Eating a low-calorie diet can help you live longer and prevent age-related diseases – and even improve the immune system’s function.
Eating a low-calorie diet can help you live longer and prevent age-related diseases – and even improve the immune system’s function. A new study finds that, in mice, a compound used in herbal medicine can give a similar immune boost if given before vaccination – no dieting required.
In a new paper in Science Signaling, researchers at the University of Hyderabad in India and the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine show that a plant-based compound called halofuginone improves the immune response to a potential vaccine against dengue virus. Halofuginone tricks the body into thinking it is starving for amino acids, which activates a pathway that results in more, and better, antibodies that are better at neutralizing the virus.
The compound could ultimately be part of a strategy to improve the effectiveness of vaccines for diseases such as dengue, which have been difficult to control.
The research group was led by Avery August, Cornell vice provost for academic affairs, professor of immunology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor. Collaborators included Weishan Huang, adjunct assistant research professor of microbiology and immunology; Nooruddin Khan, assistant professor of biotechnology at the University of Hyderabad in India; and doctoral students Sabrina Solouki and Jessica Elmore, both of the August lab.
Read more at Cornell University
Photo Credit: fotoblend via Pixabay
