Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
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Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused mainly by members of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. In 2012, the WHO estimated 8.7 million new cases and 1.4 million deaths caused by this disease. ⋯ Much work is therefore ongoing in terms of the development of TB vaccines and more than 10 candidate vaccines are progressing well through the different development stages. The aim of this mini-review is to describe the characteristics of the most promising vaccines, and to give a brief description of some key elements relating to the current and future development of vaccines against TB.
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Curr Pharm Biotechnol · Jan 2013
Short term statin treatment improves survival and differentially regulates macrophage-mediated responses to Staphylococcus aureus.
Staphylococcus aureus is the most prevalent etiologic agent of sepsis. Statins, primarily prescribed for their cholesterol-lowering capabilities, may be beneficial for treating sepsis due to their anti-inflammatory properties. ⋯ Additionally, this work demonstrated the ability of simvastatin to dampen macrophage responses initiated not only by bacteria directly but by membrane vesicles shed in response to infection, revealing a new mechanism of immune modulation by statins. These data demonstrate the ability of short term simvastatin pretreatment to modulate immune responses and identify new insights into the underlying mechanisms of the anti-inflammatory properties of simvastatin that may decrease the pathophysiological effects leading to sepsis.