Medical Microbiology and Immunology This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

The T cell activating properties and antitumour activity of Staphylococcal Enterotoxin-like Q
AbstractStaphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs), as typical superantigens, exhibit promising antitumour activity in the clinic, but their unavoidable side effects related to fever and emesis seriously limit their application for the treatment of malignant tumours. Fortunately, the identification of Staphylococcal enterotoxin-like toxins (SEls), which possess amino acid sequences similar to those of classical SEs but exhibit no or low emetic activity, has provided a set of potential immunomodulatory candidates for cancer therapy. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of SElQ on lymphocyte activation and to further demon...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - June 10, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

Rapid differential diagnosis of vaginal infections using gold nanoparticles coated with specific antibodies
AbstractVaginal infections caused by bacteria, Candida andTrichomonas vaginalis, affect millions of women annually worldwide. Symptoms and signs have limited value in differential diagnosis of three causes of vaginitis. Current laboratory methods for differential diagnosis are either expensive or time consuming. Therefore, in this work, development of a method based on gold nanoparticles has been investigated for rapid diagnosis of vaginal infections. Specific antibodies against three main causes of vaginal infections were raised in rabbits. The antibodies were then purified and conjugated to gold nanoparticles and used in...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - June 9, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

Correction to: T-cell aging in end-stage renal disease: an evolving story with CMV
Unfortunately in the original article the first author name incorrectly published as TienYu Yang. The correct name is TienYu Owen Yang. (Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology)
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - June 8, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

Defective interferon priming and impaired antiviral responses in a patient with an IRF7 variant and severe influenza
AbstractInfluenza infection is common worldwide with many individuals affected each year during epidemics and occasionally pandemics. Previous studies in animal models and a few human cases have established an important role of innate type I and III interferon (IFN) for viral elimination and mounting of antiviral responses. However, genetic and immunological determinants of very severe disseminated influenza  virus infection in humans remain incompletely understood. Here, we describe an adult patient with severe influenza virus A (IAV) infection, in whom we identified a rare variant E331V in IFN regulatory factor (IRF)7 ...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - June 5, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

Genetic variability of human papillomavirus type 66 L1 gene among women presenting for cervical cancer screening in Chile
AbstractThe high-risk human papillomaviruses (HR-HPVs) are involved in the development of cervical cancer. Nevertheless, there are differences in the oncogenic potential among them. HPV-16 and HPV-18 are associated with approximately 70% of cancer worldwide, and both types are the most extensively studied HR-HPV. Great variations in the prevalence of HR-HPV have been described in different countries. The impact of these variations on the epidemiology of lesions and cervical cancer is currently unknown. A high prevalence of HPV-66 has been detected in Chile. Here, we have analyzed the genetic variability of the L1 gene ...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - June 3, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

Influence of Hepatitis C virus coinfection on immune reconstitution in HIV subjects
In this study, we investigated the presence of immune activation in a cohort of 50 HIV/HCV patients by measuring cytokine levels, CD4+ T-cell counts and CD4/CD8 ratios. Six patient groups were defined according to HIV viral load, HCV status, and liver disease to assess the impact of each of these factors on immune activation and reconstitution in HIV/HCV patients. Only subjects with controlled HIV infection and cleared HCV displayed immunological parameters within normal ranges. The mere presence of HCV contributes to immune activation leading to an inappropriate immunological reconstitution. This state exacerbates in the ...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - May 29, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

‘Checks and balances’ in cytomegalovirus-host cohabitation
(Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology)
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - May 24, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

Caspase-8 restricts natural killer cell accumulation during MCMV Infection
AbstractNatural killer (NK) cells provide important host defense against herpesvirus infections and influence subsequent T cell control of replication and maintenance of latency. NK cells exhibit phases of expansion, contraction and memory formation in response to the natural mouse pathogen murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV). Innate and adaptive immune responses are tightly regulated in mammals to avoid excess tissue damage while preventing acute and chronic viral disease and assuring resistance to reinfection. Caspase (CASP)8 is an autoactivating aspartate-specific cysteine protease that initiates extrinsic apoptosis and preve...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - May 20, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

Caspase-8-dependent control of NK- and T cell responses during cytomegalovirus infection
AbstractCaspase-8 (CASP8) impacts antiviral immunity in expected as well as unexpected ways. Mice with combined deficiency in CASP8 and RIPK3 cannot support extrinsic apoptosis or RIPK3-dependent programmed necrosis, enabling studies of CASP8 function without complications of unleashed necroptosis. These extrinsic cell death pathways are naturally targeted by murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV)-encoded cell death suppressors, showing they are key to cell-autonomous host defense. Remarkably,Casp8–/–Ripk3–/–,Ripk1–/–Casp8–/–Ripk3–/– andCasp8–/–Ripk3K51A/K51A mice mount robust antiviral T cell responses to c...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - May 15, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

Adverse immunological imprinting by cytomegalovirus sensitizing for allergic airway disease
AbstractCytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has a profound impact on the host ’s immune system. Immunological imprinting by CMV is not restricted to immunity against CMV itself, but can affect immunity against other viral or non-viral infectious agents and also immunopathological responses. One category is heterologous immunity based on molecular mimicry, where antigen reco gnition receptors specific for a CMV antigen with broad avidity distribution also bind with some avidity to unrelated antigens and exert effector functions against target structures other than those linked to CMV. Another category is induction of cytokine...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - May 9, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

Survey of cellular immune responses to human cytomegalovirus infection in the microenvironment of the uterine –placental interface
AbstractCongenital human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is a leading cause of birth defects, yet there are no established treatments for preventing maternal –fetal transmission. During first trimester, HCMV replicates in basal decidua that functions as a reservoir for virus and source of transmission to the attached placenta and fetal hemiallograft but also contains immune cells, including natural killer cells, macrophages, and T cell subsets, that re spond to pathogens, protecting the placenta and fetus. However, the specific cellular and cytokine responses to infection are unknown, nor are the immune correlates of pr...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - May 6, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

Pediatric roots of cytomegalovirus recurrence and memory inflation in the elderly
AbstractThe establishment of a lifelong latent infection after resolution of primary infection is a hallmark of cytomegalovirus (CMV) biology. Primary infection with human CMV is possible any time in life, but most frequently, virus transmission occurs already perinatally or in early childhood. Many years or even decades later, severe clinical problems can result from recurrence of infectious virus by reactivation from latency in individuals who undergo immunocompromising medical treatment, for instance, transplant recipients, but also in septic patients without canonical immunosuppression, and in elderly people with a wea...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - May 5, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

‘From immunosenescence to immune modulation’: a re-appraisal of the role of cytomegalovirus as major regulator of human immune function
AbstractIn the year 2000, cytomegalovirus was identified as a risk factor for mortality in a seminal study of octogenarian residents in Sweden. This finding triggered a wave of additional epidemiological investigations, some of which supported this association whilst others observed no such effect. In addition, this increased risk of death in CMV-seropositive people was correlated with observed changes within the T-cell repertoire such that accelerated ‘immunosenescence’ became a de facto explanation, without strong evidence to this effect. Recent years have seen a re-appraisal of these findings. Interestingly, many st...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - May 2, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

Immunological evaluation of two novel engineered Plasmodium vivax circumsporozoite proteins formulated with different human-compatible vaccine adjuvants in C57BL/6 mice
In this study, in vivo immunological evaluation of two novel engineered proteins ofP. vivax circumsporozoite (PvCS127 and PvCS712) with two different arrangements of the repeat sequences of VK210 and VK247 was assessed. The immunological properties of theEscherichia coli-expressed chimeric proteins were evaluated by the immunization of C57BL/6 mice administered in NLX, CpG-ODNs, and QS21, alone or in combination as adjuvants. A significant increase in anti-rPvCS127 and -rPvCS712 IgG antibodies was observed in all the vaccine groups after the first boost, and the predominant isotypes were high-avidity cytophilic antibodies,...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - April 24, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research

Cellular reservoirs of latent cytomegaloviruses
AbstractCytomegaloviruses (CMVs), members of the β-subfamily of the herpesvirus family, have co-speciated with their respective mammalian hosts resulting in a mutual virus–host adaptation reflected by sets of ‘private’ viral genes that a particular CMV species does not share with other CMVs and that define the host-species specificity of CM Vs. Nonetheless, based on “biological convergence” in evolution, fundamental rules in viral pathogenesis and immune control are functionally analogous between different virus–host pairs. Therefore, the mouse model of infection with murine CMV (mCMV) has revealed generally v...
Source: Medical Microbiology and Immunology - April 21, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research