Immunodeficiency News and Research

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Immunodeficiency (or immune deficiency) is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious disease is compromised or entirely absent.

First genome sequence of XDR strain of the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis

An international collaboration led by researchers in the US and South Africa today announced the first genome sequence of an extensively drug resistant (XDR) strain of the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, one linked to more than 50 deaths in a recent tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

21 Nov 2007

New explanation for how regulatory networks of genes evolved

When ancient retroviruses slipped bits of their DNA into the primate genome millions of years ago, they successfully preserved their own genetic legacy.

15 Nov 2007

Testing delays cause severe AIDS complications

Despite the availability of life-saving antiretroviral treatment, people infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) continue to die and suffer from complications of AIDS, mainly due to delayed diagnosis and initiation of treatment.

5 Nov 2007

AIDS first came to the U.S. from Haiti almost 40 years ago

According to the latest research, the AIDS virus invaded the United States from Haiti, sometime around 1969, it then flourished and spread worldwide

30 Oct 2007

HIV combination antiretroviral drug therapy key to saving the lives of African children

Letting nurses and other trained health care workers deliver that therapy and monitor patients, especially when doctors are in short supply, is just as important to saving lives, according to a new study by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

24 Oct 2007

Critical need for earlier diagnosis and referral of HIV-infected children in Africa

Care provided by nurses and other clinicians in primary health care settings in sub-Saharan Africa can result in good outcomes for children with HIV infection.

22 Oct 2007

Good outcomes possible for HIV-infected children in Africa enrolled in pediatric treatment programs

Care provided by nurses and other clinicians in primary health care settings in sub-Saharan Africa can result in good outcomes for children with HIV infection.

22 Oct 2007

New model helps explain rules governing the transmission of microbes

Many of the most successful microbes are those that inhabit but do not kill their host. Cheaters lose. Tuberculosis settles into the lungs. Helicobacter pylori, the microbe causing ulcers, burrows into the stomach where it thrives on acids. And Salmonella typhi takes up residence in the gallbladder. All of these organisms can persist in our bodies for decades. What explains their success?

18 Oct 2007

FDA approves raltegravir new HIV drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved raltegravir tablets for treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-1 infection in combination with other antiretroviral agents in treatment-experienced adult patients who have evidence of viral replication and HIV-1 strains resistant to multiple antiretroviral agents.

17 Oct 2007

Feline virus, antiviral drug studied to understand drug resistance

Researchers at Ohio State will spend the next two years testing their theories about just how an AIDS-like virus in cats is able to resist the powerful medicines that are thrown against it.

10 Oct 2007

Specific immune deficiency pinpointed as likely cause of ulcerative colitis

In a series of mouse experiments, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have pinpointed a specific immune deficiency as the likely fundamental cause of ulcerative colitis, a chronic, sometimes severe inflammatory disease of the colon or large intestine that afflicts half a million Americans.

4 Oct 2007

HIV positive employees face job loss and workplace discrimination

HIV positive employees face unemployment and workplace discrimination, indicates a study published ahead of print in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

3 Oct 2007

DNA damage response confers a barrier for viral tumorigenesis

Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) is a human tumor virus and an etiological agent for Kaposi's sarcoma (KS).

27 Sep 2007

Acute loss of intestinal CD4+ T cells is not predictive of SIV virulence

A sudden loss of T cells -- white blood cells crucial to the immune system -- is not the trigger for the onset of AIDS, according to a study published in the September 2007 issue of the Journal of Immunology by a team of researchers at Tulane National Primate Research Center.

24 Sep 2007

Discovery of cause of Job's syndrome

The rare immunodeficiency disorder known as Job's syndrome is caused by a specific genetic mutation that both overstimulates and understimulates the human immune system, leading to harmful bacterial and fungal infections and the physical features characteristic of the syndrome, according to two independent groups of scientists, one from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the other from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University.

20 Sep 2007

Pregnancy appears to cut risks for HIV-infected women

Women with HIV infection who become pregnant have a lower risk of progression to AIDS and death, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center report.

13 Sep 2007

HIV patients with declining platelet counts appear to be at increased risk for HIV-associated dementia

Therapies leading to longer life for HIV patients have paradoxically increased the prevalence of this condition. Identifying biological markers for the development of HIV–associated dementia is critical both for diagnosing the disorder and for understanding its underlying mechanisms.

11 Sep 2007

New insights into the complexity of HIV/AIDS

Three related papers published in the Sept. 1 edition of The Journal of Immunology provide key new insights into the complexity of HIV/AIDS. Don Sodora, Ph.D., a principal investigator in SBRI's Viral Vaccines Program who recently joined SBRI from the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, is senior author on one of three papers that collectively show CD4 T-cell depletion, a critical symptom of AIDS, is likely a part of a multifaceted scenario that triggers disease rather than the only cause.

10 Sep 2007

Study identifies osteopontin as a key player in the body's immune response to chronic stress

Osteopontin (OPN), a protein molecule involved in many different cellular processes, plays a significant role in immune deficiency and organ atrophy following chronic physiological stress, resulting in increased susceptibility to illness.

4 Sep 2007

FDA approves Acambis smallpox vaccine

Acambis plc (Acambis) has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its ACAM2000 (Smallpox (Vaccinia) Vaccine, Live) vaccine for protection against smallpox.

4 Sep 2007