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Biomedical subjects

S J Rodda

Publications and source records attributed to S J Rodda.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Antibody responses to influenza vaccines containing A/USSR/90/77.

Studies were undertaken in adult groups aged 17-24 years, 25-64 years and 66-100 years to determine the haemagglutination-inhibiting antibody responses to sub-unit influenza containing A/USSR/90/77 (H1N1). Antibody responses to A/USSR/90/77 were low in all groups. The young adult group (17-24 years) produced a primary response to A/USSR/90/77 and showed a significant response to a second dose of vaccine, whereas their responses to the A/Texas/1/77 (H3N2) and B/Hong Kong/8/73 components were of the anamnestic type and showed no significant increase to a second dose. The adult (25-64 years) and aged (66-100 years) groups responded anamnestically to all three vaccine components. There was no impairment of the antibody response in the aged group in comparison with the response in the adult group. A comparative assay in microtitre trays and WHO plates showed two- to four-fold differences in antibody titre to A/USSR/90/77 in these systems.

Adolescent↗

Antibody responses to influenza vaccines containing A/New Jersey/8/76.

Studies were undertaken with whole virus, subunit and adsorbed subunit influenza vaccines containing the A/New Jersey/8/76 strain to compare the antibody response induced by immunization with these vaccines. There were no significant differences in the haemagglutination-inhibiton (HI) antibody responses to A/New Jersey/8/76 induced by these vaccines in the adult groups under study. Vaccinees over 23 years of age produced good HI antibody responses to one dose of vaccine. Neuraminidase antibody and complement-fixing (CF) antibody responses were determined for the A/Victoria/3/75 component of bivalent vaccines. There were significant increases in neuraminidase inhibiting (NI) antibody titres but no increase in the complement-fixing antibody titres after vaccination.

Adolescent↗

Cytotoxic macrophages: a rapid nonspecific response to viral infection.

In vitro and in vivo assays have been developed to study the relative contributions of various types of immune cytolysis in the destruction of infected cells after Semliki Forest virus infection of BALB/c mice. Highly cytotoxic activated macrophages, not specific for the infecting virus, appear on day 1, peak on day 2 to 3, and disappear within a week. Specifically sensitized T cells appear around day 3, peak on day 6, and disappear within a month. Cytotoxic antibody appears on day 4 and reaches high titers by day 8. Immune spleen cells greatly reduce the yield of virus from cultured cells. Infected cells rapidly disappear after transfer to infected animals.

Animals↗

Effects of end groups on the stimulatory capacity of minimal length T cell determinant peptides.

We studied the effect of end groups on the capacity of two closely related peptides to stimulate a human T cell clone. Using multipin peptide synthesis technology, we generated solution phase peptides with six combinations of end groups for each sequence. The end modifications examined were amino-terminal acetylation, carboxy-terminal methylamidation or the addition of a dipeptide containing a diketopiperazine ring. The response to the less stimulatory of the two peptide sequences was significantly increased by acetylation of the amino-terminus, a finding which was consistent at different peptide doses. Amino-terminal acetylation was found to be more significant in affecting responses than any of the carboxy-terminal modifications tested. The use of peptides with a diketopiperazine ring structure at the carboxy-terminus did not interfere with presentation and recognition of peptides and may enhance the effectiveness of peptides for T cell epitope scanning.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Multipin technology in the preparation and screening of peptide libraries.

Peptide libraries are relatively new sources of enormous numbers of unique compounds, fodder for the mill of drug discovery programs. Their enormous diversity derives from vast numbers of combinations of a small number of monomers (Geysen et al., 1986). For example, a complete hexapeptide library synthesized from just 10 monomers (amino acids) has one million unique compounds in it. In principle, other types of combinatorial libraries can have equally vast numbers of members; for example, the monomers can be N-acyl glycines, giving rise to the so-called "peptoids" (Simon et al., 1992); or the monomers could be monosaccharides or nucleotides.

Biotechnology↗