Health, Disease, Diagnosis, and Cures: The Rise of Immunology 2009

A joint meeting organised by the Yorkshire Branch and the Sheffield Region Immunology Group

The day started as usual with registration and coffee. Time to catch up with old acquaintances and meet new ones. It was particularly gratifying to see representatives of three schools attending, the symposia are always aimed at a level where anyone from A-Level upwards will get a lot out of the them (and be stretched as well).

Following a welcome from the outgoing (and first SB – Yorkshire) Chairman – Paul Bartlett – the morning session was chaired by Dr. Endre Kiss-Toth.

The first talk by Dr Lynda Partridge ‘Immunology Today: What’s Hot and What’s Not’ provided a welcome reminder, revision, or crammer session (for some of us) of what Immunology covers, how it works, the history of its development and the current trends and future; including (as the title suggested) a summary of what the current major research interests in the immunological world are addressing.  By the end of a most elucidating talk we understood about innate and adaptive immune systems, could explain what B and T cells were, we knew the 5 types of immunoglobulins, and we had an understanding of how B cells produced specific antibodies and memory cells to allow for future immunological response.

The second talk of the morning took us away from vaccines and the body’s immunological responses to ‘Immunodiagnostics and Plant Pathology’ by Dr. Neil Boonham. Identifying plant pathogens is a vital part of the work by FERA (Food and Environment Research Agency). A novel approach was explained using antibodies developed to bind to particular viruses. Work started in the 1930s has been miniaturised and speeded until now simple lateral flow devices allow 3 drops of plant extract to flow as a film across a line of antibody on the substrate. A positive result is seen by the line appearing. The most well-known example of this technology is the home pregnancy test of course, but this approach has been used to develop testing kits for many indigenous and possible invasive plant pathogens, allowing quick, accurate testing at ports by Plant Health and Seed Inspectors; but also enabling the broader agricultural community (farmers, growers, packers etc.) to have a diagnostic tool they can easily use.

As an added bonus Dr Boonham got some willing volunteers to come to the front and perform the tests themselves. The lecture was rounded off with a quick review of developments; confirming that, as in the first talk, the potential for immunological tools is vast.

Lunch was followed by Professor David Pritchard, with a different slant on the topic. Enteroparasites have to suppress the immune response of their hosts, what if that could be used as a way of treating immunological diseases? In his talk ‘The Cost and Potential Benefit of Infection with Hookworms’ he explained how presence of parasites (especially hookworm) has been correlated with reduced immunological disease incidence (such as asthma and M.S). Hookworm (Necator americanus) infections can lead to iron deficiency anaemia, higher morbidity in developing countries and loss of cognitive function in under 5s (due to anaemia). Millions have been spent trying to develop treatments to eradicate it from the southern United States, but is there a safe ‘dose’ of hookworm that can also be shown to have beneficial effects?

Why choose hookworm? Because it is well known, with a well documented life history, there are safe effective, speedy treatments to eradicate it and there are already good data describing its anti-inflammatory effects; also its life history means (in this country) there is little risk of transmission from infected patients and since it does not breed in the gut infections can be controlled.

His work has taken him to villages in Papua New Guinea where hookworm is endemic, enabled his PhD students to become experts in filtering human faeces for hookworm, and to be a willing host for the parasite (the team take it in turn to be the incubator for hookworm eggs).  This was very much ‘the story so far’ as the research continues.

The final talk by Professor Sir Gordon Duff was entitled ‘Translating Immunological Advances into Health Gains’. A look at how new drugs are developed (typically through modelling, into animal and in vitro work through to clinical trials) explained the various types of clinical trials carried out before a new treatment can be released. As Sir Gordon explained, with trials never taking in more that 5 or 6 thousand people, statistically it is likely that effects found in 1 in 1000 people or more may not show up until the wider public starts taking the drug – hence post marketing studies on risks and benefits.

He went on to cover the well-reported case of the clinical safety test on 6 patients in 2006 of TGN1412 which triggered massive cytokine storms in the human subjects leaving them initially fighting for their lives. All the preliminary work had been properly followed, much larger doses on macaque monkeys had shown no adverse reactions, neither had in-vitro tests on human cells.

The investigation that followed produced 22 points for better practice in clinical tests, including the replacement of NOAEL (no adverse observable effect level) to MABEL (minimal anticipated biological effect level) as a start point.

An interesting post script observation on human behaviour was that volunteers for drug tests, far from dropping off after such bad publicity, actually increased as more people became aware of the income potential of taking part in tests.

The afternoon sessions were chaired by Professor Nicola Woodroofe

The meeting was rounded off by another story so far – this time from the Honorary Secretary of the Society of Biology Professor David Coates. We all welcomed the chance to find out a little more about the new society structure and plans; though nobody had the temerity to quiz him on the meaning of the new logo !

After the meeting the branch AGM was held. The chairman’s report covered the many, various and interesting activities the branch has engaged in this past year and this was followed by the committee elections which maintained a healthy balance of continuity and change (bidding farewell to two valuable members but welcoming two new ones).

Clive Tiney

Branch Committee member