Genomic Approaches Enable Evaluation of the Safety and Quality of Influenza Vaccines and Adjuvants

Vaccination is an effective means for prevention of the progression and spread of influenza virus infection. Nonetheless, there is a risk of adverse reactions, such as pain and fever, during the vaccination. In addition, because people from a wide age range, that is, from children to the elderly, are inoculated with vaccines, safety confirmation of these vaccines is important. Safety assessments of a vaccine, in the form of quality controls, have been carried out on animals. For example, the abnormal toxicity test is based on body weight changes as a toxicity index, and the leukopenic toxicity test can evaluate hematological toxicity. Meanwhile, since the 2000s, safety evaluation of drugs and chemicals by the genomic approach has been conducted frequently. The benefits with respect to safety evaluation are high sensitivity and abundant information about toxicity profiles. In this chapter, we describe the genes that are helpful as safety assessment markers and their usefulness for safety testing and vaccine development. In addition, this information may provide toxicity profiles, help understand the reactogenicity of nasal vaccines or adjuvants, and explain the prospects of genomic analyses in the development of novel vaccines and adjuvants

A New Method for the Evaluation of Vaccine Safety Based on Comprehensive Gene Expression Analysis

For the past 50 years, quality control and safety tests have been used to evaluate vaccine safety. However, conventional animal safety tests need to be improved in several aspects. For example, the number of test animals used needs to be reduced and the test period shortened. It is, therefore, necessary to develop a new vaccine evaluation system. In this review, we show that gene expression patterns are well correlated to biological responses in vaccinated rats. Our findings and methods using experimental biology and genome science provide an important means of assessment for vaccine toxicity

Bis(2,2′-bipyridine)(pyridin-2-olato)ruthenium(II) hexa­fluorido­phosphate benzene hemisolvate

In the title compound, [Ru(C5H4NO)(C10H8N2)2]PF6·0.5C6H6, the Ru2+ cation has a distorted octa­hedral RuN5O coordination environment. This complex is more distorted than the closely related ruthenium complex containing a pyridine-2-thiol­ate ligand [Santra et al. (1997 ▶). J. Chem. Soc. Dalton Trans. pp. 1387–1393]. The distortion is caused by the difference in size between the O and S atoms. The benzene solvent mol­ecule is situated on a twofold rotation axis

Adult T-Cell Leukemia/Lymphoma-Related Ocular Manifestations: Analysis of the First Large-Scale Nationwide Survey

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) is a rare and aggressive T-cell malignancy with a high mortality rate, resulting in a lack of information among ophthalmologists. Here, we investigated the state of ophthalmic medical care for ATL and ATL-related ocular manifestations by conducting the first large-scale nationwide survey in Japan. A total of 115 facilities were surveyed, including all university hospitals in Japan that were members of the Japanese Ophthalmological Society and regional core facilities that were members of the Japanese Ocular Inflammation Society. The collected nationwide data on the state of medical care for ATL-related ocular manifestations and ATL-associated ocular findings were categorized, tallied, and analyzed. Of the 115 facilities, 69 (60%) responded. Overall, 28 facilities (43.0%) had experience in providing ophthalmic care to ATL patients. ATL-related ocular manifestations were most commonly diagnosed “based on blood tests and characteristic ophthalmic findings.” By analyzing the 48 reported cases of ATL-related ocular manifestations, common ATL-related ocular lesions were intraocular infiltration (22 cases, 45.8%) and opportunistic infections (19 cases, 39.6%). All cases of opportunistic infection were cytomegalovirus retinitis. Dry eye (3 cases, 6.3%), scleritis (2 cases, 4.2%), uveitis (1 case, 2.1%), and anemic retinopathy (1 case, 2.1%) were also seen. In conclusion, intraocular infiltration and cytomegalovirus retinitis are common among ATL patients, and ophthalmologists should keep these findings in mind in their practice

Bis[(5-bromopyridin-2-yl)methanolato-κ2N,O]copper(II) monohydrate

In the title compound, [Cu(C6H5BrNO)2]·H2O, the CuII ion has a square-planer N2O2 coordination environment. Slipped π–π stackings [centroid-centroid distances: 3.625 (3), 3.767 (3), 3.935 (3) and 4.255 (3) Å] between pyridine rings and Cu...π interactions (centroid-to-CuII distance: 3.56 Å) between Cu2+ ions and pyridine rings lead to a layered arrangement parallel to (010). Intermolecular Br...O interactions [Br...O distances: 2.904 (3) and 3.042 (3) Å] and O—H...O hydrogen bonds form a three-dimensional network structure