New Insights for Immune-Based Diagnosis and Therapy for ...downloads.hindawi.com/journals/jir/2017/3104719.pdf · Editorial New Insights for Immune-Based Diagnosis and Therapy for

EditorialNew Insights for Immune-Based Diagnosis and Therapy forInfectious Diseases

Giuseppe A. Sautto,1 Roberta A. Diotti,2 Karin Wisskirchen,3,4 and Kristen M. Kahle5

1Center for Vaccines and Immunology, Department of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia,501 D.W. Brooks Drive, Athens, GA 30602, USA2Laboratory of Microbiology and Virology, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Via Olgettina 58, 20132 Milan, Italy3Institute of Virology, Technische Universität München/Helmholtz Zentrum München, 81675 Munich, Germany4German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Munich, Munich, Germany5Invisible Sentinel, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Correspondence should be addressed to Giuseppe A. Sautto; [email protected]

Received 11 June 2017; Accepted 11 June 2017; Published 5 July 2017

Copyright © 2017 Giuseppe A. Sautto et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons AttributionLicense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work isproperly cited.

The role of the immune system in infections has beenextensively exploited in order to develop vaccinalapproaches as well as diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Forexample, in the diagnostic field, research investigating spe-cific humoral immune responses has long been used todevelop novel diagnostic tools. In fact, seropositivity is con-sidered an important key factor for the determination of anoccurring infection. Recently, in addition to the classicalinvestigation on the presence or absence of antibodiesdirected against specific antigens, the titer of specific anti-bodies, defined as index, or the composition of antibodyresponses by immune-based assays, is gaining importanceas a prognostic marker for certain infectious diseases (e.g.,during the course of JC virus infection) or as a noninvasivemeans to stratify patients according to their disease statusafter infection with H. pylori as described by L. Formichellaet al. in this open special issue. In addition, it is not just spe-cific antibodies that are important for diagnosis, but theevaluation of T-cell immunity could also play a central rolefor routine laboratory diagnostics and for the managementof the patient, as described by G. Freer et al., in the course ofhuman cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection. However,other proteins not associated with adaptive immuneresponse can be used as indicators of infection, as anexample, delta procalcitonin in critically ill patients, asdescribed by D. Trásy et al.

On the other hand, in the immunotherapeutic field, theidea of engineering the immune system has always been anattractive concept in order to improve and exploit the specific-ity and functional characteristics of immune cells and mole-cules, with a primary focus on antibodies. In fact, startingfromthebasic concept that the immuneresponse is thekey ele-ment to resolve an infection, a therapeutic and a prophylacticstrategy for infectious diseases is usually centered onimmune-based approaches. In particular, prophylactic strate-gies are principally focused on the stimulation of a specificimmune response against the pathogen, that is, the activeimmunization. Alternatively, immunotherapeutic strategiesare based on the concept of a passive immunization. In thiscase, immunoglobulins obtained from sera of immune indi-viduals or by the generation of antigen-specific monoclonalantibodies (mAbs) are administered to protect a susceptibleor infectedhost.The concept ofmAbadministration to resolvean infection was originally proposed by Paul Ehrlich when hewas referring to mAbs as the “magic bullets.” In this regard,several anti-infective mAbs are approaching the clinics in thenext few years and many more are currently under develop-ment. Furthermore, Y. Xu et al. describe the protection of themother and her baby during passive immunoprophylaxisusing animal models of antibody transport.

Moreover, antibodies and in particular mAbs, thanks totheir high specificity, can be very useful in the early diagnosis

HindawiJournal of Immunology ResearchVolume 2017, Article ID 3104719, 2 pageshttps://doi.org/10.1155/2017/3104719

https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/3104719

of infectious diseases. As an example, G. A. Kirchenbaumand T. M. Ross describe the generation of the first mAbsrecognizing ferret immunoglobulins. It has been establishedthat the domestic ferret is an ideal animal model to studyseveral pathogens that cause infections in humans, especiallyrespiratory diseases caused by viruses such as the respiratorysyncytial virus (RSV) and influenza virus. The availability ofsuch specific reagents is thus pivotal to study the host-pathogen interaction as well as the immune response tothese infections.

In the last decades, increasingly sophisticated techniqueshave made it possible to analyze the antibody repertoire indepth, most notably in the context of certain infections forwhich it is important to understand which antibodies conferthe key determinants for protection, such as in the case ofhuman immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus(HCV), and influenza virus infections. As the knowledge ofthe field continues to evolve, it is becoming evident that notonly the binding properties of antibodies are important forunderstanding the signatures of an effective immuneresponse but also the extraneutralizing properties of antibod-ies, such as the Fc-effector functions, which go under thename of system serology.

In this open special issue, all these aspects are covered byseven review articles and nine research papers discussinghow we can exploit and utilize the immune system to under-stand new host-pathogen relationships as well as for thedevelopment of novel prophylactic, therapeutic, and diag-nostic tools. We hope that the readers of this open specialissue will appreciate the interesting findings and the reviewedconcepts of the field discussed in the papers published in it.

Giuseppe A. SauttoRoberta A. Diotti

Karin WisskirchenKristen M. Kahle

2 Journal of Immunology Research

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