The immunodeficiency syndrome murine AIDS (MAIDS), caused by the BM5 retrovirus preparation, involves the activation, division, and subsequent anergy of the entire CD4(+) T cell population as well as extensive B cell hyperproliferation and hypergammaglobulinemia, resulting in splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy, followed many weeks later by death. The development of MAIDS requires CD4(+) T cells a...

Toxoplasma gondii remains a serious cause of morbidity and mortality in individuals that are immunosuppressed, patients with AIDS in particular. The cellular immune response, especially by gamma interferon (IFN-gamma)-producing CD8(+) T cells, is an essential component of protective immunity against the parasite. In the present study the role of CD8(+) T cells during the reactivation of Toxopla...

Infection of genetically susceptible mice with the LP-BM5 mixture of murine leukemia viruses including an etiologic defective virus (BM5def) causes an immunodeficiency syndrome called murine AIDS (MAIDS). The disease is characterized by interactions between B cells and CD4(+) T cells resulting in polyclonal activation of both cell types. It is known that BM5def is expressed at highest levels in...

The mechanisms for activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the roles glucocorticoids play in the pathogenesis of chronic infectious disease are largely undefined. Using the LP-BM5 model of retrovirus-induced immunodeficiency, we found alterations in HPA axis function, manifested as an increase in circulating levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone and corticosterone, beginnin...

The immunosuppressive activity of interleukin-10 (IL-10) makes this cytokine a potentially important clinical tool to reduce inflammatory responses in various diseases. Its efficacy as a therapeutic modality is dependent on the responsiveness of immune cells. We report that macrophages from mice chronically infected with the LP-BM5 retrovirus had a reduced capacity to respond to IL-10 in vitro....

This study employed a Bac-to-Bac/Bombyx mori bioreactor to mass-produce immunogenic urease subunit B (UreB) from Helicobacter pylori. The signal peptide bombyxin from B. mori was used to promote secretory expression to improve expression levels and was designed and integrated into the UreB gene to generate the Bacmid/BmNPV/(signal peptide)-UreB baculovirus expression system. To determine whethe...

Using a series of phenotypic markers that include immunoglobulin (Ig)D, IgM, IgG, CD23, CD44, Bcl-2, CD38, CD10, CD77, and Ki67, human tonsillar B cells were separated into five fractions representing different stages of B cell differentiation that included sIgD+ (Bm1 and Bm2), germinal center (Bm3 and Bm4), and memory (Bm5) B cells. To establish whether the initiation of somatic mutation corre...