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Successful Immune Response (successful + immune_response)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences100%

Selected Abstracts

Immunomodulatory therapy for chronic hepatitis B virus infection

FUNDAMENTAL & CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Issue 1 2005
D. Sprengers
Abstract Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the most prevalent viral pathogens of man with around 350 million chronically infected patients. It has been postulated that in persistently infected individuals the HBV-specific immune response is too weak to eliminate HBV from all infected hepatocytes, but sufficiently strong to continuously destroy HBV-infected hepatocytes and to induce chronic inflammatory liver disease. The primary aim in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B is to induce sustained disease remission and prevent serious complications like liver failure and/or hepatocellular carcinoma. The recent emergence of drug-resistant HBV mutants and post-treatment relapse as a consequence of nucleoside analogue monotherapy emphasizes that the principal goal should be to stimulate a successful immune response. In this paper we will focus on the immune response to HBV and we will review reported data on immunotherapeutic strategies like immunomodulatory drugs (cytokines and Thymic derivates) and vaccine therapies using currently available recombinant anti-HBV vaccines, lipopeptide-based T cell vaccine and newly developed genetic vaccines. [source]

The immune system: a weapon of mass destruction invented by evolution to even the odds during the war of the DNAs

IMMUNOLOGICAL REVIEWS, Issue 1 2002
Melvin Cohn
Summary: Living systems operate under interactive selective pressures. Populations have the ability to anticipate the future by generating a repertoire of elements that cope with new selective pressures. If the repertoire of such elements were transcendental, natural selection could not operate because any one of them would be too rare. This is the problem that vertebrates faced in order to deal with a vast number of pathogens. The solution was to invent an immune system that underwent somatic evolution. This required a random repertoire that was generated somatically and divided the antigenic universe into combinatorials of determinants. As a result, it became virtually impossible for pathogens to escape recognition but the functioning of such a repertoire required two new regulatory mechanisms: 1) a somatic discriminator between Not-To-Be-Ridded (,Self') and To-Be-Ridded (,Non-self') antigens, and 2) a way to optimize the magnitude and choice of the class of the effector response. The principles governing this dual regulation are analyzed in the light of natural selection. Abstract I.,Introduction A. ,...doth protest too much' Living things obey the laws of natural selection What started the wars between the DNAs? The passage from germline to somatic evolution? E. Two classes of pathogen must be faced F. Two pathways are required for a successful immune response, II. The NTBR,TBR discrimination A. The three laws of the NTBR-TBR discrimination B. The mechanism of the NTBR-TBR discrimination C. Facing the "chicken and egg" problem III. The regulation of effector class IV. The somatically selected immune repertoire A. The Protecton is the unit of function B. The humoral immune system C. The cell-mediated immune system D. The meaning of specificity V. Why understand when you can cure without it? VI. Coda: Extracting the postulates used to explain immune behavior O.K. José! What would it take to change your mind? Mechkonik [source]

Clinical course of kidney transplant patients with acute rejection and BK virus replication following Campath therapy

CLINICAL TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 3 2008
Liise K. Kayler
Abstract:, Background:, Kidney transplant recipients with active BK virus (BKV) replication are generally treated with reduction in immunosuppression to allow a successful immune response against the virus. Methods:, We inadvertently administered Campath to two patients with BKV viruria, and one patient with BKV nephropathy, since allograft biopsies showed severe tubulitis or intimal arteritis, and results of PCR and in situ hybridization were not available at the time of therapeutic intervention. Results:, Increased viral replication was observed, but not uniformly in all cases, and follow-up biopsies showed nephropathy in one additional case. Extra-renal dissemination did not occur. With subsequent reduction of immunosuppression or antiviral therapy, it was still possible to obtain clearance of viremia in all cases. Serum creatinine fell transiently after Campath in one patient; however, at one yr post-treatment all had increased levels over baseline. One graft was lost to persistent acute rejection that led to interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy. Conclusion:, These cases suggest that Campath treatment does not (i) irreversibly deplete cells believed to be important in mounting an immune response against BKV, or (ii) preclude subsequent eradication of viral DNA from the blood. [source]

Worms and malaria: noisy nuisances and silent benefits

PARASITE IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 7 2002
Mathieu Nacher
Summary The burden of malaria mortality has been a major evolutionary influence on human immunity. The selection of the most successful immune responses against malaria has been in populations concomitantly infected by intestinal helminths. Animal models have shown that coinfections with helminths and protozoa in the same host elicit a range of antagonist and synergistic interactions. Recent findings suggest similar interactions take place between helminths, Plasmodium falciparum and humans. However, as the threat of HIV and tuberculosis becomes a major selective force, what used to be a successful ecological system may now prove detrimental. Nevertheless, the understanding of the ecological forces at play may expose new intervention targets for malaria control, and give a new perspective on our shortcomings against the deadliest of human parasites. [source]