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Over the past decade, there have been substantial advances in our understanding about how viral infections regulate asthma. Important lessons have been learned from birth cohort studies examining viral infections and subsequent asthma and from understanding the relationships between host genetics and viral infections, the contributions of respiratory viral infections to patterns of immune development, the impact of environmental exposure on the severity of viral infections, and how the viral genome influences host immune responses to viral infections. Further, there has been major progress in our knowledge about how bacteria regulate host immune responses in asthma pathogenesis. In this article, we also examine the dynamics of bacterial colonization of the respiratory tract during viral upper respiratory tract infection, in addition to the relationship of the gut and respiratory microbiomes with respiratory viral infections. Finally, we focus on potential interventions that could decrease virus-induced wheezing and asthma. There are emerging therapeutic options to decrease the severity of wheezing exacerbations caused by respiratory viral infections. Primary prevention is a major goal, and a strategy toward this end is considered.

CD27, a member of the TNFR superfamily, is used to identify human memory B cells. Nonetheless, CD27+ B cells are present in patients with HIGM1 syndrome who are unable to generate GCs or memory B cells. CD27+IgD+ fetal B cells are present in umbilical cord blood, and CD27 may also be a marker of the human B1-like B cells. To define the origin of naïve CD27+IgD+ human B cells, we studied B cell development in both fetal and adult tissues. In human FL, most CD19+ cells coexpressed CD10, a marker of human developing B cells. Some CD19+CD10+ B cells expressed CD27, and these fetal CD27+ cells were present in the pro-B, pre-B, and immature/transitional B cell compartments. Lower frequencies of phenotypically identical cells were also identified in adult BM. CD27+ pro-B, pre-B, and immature/transitional B cells expressed recombination activating gene-1, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase and Vpre-B mRNA comparably to their CD27− counterparts. CD27+ and CD27− developing B cells showed similar Ig heavy chain gene usage with low levels of mutations, suggesting that CD27+ developing B cells are distinct from mutated memory B cells. Despite these similarities, CD27+ developing B cells differed from CD27− developing B cells by their increased expression of LIN28B, a transcription factor associated with the fetal lymphoid lineages of mice. Furthermore, CD27+ pro-B cells efficiently generated IgM+IgD+ immature/transitional B cells in vitro. Our observations suggest that CD27 expression during B cell development identifies a physiologic state or lineage for human B cell development distinct from the memory B cell compartment.

Food allergy affects 3.9% of US children and is increasing in prevalence. The current standard of care involves avoidance of the triggering food and treatment for accidental ingestions. While there is no current curative treatment, there are a number of therapeutic strategies under investigation. Allergen specific therapies include oral and sublingual immunotherapy with native food protein as well as recombinant food proteins. Allergen non-specific therapies include a Chinese herbal formula (FAHF-2) and the use of anti-IgE monoclonal antibody therapy. Although none of these treatments are ready for clinical use, these therapeutic strategies present promising options for the future of food allergy.

Expression of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) by germinal center (GC) B cells drives the processes of immunoglobulin (Ig) somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR) necessary for the generation of high affinity IgG serum antibody and the memory B-cell compartment. Increasing evidence indicates that AID is also expressed at low levels in developing B cells but to date, this early, developmentally regulated AID expression has no known function. Does the timing and extent of AID expression in developmentally immature, non-GC B cells provide clues to reveal its physiologic role?

Background Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is a syndrome uniformly fatal during infancy unless recognized and treated successfully by bone marrow transplantation or gene therapy. Because infants with SCID have no abnormal physical appearance, diagnosis is usually delayed unless newborn screening is performed. Objective In this study, we sought to evaluate the presenting features of all 172 patients with SCID transplanted at this institution over the past 31 years. Methods We reviewed original charts from 172 consecutive patients with classic SCID who received either T-cell-depleted HLA-haploidentical (N = 154) or HLA-identical (N = 18) nonablative related marrow transplants at Duke University Medical Center from 1982 to 2013. Results The mean age at presentation was 4.87 months. When there was a family history of early infant death or known SCID (37%), the mean presentation age was much earlier, 2.0 months compared with 6.6 months. Failure to thrive was common, with 84 patients (50%) having a weight less than the 5th percentile. The leading infections included oral moniliasis (43%), viral infections (35.5%), and Pneumocystis jiroveci (26%) pneumonia. The group mean absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) was 1454/cmm; 88% of the infants had an ALC less than 3000/cmm. An absent thymic shadow was seen in 92% of infants with electronic radiographic data available. An absence of T-cell function was found in all patients. Conclusions Infants with SCID appear normal at birth but later present with failure to thrive and/or recurrent fungal, viral, and bacterial infections. Low ALCs and an absent thymic shadow on chest x-ray are key diagnostic clues. The absence of T-cell function confirms the diagnosis.