[Scientific research in France. Structures and research career]. / La investigación científica en Francia. Estructuras y carrera del investigador.

In France, scientific research has always been considered an important activity. The aim of this article is to present data with reference to French research, mainly research in Medical and Biological Sciences. This includes a description of the Research Career in the two main institutions, CNRS (National Research Center) and INSERM (National Institute of Health and Medical Research). Investment in science is substantial in France originating both from the Scientific Institutions of the State and from a large number of Private Organizations. France is the second European country, after Germany, as far as the number of national and private investigators is concerned. CNRS covers all the dominions of science, including Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Biology and Medical Sciences. One of its main structures is undoubtedly its National Committee of Research which is responsible for the evaluation of the laboratories and research projects, of the incorporation of investigators in the Research Career and of their promotion. This Committee includes, among others, members of the Research Career elected among themselves. In parallel, INSERM is centered in both basic and applied Medical Research, and is supervised by a Scientific Committee and eleven specialized Commissions. In both institutions, the Research Career incorporates investigators as civil servants after very competitive examinations; their performance is evaluated by specialized committees as well as by national and international experts.

La investigación científica en Francia. Estructuras y carrera del investigador. / [Scientific research in France. Structures and research career]

In France, scientific research has always been considered an important activity. The aim of this article is to present data with reference to French research, mainly research in Medical and Biological Sciences. This includes a description of the Research Career in the two main institutions, CNRS (National Research Center) and INSERM (National Institute of Health and Medical Research). Investment in science is substantial in France originating both from the Scientific Institutions of the State and from a large number of Private Organizations. France is the second European country, after Germany, as far as the number of national and private investigators is concerned. CNRS covers all the dominions of science, including Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Biology and Medical Sciences. One of its main structures is undoubtedly its National Committee of Research which is responsible for the evaluation of the laboratories and research projects, of the incorporation of investigators in the Research Career and of their promotion. This Committee includes, among others, members of the Research Career elected among themselves. In parallel, INSERM is centered in both basic and applied Medical Research, and is supervised by a Scientific Committee and eleven specialized Commissions. In both institutions, the Research Career incorporates investigators as civil servants after very competitive examinations; their performance is evaluated by specialized committees as well as by national and international experts.

La investigación científica en Francia. Estructuras y carrera del investigador / [Scientific research in France. Structures and research career]

In France, scientific research has always been considered an important activity. The aim of this article is to present data with reference to French research, mainly research in Medical and Biological Sciences. This includes a description of the Research Career in the two main institutions, CNRS (National Research Center) and INSERM (National Institute of Health and Medical Research). Investment in science is substantial in France originating both from the Scientific Institutions of the State and from a large number of Private Organizations. France is the second European country, after Germany, as far as the number of national and private investigators is concerned. CNRS covers all the dominions of science, including Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Biology and Medical Sciences. One of its main structures is undoubtedly its National Committee of Research which is responsible for the evaluation of the laboratories and research projects, of the incorporation of investigators in the Research Career and of their promotion. This Committee includes, among others, members of the Research Career elected among themselves. In parallel, INSERM is centered in both basic and applied Medical Research, and is supervised by a Scientific Committee and eleven specialized Commissions. In both institutions, the Research Career incorporates investigators as civil servants after very competitive examinations; their performance is evaluated by specialized committees as well as by national and international experts.

Cell surface phenotype and human T lymphotropic virus type 1 antigen expression in 12 T cell lines derived from peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid of West Indian, Guyanese and African patients with tropical spastic paraparesis.

Twelve long-term cell lines were established from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) or cerebrospinal fluid cells of patients with human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-1) seropositive tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) originating from the French West Indies, French Guyana or the Central African Republic. Most of these long-term interleukin-2-dependent cell lines exhibited a pattern characteristic of CD4(+)-activated T cells with high expression of CD2, CD3 and CD4 antigens, associated with a strong density of TAC and DR molecules. Nevertheless, in five cases CD8 expression was present at a significant level. HTLV-I antigens were never detected in uncultured PBMC, but they were expressed in a few cells after short-term culture and after 4 months the majority of the cells were HTLV-I positive, as demonstrated by indirect immunofluorescence (IF) using polyclonal or monoclonal anti-p19 and anti-p24 antibodies. Low and variable levels of reverse transcriptase activity were detected in supernatant fluids of these cell lines only after 4 months of culture, when at least 50% of the cells exhibited HTLV-I antigens by IF. However, numerous type C HTLV-I-like viral particles were detected, mostly in the extracellular spaces, with rare budding particles. Similar findings were found in three T cell lines derived from West Indian and African patients with adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma (ATLL). Differences in high Mr polypeptides were detected by Western blot in cell lysates when comparing TSP- or ATLL-derived T cell lines. Thus a signal of 62K was easily detectable in all the TSP lines, but not in the ATLL lines. In all cell lines bands corresponding to p53, p24 and p19 viral core polypeptides were present, as was the env gene-coded protein p46.

High human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I proviral DNA load with polyclonal integration in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of French West Indian, Guianese, and African patients with tropical spastic paraparesis.

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) proviral integration status was examined by Southern blot analysis in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) DNA from patients presenting a tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) and serological evidence of HTLV-I infection. Surface phenotype and morphological aspects of PBMC were also studied. A polyclonal HTLV-I proviral integration was found in the PBMC of the 10 patients studied irrespective of their geographical origin (French West Indies, French Guiana, and Africa), the duration of their clinical illness, or the HTLV-I antibody titer. Furthermore, by dilution experiments and hypothesizing that only one copy of HTLV-I proviral DNA is present in one cell, we estimated that this HTLV-I integration is present in 3% to 15% of their PBMC. All 10 TSP/HTLV-I patients studied had an average of 10% of their lymphocytes abnormal, presenting either a misshapen nucleus or an adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL)-like feature. Moreover, an elevated CD4/CD8 ratio associated with the presence of activated T cells with a high level of DR expression was observed in most patients. The significant frequency of viral-positive PBMC and the important load of HTLV-I proviral DNA that we observed in TSP/HTLV-I patients might play an important role in the pathogenesis of this recently identified clinico-virological entity.

Characterization of HTLV-I isolates and T lymphoid cell lines derived from French West Indian patients with tropical spastic paraparesis.

Lymphoid cell lines derived from the peripheral blood of French West Indian patients with HTLV-I sero-positive Tropical Spastic Paraparesis and HTLV-I isolates were characterized. While patients' peripheral blood lymphocytes did not express detectable HTLV-I antigens when uncultured, they did so after short-term culture. Established cell lines were of T-cell lineage: CD2+, CD3+, CD4+, CD7+, WT31+ with activated T-cell markers CD25+, DR+ and a clonal rearrangement of the beta and gamma genes of the T-cell receptor. HTLV-I antigens were detected in cell lines by indirect immunofluorescence, Western blot and radio-immunoprecipitation assays. After 4 months in culture, low levels of Mg2+ dependent reverse transcriptase activity were detected and electron microscopy revealed numerous type-C retroviral particles similar to HTLV-I virions. Western blot and radio-immunoprecipitation analysis of purified viruses revealed gp46, p24, p19 and Pr53gag proteins similar to those detected in HUT 102 and MT2 cell lines. Deep analysis of env-coded precursor of one TSP versus ATL isolates revealed minor differences in their molecular weights. Southern blot analysis using 32P HTLV-I env gene as a probe showed the presence of HTLV-I proviral fragments clonally integrated into the genome of the cell lines. Our data suggest that HTLV-I isolated from Tropical Spastic Paraparesis does not differ significantly from the leukemogenic prototypes. Does HTLV-I induce either acute lymphoproliferative diseases or chronic neuromyelopathies depending upon as yet unknown co-factors? This question remains to be determined.