Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection of mononuclear phagocytes has been implicated in disease manifestations, but postentry viral replication events in these cells have not been well characterized. Productive infection of activated T cells is associated with cell proliferation and accumulation of full-length viral DNA within 6 h. In infected, nondividing quiescent peripheral blood lymp...

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection of mononuclear phagocytes has been implicated in disease manifestations, but postentry viral replication events in these cells have not been well characterized. Productive infection of activated T cells is associated with cell proliferation and accumulation of full-length viral DNA within 6 h. In infected, nondividing quiescent peripheral blood lymp...

The obligate intracellular pathogen Leishmania major survives and multiplies in professional phagocytes. The evasion strategy to circumvent killing by host phagocytes and establish a productive infection is poorly understood. Here we report that the virulent inoculum of Leishmania promastigotes contains a high ratio of annexin A5-binding apoptotic parasites. This subpopulation of parasites is c...

BACKGROUND In this study, we produced poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) microspheres of different sizes and adsorbing a medicinal plant mixture, and verified their effect in vitro on the viability, superoxide production, and bactericidal activity of phagocytes in the blood. METHODS The medicinal plant mixture was adsorbed onto PEG microspheres and its effects were evaluated by flow cytometry and fl...

The regulatory functions of glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan (HA) are suggested to be dependent on its molecular weight (MW). Proinflammatory and stimulatory effects are proposed mainly for the low MW HA. However, the complex response of blood phagocytes to HA of different MW is unclear. Herein, the effects of highly purified HA of precisely defined MW (52, 250, and 970  kDa) on human blood phagocy...

Phagocytosis, a critical early event in the microbicidal response of neutrophils, is now appreciated to serve multiple functions in a variety of cell types. Professional phagocytes play a central role in innate immunity by eliminating pathogenic bacteria, fungi and malignant cells, and contribute to adaptive immunity by presenting antigens to lymphocytes. In addition, phagocytes play a part in ...

Since the beginning of this century, phagocytes have been recognized for their critical role in the inflammatory response. In addition to their functions in host defense, phagocytes (neutrophils, monocytes, and maerophages) can mediate tissue injury through a variety of mechanisms (3). Traditionally, attention has been focused on the potential for leukocytic lysosomal proteases to damage tissue...