Vaccine study reveals link between immunity and cells’ starvation response

One of the most effective vaccines in history has been the yellow fever vaccine, which was developed in the 1930s and has been administered to more than 500 million people. Scientists at Emory Vaccine Center studying immune responses to the yellow fever vaccine have identified a gene whose activation in key immune cells is a sign of a robust response. The gene, called GCN2, encodes a protein involved in sensing amino acid starvation and regulates the process of autophagy, a response to starvation or stress within cells. The findings highlight a link between antiviral defenses and an ancient way that cells adapt to scarcity, and could help researchers develop vaccines against challenging viruses such as HIV or dengue. The results suggest that vaccine additives (called adjuvants) that are effective in stimulating GCN2 and autophagy would be especially potent in stimulating long-lasting immunity. The results are scheduled for publication by the journal Science. “This is...