Doctors recommend getting your flu shot annually, since the specific influenza strain it targets varies from year to year. But what if the shot could be more effective while protecting against more strains? Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine are one step closer to making this happen. When the immune system sees a new strain of a familiar virus, it typically focuses on the parts it “remembers” most, even if those regions have changed. “Epitope-spanning antigenic variation reprograms immunodominance and broadens immunity in sequential influenza vaccination” was recently published in Nature Communications.

“In our vaccine model, we targeted specific but distinct regions of the protein on the surface of the influenza virus. These regions are called epitopes,” said study author Henry Wan. “The model included different versions of epitopes in hopes of redirecting how the immune system responds. We found that the vaccine approach helped the immune system target more variants of the virus, leading to broader protection.”

Wan says the epitopes help the immune system see the flu virus differently, and it learns to respond with more coordination between the different types of immune cells. Some of the epitopes are also not as likely to change, which could make flu vaccines more reliable or even help create a universal flu vaccine.

Like neutrophil extracellular traps, eosinophil extracellular trap formation also involves two distinct processes: suicidal EETosis and vital eosinophil extracellular trap release.

Eosinophil extracellular trap contains chromatin and/or mitochondrial DNA, granular proteins, nuclear histone variants, cytosolic mediators, cytoskeletal proteins, organelle proteins, and cell membrane proteins.

There are at least four major classes of stimuli that contribute to eosinophil extracellular trap formation via NADPH induced reactive oxygen species generation and/or peptidylarginine deiminase4-dependent histone citrullination pathways.

Cell necrosis, autophagy, and apoptosis, disease status and severity, and eosinophil subtypes all affect eosinophil extracellular trap formation.

The diversities of DNA sources and granule protein types in eosinophil extracellular trap all determine eosinophil extracellular trap’s functional heterogeneity, depending on stimulation environments and disease status. sciencenewshighlights ScienceMission https://sciencemission.com/Eosinophil-extracellular-traps

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Eosinophils participate in immune regulation through their granule proteins and cytokines. Recent studies demonstrate eosinophil functional versatility through the mechanism of eosinophil extracellular traps (EETs). EET formation occurs via suicidal eosinophil extracellular trap cell death (EETosis) and vital EET release. EETs contain chromatin-or mitochondrial-derived DNA, granule proteins, nuclear proteins, and cytosolic components that vary depending on the type and intensity of stimuli. Synthetic compounds, pathogenic microorganisms, endogenous molecules, and co-stimulatory factors stimulate EET formation via diverse signaling pathways through receptors that rely on or operate independently of NADPH oxidase-mediated reactive oxygen species production and peptidylarginine deiminase-4-dependent histone modification.