[Informed consent form for biomedical research: a tutorial for redaction]. / Aide à la rédaction du document écrit destiné à l'information du participant à la Recherche BioMédicale et à l'attestation de son consentement éclairé

Since the full implementation in France of the European Directive 2001/20/EC about biomedical research, a written information form must be given to any participant in research, who must give in return his/her written consent. The written and consent form must be validated by a referent ethics committees prior to the research, but guidelines for the redaction of such document are missing. Thus, the investigators who are often in charge of the redaction could be helped by a tutorial that may consider the legal aspects, the rights of the participant and the quality of information. For this, a group from the French network of the clinical investigation centres--directed by the Inserm--worked on a tutorial which is presented here. This tutorial has been built stepwise, with review of the literature, enquiry within the French clinical investigation centres, primary redaction, internal validation, and final validation by external experts versed in the field of ethics for biomedical research.

[Not Available]. / Aide à la rédaction du document écrit destiné à l'information du participant à la Recherche BioMédicale et à l'attestation de son consentement éclairé.

Since the full implementation in France of the European Directive 2001/20/EC about biomedical research, a written information form must be given to any participant in research, who must give in return his / her written consent. The written and consent form must be validated by a referent ethics committees prior to the research, but guidelines for the redaction of such document are missing. Thus, the investigators who are often in charge of the redaction could be helped by a tutorial that may consider the legal aspects, the rights of the participant and the quality of information. For this, a group from the French network of the clinical investigation centres - directed by the Inserm - worked on a tutorial which is presented here. This tutorial has been built stepwise, with review of the literature, enquiry within the French clinical investigation centres, primary redaction, internal validation, and final validation by external experts versed in the field of ethics for biomedical research.

HIV-specific antibodies but not t-cell responses are associated with protection in seronegative partners of HIV-1-infected individuals in Cambodia.

To study biological factors related to protection against HIV-1 infection in Cambodia, we recruited 48 partners of HIV-1-infected patients who remained uninfected (exposed uninfected individuals, EUs) despite unprotected sexual intercourse for more than 1 year and 49 unexposed controls (UCs). HIV-1-specific antibodies (IgA anti-gp41 and IgG anti-CD4-gp120 complex), T-cell responses, and cellular factors that may be involved in protection (peripheral blood mononuclear cell [PBMC] resistance to HIV-1 infection and beta-chemokine production) were evaluated. Anti-HIV-1 antibodies were higher in EUs than those in UCs (P = 0.01 and P = 0.04 for anti-gp41 and anti-CD4-gp120, respectively). We observed a decreased susceptibility to a primary Cambodian isolate, HIV-1KH019, in EU PBMCs as compared with UC PBMCs (P = 0.03). A weak T-cell response to one pool of HIV-1 Gag peptides was found by ELISpot in 1 of 19 EUs. Whereas T-cell specific immunity was not associated to protection, our results suggest that HIV-specific humoral immunity and reduced cell susceptibility to infection may contribute to protection against HIV-1 infection in Cambodian EUs.

Simplified volumetric flow cytometry allows feasible and accurate determination of CD4 T lymphocytes in immunodeficient patients worldwide.

The determination of CD4 cells is of crucial clinical importance for patients with AIDS. However, the high costs involved represent limitations for CD4 cell counting in developing countries. In order to provide an affordable technique, we introduced a simplified volumetric counting (SVC) technique without sample manipulations and investigated it in a multicentre study. Blood samples from 434 healthy donors and immunodeficient patients were tested in eight hospital laboratories in Europe, Africa and Asia. CD4 cell counts were compared using in-house flow cytometric methods and the SVC technique. The SVC method was performed on a low-cost flow cytometer (CyFlow SL, Partec, Münster, Germany) after 15 min antibody incubation without pre-analytic manipulations, such as washing or erythrocyte lysing procedures. Linear regression analysis demonstrated a correlation of r=0.942 (Europe), r=0.952 (Africa) and r=0.989 (Asia) between the SVC technique and the in-house methods. Bland Altman plot analysis of all patient data showed a mean bias between the two methods of +26 CD4 cells in favour of the SVC technique (measured range: 6-1905 cells/microl; median CD4 cell count: 388/microl). Three centres used the FACS-count technique (Becton-Dickinson, San José, Calif., USA) as an in-house method dispensing with pre-analytic manipulations. The comparison of SVC and FACS-count method revealed a mean bias of +32 CD4 cells/microl (median CD4 cell count: 349/microl). The accuracy of the SVC was tested on standards with known CD4 cell counts (n=6) and was shown to be 95.2%. The low-cost device and the simplified no-lyse, no-wash test procedure reduces the costs per determination and facilitates the use of flow cytometry in developing countries.

Synthesis of non-immunosuppressive cyclophilin-Binding cyclosporin A derivatives as potential anti-HIV-1 drugs.

Original cyclosporin A (CsA) derivatives bearing various alkylthio side chains at the sarcosine residue 3 (R configuration) and for the most potent and selective compounds a 4'-hydroxyl group at the Me-Leucine residue 4 were prepared in one or two steps from commercially available CsA. The [2-(dimethyl or diethylamino)-ethylthio-Sar](3)-[(4'-OH)MeLeu](4)-CsA derivatives 3k and 3l displayed potent in vitro anti-HIV-1 (IC(50) approximately 46 nM) and low immunosuppressive activities (IC(50)>or=1500 nM).