Webmedcentral - Immunology ArticlesThe Immunology articles published by Webmedcentral
http://www.webmedcentral.com
2024-03-28T21:52:30+01:00webmedcentral logo
http://www.webmedcentral.com/
http://www.webmedcentral.com/images/Header_Logo.giftext/html2010-09-27T07:15:37+01:00http://www.webmedcentral.com/Dr. Harinder JasejaImmuno-prophylaxis against development of cardiac valvular complications in patients with rheumatic fever: A proposed method
http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/758
Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a serious medical condition recognized as an immunologically mediated complication of rheumatic fever with an autoimmune component due to molecular mimicry between the bacterial antigens and certain body tissues. In view of the prevalence and seriousness of the disorder, its prophylaxis assumes high significance and serious concern. The current attempts at the prevention of RHD do not appear very promising and effective. This brief paper postulates an immunomodulated prophylactic measure aimed to decrease the magnitude and intensity of the antigenic stimulation by the beta-hemolyticus group A streptococcus and body tissues which share heterophilic antigenecity between themselves in a hope to minimize heart damage and also prevent or delay the progression of the disease itself.text/html2010-10-27T12:57:10+01:00http://www.webmedcentral.com/Dr. Poonam - SinghPsychoneuro Immunology (p.n.i) Of Stress
http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/1080
Considerable evidence demonstrating a relationship between stress and immune function is accumulating and a complex chain of biologic and psychologic processes are involved. An extensive network of central nervous system and endocrine system processes may be involved in the modulation of the immune system in response to stressors.text/html2010-09-25T13:10:27+01:00http://www.webmedcentral.com/Prof. Hari Mohan SaxenaA Possible Mechanism of Abrogating Progression of Web Beyond Anti-Idiotypic Antibody and a Non Traditional Pathway of Complement Activation
http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/749
The progression of immune response is currently believed to give rise to anti-anti-idiotypic antibodies. This new hypothesis offers an explanation for the termination or abrogation of potentially endless progression of immune response after the elimination of antigen from the system.text/html2011-02-23T18:19:47+01:00http://www.webmedcentral.com/Mr. Obed N GoselleCorrelation Between Intestinal Protozoan Infection and Diarrhea in HIV/AIDS Patients
http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/1574
From May to December, 2006, stool samples from 900 patients attending four hospitals in Abuja, Nigeria were collected and examined for the presence of intestinal protozoan. The aim of the study was to determine if correlation exists between intestinal protozoan infection and diarrhea in HIV/AIDS patients. Of the 900 individuals sampled, 700 were HIV seropositive while 200 were seronegative. A significant difference (P.KEYWORDS: Intestinal protozoan, HIV/AIDS, Diarrhea, Abuja-Nigeria.text/html2011-08-09T18:57:48+01:00http://www.webmedcentral.com/Prof. Krupanidhi SreeramaThe Natural Killer Cell - \'Missing-Self\' Recognition Strategy
http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/2068
The immune system is a built-in defense mechanism, which continuously monitors invading pathogens in all living organisms and keeps them physiologically fit. Both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system are involved in this process of tolerating ‘self’ and targeting ‘non-self’ cells and their respective cellular antigens. Innate immunity is the first line of host defense and it is specialized in counteracting cancer cells and virally infected cells. In this line, natural killer (NK) cells form an important component. The ‘self’ is bestowed on the organism by embedding MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) molecules on the cell membrane. The loss or down-regulation of self-MHC class I molecules is sufficient to induce NK cell sensitivity. This is a simple rule for ‘one’ of the recognition strategies of NK cells according to the ‘missing-self hypothesis’. It provided a basic platform of predictions for further conceptual development in the area of NK cell biology.text/html2011-11-04T07:17:25+01:00http://www.webmedcentral.com/Dr. Okom OfodileToll-like Receptors (TLRs) and Prion Disease: Relevance to Pathology and Novel Therapy
http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/2410
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) or prion diseases are a group of chronic, fatal neurodegenerative disorders of humans and animals, which have the unique property of being infectious, sporadic or genetic in origin. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, scrapie (Sc) in sheep and goats, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle are typical prion diseases. Classical CJD can be considered as sporadic, infectious or familial, whereas the new variant of CJD (nvCJD) is considered a BSE derived human disease. The exact pathogenic mechanisms and the exact nature of the infectious agent of this disorder remain uncertain, however, it is largely believed that an abnormal form ( PrPSc) of a host cellular prion protein (PrPc) may compose the substantial parts of the infectious agent and that various factors such as oxidative stress, inflammation, perturbation of glutamatergic homeostasis, over-reactivity of the localized innate immune system of the brain, and microbial attack are implicated in the pathogenesis of PrD. Until very recently the signal-transducing receptors that trigger the acute inflammatory cascade have been elusive. However, this enigma has been recently elucidated with the discovery of a transmembrane receptor protein family, designated, Toll-like receptors (TLRs). TLRs are a family of highly conserved, germline-encoded transmembrane receptors that recognize conserved products of a variety of pathogen-derived molecular patterns (PAMPs), such as lipoteichoic acids(LTA), lipopolysaccharide (LPS), peptodoglycan (PGN), flagellin, unmethylated DNA with CpG motifs, viral double- stranded (ds) RNA and other components of microbial cell walls. In the last decade, advances in understanding mammalian host immune responses to microbial invasion suggest that the first line of defense against microbes is the recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) by the Toll-like receptors (TLRs). TLRs mediate the recognition of PAMPs and inflammatory responses to a wide range of microbial products and they are crucial for effective host defense. Recent discoveries revealed that TLRs also have important role in recognizing and regulating responses to endogenous stimuli, such as heat shock proteins, necrotic cells, extracellular matrix breakdown products, and small synthetic molecules. Importantly, rapidly accumulating data have implicated the TLRs in the development and resolution of pathology in a wide range of neurological conditions. With regard to the aforementioned observations, and coupled, with the margins of what we now understand about the biology and activities of Toll-like receptors, it is conceivable to suggest that these receptor proteins, the TLRs, may play important role to play in the pathology of prion disease. Hence, elucidation and understanding the cellular and molecular basis responsible for both the biochemical and molecular alterations associated with the interactions between the TLRs and pathogenic agent(s), and the key processes of the pathogenic pathways in TSE pathology, and interactions between, and the interdependence of, the innate and adaptive immune responses may open a new dimension to understanding prion diseases.text/html2011-11-29T16:52:30+01:00http://www.webmedcentral.com/Prof. Krupanidhi SreeramaLessons from Immunogenetics Unfold Inherent Demographic Health Issues
http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/2500
The human population is diverse and adapted to all sorts of lifestyles in the tropical, subtropical and temperate zones. This is made possible not only due to food habits but also due to the tolerance and molecular acquaintances with the microbial world around us. In consequence, the species Homo sapiens is bestowed with immune-related genes such as HLA, TLR and KIR and their allelic polymorphism are being nurtured through the selection pressure and in turn they are protecting the host?s cellular and organ systems. The awards of 2011 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine further reinforced the importance of innate immune potential and their uniformity among a wide range of species. Genotyping of immune-related genes and recording of their frequencies in the local populations provide us significant clues to upkeep their role in the survival advantage of Homo sapiens despite several periodic pandemic outbursts of pathogens.Keywords: Immunogenetics, HLA, TLR, KIRtext/html2011-12-31T10:32:37+01:00http://www.webmedcentral.com/Prof. Valentin ShichkinImmune Response of IL-4-Knockout Mice to Low-Dose Immunization with Autologous IL-4
http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/2826
The immune response in IL-4-knockout mice to murine interleukin-4 (IL-4) at immunization doses in range of 1-10 μg was evaluated. Different adjuvants, anti-IL-4 carrier antibodies, and cross-activation monoclonal antibodies were used in immunization protocols. Antibody titers were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. At the immunization with 1 μg and 10 μg of IL-4 at the total doses of 18-20 μg antibody titers were very low or indefinable. The data presented here demonstrate that the use of low dose immunization in range of 1-10 μg of autologous IL-4 still is not enough to stimulate the sufficient level of immune response even in the presence of cross-activating monoclonal antibodies and combined immunization protocols.text/html2012-02-27T07:00:53+01:00http://www.webmedcentral.com/Dr. Ilko BakardzhievRelationship between the T-cell Diversity and the Defence Polymorphism among Classical Populational Morphs and their Interbreeding Town-village Hybrid Offspring
http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/3091
The problem of creating an easy, quick, field, mass screening, in vivo discrimination test is still on the agenda. We believe that such potential has the phytohemagglutinin- histamin (PHA-H) intradermal method of Zhukov et al. (1984). This method reveals not only the normal immunomodulatotor (Th/Ts) index (NIMI) and Th2 activity, but also the identification of normally occuring T-regulatory cells (nTregs). This study aims to check this hypothesis among 672 young navy sailors, coming from classical populational morphs(CPMs): hereditary villagers and hereditary town dwellers.This is a randomized longitudinal populational follow- up study (RLPFS) with a 10-year duration (2000- 2009). This RLPFS has the highest known reliability compared to cross sectional studies and proves that thePHA-H in vivo test after Zhukov et al. (1984) is a quick, convenient and reliable mass screening T-cell discrimination method. From the position of a common denominator such as general outcome of health / disease (H/D) response ratio the CPMs are dramatically (H/D) dominated by NIMI(44,4% vs.29,2 %) and are epigenetically harmonized and coadapted PGPs (60 % vs. 40 %), compared to the reverse ratio (40,9% vs. 59,1 %) for the town-village hybrid, which actually is an abridged version of the Western hybrid societies. The latter are in much more difficult disadaptive position since they are in a phase of detrimental reflexive (hybrid?hybrid) mating.text/html2012-04-05T15:00:11+01:00http://www.webmedcentral.com/Mr. John K OngondaOccurrence of Stromal Derived Factor-1 Polymorphism In Kenyan Population
http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/1556
Genetic polymorphism in chemokine receptors and coreceptor genes influences susceptibility to HIV-1 infection and disease progression. The mutated Stromal Derived Factor-1 3A`/3A` (SDF-1 3’A) competes with the virus for the coreceptor site Cystein-X-cystein receptor 4 (CXCR4) on the CD4+ T-cells therefore down-regulating evolution of non-syncytial to syncytial induction during HIV-1 progression. Two hundred whole blood samples were collected from eight provinces of Kenya and analysed at the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Nairobi. Detection of SDF-1 gene polymorphism was done by extraction of proviral DNA from whole blood and the SDF-1 target gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction using gene-specific primers. The different SDF-1 gene polymorphisms were detected by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism and gel electrophoresis. Chi-square test was used to test for the significance in the distributions of these polymorphism. The relationship between the frequency of SDF-1 mutation and HIV prevalence was analysed using Pearson’s product moment of correlation coefficient (r). This study showed the presence of the stromal derived factor-1 polymorphism in Kenyan population with an average of 6.6% for the double mutant, 20.7% for heterozygous and 73.7% for the wild type. There was no correlation between the HIV-1 prevalence and the SDF-1 distribution in Kenya. These results will form a foundation for further research in Kenya given that double mutants had been found to resist HIV-1 infection or show good response to anti-retroviral drugs. The researchers can therefore incorporate genetics in the treatment of HIV-1.Keywords: Stromal derived factor-1, Mutations, Coreceptors, HIV, PCR, RFLPRFLP