HspBP1 and anti-HspBP1 levels in the serum of HIV-infected individuals are associated to the disease progression.

AIMS: The objective of this research was to quantify the levels of circulating HspBP1 and anti-HspBP1 IgG in HIV-infected individuals and to correlate them with CD4 T cell counts and viral load, as well as to determine the kinetics of those proteins during acute phase. METHODS AND RESULTS: Sixty serum samples from HIV-positive outpatients, thirty with high viral load and thirty with low viral load were analysed. The HspBP1 and anti-HspBP1 were quantified by ELISA. To investigate the kinetic of HspBP1 and anti-HspBp1 during the acute phase, these proteins and antibodies were quantified in samples of a commercial seroconverting HIV panel. All dosages were compared with the CD4 and CD8 T cell counts and HIV viral load. The results indicated that HIV positive outpatients presented significant increase in HspBP1 and anti-HspBP1 serum levels, compared with uninfected healthy. HspBP1 and anti-HspBP1 were negatively correlated with CD4 counts and CD4:CD8 ratio. In the acute phase, HspBP1 became significantly elevated 15 days after HIV infection. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the quantification of HspBP1 can be associated to others well-established parameters of the HIV progression. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The discovery that HspBp1 and anti-HspBp1 are associated with progression of HIV infection is new and corroborates to validate the quantification of these proteins as an additional strategy in the management of the HIV infection.

Immune response of toddlers with history of prematurity.

BACKGROUND: It is not quite well established how immune responses differ in term and preterm infants beyond the first year of life. This study aimed to evaluate aspects of the innate and adaptive immune responses in a group of preterm infants in comparison with their term peers. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated from preterm and term children at age three years. Innate immune response was evaluated by the analysis of TLR receptors expression on CD11c+HLADRhigh cells and inflammatory cytokine production after PBMC stimulation with Toll like receptors (TLR) ligands. Adaptive immune response was evaluated by T cells' phenotyping and function after stimulation with polyclonal conventional T cell stimulus. CONCLUSION: We have found that the patterns of innate and adaptive immune responses at 3 years of age were not affected by the fact of the children having being born preterm or at term.

Recombinant viruses as vaccines against viral diseases.

Vaccine approaches to infectious diseases are widely applied and appreciated. Amongst them, vectors based on recombinant viruses have shown great promise and play an important role in the development of new vaccines. Many viruses have been investigated for their ability to express proteins from foreign pathogens and induce specific immunological responses against these antigens in vivo. Generally, gene-based vaccines can stimulate potent humoral and cellular immune responses and viral vectors might be an effective strategy for both the delivery of antigen-encoding genes and the facilitation and enhancement of antigen presentation. In order to be utilized as a vaccine carrier, the ideal viral vector should be safe and enable efficient presentation of required pathogen-specific antigens to the immune system. It should also exhibit low intrinsic immunogenicity to allow for its re-administration in order to boost relevant specific immune responses. Furthermore, the vector system must meet criteria that enable its production on a large-scale basis. Several viral vaccine vectors have thus emerged to date, all of them having relative advantages and limits depending on the proposed application, and thus far none of them have proven to be ideal vaccine carriers. In this review we describe the potential, as well as some of the foreseeable obstacles associated with viral vaccine vectors and their use in preventive medicine.

Recombinant viruses as vaccines against viral diseases

Vaccine approaches to infectious diseases are widely applied and appreciated. Amongst them, vectors based on recombinant viruses have shown great promise and play an important role in the development of new vaccines. Many viruses have been investigated for their ability to express proteins from foreign pathogens and induce specific immunological responses against these antigens in vivo. Generally, gene-based vaccines can stimulate potent humoral and cellular immune responses and viral vectors might be an effective strategy for both the delivery of antigen-encoding genes and the facilitation and enhancement of antigen presentation. In order to be utilized as a vaccine carrier, the ideal viral vector should be safe and enable efficient presentation of required pathogen-specific antigens to the immune system. It should also exhibit low intrinsic immunogenicity to allow for its re-administration in order to boost relevant specific immune responses. Furthermore, the vector system must meet criteria that enable its production on a large-scale basis. Several viral vaccine vectors have thus emerged to date, all of them having relative advantages and limits depending on the proposed application, and thus far none of them have proven to be ideal vaccine carriers. In this review we describe the potential, as well as some of the foreseeable obstacles associated with viral vaccine vectors and their use in preventive medicine.