Immune recovery was retrospectively analyzed in a cohort of 41 patients with acute leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome and nonmalignant diseases, who received αβ T- and B-cell-depleted allografts from ...haploidentical family donors. Conditioning regimens consisted of fludarabine or clofarabine, thiotepa, melphalan and serotherapy with OKT3 or ATG-Fresenius. Graft manipulation was carried out with anti-TCRαβ and anti-CD19 Abs and immunomagnetic microbeads. The γδ T cells and natural killer cells remained in the grafts. Primary engraftment occurred in 88%, acute GvHD (aGvHD) grades II and III-IV occurred in 10% and 15%, respectively. Immune recovery data were available in 26 patients and comparable after OKT3 (n=7) or ATG-F (n=19). Median time to reach >100 CD3+ cells/μL, >200 CD19+ cells/μL and >200 CD56+ cells/μL for the whole group was 13, 127 and 12.5 days, respectively. Compared with a historical control group of patients with CD34+ selected grafts, significantly higher cell numbers were found for CD3+ at days +30 and +90 (267 vs 27 and 397 vs 163 cells/μL), for CD3+4+ at day +30 (58 vs 11 cells/μL) and for CD56+ at day +14 (622 vs 27 cells/μL). The clinical impact of this accelerated immune recovery will be evaluated in an ongoing prospective multicenter trial.
Immune recovery was retrospectively analyzed in a cohort of 41 patients with acute leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome and nonmalignant diseases, who received alpha beta T- and B-cell-depleted ...allografts from haploidentical family donors. Conditioning regimens consisted of fludarabine or clofarabine, thiotepa, melphalan and serotherapy with OKT3 or ATG-Fresenius. Graft manipulation was carried out with anti-TCR alpha beta and anti-CD19 Abs and immunomagnetic microbeads. The gamma delta T cells and natural killer cells remained in the grafts. Primary engraftment occurred in 88%, acute GvHD (aGvHD) grades II and III-IV occurred in 10% and 15%, respectively. Immune recovery data were available in 26 patients and comparable after OKT3 (n=7) or ATG-F (n=19). Median time to reach >100 CD3+ cells/ mu L, >200 CD19+ cells/ mu L and >200 CD56+ cells/ mu L for the whole group was 13, 127 and 12.5 days, respectively. Compared with a historical control group of patients with CD34+ selected grafts, significantly higher cell numbers were found for CD3+ at days +30 and +90 (267 vs 27 and 397 vs 163 cells/ mu L), for CD3+4+ at day +30 (58 vs 11 cells/ mu L) and for CD56+ at day +14 (622 vs 27 cells/ mu L). The clinical impact of this accelerated immune recovery will be evaluated in an ongoing prospective multicenter trial.
Fundamental aspects of the influence of the nanomorphology in phase-separated conjugated polymer/fullerene bulk heterojunction blends are presented. A variety of experimental techniques were combined ...to resolve the structure of fullerene and polymer domains on the nanometer scale. As predicted theoretically, it is experimentally identified that the phase-separated domain size as well as the percolation of both hole- and electron-conducting phases is crucial to improve the power conversion efficiency of organic solar cell devices. Among the experimental techniques we applied atomic force microscopy (AFM), Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM, TEM). New insights are presented about the conformation and distribution of the conjugated polymer within the photoactive layer, which has a major impact on the device performance.
In the area of model-driven engineering, model transformations are proposed as the technique to systematically manipulate models. For increasing development productivity as well as quality of model ...transformations, reuse mechanisms are indispensable. Although numerous mechanisms have been proposed, no systematic comparison exists, making it unclear, which reuse mechanisms may be best employed in a certain situation. Thus, this paper provides an in-depth comparison of reuse mechanisms in model-to-model transformation languages and categorizes them along their intended scope of application. Finally, current barriers and facilitators to model transformation reuse are discussed.
After inheritance of chromosomally integrated HHV-6 (ciHHV-6), viral DNA is found in every nucleated cell. The prevalence of ciHHV-6 is estimated to be 0.2-5% of humans. There are conflicting data on ...the potential for replication, possibly leading to clinical implications. We analysed peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from individuals with ciHHV-6 proven by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for HHV-6-specific mRNA (U94, U42, U22) and antigens by means of reverse transcription PCR and an indirect immunoperoxidase staining. U94 transcripts indicative of latent infection were detected in six (54.5%) out of 11 individuals at least once. Transcripts indicative of lytic infection (i.e. U42 and U22) were detected in four (36.4%) out of 11 individuals at least once. HHV-6 antigen was detected in seven (70%) out of 10 individuals at least once. The presence of viral mRNA and proteins supports virus gene expression from ciHHV-6, which may lead to virus replication. Considering the properties of active HHV-6 infection together with obvious replicative activity in individuals with ciHHV-6, pathophysiological effects leading to clinical consequences of chromosomally integrated viral DNA might be considered.
To evaluate the human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) -specific immune response in individuals with chromosomally integrated HHV-6 (ciHHV-6), we measured HHV-6-antigen-specific cytokine responses ...(interferon-γ, interleukin-2, tumour necrosis factor-α) in T cells by flow cytometry in 12 and 16 individuals with and without ciHHV-6, respectively. All individuals with ciHHV-6 showed HHV-6-specific T cells with higher frequencies of HHV-6-specific CD8+ cells (0.03–14.93, median 2.15% of CD8+ cells) compared with non-ciHHV-6 (0.0–10.67, median 0.36%, p 0.026). The observed increased HHV-6-specific functionally active responses in individuals with ciHHV-6 clearly disprove speculations on immune tolerance in ciHHV-6 and indicate clinical and immunological implications of ciHHV-6.
Acanthamoeba is the causative agent of granulomatous amebic encephalitis, a rare and usually fatal disease. We report a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who developed brain abscesses caused by ...Acanthamoeba during induction therapy. Multimodal antimicrobial chemotherapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy resulted in complete resolution of symptoms and of pathology as seen by magnetic resonance imaging.
Chronic immune thrombocytopenia (cITP) is often associated with an underlying predisposition towards autoimmunity, recognition of which is relevant to guide treatment. International recommendations ...on diagnostic steps and therapeutic measures of cITP in childhood exist. However, due to the low prevalence (1-2/100,000) and a variation of availability of immunological and hematological tests and treatments across pediatric units, we postulated that these guidelines are not uniformly adhered to and that immune dysregulation syndromes remained undiscovered. To delineate the current management of children and adolescents with cITP in Austria, we performed a nationwide cross-sectional study. Between 2011 and 2014, 81 children with cITP were seen at seven centers (median age 8.75 years; range 1-17; female:male ratio 47:34) at 641 visits during 180 patient years after diagnosis of cITP (>12 months ITP duration). Additional diagnoses were noted, most frequently immune or autoimmune disorders, hematologic diseases, or infections (in 37.3%, including Evans syndrome, autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, and Fanconi anemia), or other symptoms like bi- or pancytopenia (n=9), lymphoproliferation or granulomatous inflammation (n = 3). Both decision to treat as well as choice of treatment varied: smaller centers tended to observe more frequently, larger centers applied a pattern of treatment modalities that appeared to depend less on bleeding tendency than on center policy. More than 50% of therapeutic interventions occurred in bleedings scores ≤2 (of 5), suggesting a strong psychosocial intention to treat. Platelet increment upon 479 therapeutic interventions of eight types was evaluated, with multiple treatment approaches being pursued sequentially in refractory patients. These data confirm the hypothesis of heterogeneous diagnostic and therapeutic management of cITP in Austrian children and corroborate the need for (1) a precise panel of parameters to exclude underlying disorders and (2) for biomarkers to predict treatment response.
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