25-09-2023
In search of a universal vaccine against rotavirus
PRESS RELEASE
Bulletin number 4872
University City, September 25, 2023
Fernando Roger Esquivel Guadarrama, research professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos (UAEM), studies the qualities of type “C” lymphocytes that generate the immune response, so that in the future, a universal rotavirus vaccine.
In an interview with Radio UAEM, held on September 13, Fernando Esquivel reported that in the Viral Immunology Laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine, influenza and rotavirus viruses are used as a study model to search for new immunological responses to their different variants and mutations.
The researcher explained that there are several types of lymphocytes and they are type “C”, with which they work as they make up the adaptive immune response and the antibodies that destroy infected cells.
“Hence, a single rotavirus protein is investigated to understand its response to antibodies, such as the functionality of the “C” lymphocytes and their ability to contain and eliminate viruses, despite the fact that they mutate to other variants.” , he claimed.
Esquivel Guadarrama said that with this research, the aim is to create a single universal vaccine to contain any strain of rotavirus that emerges and it is not necessary to be vaccinated periodically.
“Rotavirus is an intestinal virus infection, which mainly attacks babies and causes dehydrating diarrhea that can cause death. Today there are many vaccines against rotavirus worldwide, but studies are still being carried out to improve them, because the immune response depends on the context and population of each country, ”he said.
Fernando Roger Esquivel Guadarrama explained that the Immune System is the immune response that we have, “it is our barrier against the attacks and invasion of different microorganisms and pathogens, there are two types of response: the innate evolutionary one, which we have since our ancestors as a species and the adaptive immune response, which is more effective because it generates an immunological memory, that is, it has the ability to remember pathogens years after having received them for the first time.”
The researcher explained that immunological memory is the basis of vaccines, “only that with vaccines the adaptive immune response is induced to generate virus recognition memory and thus protect us, a recent example is the Covid pandemic. -19, about what a response against viruses is like.”
The researcher said that in that case, many people had a more intense reaction to Covid-19, because they did not have an innate immune response, which is the first barrier to containing viruses, “this is due to poor diet and lack of exercise, hence it is necessary to maintain a balanced immune response to be able to fight viruses.
It should be noted that Fernando Roger Esquivel Guadarrama obtained the State Research Merit Recognition in 2013; From 2010 to 2012 he was president of the Mexican Society of Immunology and since 1997 he is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, in addition to having various notable publications.
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2023-09-26 03:34:08
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