Cytomegalovirus infection in melanoma patients

The occurrence of active cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in 30 patients with skin melanoma, aged 18-76 years, was studied with the enzyme immunoassay, the direct immunofluorescence test and the polymerase chain reaction. The patients were divided into two groups: group I consisted of 20 patients examined in a month after radical surgical treatment, group II consisted of 10 patients at the stage of the process generalization. For comparison, group III was formed consisting of 89 patients with diagnosed secondary immunodeficiency and clinical manifestations of CMV infection. The control group included 80 donors. The study showed that in group II the occurrence of active CMV infection was 4 times higher than in group I and practically coincided with the results registered in group III. In the evaluation of the immune status of the members of group II the most profound changes were revealed in T-cell mediated immunity and in phagocytic immunity; the adequate production of tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin 1beta was absent, which created prerequisites for the activation of CMV and the aggravation of the prognosis.     

Cytomegalovirus infection in Omsk region

Epidemiologic studies of prevalence of cytomegalovirus infection (CMVI) in Omsk region during a period of 15 years showed 1.6-fold increase of population seropositivity to CMV with rate of increase +2.94. In recent years antibodies to CMV were detected in 90.3 - 94.8% of cases. Diagnostics of innate and acquired CMVI was improved. Feasibility of detection of infectious process activity during complex use of new laboratory methods (IgA detection, assessment of IgG avidity, IgG to individual antigens in immunoblotting as well as detection of DNA and "early phase" viral ptoteins) was demonstrated. High rates of infection in population determine the necessity of revision of strategy for examination of children and adults, including screening of pregnant woman, on this infection.     

Cytomegalovirus infection aggravates atherogenesis in apoE knockout mice by both local and systemic immune activation

Since the 1970s, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been associated with atherosclerotic disease. However, the exact contribution of the virus remains uncertain. In this article we describe both a direct and indirect immune-mediated effect of the virus on the disease process. Eight-week-old apolipoprotein E (apoE) knockout mice were infected with mouse CMV (MCMV) or mock injected, and they were sacrificed at 2 and 20 weeks post-injection (p.i.) to study atherosclerosis, vascular wall IFNgamma and TNFalpha expression and MCMV spread. To study plasma IFNgamma and TNFalpha levels, blood was collected at 1, 2, 4 and 6 days p.i. in addition to days of sacrifice. Plasma cytokine levels were increased after MCMV infection at early time points and decreased to mock levels at 2 and 20 weeks p.i. At 2 weeks p.i., more aortic arch samples showed local cytokine expression after MCMV infection. The number of early atherosclerotic lesions and the percentage of mice containing early lesions were increased at 2 weeks p.i., while at 20 weeks p.i., the MCMV-induced effect on atherogenesis was seen on the late lesions. In conclusion, MCMV infection induces a systemic immune response reflecting an indirect effect of MCMV infection on atherosclerosis in addition to a local aortic immune response reflecting a direct effect of the virus on the atherosclerotic process.     

Interferon signatures in immune disorders and disease

The interferon (IFN) family and the type-I IFNs specifically have an important and well-characterized role in antiviral defence, immune modulation and cell-cycle control and are regularly applied in the clinical context. Advances in high-content technologies have facilitated an enhanced understanding of the global IFN response capable of being induced. Recent application of these technologies is improving our understanding of the specificity and subtleties associated with this response. This review considers our current understanding of the temporal gene profile induced through IFN stimulation across a diversity of disease conditions including autoimmune diseases, bacterial and viral infections. Understanding these signatures, the disease-specific differences and the biological effects induced has the potential to facilitate IFN-driven therapeutic development.     

Modulation of immune function in cancer patients

This paper will focus on three aspects of work which we have conducted in our laboratory over the past several years. Firstly, it will present results of studies in which we have found a selective inhibition of suppressor cell function in solid tumor cancer patients treated with cytotoxic drugs. Secondly, it will show that this selective inhibition results in an augmentation of other forms of immune reactivity and, in particular, an enhanced interleukin-2 production and response to this. Finally, it will demonstrate how we have made use of that information to intervene pharmacologically to modulate the immunosuppression which usually follows the use of cytotoxic drugs in solid tumor cancer patients.     

分枝杆菌L型感染与肺癌患者红细胞免疫功能改变的相关性

目的:研究分枝杆菌L型血行感染与肺癌患者红细胞免疫功能改变的相关性.方法:溶血离心培养法和滴片法检测血液中的分枝杆菌L型,常规方法测定红细胞沉降率(ESR)、红细胞C3b受体花环率(C3bRR)、免疫复合物花环率(ICRR)、血清红细胞C3b受体花环促进率(RFER)和抑制率(RFIR).结果:TBL( )与TBL(-)肺癌患者相比,C3bRR和ICRR两项指标均明显降低.TBL( )肺癌与TBL(-)肺癌患者相比,ESR增快更为显著.TBL(-)较TBL( )之RFER值的降低更为明显.RFIR差异未见有显著性.结论:分枝杆菌L型血行感染影响肺癌患者血沉和红细胞免疫功能改变.     

Transcriptomic signatures in breast cancer

High throughput DNA microarray technology has been broadly applied to the study of breast cancer to classify molecular subtypes, to predict outcome, survival, response to treatment, and for the identification of novel therapeutic targets. Although results are promising, this technology will not have a full impact on routine clinical practice until there is further standardization of techniques and optimal clinical trial design. Due to substantial disease heterogeneity and the number of genes being analyzed, collaborative, multi-institutional studies are required to accrue enough patients for sufficient statistical power. Newer bioinformatic approaches are being developed to assist with the analysis of this important data.     

Temporal characterization of serum metabolite signatures in lung cancer patients undergoing treatment

Lung cancer causes more deaths in men and women than any other cancer related disease. Currently, few effective strategies exist to predict how patients will respond to treatment. We evaluated the serum metabolomic profiles of 25 lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy ± radiation to evaluate the feasibility of metabolites as temporal biomarkers of clinical outcomes. Serial serum specimens collected prospectively from lung cancer patients were analyzed using both nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR) spectroscopy and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Multivariate statistical analysis consisted of unsupervised principal component analysis or orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis with significance assessed using a cross-validated ANOVA. The metabolite profiles were reflective of the temporal distinction between patient samples before during and after receiving therapy (¹H-NMR, p < 0.001: and GC–MS p < 0.01). Disease progression and survival were strongly correlative with the GC–MS metabolite data whereas stage and cancer type were associated with ¹H-NMR data. Metabolites such as hydroxylamine, tridecan-1-ol, octadecan-1-ol, were indicative of survival (GC–MS p < 0.05) and metabolites such as tagatose, hydroxylamine, glucopyranose, and threonine that were reflective of progression (GC–MS p < 0.05). Metabolite profiles have the potential to act as prognostic markers of clinical outcomes for lung cancer patients. Serial ¹H-NMR measurements appear to detect metabolites diagnostic of tumor pathology, while GC–MS provided data better related to prognostic clinical outcomes, possibility due to physiochemical bias related to specific biochemical pathways. These results warrant further study in a larger cohort and with various treatment options.     

Cytomegalovirus infection of the thyroid in immunocompromised adults

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) inclusions were discovered at autopsy in the thyroid follicles in five immunocompromised adults, four of whom had acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Although reports of viral infections of the thyroid are uncommon in adults, our experience suggests that the thyroid gland may be commonly involved in patients with disseminated CMV, and the possibility exists that CMV infection of the thyroid has the potential to cause clinical dysfunction.     

Development and validation of stable ferroptosis- and pyroptosis-related signatures in predicting prognosis and immune status in breast cancer

To develop and validate the predictive effects of stable ferroptosis- and pyroptosis-related features on the prognosis and immune status of breast cancer (BC). We retrieved as well as downloaded ferroptosis- and pyroptosis-related genes from the FerrDb and GeneCards databases. The minimum absolute contraction and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was used to construct a prognostic classifier combining the above two types of prognostic genes with differential expression, and the Integrated Gene Expression (GEO) dataset was used for validation. Seventeen genes presented a close association with BC prognosis. Thirteen key prognostic genes with prognostic value were considered to construct a new expression signature for classifying patients with BC into high- and low-risk groups. Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed a worse prognosis in the high-risk group. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and multivariate Cox regression analysis identified its predictive and independent features. Immune profile analysis showed that immunosuppressive cells were upregulated in the high-risk group, and this risk model was related to immunosuppressive molecules. We successfully constructed combined features of ferroptosis and pyroptosis in BC that are closely related to prognosis, clinicopathological and immune features, chemotherapy efficacy and immunosuppressive molecules. However, further experimental studies are required to verify these findings.     

Genomic signatures of local adaptation in the Drosophila immune response

As environments and pathogen landscapes shift, host defenses must evolve to remain effective. Due to this selection pressure, among-species comparisons of genetic sequence data often find immune genes to be among the fastest evolving genes across the genome. The full extent and nature of these immune adaptations, however, remain largely unexplored. In a recent study, we analyzed patterns of selection within distinct components of the Drosophila melanogaster immune pathway. While we found evidence of positive selection within some immune processes, immune genes were not universally characterized by signatures of strong selection. On the contrary, we even found that some immune functions show greater than expected constraint. Overall these results highlight 2 major factors that appear to play an outsize role in determining a gene's evolutionary rate: the type of pathogen the gene targets and the gene's position within the immune network. These results join a growing body of literature that highlight the complexity of immune adaptation. Rather than there being uniformly strong selection across all immune genes, a combination of pathogen-specificity and host genetic constraints appear to play key roles in determining each immune gene's individual evolutionary trajectory.     

Impact of tuberculosis on serum leptin levels in patients with HIV infection

AIM: Tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are classical wasting diseases accompanied by immunosuppression. As leptin is involved in the weight regulation and cellular immunity, we investigated the role of leptin levels in the co-infection of HIV and TB (HIV-TB). METHODS: The study group consists of the patients with asymptomatic HIV infection (n = 20), patients with HIV-TB co-infection (n = 20) and healthy control subjects (n = 20). Serum leptin levels and the concentrations of IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, IL-12 and IL-4 cytokines were measured by ELISA before the start of the treatment. CD4+ T-cell counts were determined in patients with HIV and HIV-TB by flow cytometry. Body mass index (BMI) of the study subjects was calculated. RESULTS: Serum leptin levels and BMI were significantly lower in the patients with HIV-TB than control and HIV subjects. Multivariate regression analysis showed that serum leptin concentration was significantly dependent on BMI and sex but not on age and the disease groups. The leptin levels did not correlate either with CD4+ T-cell counts or with any of the serum cytokines in HIV and HIV-TB patients. CONCLUSION: Thus our finding suggests that the leptin concentrations were strongly associated with BMI and gender but not with the disease state or with the circulating cytokine levels.     

宫颈癌患者高危型人乳头瘤病毒感染与免疫功能和癌基因表达的相关性

目的 探讨宫颈癌患者高危型人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）感染的检测及其与免疫功能和癌基因表达的相关性。方法 选择2017年9月至2018年12月在我院接受手术治疗的118例原发性宫颈癌患者为宫颈癌组,根据高危型HPV感染情况进一步分为高危型HPV组（89例）和非高危型HPV组（29例）。选择同期在我院行子宫全切术的57例子宫肌瘤患者为子宫肌瘤组。对比各组患者外周血T淋巴细胞亚群分布情况,病灶组织中原癌基因（E6/E7、c-Met、SALL4、PGRN）和抑癌基因（p53、pRb、PTEN、LKB1）表达量的差异。结果 宫颈癌组患者病灶组织中高危型HPV感染率显著高于子宫肌瘤组（75.42% vs 22.81%,2=43.764,P＜0.05）。高危型HPV组患者外周血中CD4+ T淋巴细胞比例、CD4+T/CD8+ T比值低于非高危型HPV组,CD8+ T淋巴细胞比例高于非高危型HPV组（均P＜0.05）。高危型HPV组患者病灶组织中E6/E7、c-Met、SALL4、PGRN mRNA的表达量高于非高危型HPV组,而p53、pRb、PTEN、LKB1 mRNA的表达量低于非高危型HPV组（均P＜0.05）。结论 高危型HPV感染可导致宫颈癌患者细胞免疫功能下降及肿瘤恶性程度增加,可能是导致病情恶化、治疗效果不佳的危险因素之一。     

Topography of mutational signatures in human cancer

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