The Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1), the causative agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), was described for the first time in 1983 [1, 2]. In the meantime, various classes of anti-retroviral drugs have been developed and combination therapy has improved the quality of life for millions of people affected. At the end of 2010 more than 34 million people were living with HIV infection worldwide [3]. Despite the increased access to antiretroviral therapy, an extensive treatment gap persists between the low-/middle-income countries and well-developed ones. This resulted in 1.8 million HIV related deaths and 2.6 million newly infected persons in 2009 [3]. Even for those who have access to treatment, there is no cure, as current therapy regimens cannot eradicate the virus. Therefore, the control and ultimate eradication of this pathogen remains one of the most important challenges in today’s biomedical research.
Fungal infections, also called mycoses, are important causes of morbidity and mortality in humans. Some fungal infections are endemic, and these infections are usually caused by fungi that are present in the environment and whose spores enter humans. Other fungal infections are said to be opportunistic because the causative agents cause mild or no disease in healthy individuals but may infect and cause severe disease in immunodeficient persons. The human airway is continuously open to the nonsterile environment where fungal spores have the potential to reach lung tissue and produce disease. In the immunocompromised host, many fungi, including species of fungi typically considered nonpathogenic, have the potential to cause serious morbidity and mortality. Over the last several decades the advent of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic and the increasing use of immunosuppressive drugs for serious medical conditions have dramatically increased the number of persons who are severely immunocompromised. In addition, the range and diversity of fungi that cause disease have broadened. Although Candida and Aspergillus species continue to be the fungal pathogens that most frequently cause invasive fungal disease in immunocompromised persons overall, infections due to previously uncommon hyaline and dematiaceous filamentous fungi are being reported with increasing frequency. This is significant because, despite marked advances in antifungal therapy, infections caused by opportunistic fungal infections (rare and emerging) continue to be associated with high morbidity, high mortality, and poor patient outcomes. This results from a combination of drug-resistant strains, lack of robust clinical studies evaluating treatments, and severe underlying diseases in the patient [2].
Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a lymphoid neoplasm first described by Thomas Hodgkin in 1832 and subsequently by Samuel Wilks in 1865 (1,2). Greenfield (1878), Sternberg (1879) and Reed (1902) are credited with the earliest descriptions of the pathological characteristics of the disease (3,4,5). In has now become clear that the Reed-Sternberg cell is derived from clonal B-cells, more specifically post-germinal center B-cells, giving credence to the malignant nature of the disease, and hence the preferred term of Hodgkin’s lymphoma –HL, instead of Hodgkin’s disease (6).
As for acquired immunodeficiency, in 2006, UNAIDS and the World Health Organization estimated that approximately 39.5 million people were living with HIV.That year alone, there were 4.3 million new infections, with the majority occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.HIV targets T cells, and in particular, T helper cells, which are critical to fighting infections caused by fungi and parasites.This is why people with advanced, untreated AIDS develop unusual infections such as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and Toxoplasmosis gondii.Since transplanted organs such as kidneys, hearts, livers, and lungs are foreign bodies, recipients' immune systems must be permanently suppressed to prevent them from attacking and destroying the organs.More than 19,000 transplants are performed in the United States each year.Each month, approximately 3,700 people are added to the U.S. national transplant waiting list, and each day, 77 people receive organ transplants.The breakthrough in transplant technology occurred in 1983 when cyclosporine, a powerful immunosuppressive drug, became licensed.However, even with cyclosporine, transplanted organs typically only last around 10 years before needing to be replaced.Research efforts to
FIV causes immune dysfunctions in cats similar to those observed in people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Diseases associated with FeLV and FIV may affect some organ, and may cause among other disorders, lymphoma, blood dyscrasias, alterations in the function of central nervous system, and secondary and opportunistic infections, with a significant number of opportunistic pathogens of viral, bacterial, protozoal, and fungal origin. Therefore, infected animals may play a role in transmission of various pathogens to human beings.
Specific antibody deficiency (SAD) is a common antibody immunodeficiency defined as a poor antibody response to unconjugated pneumococcal polysccharides present in the 23valent pneumococcal vaccine (PPV23). Clinical manifestations of specific antibody deficiency include recurrent sinopulmonary infections, such as sinusitis, otitis media, bronchitis, and pneumonia. All immunoglobulin concentrations, including IgG subclasses, are normal, and antibody response to protein antigens (eg, tetanus toxoid, diphtheria toxoid) and the conjugate H influenzae b vaccine are also normal in most patients. [11, 44, 56] In some patients with SAD, the response to the pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV7, PCV10, and PCV13) is also normal.
© 2012 Tozon et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) Infection in Cats: A Possible Cause of Renal Pathological Changes
© 2012 Smith et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Simian-Human Immunodeficiency Viruses and Their Impact on Non-Human Primate Models for AIDS
© 2012 Whitaker et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. What I Knew was What I Learnt on the Street! Irish Drug Using Sex Workers Accounts of How They Contracted HIV and Hepatitis C
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) evolved into a pandemic in less than a decade since the first reports of a new set of symptoms that included severe opportunistic infections and unusual neoplasms, particularly Kaposi's sarcoma, in homosexual men [1]. Nearly 30 years since the discovery of the causative agent [2, 3], human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cannot still be eradicated, nor is there sight of a safe and effective prophylactic vaccine in the horizon. Infection with either virus type invariably leads to AIDS; however, the less pathogenic HIV-2 stains have been geographically restricted mainly to West Africa, whilst the more virulent HIV-1 strains have spread around the globe causing the AIDS pandemic [4]. The worst afflicted region is sub-Saharan Africa, where in a few countries more than one in five adults is infected with the virus; at the same time, the epidemic is spreading most rapidly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where the number of people living with HIV increased by 250% between 2001 and 2010 [5]. Worldwide, an estimated 34 million people, including 3.4 million children, were living with HIV at the end of 2010, while the related deaths and new infections were 1.8 and 2.7 million, respectively [5].
Recently we reported a protocol for producing DCs from monocytes by use of gaspermeable Teflon bags and serum-free medium (15).We have used in the present study this
MicroRNAs are small (22 nucleotides), noncoding, double-stranded RNA molecules, that can regulate gene expression primarily by reducing the abilities of specific mRNAs to be transduced to their encoded proteins. The first recognized miRNA found in 1993 is lin-4, that controls the cell fate at larval stages in Caenorhabditis elegans [1, 2]. Bioinformatic approaches suggested that the mammalian miRNA repertoire is involved in regulation of 30% of all protein-encoding genes [3].
In developed countries, the management and treatment of HIV-1 infection was revolutionised after the introduction of combined anti-viral therapy (cART) in 1996. The major outcome was the reduction of AIDS and AIDS-related deaths (1). Such was the success of cART, that now more than 50% of deaths in HIV positive patients on cART are not directly related to HIV infection or AIDS (1-3). The D:A:D (data collection on adverse events of anti-HIV drugs) study demonstrated that liver disease had become the commonest cause of a non-AIDS related death overtaking cardiovascular disease (2). Given the similar transmission routes, unsurprisingly nearly two-thirds of deaths were secondary to chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, 17% secondary to chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and 3% due drug-induced liver injury related to cART (2). Other liver-related aetiologies amongst HIV positive individuals include alcohol, non-alcohol related liver disease (NAFLD), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (Table 1). HIV positive patients present with the same clinical sequelae of chronic liver disease as their HIV negative counterparts but tend to present at a younger age but with a markedly reduced survival rate after the first episode of decompensation (4). In HIV-positive patients with compensated cirrhosis an increased mortality rate is associated with age > 50 years, MELD score > 11 and poor control of HIV disease (5).
Multiple intestinal atresias (MIA) is a severe form of intestinal atresias throughout the gastrointestinal tract. In two reports, MIA have been associated with severe immunodeficiency. We report a newborn girl who had profound humoral and B cell immunodeficiency and impaired T cell function. The patient had agammaglobulinemia and decreased blood lymphocytes, with virtually no B cells in the blood or in intestinal lymph nodes. T cells were reduced in number and weakly proliferated to mitogens. These data suggest that a syndrome involving the development of MIA is associated with various forms of severe immunodeficiency, and therefore newborns with MIA should be examined for immunodeficiency.
We have previously described a new type of selective T-cell deficiency (STD) characterized by persistent infections reminiscent of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). We show here that STD patients carry a mutation of zap-70 resulting in a loss of the activity of this kinase. The thymus of zap-70-/- patients shows the presence of CD4CD8 double positive cells in the cortex, however, only CD4 but not CD8 single positive cells are present in the medulla. Peripheral CD4+ T cells from the zap-70-/- exhibit markedly reduced tyrosine phosphorylation, fail to produce IL-2, and do not proliferate in response to TCR stimulation by mitogens or antigens. Thus Zap-70 kinase appears to be indispensable for the development of CD8 single positive T cells as well as for signal transduction and function of single positive CD4 T cells.
