Humoral immunity in tuberculin skin test anergy and its role in high-risk persons exposed to active tuberculosis.

The most common test to identify latent tuberculosis is the tuberculin skin test that detects T cell responses of delayed type hypersensitivity type IV. Since it produces false negative reactions in active tuberculosis or in high-risk persons exposed to tuberculosis patients as shown in this report, we studied antibody profiles to explain the anergy of such responses in high-risk individuals without active infection. Our results showed that humoral immunity against tuberculin, regardless of the result of the tuberculin skin test is important for protection from active tuberculosis and that the presence of high antibody titers is a more reliable indicator of infection latency suggesting that latency can be based on the levels of antibodies together with in vitro proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the presence of the purified protein derivative.

Kinase requirements in human cells: III. Altered kinase requirements in VHL-/- cancer cells detected in a pilot synthetic lethal screen.

Clear cell renal carcinomas are the most common form of kidney cancer and frequently are linked to biallelic inactivation of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene. The VHL gene product, pVHL, has multiple functions including directing the polyubiquitylation of the HIF transcription factor. We screened 100 shRNA vectors, directed against 88 kinases, for their ability to inhibit the viability of VHL-/- renal carcinoma cells preferentially compared with isogenic cells in which pVHL function was restored.

Genetic fixity in the human major histocompatibility complex and block size diversity in the class I region including HLA-E.

Background: The definition of human MHC class I haplotypes through association of HLA-A, HLA-Cw and HLA-B has been used to analyze ethnicity, population migrations and disease association.

Results: Here, we present HLA-E allele haplotype association and population linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis within the ~1.3 Mb bounded by HLA-B/Cw and HLA-A to increase the resolution of identified class I haplotypes.

Interaction of KIR genes and G1M immunoglobulin allotypes confer susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in Puerto Rican Americans.

The susceptibility to type 2 diabetes (T2D) involves genetic factors. We studied the distribution of KIR and MHC class I ligands phenotype and genotype frequencies, as well as immunoglobulin KM and GM allotype frequencies in a group of patients (N = 95) with T2D and ethnically matched healthy controls (N = 74) with Puerto Rican ethnic background. We found a slight increase of the 2DL3/2DL3 homozygous genotype in T2D.

Allorecognition of an HLA-A*01 aberrant allele by an HLA identical family member carrying the HLA-A*0101 allele.

We identified and characterized an HLA-A1 aberrant allele (A*0118N) resulting from a novel molecular mechanism; this allele was present in an unusually informative family with a near identical parental HLA haplotype (c d) differing only by one nucleotide substitution in one HLA-A allele, A*0118N, of the maternal HLA haplotype (c) and not of the paternal HLA haplotype (a). Although serologic HLA typing showed a "blank," DNA molecular HLA typing detected a HLA-A*0118N allele. Sequence based typing identified the substitution of guanine by cytosine at the nucleotide position 215, which resulted in the replacement of arginine by proline at position 48 of the HLA-A1 H chain.

Increased FasL expression correlates with apoptotic changes in granulocytes cultured with oxidized clozapine.

Clozapine has been associated with a 1% incidence of agranulocytosis. The formation of an oxidized intermediate clozapine metabolite has been implicated in direct polymorphonuclear (PMN) toxicity. We utilized two separate systems to analyze the role of oxidized clozapine in inducing apoptosis in treated cells.