Septic syndrome is the leading cause of mortality for critically ill patients worldwide. Patients develop lymphocyte dysfunctions associated with increased risk of death and nosocomial infections. In this study, we performed preclinical experiments testing the potential of recombinant human IL-7 (rhIL-7) as a lymphostimulating therapy in sepsis. Circulating IL-7 and soluble IL-7 receptor α-chai...

BACKGROUND The association of inflammatory biomarkers with clinical events after antiretroviral therapy initiation is unclear. METHODS A5202 randomized 1857 treatment-naive subjects to abacavir/lamivudine or tenofovir-DF/emtricitabine with efavirenz or atazanavir/ritonavir. Substudy A5224s measured inflammatory biomarkers on subjects with available plasma from baseline and week 24 or 96. An e...

CD40 ligand (CD40L), a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family member, plays a critical role in antigen-specific T cell responses in vivo. CD40L expressed on activated CD4(+) T cells stimulates antigen-presenting cells such as dendritic cells, resulting in the upregulation of costimulatory molecules and the production of various inflammatory cytokines required for CD4(+) T cell priming in vivo. Howe...

The nature of peptides that positively select T cells in the thymus remains poorly defined. Here we report an in vivo model to study the mechanisms of positive selection of CD4(+) T cells. We have restored positive selection of TCR transgenic CD4(+) thymocytes, arrested at the CD4(+)CD8(+) stage, due to the lack of the endogenously selecting peptide(s), in mice deficient for H2-M and invariant ...

Gangliosides GM1 is a good marker of membrane microdomains (lipid rafts) with important function in cellular activation processes. In this study we found that GM1 expression on CD4+ T cells and memory T cells (CD45RO/CD4) were dramatic increased after stimulation with phytohaemagglutinin in vitro. Next, we examined the GM1 expression on peripheral blood CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells from 44 pat...

In this study, we have investigated the expression of 87 micro (mi)RNAs in activated CD4(+) T cells cultured in the presence or absence of the immunoregulatory molecule soluble HLA-G (sHLA-G). We observed (i) a decreased miR-451 expression and (ii) an increased miR-210 expression in sHLA-G-treated CD4(+) T cells. By transfecting CD4(+) T cells with miR-210 and miR-451 mimics or inhibitors, we f...

Optimal CD4+ T cell recovery after initiating combination antiretroviral treatment (cART) in HIV infection reduces risk of morbidity and mortality. T-allele homozygosity ('TT') in the single nucleotide polymorphism, rs6897932(C/T), in the IL-7 receptor α (IL-7RA) is associated with faster CD4+ T cell recovery after cART initiation compared to C-allele homozygosity in rs6897932 ('CC'). However, ...

BACKGROUND Systemic immune activation is a strong predictor of progression of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) disease and a prominent feature of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. OBJECTIVE To understand the role of systemic immune activation and microbial translocation in HIV/tuberculosis dually infected patients over the full spectrum of HIV-1 immunodeficiency, we studie...

Preeclampsia is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in pregnancy. Although the etiology of preeclampsia is still unclear, it is believed to involve rejection of the fetus, possibly due to an imbalance between regulatory (Treg) and effector T cells. To test this, we compared the frequencies of circulating CD4(+) T cells expressing Foxp3, IFN-gamma, IL-10, or IL-17 at the end of the thir...

BACKGROUND Rates of insulin resistance are increased in HIV-infected patients on stable antiretroviral therapy (ART). Such increase may partially be due to HIV-induced immune dysregulation involving monocytes (MO) and its subsets. MATERIALS AND METHODS Cross-sectional analysis of 141 HIV-infected subjects age ≥ 40 years on stable ART. Homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) ...