Your browser doesn't support javascript.
loading
Show: 20 | 50 | 100
Results 1 - 6 de 6
Filter
2.
Rev Panam Salud Publica ; 10(3): 174-80, 2001 Sep.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-11702373

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of drug resistance and to analyze the subtyping in HIV-1 samples from Cuba. METHODS: From an estimated total number of 1,950 HIV-1-infected persons in Cuba, a sample of 103 patients were studied, 76 of whom had received drug treatment for HIV and 27 who had not. The RNA plasma viral load was measured, and automated sequencing was used to assess resistance mutations to reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs) and to protease inhibitors (PIs). Subtyping in the V3 region was performed using heteroduplex mobility assay (HMA). In order to corroborate the HMA results, sequencing of env (C2-V3-C3) was done with one-third of the samples in each of the subtype groups detected by HMA. RESULTS: Out of the 103 samples, 81 of them (78.6%) were classified as subtype B, 19 (18.5%) as subtype A, and 3 (2.9%) as subtype C. The prevalence of resistance mutations was 26.2% to RTIs, none to PIs alone, and 3.9% to both categories of drugs. The prevalence of resistance to nucleoside RTIs (NRTIs) was 27.6% in treated patients and 7.4% in the untreated patients, and for nonnucleoside RTIs (NNRTIs) it was 5.3% and 0%, respectively. Among treated patients a low frequency (2.6%) of dual resistance to zidovudine (ZDV) plus lamivudine (3TC) and abacavir (ABC) was detected, and multidrug resistance to NRTIs was not found. In relation to PIs together with RTIs, the prevalence of resistance was 5.3% for treated patients and 0% for untreated patients. CONCLUSIONS: Even though Cuba is generally considered an area where subtype B is dominant, we detected a high proportion of non-B subtype viruses. The low prevalence of resistance mutations to RTIs and PIs reflects the delay in introducing these drugs to Cuba. Multidrug resistance to RTIs was not found, so, as of now, the use of these drugs continues to be an option for Cuban patients.


Subject(s)
Anti-HIV Agents/therapeutic use , Drug Resistance, Viral , HIV-1/drug effects , HIV-1/genetics , Cuba , Genotype , Humans , Mutation , Prevalence
4.
Hum Gene Ther ; 10(18): 2987-97, 1999 Dec 10.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-10609659

ABSTRACT

Huntington's disease (HD) is a genetic disorder leading to the degeneration of striatal GABA-ergic output neurons. No treatment is currently available for this devastating disorder, although several neurotrophic factors, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), have been shown to be beneficial for striatal neuron survival. We analyzed the effect of adenovirus-mediated transfer of the BDNF gene in a model of HD. Using a stereological procedure, three groups of rats were given an intrastriatal injection of adenovirus encoding BDNF, beta-galactosidase, or sham surgery. Two weeks after treatment, the animals were lesioned with quinolinic acid (QUIN), a toxin that induces striatal neuron death by an excitotoxic process. One month after the lesion, histological study revealed that striatal neurons were protected only in rats treated with the BDNF adenovirus. Volume measurements showed that the QUIN-induced lesions were 55% smaller in the BDNF adenovirus-treated group than in the beta-galactosidase adenovirus-treated group (p < 0.05), and the sham-treated group (p < 0.05). To determine the survival of striatal GABA-ergic output neurons after the QUIN-induced lesion, we immunostained brain sections with DARPP-32, an antibody specific for striatal output neurons. Prior treatment with the BDNF adenovirus resulted in a cell survival of 64%, whereas that after beta-galactosidase treatment was 46% (p < 0.05), showing that the BDNF adenovirus protected the striatal neurons. These results indicate that transfer of the BDNF gene is of therapeutic value for Huntington's disease.


Subject(s)
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor/physiology , Corpus Striatum/pathology , Gene Transfer Techniques , Huntington Disease/therapy , Adenoviridae/genetics , Animals , Base Sequence , Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor/genetics , DNA Primers , Disease Models, Animal , Female , Genetic Therapy , Genetic Vectors , Huntington Disease/pathology , Neurons/pathology , Rats , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Recombinant Proteins/genetics
5.
Sangre (Barc) ; 44(5): 352-6, 1999 Oct.
Article in Spanish | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-10618912

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To measure the capability of heat (60 degrees C for 10 hr) and low pH to inactivate BVDV (a model of HCV) in human intravenous immunoglobulins. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out on three batches of immunoglobulins produced by the Cohn method and contaminated with a known amount of BVDV. These mixtures, with and without 33% sorbitol, were submitted to heat treatment at 60 degrees C for 10 hours. The same immunoglobulin batches were manufactured at pH 4.25 and 4.5 and stored at 4 degrees C and 4 degrees C and 21 degrees C for 28 days. Samples of the two experiments were taken at the beginning and the end. The viral infectiousness was calculated by the standard microtiration method in 96-well plates, using the CPE, and the reduction factor was measured for each experiment. RESULTS: Complete viral inactivation was achieved with the heat treatment after 4 hours, and the 33% sorbitol decreased the formation of aggregates. Treatment by pH 4.5, at 21 degrees C for 28 days, decreased the viral load by approximately 2 log; no viral inactivation was achieved in samples stored at 4 degrees C. CONCLUSION: Heat is an effective method for inactivating HCV in final batches of human intravenous immunoglobulins when 33% sorbitol is added. The use of low pH at 21 degrees C as a method of viral inactivation must be evaluated case by case, since, according to the present results, it only achieved a 2 log inactivation.


Subject(s)
Diarrhea Viruses, Bovine Viral , Hot Temperature , Hydrogen-Ion Concentration , Immunoglobulins, Intravenous/isolation & purification , Sterilization/methods , Animals , Cattle , Cell Line , Chromatography, Ion Exchange , Cold Temperature , Diarrhea Viruses, Bovine Viral/drug effects , Diarrhea Viruses, Bovine Viral/isolation & purification , Diarrhea Viruses, Bovine Viral/physiology , Hepacivirus , Humans , Protein Denaturation , Safety , Sorbitol/pharmacology , Viral Load , Viral Proteins/chemistry , Viral Proteins/drug effects , Virus Cultivation , Virus Replication/drug effects
6.
Rev Cubana Med Trop ; 49(1): 28-31, 1997.
Article in Spanish | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-9685957

ABSTRACT

It is reported the evaluation of the DAVIH-BLOT system (DAVIH Laboratories, Cuba) against the proficiency panels sent to the National AIDS Reference Laboratory by the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to ensure the quality in the diagnosis of HIV antibodies during 1989, 1991 and 1993. The system is also compared with those of the Dupont and Diagnostic Pasteur firms in a group of 467 positive sera by ELISA. On studying the WHO's samples, the system proved to be highly sensitive and specific. In the comparison made with the HIV-1 Western Blot IgG version 1.2 (Dupont company, USA) and with the LAV-blot 1 (Diagnostic Pasteur, France), there was a coincidence of 100 and 97%, respectively.


Subject(s)
AIDS Serodiagnosis/methods , Blotting, Western/methods , HIV Antibodies/blood , HIV-1/immunology , Blotting, Western/standards , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Evaluation Studies as Topic , Humans , Quality Control , Reagent Kits, Diagnostic , Reference Standards , Sensitivity and Specificity
SELECTION OF CITATIONS
SEARCH DETAIL
...