β-Glucans promising adjuvants for allergy treatment

05-Feb-2025 - A recent study carried out by a research team from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut investigated the immunomodulating properties of β-glucans. These are natural sugar compounds found in bacteria, fungi and grains. The results indicate that β-glucans can target the immune system and modulate ...

The Route Into the Cell Influences the Outcome of Sars-Cov-2 Infection

A surface protein helps viruses to enter cells. This has far-reaching consequences for the infection

04-Jun-2024 - How exactly do Sars-Cov-2 particles enter host cells? An international team led by Dr Richard Brown from Dr Daniel Todt’s Computational Virology group at the Department of Molecular and Medical Virology at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, together with researchers from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, ...

Hepatitis C Virus Infection: Discovery of Unexpected Proviral Effect of Guanylate-Binding Protein 1 (GBP1)

02-Apr-2024 - A research team from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut has gained important insights into the role of the human guanylate-binding protein 1 (GBP1) in hepatitis C virus infection. Their results show that GBP1 performs a previously unknown function, that of a proviral factor, during the HCV life cycle. ...

Measles-Based Vector Vaccine Protects Mice against Influenza A (H7N9) Virus

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses such as the influenza A virus subtype H7N9 could potentially cause future influenza pandemics

11-Jul-2023 - Researchers at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI), in cooperation with the Philipps-Universität Marburg, used the "recombinant measles vaccine virus" vaccine platform to test vaccine candidates against the dangerous avian H7N9 influenza virus in an animal model. Vectored vaccines with a blueprint of ...

Pigs as Organ Donors

New Findings on the Prevention of Retrovirus Infections

22-Mar-2023 - Intensive research is being carried out to enable the transplantation of organs from specially bred pigs to humans. However, the pig genome contains the genomes of various endogenous retroviruses (PERV-A, B and C) that could potentially cause infectious diseases. A research team at the ...

Novel Method for Producing Genetically Modified Measles Vaccine Viruses

Recombinant Measles Viruses – Vaccine Platform and Weapon against Cancer?

01-Dec-2022 - Genetically modified and attenuated measles vaccine viruses are considered a promising platform for research and development of vector vaccines and oncolytic measles viruses. The biotechnological production of these viruses is difficult, because it requires a precisely coordinated interaction of ...

The influenza virus and its influence on blood stem cells and coagulation

Local respiratory infection with flu viruses activates dormant blood stem cells in the bone marrow

20-Oct-2022 - Virus-induced respiratory infections can become life-threatening. A team at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, together with researchers in Heidelberg, have discovered that flu virus infection limited to the lungs also leads to the activation of blood stem cells and the increased formation of platelets. ...

Fusion Protein rFlaA:Betv1 Induces Regulatory B Cells and Thus Suppresses Allergic Processes

The fusion protein is a promising candidate for the treatment of birch pollen allergies

11-Oct-2022 - In the search for effective and safe therapeutics for hyposensitisation, colleagues at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut and the Justus Liebig University in Giessen investigated the effect of the birch pollen allergen-containing fusion protein rFlaA:Betv1 on B cells (specific immune cells). rFlaA:Betv1 ...

Making the Invisible Visible – Two-Step Mechanism Discovered that Enables Innate Immune System to Detect Viruses Like HIV Early

Understanding this mechanism could be helpful for the development of AIDS vaccines

14-Jul-2022 - Researchers at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut participating in an international research network have discovered a two-step mechanism of the innate immune system that also makes it possible to specifically recognise HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and trigger an early immune response. This ...

Platelets as Carriers of Therapeutic Proteins in the Body

Technology opens up a wide range of new therapeutic applications

11-Feb-2022 - Researchers from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, together with a research group from the Hannover Medical School, have developed a laboratory model based on lentiviral gene transfer in which therapeutic proteins are targeted to platelets and released in the body. With this newly developed technology, ...