CONTEXT There have been few longitudinal studies of cytokine production in neonatally acquired HIV-1 infection and none in Asian or Chinese children. OBJECTIVE To determine whether monitoring cytokine production could contribute to the better management of pediatric patients with HIV-1 infection. SETTING Clinical Immunology Laboratory and Pediatrics Department, University Hospital, Hong Kon...

BACKGROUND Opioid use is associated with increased incidence of infectious diseases. Although experimental studies have shown that opioids affect various functions of immune cells, only limited data are available from human studies. Drug use is an important risk factor for HIV transmission; however no data are available whether heroin and/or methadone modulate immune response. Therefore, we exa...

background: monitoring of phenotypic characteristics of t-lymphocytes in peripheral blood is commonly performed to give the clinical parameters in the management of kidney transplant recipients.   objective: to predict rejection in renal transplantation by immune parameters. methods: 16 non-diabetic kidney transplant candidates (4 females and 12 males, age = 20-65 yr, first time transplant) wer...

recent studies have established that sex hormones directly or indirectly affect t and b cells and macrophages by manipulating the production of cytokines. in this study the possibility of the effect of 5a-dht on macrophage (mφ) nitric oxide (no) release via interleukin-l, 6 (ll-1β, il-6) or tumor necrosis factor-a (tnfα) was investigated. the endogenous cytokines il-1β, il-6 and tnf-α were neut...

the immune response to hepatitis b surface antigen (hbsag) is influenced by several factors, of which hla antigens and balanced secretion of th1/th2 cytokines play important roles. the aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of hla antigens on cytokine secretion by hbsag-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmc) from healthy neonates vaccinated with recombinant hbsag. pbmcs w...

respiratory virus infection is a major cause of asthma exacerbation. however, the underlying mechanisms of  this exacerbation  are unknown. therefore,  to  determine  the mechanisms, we examined the effect of influenza infection in a murine model of asthma.mice were divided into four groups: the phosphate-buffered saline (pbs), house dust mite (hdm), influenza, and hdm/influenza groups. the inf...

obesity is an important public health problem and major risk factor for postmenopausal breast cancer. adipose tissue is the major component involved in the control of the metabolism through energy homeostasis, adipocyte differentiation, insulin sensitivity and the activation of anti-inflammatory metabolic and immune pathways. leptin and adiponectin pathways are involved in proliferation process...

Background The Quantiferon-CMV assay is a test for Cell Mediated Immune (CMI) responses to peptide antigens that simulate CMV proteins. Individuals infected with CMV usually have CD8+ lymphocytes in their blood that recognize these antigens. This recognition process involves the generation and secretion of the cytokine and interferon (IFN). The detection and subsequent quantification of IFN for...

Background: Sclareol is a phytochemical used in people's diet in Southeast Asia. Objective: To investigate the immunotherapeutic effectiveness of Sclareol against breast cancer by direct intraperitoneal injection. Methods: Sclareol was isolated and purified from Salvia sclarea. Effect of Sclareol on cell growth inhibition was evaluated by MTT assay. Intraperitoneally injected Sclareol effects o...

Background: The critical role of interleukin-7 (IL-7) in homeostatic proliferation and T cell survival has made it a promising cytokine for the treatment of various clinical conditions, especially those associated with lymphopenia. Methods: In the present study we expressed recombinant human interleukin-7 (rhIL-7) in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cells. CHO-K1 cells were stably transfected ...