Viruses and thyroiditis: an update

Viral infections are frequently cited as a major environmental factor involved in subacute thyroiditis and autoimmune thyroid diseases This review examines the data related to the role of viruses in the development of thyroiditis

Addressing Therapeutic Options for Ebola Virus Infection in Current and Future Outbreaks

Ebola virus can cause severe hemorrhagic disease with high fatality rates. Currently, no specific therapeutic agent or vaccine has been approved for treatment and prevention of Ebola virus infection of humans. Although the number of Ebola cases has fallen in the last few weeks, multiple outbreaks of Ebola virus infection and the likelihood of future exposure highlight the need for development and rapid evaluation of pre- and postexposure treatments. Here, we briefly review the existing and future options for anti-Ebola therapy, based on the data coming from rare clinical reports, studies on animals, and results from in vitro models. We also project the mechanistic hypotheses of several potential drugs against Ebola virus, including small-molecule-based drugs, which are under development and being tested in animal models or in vitro using various cell types. Our paper discusses strategies toward identifying and testing anti-Ebola virus properties of known and medically approved drugs, especially those that can limit the pathological inflammatory response in Ebola patients and thereby provide protection from mortality. We un- derline the importance of developing combinational therapy for better treatment outcomes for Ebola patients

Programing of the autoimmune diabetogenic response in the thymus during fetal and perinatal life

The presentation of self-peptides in the thymus is responsible both for negative selection of self-reactive T cells emerging during stochastic TCR recombination in fetal life, as well as positive selection of self-specific regulatory thymic T (tTreg) cells during and after perinatal life. The combination of these two sequential processes programs central self-tolerance, a fundamental property of the adaptive immune system. A defect in intrathymic self-presentation, either genetic or acquired, is the earliest event in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity already during fetal development. This defect is necessary but not sufficient for the appearance of a classical autoimmune disease like type 1 diabetes (T1D). Environmental factors are required for activation of the diabetogenic autoimmune response that targets insulin-secreting β cells in pancreatic Langerhans’ islets. Based on epidemiological studies, viral infections have been suspected for a long time to be one of those environmental factors. In this Debate article, we present a series of experimental data that support the hypothesis that, following vertical transplacental transfer, viruses might infect the fetal thymus and disturb already in utero central self-tolerance orchestrated by this organ

Viruses and Type 1 Diabetes: Focus on the Enteroviruses

Pollution & threats to the environmen

Enhancing and neutralizing anti-coxsackievirus activities in serum samples from patients prior to development of type 1 diabetes

Abstract Studies in prospective cohorts have suggested that enterovirus infections are associated with the appearance of islet autoantibodies that precede later appearance of type 1 diabetes (T1D). It was shown that in addition to an antibody-mediated anti-coxsackievirus (CV)-B neutralizing activity of serum from patients with T1D, there was also enhancing anti-CV-B activity in vitro. In this study the patterns of enhancing and neutralizing anti-CV activities were analyzed from consecutive serum samples collected from children who were followed from birth until they developed T1D in the Finnish Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) study and compared to those in non-diabetic control children. The titers of serum neutralizing activity were analyzed against those CVs which were detected in the stools in these children (CV-B3, CV-B5 or CV-A4) using plaque assay. The enhancing activity of these serum samples was analysed by measuring interferon-alpha (INF-α) production in cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) inoculated with a mixture of these viruses and diluted serum. A sustained anti-CV enhancing activity was observed in consecutive serum samples in patients with T1D. The pattern of responses differed between children who developed T1D and control children. In patients, the anti-CV enhancing activity was predominant or even exclusive over the neutralizing activity, whereas in controls the enhancing and neutralizing activities were more balanced or the neutralizing activity was largely predominant. In conclusion, evaluating the anti-enterovirus neutralizing and enhancing activity of serum samples can be useful to investigate further the relationship between enteroviruses and the development of T1D. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Enhancing and neutralizing anti-coxsackievirus activities in serum samples from patients prior to development of type 1 diabetes

Abstract Studies in prospective cohorts have suggested that enterovirus infections are associated with the appearance of islet autoantibodies that precede later appearance of type 1 diabetes (T1D). It was shown that in addition to an antibody-mediated anti-coxsackievirus (CV)-B neutralizing activity of serum from patients with T1D, there was also enhancing anti-CV-B activity in vitro. In this study the patterns of enhancing and neutralizing anti-CV activities were analyzed from consecutive serum samples collected from children who were followed from birth until they developed T1D in the Finnish Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) study and compared to those in non-diabetic control children. The titers of serum neutralizing activity were analyzed against those CVs which were detected in the stools in these children (CV-B3, CV-B5 or CV-A4) using plaque assay. The enhancing activity of these serum samples was analysed by measuring interferon-alpha (INF-α) production in cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) inoculated with a mixture of these viruses and diluted serum. A sustained anti-CV enhancing activity was observed in consecutive serum samples in patients with T1D. The pattern of responses differed between children who developed T1D and control children. In patients, the anti-CV enhancing activity was predominant or even exclusive over the neutralizing activity, whereas in controls the enhancing and neutralizing activities were more balanced or the neutralizing activity was largely predominant. In conclusion, evaluating the anti-enterovirus neutralizing and enhancing activity of serum samples can be useful to investigate further the relationship between enteroviruses and the development of T1D. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Thymic self-antigens for the design of a negative/tolerogenic self-vaccination against type 1 diabetes.

Before being able to react against infectious non-self antigens, the immune system has to be educated in the recognition and tolerance of neuroendocrine proteins and this critical process takes place only in the thymus. The development of the autoimmune diabetogenic response results from a thymus dysfunction in programming central self-tolerance to pancreatic insulin-secreting islet β cells, leading to the breakdown of immune homeostasis with an enrichment of islet β-cell reactive effector T cells and a deficiency of β-cell specific natural regulatory T cells (nTregs) in the peripheral T-lymphocyte repertoire. Insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF-2) is the dominant member of the insulin family expressed during fetal life by the thymic epithelium under the control of the autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene/protein. The very low degree of insulin gene transcription in normal murine and human thymus explains why the insulin protein is poorly tolerogenic as evidenced in many studies, including the failure of all clinical trials that have attempted immune tolerance to islet β cells via various methods of insulin administration. Based on the close homology and cross-tolerance between insulin, the primary T1D autoantigen, and IGF-2, the dominant self-antigen of the insulin family, a novel type of vaccination, so-called “negative/tolerogenic self-vaccination”, is currently being developed for prevention and cure of T1D. If this approach were found to be effective for reprogramming immunological tolerance in T1D, it could pave the way for the design of other self-vaccines against autoimmune endocrine diseases, as well as other organ-specific autoimmune diseases.Tolediab - Eurothymaid

Effect of Coxsackievirus B4 Infection on the Thymus: Elucidating Its Role in the Pathogenesis of Type 1 Diabetes

peer reviewedThe thymus gland is a primary lymphoid organ for T-cell development. Various viral infections can result in disturbance of thymic functions. Medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) are important for the negative selection of self-reactive T-cells to ensure central tolerance. Insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) is the dominant self-peptide of the insulin family expressed in mTECs and plays a crucial role in the intra-thymic programing of central tolerance to insulin-secreting islet β-cells. Coxsackievirus B4 (CVB4) can infect and persist in the thymus of humans and mice, thus hampering the T-cell maturation and differentiation process. The modulation of IGF2 expression and protein synthesis during a CVB4 infection has been observed in vitro and in vivo in mouse models. The effect of CVB4 infections on human and mouse fetal thymus has been studied in vitro. Moreover, following the inoculation of CVB4 in pregnant mice, the thymic function in the fetus and offspring was disturbed. A defect in the intra-thymic expression of self-peptides by mTECs may be triggered by CVB4. The effects of viral infections, especially CVB4 infection, on thymic cells and functions and their possible role in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes (T1D) are presented

Confronting Potential Influenza A (H5N1) Pandemic with Better Vaccines

Better understanding of host-virus interaction is essential to produce effective vaccines against influenza (H5N1) viruses