1,034 research outputs found
Broad and potent cross clade neutralizing antibodies with multiple specificities in the plasma of HIV-1 subtype C infected individuals.
Broadly Cross clade Neutralizing (BCN) antibodies are recognized as potential therapeutic tools and leads for the design of a vaccine that can protect human beings against various clades of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). In the present study, we screened plasma of 88 HIV-1 infected ART naïve individuals for their neutralization potential using a standard panel of 18 pseudoviruses belonging to different subtypes and different levels of neutralization. We identified 12 samples with good breadth of neutralization (neutralized >90% of the viruses). Four of these samples neutralized even the difficult-to-neutralize tier-3 pseudoviruses with great potency (GMT > 600). Analysis of neutralization specificities indicated that four samples had antibodies with multiple epitope binding specificities, viz. CD4-binding site (CD4BS), glycans in the V1/V2 and V3 regions and membrane proximal external region (MPER). Our findings indicate the strong possibility of identifying highly potent bNAbs with known or novel specificities from HIV-1 subtype C infected individuals from India that can be exploited as therapeutic tools or lead molecules for the identification of potential epitopes for design of a protective HIV-1 vaccine
Isoniazid concentrations in hair and plasma area-under-the-curve exposure among children with tuberculosis.
We measured hair and plasma concentrations of isoniazid among sixteen children with tuberculosis who underwent personal or video-assisted directly observed therapy and thus had 100% adherence. This study therefore defined typical isoniazid exposure parameters after two months of treatment among fully-adherent patients in both hair and plasma (plasma area under the concentration-time curve, AUC, estimated using pharmacokinetic data collected 0, 2, 4, and 6 hours after drug administration). We found that INH levels in hair among highly-adherent individuals did not correlate well with plasma AUC or trough concentrations, suggesting that each measure may provide incremental and complementary information regarding drug exposure in the context of TB treatment
Role of Interferon Gamma Release Assay in Active TB Diagnosis among HIV Infected Individuals
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected individuals. In this study, we assessed the sensitivity of Interferon gamma release
assay (IGRA) in active tuberculosis patients who were positive for HIV infection and compared it with that of tuberculin skin
test (TST).
Methodology/Principal Findings: A total of 105 HIV-TB patients who were naı¨ve for anti tuberculosis and anti retroviral
therapy were included for this study out of which 53 (50%) were culture positive. Of 105 tested, QuantiFERON-TB Gold intube
(QFT-G) was positive in 65% (95% CI: 56% to 74%), negative in 18% (95% CI: 11% to 25%) and indeterminate in 17%
(95% CI: 10% to 24%) of patients. The sensitivity of QFT-G remained similar in pulmonary TB and extra-pulmonary TB
patients. The QFT-G positivity was not affected by low CD4 count, but it often gave indeterminate results especially in
individuals with CD4 count ,200 cells/ml. All of the QFT-G indeterminate patients whose sputum culture were positive,
showed #0.25 IU/ml of IFN-c response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA). TST was performed in all the 105 patients and yielded
the sensitivity of 31% (95% CI: 40% to 22%). All the TST positives were QFT-G positives. The sensitivity of TST was decreased,
when CD4 cell counts declined.
Conclusions/Significance: Our study shows neither QFT-G alone or in combination with TST can be used to exclude the
suspicion of active TB disease. However, unlike TST, QFT-G yielded fewer false negative results even in individuals with low
CD4 count. The low PHA cut-off point for indeterminate results suggested in this study (#0.25 IU/ml) may improve the
proportion of valid QFT-G results
Laboratory diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis (Editorial)
Tuberculosis in childhood occurs with
different manifestations. All these forms of
tuberculosis, except when cavitation occurs
in pulmonary tuberculosis, are paucibacillary
in nature. For this reason, even though at the
present time bacteriological confirmation is
still the final proof of tuberculous disease, it
is difficult to obtain. Depending on the form
of disease manifestation, several specimens
like sputum and/or gastric lavage, as children
are often unable to produce sputum,
lymphnodes and other biopsy specimens,
pus, ascitic fluid, pleural or cerebrospinal
fluid (CSF) need to be collected. If delay is
anticipated, biopsy specimens may be
collected in suitable transport medium for
sending it to laboratory
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