Frontiers in Immunology, the first most cited magazine in the field of Immunology and with high ranking, publishes in its open-access edition a coordinated work between the IDIVAL Research Institute (Group of Nanovacunas and cellular vaccines based on Listeria), Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital (Microbiology Service and Section of Infectious Diseases) and the University Hospital of Donostia (Microbiology Service).
Listeria monocytogenes is a microorganism that causes human listeriosis, an infectious disease considered rare because it affects to individuals with a deficient immune system, for whom it is deadly, and there is no vaccine currently available to prevent.
This study is the collaboration between the three centers mentioned above. The article describe that two regions of northern Spain, Gipuzkoa and Cantabria present high annual incidence of listeriosis (1.86 and 1.71 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively). the high annual incidences are a consequence of infection with highly virulent Listeria monocytogenes isolates linked to fatal outcomes in elderly patients with cancer. This study allowed us to identify two markers of poor prognosis for listeriosis, low levels of interleukin-17A and low titers of antibodies against a virulence factor of this pathogen, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Monitoring of these two biomarkers with poor prognosis in patients at high risk for listeriosis will reduce the incidence of this infectious disease.
In addition, this collaborative work has used these two biomarkers as tools to prepare clinical vaccines with dendritic cells derived from monocytes of patients with listeriosis after exposure to a peptide of said virulence factor, producing high levels of pro-inflammatory interleukins. These results represent a very important step to generate clinical vaccines against listeriosis in high-risk patients such as oncology patients.
Link to the article:
Biomarker tools to design clinical vaccines determined from a study of annual listeriosis incidence in northern Spain. Frontiers in Immunology.
Authors: Ricardo Calderón-González, Hector Terán-Navarro, José María Marimon, Claudia González-Rico, Jorge Calvo-Montes, Elisabet Frande-Cabanes, Miriam Alkorta-Gurrutxaga, M.Carmen Fariñas, Luis Martínez-Martínez, Emilio Pérez-Trallero y Carmen Álvarez-Domínguez.
