Search results for " vaccine"
showing 10 items of 680 documents
Epidemiological aspects of Crohn’s disease
2015
Crohn’s Disease (CD) is considered a result of multifactorial interplay between genetic, immune-related, environmental, and infectious triggers all contributing into evolution of clinical disease. The age of onset of Crohn’s disease has a bimodal distribution. The first peak occurs between the ages of 15 and 30 years (late adolescence and early adulthood), and the second occurs mainly in women between the ages of 60 and 70 years. In general, the frequency of CD is similar in males and females, with some studies showing a very slight female predominance. The rate of Crohn’s disease is 1.1–1.8 times higher in women than in men. This pattern is reversed with pediatric CD, which has a higher in…
Physicians’ Knowledge and Application of Immunization Strategies in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Survey of the Italian Group for the S…
2019
<b><i>Background:</i></b> No data on European countries about knowledge and application of immunization strategies in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are available. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> We designed a questionnaire aimed at exploring these issues among Italian gastroenterologists dealing with adult and paediatric IBD. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> An anonymous, 24-item, questionnaire was sent via e-mail to all members of the Italian Group for the study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Three sets of questions were formulated: (1) Characteristics of respondents; (2) General opinions on the role of vaccines in IB…
Factors influencing flu vaccination in nursing students at Palermo University
2020
Introduction. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the determinants of nursing students’ compliance with flu vaccination. Methods. In this cross-sectional study, an anonymous paper ques- tionnaire was administered to students attending the 3-year nurs- ing course at the University of Palermo. Adjusted Odds Ratios (aOR) are presented. Results. 403 nursing students (65% female) completed the ques- tionnaire (response rate 98.5%). The average age of the respond- ents was 22.0 years (SD ± 3.04). The dependent variable: “In the next season, do you intend to be vaccinated against flu? Yes”, displayed a statistically significant association with the follow- ing independent variables: “year o…
Test system for trifunctional antibodies in 3D MCTS culture.
2009
The aim of the present study was to assess the feasibility of a 3D tumor cell culture model, that is, multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTSs) as an adequate model for micrometastases and therefore as a pharmacological model for efficacy testing of trifunctional therapeutic antibodies. Unlike conventional monolayer cultures, spheroids allow researchers to study parameters, such as 3D cell shape, 3D cell arrangement and microenvironment, and penetration efficiency of defense cells that may largely influence the efficacy of antibody treatment in vivo. The authors established a long-term coculture of human MCTSs with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to test the anticancer effect of the …
Detailed characterization of human Mycobacterium tuberculosis specific HLA-E restricted CD8+TÂ cells
2018
HLA-E presented antigens are interesting targets for vaccination given HLA-Esâ essentially monomorphic nature. We have shown previously that Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) peptides are presented by HLA-E to CD8+effector TÂ cells, but the precise phenotype and functional capacity of these cells remains poorly characterized. We have developed and utilized in this study a new protocol combining HLA-E tetramer with intracellular staining for cytokines, transcription factors and cytotoxic molecules to characterize these cells in depth. We confirm in this study the significantly increased ex vivo frequency of Mtb-peptide/HLA-E-TM+CD8+TÂ cells in the circulation of patients with active tubercu…
Induction of primary NY-ESO-1 immunity: CD8+ T lymphocyte and antibody responses in peptide-vaccinated patients with NY-ESO-1+ cancers
2000
Cancer–testis antigen NY-ESO-1 is one of the most immunogenic tumor antigens defined to date. Spontaneous humoral and CD8+ T-cell responses to NY-ESO-1 are detected in 40–50% of patients with advanced NY-ESO-1-expressing tumors. A clinical trial was initiated to study the immunological effects of intradermal vaccination with 3 HLA-A2-binding NY-ESO-1 peptides in 12 patients with metastatic NY-ESO-1-expressing cancers. Seven patients were NY-ESO-1 serum antibody negative, and five patients were NY-ESO-1 serum antibody positive at the outset of the study. Primary peptide-specific CD8+ T-cell reactions and delayed-type hypersensitivity responses were generated in four of seven NY-ESO-1 antibod…
Targeting Carcinoembryonic Antigen with DNA Vaccination: On-Target Adverse Events Link with Immunologic and Clinical Outcomes.
2015
Abstract Purpose: We have clinically evaluated a DNA fusion vaccine to target the HLA-A*0201–binding peptide CAP-1 from carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA605–613) linked to an immunostimulatory domain (DOM) from fragment C of tetanus toxin. Experimental Design: Twenty-seven patients with CEA-expressing carcinomas were recruited: 15 patients with measurable disease (arm-I) and 12 patients without radiological evidence of disease (arm-II). Six intramuscular vaccinations of naked DNA (1 mg/dose) were administered up to week 12. Clinical and immunologic follow-up was up to week 64 or clinical/radiological disease. Results: DOM-specific immune responses demonstrated successful vaccine delivery. All p…
Comparative Antitumor Effect of Preventive versus Therapeutic Vaccines Employing B16 Melanoma Cells Genetically Modified to Express GM-CSF and B7.2 i…
2012
Cancer vaccines have always been a subject of gene therapy research. One of the most successful approaches has been working with genetically modified tumor cells. In this study, we describe our approach to achieving an immune response against a murine melanoma model, employing B16 tumor cells expressing GM-CSF and B7.2. Wild B16 cells were injected in C57BL6 mice to cause the tumor. Irradiated B16 cells transfected with GM-CSF, B7.2, or both, were processed as a preventive and therapeutic vaccination. Tumor volumes were measured and survival curves were obtained. Blood samples were taken from mice, and IgGs of each treatment group were also measured. The regulatory T&#160;cells (Treg) o…
The development of synthetic antitumour vaccines from mucin glycopeptide antigens.
2013
Based on important cell-biological and biochemical results concerning the structural difference between membrane glycoproteins of normal epithelial cells and epithelial tumour cells, tumour-associated glycopeptide antigens have been chemically synthesised and structurally confirmed. Glycopeptide structures of the tandem repeat sequence of mucin MUC1 of epithelial tumour cells constitute the most promising tumour-associated antigens. In order to generate a sufficient immunogenicity of these endogenous structures, usually tolerated by the immune system, these synthetic glycopeptide antigens were conjugated to immune stimulating components: in fully synthetic two-component vaccines either with…
Molecular characterization of rotavirus strains from children with diarrhea in Italy, 2007-2009.
2011
The surveillance network RotaNet-Italia was established in 2007 in order to investigate the diversity of co-circulating rotavirus strains in Italy, and to provide a baseline for future assessment of possible effects of vaccine implementation in selecting novel versus common rotavirus strains. A total of 2,645 rotavirus strains from pediatric patients with acute diarrhea were collected over three consecutive seasons from September 2006 through August 2009, and partially characterized by standardized multiplex RT-PCR. Most of strains (89.1%) belonged to genotypes G1–G4, and G9, associated with either P[8] or P[4], commonly found in humans worldwide. However, in at least 2.0% of cases, viruses…