0000000000403151
AUTHOR
Gilda Cuzzi
Quantitative and qualitative profiles of circulating monocytes may help identifying tuberculosis infection and disease stages
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most important cause of morbidity and death among infectious diseases, and continuous efforts are needed to improve diagnostic tools and therapy. Previous published studies showed that the absolute cells number of monocytes or lymphocytes in peripheral blood or yet the ratio of monocytes to lymphocytes displayed the ability to predict the risk of active TB. In the present study we evaluated the ratio of monocytes to lymphocytes variation and we also analyzed the ex-vivo expression of CD64 on monocytes as tools to identify biomarkers for discriminating TB stages. Significant differences were found when the average ratio of monocytes to lymphocytes of active TB…
Impact of antiretroviral and tuberculosis therapies on CD4 + and CD8 + HIV/M. tuberculosis-specific T-cell in co-infected subjects
Abstract Background Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection is a risk factor for tuberculosis (TB). Antiretroviral therapy (ART) changed HIV clinical management but it is still unclear how pre-existing HIV/Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells are restored. Aim to evaluate the impact of ART and TB therapies on the functional and phenotypic profile of Mtb-specific antigen-response of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells in prospectively enrolled HIV-TB co-infected patients. Methods ART-naive HIV-infected patients, with or without active TB or latent TB infection (LTBI), were enrolled before and after starting ART and TB therapies. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) wer…
Immune characterization of the HBHA-specific response in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected patients with or without HIV infection.
Introduction RD1-based Interferon-γ Release Assays (IGRAs) cannot distinguish latent from active tuberculosis (TB) disease. Conversely, a positive response to heparin-binding haemagglutinin (HBHA)-based IGRAs, among TB-infected subjects, correlates with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) containment and low risk of TB progression. The aim of this study was to characterize HBHA-immune responses in HIV-infected and uninfected subjects with active TB or latent TB infection (LTBI). Methods 49 subjects were prospectively enrolled: 22 HIV-uninfected (13 TB, 9 LTBI) and 27 HIV-infected (12 HIV-TB, 15 HIV-LTBI). Whole blood and peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated with HBHA and RD1 anti…
A whole blood test to measure SARS-CoV-2-specific response in COVID-19 patients
Objectives To examine whether specific T-cell-responses to SARS-CoV-2 peptides can be detected in COVID-19 using a whole-blood experimental setting, which may be further explored as potential diagnostic tool. Methods We evaluated IFN-γ levels after stimulating whole-blood with spike and remainder-antigens peptides megapools (MP) derived from SARS-CoV-2 sequences; IL-1β, IL-1RA, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-9, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-13, IL-15, IL-17A, eotaxin, basic FGF, G-CSF, GM-CSF, IFN-γ, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, PDGF, RANTES, TNF-α, VEGF were also evaluated. Results IFN-γ-response to spike and remainder-antigens MPs was significantly increased in 35 COVID-19-patients compare…
Mycobacterium tuberculosis Immune Response in Patients With Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Disease
Subjects with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID), such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), have an intrinsic higher probability to develop active-tuberculosis (TB) compared to the general population. The risk ranges from 2.0 to 8.9 in RA patients not receiving therapies. According to the WHO, the RA prevalence varies between 0.3% and 1% and is more common in women and in developed countries. Therefore, the identification and treatment of TB infection (TBI) in this fragile population is important to propose the TB preventive therapy. We aimed to study the M. tuberculosis (Mtb) specific T-cell response to find immune biomarkers of Mtb burden or Mtb clearance in patients with different TB …