Pam Brigleb

Respiratory viral infections prime accelerated lung cancer growth Severe COVID-19 is associated with an increased subsequent risk of lung cancer. Viral pneumonia induces durable lung epigenetic imprinting that promotes tumor-supportive neutrophils and impairs T cell...

No one could have foreseen this.

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

New preprint! We find that obesity creates a lipid rich lung environment that suppresses NK cell antiviral function during influenza infection. The good news: these immune defects are reversible with weight loss.

How do seasonal H1N1 vaccines protect against H5N1? conserved H1N1 + H5N1CD4 and CD8 T cell epitopes underpin this cross-protection. loss of CD4 T cell help during primary H1N1 infection disrupts the development of cross-reactive antibodyies
👉 journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

This year, researchers advanced H5N1 research showing that the virus in dairy cattle retains avian features, posing low pandemic risk, and that pasteurized milk with inactive viral components is safe. Studies also identified key S. aureus virulence mechanisms in natural host models.

Immune history confers antibody- and T cell-dependent cross-protection against highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses | Journal of Virology The rapid spread of highly pathogenic avian H5 influenza (HPAI) clade 2.3.4.4b in U.S. cattle represents an urgent and evolving public health threat. Our findings reveal that pre-existing immunity, whether from seasonal H1N1 infection or live-attenuated vaccination, can confer substantial protection against lethal bovine- and feline-derived HPAI H5N1 viruses, even in the absence of strong cross-neutralizing antibody titers. By integrating T cell epitope mapping with mechanistic depletion studies, we demonstrate that conserved CD4 and CD8 T cell epitopes across H1N1 and H5N1 strains underpin this cross-protection. Critically, loss of CD4 T cell help during primary H1N1 infection disrupts the development of cross-reactive antibody responses and markedly worsens outcomes after H5N1 challenge. These results identify memory T cell responses as important determinants of heterosubtypic immunity and highlight the need to incorporate T cell-focused metrics into risk assessment, vaccine evaluation, and preparedness strategies for emerging HPAI H5N1 viruses.

Excited to see our paper out, it was a great team effort! Immune history confers antibody- and T cell-dependent cross-protection against highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses | Journal of Virology journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

A metabolic atlas of mouse aging Pilley et al. describe how metabolite levels change in 12 organs from male and female mice across five ages, spanning adolescence to old age. They reveal that organs show distinct age- and sex-specific changes in metabolism. They also develop metabolic clocks that predict putative metabolic drivers of aging, including hydroxyproline.

Online now: A metabolic atlas of mouse aging

Up to 30% of commercial pasteurized milk in US is PCR +Ve. Pasteurization inactivates virus, but HA protein preserved. In mice, repeated oral exposure to inactivated virus did not alter mortality or worsen disease after H5N1 virus challenge.
👉 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has been ranked among the top 10
pediatric cancer hospitals by U.S. News & World Report for the 18th year in a row.

Read more: ow.ly/HNLN50X7PsR

Repeated oral exposure to H5N1 influenza virus in pasteurized milk does not cause adverse responses to subsequent influenza infection H5N1 influenza virus in pasteurized milk does not alter immunity in mice, suggesting limited health risks from consumption.

#H5N1 #OneHealth #Influenza #Zoonoses

References
Brigleb et al., 2025. doi.org/10.1126/scia...
Clessin et al., 2025. doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Dhakal et al., 2025. doi.org/10.1016/j.jf...
Kim et al., 2025. doi.org/10.1126/scia...
Palma, 2025. doi.org/10.3390/biol...
10/10

Thank you Reini! Hope you are doing well.

Repeated oral exposure to H5N1 influenza virus in pasteurized milk does not cause adverse responses to subsequent influenza infection H5N1 influenza virus in pasteurized milk does not alter immunity in mice, suggesting limited health risks from consumption.

Super excited that our paper @ssclabquips.bsky.social is out in #ScienceAdvances (@science.org)! --> Repeated oral exposure to H5N1 influenza virus in pasteurized milk does not cause adverse responses to subsequent influenza infection | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Inactive H5N1 influenza virus in pasteurized milk poses minimal health risks Proteins and genetic material from H5N1 influenza viruses have been found in pasteurized milk in the United States, but a study from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital shows those inactive viral pieces represent little to no health risk.

Pasteurized milk containing inactive H5N1 viral components poses minimal health risk and does not alter influenza immunity, while unpasteurized milk remains a significant health concern. doi.org/g94636

Super excited to see our study out in #ScienceAdvances today, summarized nicely by @stjuderesearch.bsky.social !

CDC Report & Risk Assessment On Potential Influenza Infection Via GI Tract #18,865 One of the topics we've touched on repeatedly over the past twenty years has been the - as yet, unquantified - risks of preparing, ...

AFD Blog `CDC Report & Risk Assessment On Potential Influenza Infection Via GI Tract' #H5N1 afludiary.blogspot.com/2025/09/cdc-...

Do not normalize children dying from measles. Measles was previously eliminated in the US, thanks to vaccines.

When children die from measles, it means that adults have catastrophically failed to protect them because they have rejected basic science.

New review on antiviral approaches targeting lipids, written by one of our society members.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

In Vivo Imaging and Tracking of VRE-Microbiota Interactions via Anaerobic Fluorescent Reporters in Extremely Drug-Resistant Bacteria https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.08.637206v1

Save NIH and NSF Research Funding ⭑ 5 Calls On February 7, the Trump administration moved to cut billions of dollars in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science …

A useful tool and a great thing to do...

5calls.org/issue/nih-ns...

NIH cuts indirect rates on grants to 15%.

This will be the end of American excellence in science.

Universities will struggle and many (likely most) will terminate their research programs.

Independent research institutions will not be able to survive this.

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

In a new study by Simonson, @joanneflynn19.bsky.social et al., antibody depletion of select lymphocytes in rhesus macaques demonstrates key roles for CD4+ T cells and CD8α+ lymphocytes in conferring sterilizing immunity against #tuberculosis following i.v. BCG vaccination. https://buff.ly/4gxWbfR

Check out the newest preprint from the Schultz-Cherry lab on susceptibility of primary cells to H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b viruses! -->

Susceptibility of bovine respiratory and mammary epithelial cells to avian and mammalian derived clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.09.632235v1

Very preliminary starter pack
Only about 25-30 on there so far

go.bsky.app/7zMmwNY

Hi all, so nice to cross over to the light. Here is a starter pack for all things Mucosal Immunology! Exciting to create a MI community here. Let me know if you would like to join 👍

Sign of the times, no more bluebird on the biorxiv engagement tab..

Would love to join, thanks!

The peptide selectivity model: Interpreting NK cell KIR-HLA-I binding interactions and their associations to human diseases Combinations of the highly polymorphic KIR and HLA-I genes are associated with numerous human diseases. Interpreting these associations requires a molecular understanding of the multiple killer-cell i...

Here Malcolm Sim and Eric Long discuss peptide sensitivity of the HLA/KIR interaction. For anyone interested in this evolving subject (i.e. immune mediated disease), this review explains the difficult concepts really nicely and introduces a couple of models. #immunology
www.cell.com/trends/immun...

Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss - Nature Stable epigenetic changes indicate the existence of an obesogenic memory in mouse adipocytes that primes cells for pathological responses in an obesogenic environment and potentially contributes to th...

Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss @vonmeyennlab.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Can colleagues amplify this appeal to journals and journal editors to open accounts on Bluesky, please? @MicrobioSoc @TrendsMicrobiol @CellCellPress @JBacteriology @jbiolchem @Nature @ScienceMagazine @PNASNews @MolMicroEditors @NAR_Open @NatureMicrobiol @NatureComms @ASMicrobiology 🙏
🦠🧪🧫🧬

A starter pack for scientists working on NK cells or ILCs. Happy to add more names as more people join.

go.bsky.app/AjNpW2h