Immune response clinical studies

Research on an hCG vaccine has been conducted over the past 15 years. WHO has conducted a phase I clinical study in AustraUa, using a vaccine based on a synthetic C-terminal peptide (109—141) of P-hCG conjugated to Diptheria Toxoid (CTP-DT), that showed potentially effective contraceptive levels of antibodies were produced in vaccinated women without any adverse side effects. Phase II clinical studies are under consideration to determine if the immune response, raised to its prototype anti-hCG vaccine, is capable of preventing pregnancy in fertile women volunteers (115). While research on the C-terminal peptide from the P-subunit of hCG has been carried out under the auspices of WHO, research supported by the Population Council and the National Institutes of Health has involved two alternative vaccine candidates (109,116,118). 

The major gap in clarifying the shape of the dose-response curve (i.e., between immune response and disease) is a lack of large scale epidemiological studies in populations with mild-to moderate immunodeficiency that have been monitored simultaneously for immune system parameters and clinical disease. Attempts in conducting such studies will be complicated by many non-immune factors which can affect infectious disease incidences. 

In our preliminary studies, we assessed the effects of morphine on infection susceptibility using a subcutaneous chamber model of Gram-negative sepsis. The subcutaneous chamber model was employed based on the well-characterized proinflammatory immune response involved in pathogenesis of the infection and its clinical relevance... 

Awareness of immunotoxicology was stimulated by a comprehensive review by Vos in 1977, in which he provided evidence that a broad spectrum of xenobiotics alter immune responses in laboratory animals and subsequently may affect the health of exposed individuals. Several additional reviews, as well as national and international scientific meetings, have reinforced these early observations. In several studies, alteration of immune function was accompanied by increased susceptibility to challenge with infectious agents or transplantable tumor cells, indicating the resulting immune dysfunction in altered host resistance. Clinical studies in humans exposed to xenobiotics have confirmed the parallelism with immune dysfunction observed in rodents. The latter sections in this volume describe studies with xenobiotics that resulted in immune modulation in rodents and man. 

T Cells May Contribute to the Defects in Innate Immune Response in Atopic Dermatitis Most patients with atopic dermatitis are colonized with S. aureus and experience exacerbation of their skin disease after infection with this organism [2]. In patients with S. aureus infection, treatment with anti-staphylococcal substances can result in the reduction of skin disease. Binding of S. aureus to the epidermis is enhanced by atopic skin inflammation. This is supported by clinical studies demonstrating that treatment with topical corticosteroids or tacrolimus reduces S. aureus counts in atopic dermatitis. 

Srinivasan et al. (2006) continuation of Srinivasan et al., 1996) Same study population 10 CD subjects who supplemented GFD with 50 g oats/day for 3 months Immune responses of in vitro duodenal mucosal culture treated with Abs against HLA D-related, Ki-67, CD25, CD54, ICAM-1, and mast cell tryptase None of the patients developed clinical or lab evidence of adverse effects Distribution of intestinal HLA-DR expression was not affected Number of CD25 and tryptase positive cells was not altered Distribution and intensity of ICAM-1 staining unchanged No evidence of immune activation from oats supplementation... 

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