Search

OBJECTIVES: Natalizumab is a drug with documented efficacy in relapsing?remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). The mechanism of action of natalizumab has immunosuppressive properties and it is not yet investigated if treatment with natalizumab affects the immunological response to vaccination. This study aims to investigate the humoral immune response to influenza vaccine while undergoing treatment with natalizumab. METHODS: A cohort of 17 RRMS patients treated with natalizumab and 10 healthy controls received trivalent influenza A/B vaccine. Influenza-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels were determined at baseline and after 4, 8, and 12 weeks. RESULTS: Both groups experienced a significant increase in anti-influenza B IgG after the vaccination. Both groups also experienced a smaller increase in anti-influenza A IgG, but this was only significant for the natalizumab group. The IgG titers compared between the groups did not differ significantly at any of the time points. DISCUSSION: These results indicate that vaccination against influenza in patients treated with natalizumab yields a humoral immune response comparable to that achieved in healthy individuals.

OBJECTIVE: To assess associations of Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium antibodies with epithelial ovarian tumors. METHODS: Plasma samples from 291 women, undergoing surgery due to suspected ovarian pathology, were analyzed with respect to C. trachomatis IgG and IgA, chlamydial Heat Shock Protein 60-1 (cHSP60-1) IgG and M. genitalium IgG antibodies. Women with borderline tumors (n=12), ovarian carcinoma (n=45), or other pelvic malignancies (n=11) were matched to four healthy controls each. RESULTS: Overall, there were no associations of antibodies with EOC. However, chlamydial HSP60-1 IgG antibodies were associated with type II ovarian cancer (P=.002) in women with plasma samples obtained >1 year prior to diagnosis (n=7). M. genitalium IgG antibodies were associated with borderline ovarian tumors (P=.01). CONCLUSION: Chlamydial HSP60-1 IgG and M. genitalium IgG antibodies are in this study associated with epithelial ovarian tumors in some subsets, which support the hypothesis linking upper-genital tract infections and ovarian tumor development.

Given our recent discoveries that the ocular human pathogens adenovirus serotype 37 and enterovirus serotype 70 use sialic acid linked to galactose via alpha2,3 glycosidic bonds as a cellular receptor, we propose that the presence of this receptor in the eye also explains the ocular tropism exhibited by zoonotic avian influenza A viruses such as subtype H5N1 in Hong Kong in 1997, H7N7 in the Netherlands in 2003, H7N2 in the USA in 2003, and H7N3 in Canada in 2004. We also draw attention to the implications this hypothesis may have for epizootic and zoonotic influenza, and the initiation of future pandemics.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis among both men and women seeking help at an infertility clinic, and to prospectively follow the effect of previous infection on pregnancy rates and pregnancy outcome after a long follow-up period (mean 37 months). METHODS: A total of 244 infertile couples was tested for C. trachomatis IgG antibodies, and IgG(+) couples were also tested for C. trachomatis DNA by PCR in a first-void urine sample. Study parameters were serology, PCR results, clinical diagnoses, treatments, pregnancy rates and pregnancy outcome. As controls, age-matched and spontaneously pregnant women were also tested with serology. RESULTS: The prevalence of IgG antibodies was 24.2, 20.1 and 15.6% among infertile women, infertile men and control women respectively. The prevalence of C. trachomatis DNA was 6.8 and 7.1% among tested women and men respectively. The presence of C. trachomatis IgG antibodies in women was related to tubal factor infertility (TFI) (P = 0.002). Decreased pregnancy rates were seen in couples where the man was IgG(+) (P = 0.005) with no relationship to TFI. Among women who achieved pregnancy, there was no difference in pregnancy outcome between IgG(+) or negative couples. CONCLUSIONS: C. trachomatis IgG antibodies in the man of the infertile couple was related to decreased pregnancy rates and to the presence of IgG antibodies in the woman. There was a high prevalence of asymptomatic persistent infections among infertile couples.

Real-time PCR was evaluated as a quantitative diagnostic method for Chlamydia pneumoniae infection using different respiratory samples. Real-time PCR had efficiency equal to or better than that of nested touchdown PCR. This study confirmed sputum as the best sampling material to detect an ongoing C. pneumoniae infection.