Evidence of premature immune aging in patients thymectomized during early childhood.

While the thymus is known to be essential for the initial production of T cells during early life, its contribution to immune development remains a matter of debate. In fact, during cardiac surgery in newborns, the thymus is completely resected to enable better access to the heart to correct congenital heart defects, suggesting that it may be dispensable during childhood and adulthood. Here, we show that young adults thymectomized during early childhood exhibit an altered T cell compartment.

Urinary cytotoxic molecular markers for a noninvasive diagnosis in acute renal transplant rejection.

Perforin (P), Granzyme B (GB) and Fas-Ligand (FAS-L) are cytotoxic molecules involved in acute rejection (AR) after renal transplantation. A noninvasive diagnostic test to monitor AR and other complications could improve clinical management. We investigated the predictive and diagnostic interest of target mRNA measurements, with a quantitative PCR assay, in AR, as well as in other clinical complications recurrent in kidney transplantation.

No evidence of association between NOD2/CARD15 gene polymorphism and atherosclerotic events after renal transplantation.

Stable renal transplant recipients (RTR) display high rates of atherosclerotic events (AE). Innate immunity and especially vascular inflammation play a role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. It is illustrated both by an increased occurrence of postrenal transplant cardiovascular events in patients with elevated levels of C-reactive protein and by a correlation between posttransplant AE and Toll-like receptor-4 Asp299Gly polymorphism.

Exposure to exogenous DNA can modify the sensitivity of the Fas apoptotic pathway.

Background: Gene-transfer techniques are commonly employed for both in vitro and in vivo studies. However, modifications of the target cell following the introduction of the gene of interest are not often examined. These modifications can alter the immunogenicity and/or the susceptibility of the target cell to apoptosis and may produce unwanted consequences in vivo.

Allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation results in less alteration of early T cell compartment homeostasis than bone marrow transplantation.

Since low T cell counts evaluated 1 month after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) are associated with an increased risk of leukemia relapse (Powles et al., Blood 1998; 91: 3481-3486), we compared, in a randomized multicentric clinical study, the peripheral blood cells obtained 30 days after allogeneic BMT vs allogeneic G-CSF-mobilized peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (BCT) in an HLA-identical setting. T cell counts were higher 30 days after BCT (718+/-142 cells/microl, n = 20) than after BMT (271+/-53 cells/microl, n = 26, P = 0.