ABSTRACT
Anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) is a polyclonal antiserum introduced into clinical medicine more than 30 years ago. It induces a broad non-specific immunosuppression. In haematology, standard indications are severe aplastic anaemia and prophylaxis and treatment of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) (after allogeneic transplantation). For aplastic anaemia, ATG from horses has been found to be superior to ATG from rabbits. In the situation of allogeneic transplantation, ATG lessens the risk of chronic GVHD but may not improve survival. There is current controversy regarding which patients benefit most from ATG and what the ideal dosage is. It is likely that in the coming years a more specific immunosuppressive will be developed that will minimize GVHD while maintaining the graft-versus-malignancy effect.
ABSTRACT
The HIV-1 prime boost phase I/II vaccine trial using a recombinant canarypox vector, vCP1521, containing subtype E env (gp120), and subtype B env (gp41), gag and protease has started in Thailand. We have demonstrated that although 4 from 15 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) seronegative Individuals showed cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses to vaccinia virus antigens, none of them showed specific CTL responses to subtype E Env after in vitro stimulation. This preliminary study suggests that specific CTL responses to subtype E envelope detected in HIV-1 seronegative Individuals after vaccination should be considered as specific responses to the immunization.
Subject(s)
Adult , Antigens, Viral/immunology , B-Lymphocytes/immunology , Female , HIV Antigens/immunology , HIV Envelope Protein gp120/immunology , HIV Seronegativity/immunology , HIV-1/immunology , Herpesvirus 4, Human/immunology , Humans , Immunophenotyping , Male , Middle Aged , Reference Values , Sensitivity and Specificity , T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/immunology , Thailand , Vaccinia virus/immunologyABSTRACT
Enfermedad del arañazo de gato es descrita como una linfadenitis, que puede progresar a una forma severa o recurrente, y ocasionalmente asociada a morbilidad; cuyas características eran desconocidas en nuestro país. Se incluyeron 43 pacientes, 46.51 por ciento fueron hombres y 53.49 por ciento mujeres. La media de la edad fue 14.09 años, 74.4 por ciento menores de 18 años. Durante el verano 53.33 por ciento fueron captados. Contacto con gatos presentaron el 93.02 por ciento de los pacientes. Las manifestaciones clínicas principales fueron fiebre y malestar general, y el hallazgo de linfoadenonegalia y la lesión de inoculación. Doce pacientes presentaron títulos entre 1/50 a 1/800 para B. henselae y B.Clarridgeae utilizando IFI. Tres muestras anatomopatológicos fueron características, otras seis fueron sugerentes. No se logró preservar colonias en los cultivos microbiológicos. El presente trabajo es el primer estudio prospectivo nacional de enfermedad del arañazo de gato, logrando identificar B. henselae y B. clarridgeae, principalmente en pacientes de edad pediátrica.