Search results for "INFECTIONS"

Stochastic Episodes of Latent Cytomegalovirus Transcription Drive CD8 T-Cell “Memory Inflation” and Avoid Immune Evasion

2021

Acute infection with murine cytomegalovirus (mCMV) is controlled by CD8+ T cells and develops into a state of latent infection, referred to as latency, which is defined by lifelong maintenance of viral genomes but absence of infectious virus in latently infected cell types. Latency is associated with an increase in numbers of viral epitope-specific CD8+ T cells over time, a phenomenon known as “memory inflation” (MI). The “inflationary” subset of CD8+ T cells has been phenotyped as KLRG1+CD62L- effector-memory T cells (iTEM). It is agreed upon that proliferation of iTEM requires repeated episodes of antigen presentation, which implies that antigen-encoding viral genes must be transcribed du…

The impact of DAA-mediated HCV eradication on CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocyte trajectories in HIV/HCV coinfected patients: Data from the ICONA Foundation …

2021

HCV infection has been hypothesized as a contributor of poor CD4+ recovery in patients living with HIV (PLWHIV). Aim of this study was to evaluate CD4+, CD8+ cells and CD4/CD8 ratio trends before and after HCV treatment with direct acting agents (DAA) in PLWHIV. HIV/HCV patients enrolled in ICONA and HepaICONA cohorts with HIV-RNA≤50 copies/ml who achieved a sustained viral response after DAA treatment were studied. A linear regression model was used to investigate CD4+, CD8+ and CD4/CD8 changes 12 months before and after DAA treatment. A total of 939 HIV/HCV patients were included, 225 (24.0%) female, median age: 53 years (IQR 50–56). At DAA initiation, CD4+ T cell count was <350 cells/…

MHC class II tetramer guided detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific CD4+ T cells in peripheral blood from patients with pulmonary tuberculo…

2007

Novel diagnostic tools are needed to diagnose latent infection and to provide biologically meaningful surrogate markers to define cellular immune responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Interferon gamma-based assays have recently been developed in addition to the more than 100-year-old tuberculin skin test (TST) for the immune diagnosis of MTB in blood. The advent of soluble MHC/peptide tetramer molecules allows to objectively enumerate antigen-specific T cells. We identified novel MHC class II-restricted MTB epitopes and used HLA-DR4 tetrameric complexes to visualize ex vivo CD4(+) T cells directed against the antigens Ag85B and the 19-kDa lipoprotein, shared between MTB and ot…

Cytomegalovirus‐specific T‐cell immunity and DNAemia in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia undergoing treatment with ibrutinib

2021

Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma

2008

Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) is a rare and aggressive neoplasm clinically characterized by sudden onset of constitutional symptoms, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, frequent autoimmune phenomena, particularly hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia, and polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia. The lymph node histological picture is also distinctive, constituted by a polymorphic infiltrate, a marked proliferation of high endothelial venules, and a dense meshwork of dentritic cells. The neoplastic CD4+ T-cells represent a minority of the lymph node cell population; its detection is facilitated by the aberrant expression of CD10. Almost all cases arbor an EBV infected B-cell populatio…

Serum pancreatic enzymes in human immunodeficiency virus-infected children - A collaborative study of the Italian Society of Pediatric Gastroenterolo…

1998

Numerous studies have shown pancreatic disease in adult human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, but there are very few reports on pediatric patients. Our aim was to determine the prevalence of increased serum pancreatic enzyme levels and their relationship to clinical manifestations of acute pancreatitis in HIV-infected children.Forty-seven consecutive, symptomatic HIV-infected children (24 male; median age, 7.3 years; range, 1-17 years) and 45 sex- and age-matched controls without gastroenterologic disease were enrolled. In all subjects serum total amylase, pancreatic amylase, and lipase were assayed with commercial kits. The following were recorded: disease progression (CDC …

Highly focused T cell responses in latent human pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

2005

Abstract The elucidation of the molecular and immunological mechanisms mediating maintenance of latency in human tuberculosis aids to develop more effective vaccines and to define biologically meaningful markers for immune protection. We analyzed granuloma-associated lymphocytes (GALs) from human lung biopsies of five patients with latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection. MTB CD4+ and CD8+ T cell response was highly focused in the lung, distinct from PBL, as assessed by TCR-CDR3 spectratyping coupled with a quantitative analysis of TCR VB frequencies. GALs produced IFN-γ in response to autologous macrophages infected with MTB and to defined MTB-derived HLA-A2-presented peptides Ag…

Effect of female genital schistosomiasis and anti-schistosomal treatment on monocytes, CD4+ T-cells and CCR5 expression in the female genital tract

2014

Published version of an article from the journal: PLoS One. Also available from the publisher: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098593 BACKGROUND: Schistosoma haematobium is a waterborne parasite that may cause female genital schistosomiasis (FGS), characterized by genital mucosal lesions. There is clinical and epidemiological evidence for a relationship between FGS and HIV. We investigated the impact of FGS on HIV target cell density and expression of the HIV co-receptor CCR5 in blood and cervical cytobrush samples. Furthermore we evaluated the effect of anti-schistosomal treatment on these cell populations. DESIGN: The study followed a case-control design with post treatment follow…

Gene therapy using IL 12 family members in infection, auto immunity, and cancer.

2009

Interleukin-12 (IL-12) is known for several years to have an essential role in inflammatory responses and innate resistance to infection and cancer. This has been largely attributed to its ability to initiate the differentiation of T-helper-1 (Th1) cells producing interferon-gamma. Recently, two new cytokines, IL-23 and IL-27, with homology to IL-12 were discovered and assigned to the IL-12 family of cytokines. Growing evidence supports a role for IL-23 as key mediator of autoimmune disease regulating the new Th17 subset of CD4+ T cells. IL-27 can have pro- and anti-inflammatory effects, which increase Th1 differentiation, suppress Th2 proliferation, or stimulate cytotoxic T cell activity. …

Risk factors associated with adverse fetal outcomes in pregnancies affected by Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a secondary analysis of the WAPM …

2020

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the strength of association between maternal and pregnancy characteristics and the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes in pregnancies with laboratory confirmed COVID-19. Methods Secondary analysis of a multinational, cohort study on all consecutive pregnant women with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from February 1, 2020 to April 30, 2020 from 73 centers from 22 different countries. A confirmed case of COVID-19 was defined as a positive result on real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay of nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens. The primary outcome was a composite adverse fetal outcome, defined as the presence of either abortion (pre…