The immunological and clinical parameters that are associated with asthma remission are poorly understood. The cytokine and local mediator changes associated with the resolution of asthma symptoms were examined in three groups of subjects 12-18 years of age (n = 15 in each group): (a) continuing asthma group (CA) who had persistent symptoms since early childhood, (b) an age, sex and atopic stat...

OBJECTIVE To characterize functional properties of HIV-specific IgA in samples representing both systemic and mucosal compartments of HIV-1 highly exposed persistently seronegative (HEPS) individuals. METHODS IgA was purified from plasma and mucosal samples from HEPS individuals and tested for the ability to neutralize infection of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) by a non-syncytium ...

Although acetylsalicylic acid does not itself induce interferon, acetylsalicylic acid was found to significantly enhance the production of both human alpha interferon and human gamma interferon when added with the appropriate inducers to cultures of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The mechanisms associated with this effect were investigated.

OBJECTIVE Maintaining a right balance between Th17 and Treg might be critical to the immunopathogenesis of active tuberculosis (TB). This study aimed to assess whether the Th17/Treg balance is altered in active TB patients. METHODS 250 study subjects (90 active TB patients, 80 latent TB subjects, and 80 healthy controls) were recruited for the study. The expression of Th17 and Treg in periphe...

In the present study we examined a role of pro-apoptotic Bax and anti-apoptotic Mcl-1 proteins, participating in the regulation of intrinsic apoptosis pathway in human neutrophils (PMNs) exposed to N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), the environmental xenobiotic. For the purpose comparison, the same studies were conducted in autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The production of cy...

The contribution of T cell-mediated responses was studied with regard to resistance to reinfection in groups of Gabonese children participating in a prospective study of severe and mild malaria due to infection with Plasmodium falciparum. In those admitted with mild malaria, but not in those with severe malaria, production of IFN-gamma by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in response to...

Cytosine methylation at CpG dinucleotides is an epigenetic mechanism that affects the gene expression profiles responsible for the functional differences in various cells and tissues. Although gene expression patterns are dynamically altered in response to various stimuli, the intraindividual dynamics of DNA methylation in human cells are yet to be fully understood. Here, we investigated the ex...

Human subjects were infected with Haemophilus ducreyi. All subjects developed papules and were randomized to treatment with a single dose of azithromycin (1 g) or ciprofloxacin (500 mg). At weekly intervals, volunteers were reinoculated with H. ducreyi, and drug concentrations were measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). When papules developed, the subjects were treated with anti...

We report the identification of a novel HIV-1 circulating recombinant form (CRF72_BF1) in deep sequencing data from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of five blood donors in southeastern Brazil. Detection of this circulating recombinant form (CRF) confirms the need for effective surveillance to monitor the prevalence and distribution of HIV variants in a variety of settings in Brazil.

With great interest we read the recent article in the Journal of Immunological Methods by Elkord (2009), in which the author reports a reduction of human regulatory T (Treg) cell numbers in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) after cryopreservation. Treg cells were identified by flow cytometric measurement of CD25 or ForkheadBoxP3 (FoxP3) expression in CD4 T cells. CD25 and the transcrip...