Clinical evidence strongly suggests that certain live vaccines, in particular Bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG) and measles vaccines, can reduce all-cause mortality, likely via protection against non-targeted pathogens in addition to the targeted pathogen. The underlying mechanisms are currently unknown. We discuss how heterologous lymphocyte activation and innate immune memory could promote protection beyond the intended target pathogen and consider how vaccinologists could leverage heterologous immunity to improve outcomes in vulnerable populations, in particular the very young and the elderly.

The vaccine safety surveillance system effectively detected a very rare adverse event, narcolepsy, in subjects receiving AS03-adjuvanted A(H1N1) pandemic vaccine made using the European inactivation/purification protocol. The reports of increased cases of narcolepsy in non-vaccinated subjects infected with wild A(H1N1) pandemic influenza virus suggest a role for the viral antigen(s) in disease development. However, additional investigations are needed to better understand what factor(s) in wild influenza infection trigger(s) narcolepsy in susceptible hosts. An estimated 31 million doses of European AS03-adjuvanted A(H1N1) pandemic vaccine were used in more than 47 countries. The Canadian AS03-adjuvanted A(H1N1) pandemic vaccine was used with high coverage in Canada where an estimated 12 million doses were administered. As no similar narcolepsy association has been reported to date with the AS03-adjuvanted A(H1N1) pandemic vaccine made using the Canadian inactivation/purification protocol, this suggests that the AS03 adjuvant alone may not be responsible for the narcolepsy association. To date, no narcolepsy association has been reported with the MF59®-adjuvanted A(H1N1) pandemic vaccine. This review article provides a brief background on narcolepsy, outlines the different types of vaccine preparations including the ones for influenza, reviews the accumulated evidence for the safety of adjuvants, and explores the association between autoimmune diseases and natural infections. It concludes by assimilating the historical observations and recent clinical studies to formulate a feasible hypothesis on why vaccine-associated narcolepsy may not be solely linked to the AS03 adjuvant but more likely be linked to how the specific influenza antigen component of the European AS03-adjuvanted pandemic vaccine was prepared. Careful and long-term epidemiological studies of subjects who developed narcolepsy in association with AS03-adjuvanted A(H1N1) pandemic vaccine prepared with the European inactivation/purification protocol are needed.

Aberrant expansion of follicular helper T (TFH) cells occurs in lupus patients. An unanswered question is whether an altered T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire is associated with this expansion. Here, we demonstrate that Blimp-1 repressed expression of the cathepsin S gene (Ctss) which encodes a cysteine protease that cleaves invariant chain and produces antigenic peptides for MHC class II loading. The increased CTSS in dendritic cells (DCs) of female Prdm1 conditional knockout (CKO) mice altered antigen presentation to CD4+ T cells. Analysis of Vβ CDR3s demonstrated a more diverse repertoire of TFH from female CKO mice. In vivo treatment of CKO mice with a CTSS inhibitor abrogated lupus-related phenotypes and reduced the diversity of the TFH TCR repertoire. Thus, Blimp-1 deficiency in DCs leads to a loss of appropriate regulation of Ctss expression in female mice thereby modulating antigen presentation and TFH repertoire to contribute to autoimmunity.

Objective. Sera from patients with scleroderma (systemic sclerosis [SSc]) contain anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECAs) capable of inducing endothelial cell apoptosis. We sought to determine whether SSc sera containing anticentromere antibodies (ACAs) or antitopoisomerase I antibodies (or, anti-Scl-70 antibodies) contain subsets of AECAs that trigger distinct pathways of apoptosis and gene expression in normal adult human dermal endothelial cells (HDECs).Methods. Adult HDECs were grown to subconfluence and treated with control or SSc patient sera. Apoptosis was investigated by differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy, microarrays of proapoptotic gene expression, caspase 3 protease activity, and flow cytometry for phosphatidyl serine translocation.Results. Flow cytometry and DIC microscopy demonstrated that HDECs exposed to SSc sera containing either SSc autoantibody underwent apoptosis at much higher levels than those treated with control sera. Conclusion. There are distinct AECA subsets in the sera of patients with limited SSc (with ACAs) and diffuse SSc (with anti-Scl-70) that induce unique patterns of HDEC gene expression in the setting of apoptosis associated with increased caspase 3 activity and the reexpression of endothelial cell fibrillin 1.

In the era of precision medicine, digital technologies and artificial intelligence, drug discovery and development face unprecedented opportunities for product and business model innovation, fundamentally changing the traditional approach of how drugs are discovered, developed and marketed. Critical to this transformation is the adoption of new technologies in the drug development process, catalyzing the transition from serendipity-driven to data-driven medicine. This paradigm shift comes with a need for both translation and precision, leading to a modern Translational Precision Medicine approach to drug discovery and development. Key components of Translational Precision Medicine are multi-omics profiling, digital biomarkers, model-based data integration, artificial intelligence, biomarker-guided trial designs and patient-centric companion diagnostics. In this review, we summarize and critically discuss the potential and challenges of Translational Precision Medicine from a cross-industry perspective.