Search results for "Interferon"

Interferon-γ inhibits replication of subgenomic and genomic hepatitis C virus RNAs

2002

Persistent infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. All treatments known so far rely on the antiviral activity of interferon alfa (IFN-alpha) that is given alone or in combination with ribavirin. Unfortunately, only a fraction of the patients clear the virus during therapy and for those who do not respond there is currently no alternative treatment. Selectable subgenomic HCV RNAs (replicons) have been recently used to investigate the effect of IFN-alpha on HCV replication. However, it has not yet been analyzed whether other cytokines also play a role in the innate immune response against HCV. Here we show th…

Antimitochondrial antibody -M2 positive autoimmune hepatitis during standard of care for chronic hepatitis C

2012

The current standard of care (SoC) for chronic hepatitis C, i.e. the combination of a pegylated-interferon (PEG-IFN) with ribavirin (RBV), may activate underlying autoimmune conditions. Particularly, interferon (IFN) has been known to induce or exacerbate autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) in hepatitis C virus patients. We describe a severe, acute-onset antimitochondrial antibody (AMA)-M2 positive AIH appearing during the last weeks of SoC in a woman with chronic hepatitis C and no previous history of autoimmunity, and resolving on protracted steroids. In this context, the relevance of the characterization of the immunoglobulin isotype of portal plasma cells for …

Ultrastructural localization of interferon-producing cells in the livers of patients with chronic hepatitis B

1991

Cells expressing alpha- and gamma-interferon were localized in the liver tissue of patients with chronic hepatitis B by means of light and electron microscopy using monoclonal antibodies. Interferon-positive cells were regularly seen in the infiltrating mononuclear cells, and the number showed a good correlation with the degree of the necroinflammatory activity of the disease. In chronic persistent hepatitis and in normal livers, they were infrequent or virtually absent. alpha-Interferon was shown to be positive in lymphocytes, polymorphonuclear leukocytes and fibroblasts, Kupffer cells and, weakly, in the cytoplasm of a few hepatocytes in cases of active hepatitis, whereas gamma-interferon…

RATIONAL DESIGN OF ANTI-HERPES VIRUS ANTI-METABOLITES

1979

Publisher Summary This chapter presents rational design of anti-herpes virus anti-metabolites. Herpesviruses, having DNA as their genetic material, are usually divided into type 1 and type 2 by antigenic differences and by biochemical markers. Herpesviruses are capable to persist in the host they infect, and around 75 % of those persons who were primary infected are afflicted during their lives with recurrent herpetic eruptions. The herpesviruses contain genetic information for the inhibition of the host cell metabolism; but at low multiplicities of infection the infected cells make interferon only. The spectrum of antiviral substances is large. However, only few compounds have been shown t…

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)-specific CD4+ T lymphocyte response in AIDS patients with no past or current HCMV disease following HAART.

2003

Abstract Background: The incidence of Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) end-organ disease has dramatically decreased since the implementation of highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAARTs), but the precise immune mechanism whereby HCMV is controlled remains to be elucidated. Objectives: To investigate the effect of (HAART) on CD4 + T-cell immunity to HCMV in AIDS patients with no past or current HCMV disease. Study design: Seventeen patients were prospectively examined for CD4 + (CD45RO + and CD45 RA + ) T-cell counts (flow cytometry), HIV RNA load (Amplicor HIV test), HCMV leukoDNAemia and HCMV DNA in urine (nested PCR), lymphoproliferative response (LPR) to HCMV, phytohemagglutinin (PHA) a…

ID: 37

2015

During the early phase of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection, the Interferon- γ -Inducible factor 16 (IFI16) behaves as a pattern recognition receptor (PRR) sensing viral DNA and triggering antiviral cytokine release. Later on, it restricts virus replication by down-regulating expression of viral genes committed to DNA synthesis including UL54 and UL44. These activities are modulated by viral proteins including pUL83, a tegument protein involved in viral evasion. Here, we demonstrate that pUL83 interacts with IFI16 relieving its inhibitory activity on UL54 gene transcription. We also establish that, starting from 48 h post-infection, IFI16 is stabilized and protected from degradation by…

Experimental Preemptive Immunotherapy of Murine Cytomegalovirus Disease with CD8 T-Cell Lines Specific for ppM83 and pM84, the Two Homologs of Human …

2001

ABSTRACTCD8 T cells are the principal antiviral effectors controlling cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. For human CMV, the virion tegument protein ppUL83 (pp65) has been identified as a source of immunodominant peptides and is regarded as a candidate for cytoimmunotherapy and vaccination. Two sequence homologs of ppUL83 are known for murine CMV, namely the virion protein ppM83 (pp105) expressed late in the viral replication cycle and the nonstructural protein pM84 (p65) expressed in the early phase. Here we show that ppM83, unlike ppUL83, is not delivered into the antigen presentation pathway after virus penetration before or in absence of viral gene expression, while other virion proteins o…

Immune evasion proteins gpUS2 and gpUS11 of human cytomegalovirus incompletely protect infected cells from CD8 T cell recognition

2009

AbstractHuman cytomegalovirus (HCMV) encodes four glycoproteins, termed gpUS2, gpUS3, gpUS6 and gpUS11 that interfere with MHC class I biosynthesis and antigen presentation. Despite gpUS2–11 expression, however, HCMV infection is efficiently controlled by cytolytic CD8 T lymphocytes (CTL). To address the role of gpUS2 and gpUS11 in antigen presentation during viral infection, HCMV mutants were generated that expressed either gpUS2 or gpUS11 alone without coexpression of the three other proteins. Fibroblasts infected with these viruses showed reduced HLA-A2 and HLA-B7 surface expression. Surprisingly, however, CTL directed against the tegument protein pp65 and the regulatory IE1 protein stil…

Alpha interferon for hypereosinophilic syndrome

1994

Efficacy of recombinant adenovirus as vector for allergen gene therapy in a mouse model of type I allergy

2001

DNA-based immunization represents an attractive alternative approach to the current treatment of allergic diseases by specific immunotherapy with allergen extracts. In this study, we used a replication-deficient adenovirus vector (AdCMV), to examine the in vivo efficacy of preventive and therapeutic genetic immunization in a mouse model of type I allergy. Primary immunization with a recombinant adenovirus expressing the model antigen beta-galactosidase (AdCMV-(beta)gal) induced a Th1 immune response (predominance of IgG2a antibodies, high frequency of IFN-gamma producing T cells) and large numbers of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Prophylactic vaccination with AdCMV-(beta)gal abolished the produc…