Patterns of virus burden and T cell phenotype are established early and are correlated with the rate of disease progression in human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected persons.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 DNA and RNA levels and T lymphocyte cell surface markers were measured in blood serum and cell fractions from asymptomatic infected patients to find novel virologic and immunologic features in early disease predictive of subsequent clinical disease course. Thirty-two patients with rapid disease progression (rapid CD4+ cell loss and progression to clinical AIDS) were compared with 25 patients with stable infections (constant or rising CD4+ cell counts, no clinical disease manifestations). All HIV-1 burdens measured by polymerase chain reaction were consistently higher in specimens from rapid progressors than slow progressors.

Genomic structure and chromosomal mapping of the human CD22 gene.

The human CD22 gene is expressed specifically in B lymphocytes and likely has an important function in cell-cell interactions. A nearly full length human CD22 cDNA clone was used to isolate genomic clones that span the CD22 gene. The CD22 gene is spread over 22 kb of DNA and is composed of 15 exons.

Cell type- and stage-specific expression of the CD20/B1 antigen correlates with the activity of a diverged octamer DNA motif present in its promoter.

The CD20(B1) gene encodes a B cell-specific protein involved in the regulation of human B cell proliferation and differentiation. Studies with 5' deletion CD20 promoter-CAT constructs have previously revealed two regions of the promoter between bases -186 and -280 and between bases -280 and -454 which contained positive regulatory elements. In this study we identified a sequence element present in the most proximal region located between bases -214 and -201, TTCTTCTAATTAA, which is important in the high constitutive expression of CD20 in mature B cells and the induction of CD20 in pre-B cells.

Subtractive cDNA cloning of a novel member of the Ig gene superfamily expressed at high levels in activated B lymphocytes.

Using subtractive cDNA cloning we have isolated a series of cDNA clones that are exclusively or selectively expressed in B lymphocytes. mRNA transcripts from one such cDNA clone, referred to as BL11, were found to be expressed at low levels in RNA from normal B lymphocytes, but at very high levels in RNA from in vitro activated B lymphocytes. One major 2.

Lymphokine production by B cells from normal and HIV-infected individuals.

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) are both secreted by in vivo-activated normal B cells and by in vivo-activated B cells from patients with polyclonal B-cell activation, including individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Furthermore, IL-6 and TNF-alpha are involved in autocrine and paracrine regulation of human B-cell differentiation. Following in vitro stimulation of normal B cells with Staphylococcus aureus Cowan strain I and IL-2, there is a rapid but brief increase in supernatant levels of TNF-alpha.