The hormone leptin is released by adipocytes accordingly to current energy stores suppress appetite. Apart from this, acts as a proinflammatory cytokine and strongly stimulates inflammation. Immune-modulating properties are partly achieved affecting T-cell maturation, polarization, viability. Leptin rises inflammatory cells count, increases secretion, impairs regulatory T-lymphocytes differenti...

Cellular immune response was evaluated in 31 patients with chronic Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma mansoni infections and in 15 healthy normal persons by using S. mansoni soluble worm and egg antigens. Although the leukocyte migration inhibition test demonstrated false-positive reactions, the specificity of the leukocyte aggregation test was confirmed by the negativity of all of the con...

The cellular immune response was assessed in 20 patients with chronic Chagas' disease (American trypanosomiasis). Thymus-derived lymphocyte function was determined in vivo by cutaneous reactivity to several antigens including a soluble preparation derived from Trypanosoma cruzi and sensitization to 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene. The in vitro T-cell reactivity was investigated by the proliferative re...

Genomic approaches continue to provide unprecedented insight into the microbiome, yet host immune interactions with diverse microbiota can be difficult to study. We therefore generated a microbial microarray containing defined antigens isolated from a broad range of microbial flora to examine adaptive and innate immunity. Serological studies with this microarray show that immunoglobulins from m...

Analyses of the relationships between different viruses and viral proteins have focused on homologies between linear amino acid sequences, but cross-reactivities at the level of T cell recognition may not be dependent on a conserved linear sequence of several amino acids. The CTL response to Pichinde virus (PV) and vaccinia virus (VV) in C57BL/6 mice previously immunized with lymphocytic chorio...

In the course of making antibodies against various yeast (S. cerevisiae) proteins, we have noted that it is common to observe reactivity of rabbit sera with a number of extraneous bands on Western transfers of yeast proteins. The pattern of reactive bands can change within a period of weeks, even when the rabbit has not been injected with antigen. A simple method of affinity purification, using...

The immunochemical specificity of the observed cross-reactivity between Escherichia coli strain 101 and Staphylococcus aureus strain Mardi was examined. The cross-reactivity was shown to be dependent upon mucopeptide antibodies which are present in normal and immune sera. Although both organisms contained surface antigens with immunodominant glucuronic acid residues, in vitro phagocytosis studi...

Celiac disease is an immune-mediated disorder triggered by ingestion of wheat gliadin and related proteins in genetically susceptible individuals. In addition to the characteristic enteropathy, celiac disease is associated with various extraintestinal manifestations, including neurologic complications such as neuropathy, ataxia, seizures, and neurobehavioral changes. The cause of the neurologic...