Publications by authors named "Jose L Franco"

Purpose - The Latin American Society of Immunodeficiencies (LASID) Registry was established in 2009 to collect data on Inborn Errors of Immunity (IEI) patients in the region. Although several reports have been published regarding LASID data, this is the first report of the entire dataset. Methods - The European Society of Immunodeficiencies (ESID) donated the online platform in 2008.

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  • Some babies with a specific mutation in the IL7R gene have a serious immune problem called SCID, where they lack a certain type of immune cells called T cells, but still have normal B and NK cells.
  • In a study of 6 adults who have a similar genetic issue, they showed low levels of T cells but had relatively normal levels of other immune cells, indicating a more specific problem in T cell development.
  • Even though their T cells didn’t grow well in the lab, the study hints that there might be another way T cells can develop that doesn’t depend solely on the IL-7 cytokine.
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Severe defects in human IFNγ immunity predispose individuals to both Bacillus Calmette-Guérin disease and tuberculosis, whereas milder defects predispose only to tuberculosis. Here we report two adults with recurrent pulmonary tuberculosis who are homozygous for a private loss-of-function TNF variant. Neither has any other clinical phenotype and both mount normal clinical and biological inflammatory responses.

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Background: Cryptococcosis is a life-threatening disease caused by Cryptococcus neoformans or C. gattii. Neutralizing autoantibodies (auto-Abs) against granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in otherwise healthy adults with cryptococcal meningitis have been described since 2013.

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  • Ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) is a rare genetic disorder causing neurological issues, blood vessel irregularities, and a weakened immune system, particularly noted in Latin American patients.
  • A study involving 218 patients revealed that the average age for symptoms and diagnosis is about 1 year and 5 years, respectively, with common recurrent airway infections linked to IgA deficiency.
  • The study found a mean survival of 24.2 years, with a 20-year survival rate of 52.6%, and higher mortality rates in females and those with low IgG levels, highlighting the importance of assessing immune function in AT patients.
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  • CD4+ T cells are crucial for the immune system, but their exact function is not fully understood, particularly the role of the CD4 protein itself.
  • Researchers studied seven patients with a rare genetic condition causing CD4 deficiency, leading to various infections, and found that these individuals lacked CD4+ T cells but had alternative T cell populations that could still mount immune responses.
  • While the patients showed compensatory immune responses against many pathogens, CD4 remains essential for protection against specific infections like human papillomavirus and Whipple's disease.
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Background: Cryptococcosis is a life-threatening disease caused by or . Autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in otherwise healthy adults with cryptococcal meningitis have been described since 2013. We searched for neutralizing auto-Abs in sera from Colombian patients with non-HIV related cryptococcosis in a retrospective national cohort collected from 1997 to 2016.

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Background: We previously reported that impaired type I IFN activity, due to inborn errors of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I interferon (IFN) immunity or to autoantibodies against type I IFN, account for 15-20% of cases of life-threatening COVID-19 in unvaccinated patients. Therefore, the determinants of life-threatening COVID-19 remain to be identified in ~ 80% of cases.

Methods: We report here a genome-wide rare variant burden association analysis in 3269 unvaccinated patients with life-threatening COVID-19, and 1373 unvaccinated SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals without pneumonia.

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Background: Cryptococcosis is a potentially life-threatening fungal disease caused by encapsulated yeasts of the genus Cryptococcus, mostly C. neoformans or C. gattii.

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Background: We previously reported inborn errors of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I interferon (IFN) immunity in 1-5% of unvaccinated patients with life-threatening COVID-19, and auto-antibodies against type I IFN in another 15-20% of cases.

Methods: We report here a genome-wide rare variant burden association analysis in 3,269 unvaccinated patients with life-threatening COVID-19 (1,301 previously reported and 1,968 new patients), and 1,373 unvaccinated SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals without pneumonia. A quarter of the patients tested had antibodies against type I IFN (234 of 928) and were excluded from the analysis.

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The International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) expert committee (EC) on Inborn Errors of Immunity (IEI) reports here the 2022 updated phenotypic classification, which accompanies and complements the most-recent genotypic classification. This phenotypic classification is aimed for clinicians at the bedside and focuses on clinical features and laboratory phenotypes of specific IEI. In this classification, 485 IEI underlying phenotypes as diverse as infection, malignancy, allergy, auto-immunity and auto-inflammation are described, including 55 novel monogenic defects and 1 autoimmune phenocopy.

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Introduction: Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most prevalent symptomatic humoral deficiency; however, its heterogeneous presentation makes the diagnosis difficult. The present study is aimed to verify the CVID diagnostic criteria as established by the European Society for Immunodeficiencies in 42 CVID patients from our outpatient clinic.

Methods: Information was collected from their medical records and when needed, lymphocyte subpopulations in peripheral blood (PB) were performed by flow cytometry.

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We report the updated classification of inborn errors of immunity, compiled by the International Union of Immunological Societies Expert Committee. This report documents the key clinical and laboratory features of 55 novel monogenic gene defects, and 1 phenocopy due to autoantibodies, that have either been discovered since the previous update (published January 2020) or were characterized earlier but have since been confirmed or expanded in subsequent studies. While variants in additional genes associated with immune diseases have been reported in the literature, this update includes only those that the committee assessed that reached the necessary threshold to represent novel inborn errors of immunity.

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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection fatality rate (IFR) doubles with every 5 y of age from childhood onward. Circulating autoantibodies neutralizing IFN-α, IFN-ω, and/or IFN-β are found in ∼20% of deceased patients across age groups, and in ∼1% of individuals aged <70 y and in >4% of those >70 y old in the general population. With a sample of 1,261 unvaccinated deceased patients and 34,159 individuals of the general population sampled before the pandemic, we estimated both IFR and relative risk of death (RRD) across age groups for individuals carrying autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFNs, relative to noncarriers.

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Accumulation of human CD21 B cells in peripheral blood is a hallmark of chronic activation of the adaptive immune system in certain infections and autoimmune disorders. The molecular pathways underpinning the development, function, and fate of these CD21 B cells remain incompletely characterized. Here, combined transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility analyses supported a prominent role for the transcription factor T-bet in the transcriptional regulation of these T-betCD21 B cells.

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Article Synopsis
  • At least 10% of critical COVID-19 pneumonia cases are linked to genetic defects in type I interferon immunity and autoantibodies against these cytokines, with rare X-linked variants found in 16 male individuals aged 7 to 71 years.
  • In a study involving 1,202 males with unexplained critical COVID-19, none of the asymptomatically infected participants had these deleterious variants, indicating a significant genetic component to severe illness.
  • The research highlights that X-linked recessive TLR7 deficiency plays a crucial role in about 1.8% of critical COVID-19 cases in males under 60, as effective TLR7 and plasmacytoid dendritic cells are vital for
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Circulating autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing high concentrations (10 ng/mL, in plasma diluted 1 to 10) of IFN-α and/or -ω are found in about 10% of patients with critical COVID-19 pneumonia, but not in subjects with asymptomatic infections. We detect auto-Abs neutralizing 100-fold lower, more physiological, concentrations of IFN-α and/or -ω (100 pg/mL, in 1/10 dilutions of plasma) in 13.6% of 3,595 patients with critical COVID-19, including 21% of 374 patients > 80 years, and 6.

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The most recent updated classification of inborn errors of immunity/primary immunodeficiencies, compiled by the International Union of Immunological Societies Expert Committee, was published in January 2020. Within days of completing this report, it was already out of date, evidenced by the frequent publication of genetic variants proposed to cause novel inborn errors of immunity. As the next formal report from the IUIS Expert Committee will not be published until 2022, we felt it important to provide the community with a brief update of recent contributions to the field of inborn errors of immunity.

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Purpose: To characterize the pediatric population with inborn errors of immunity (IEI) that was treated with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in three reference centers in Colombia. What have been the characteristics and outcomes of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in pediatric patients with inborn errors of immunity in three reference care centers in Colombia between 2007 and 2018?

Methods: We conducted an observational, retrospective cohort study in children with a diagnosis of IEI who underwent HSCT between 2007 and 2018.

Results: Forty-seven patients were identified, and 5 were re-transplanted.

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  • * A family is reported with a heterozygous mutation in NFKB2 that results in no protein expression and reduced mRNA, leading to decreased NFKB2 activity (haploinsufficiency) and associated clinical immunodeficiency.
  • * Key immunological features include abnormal B cell development, low antibody levels, and specific signaling issues, which further clarify the genetics behind NFKB2-related immunodeficiency disorders.
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Objective: Selective IgA deficiency (sIgAD) is the most common primary immunodeficiency in Western countries. Patients can suffer from recurrent infections and autoimmune diseases because of a largely unknown aetiology. To increase insights into the pathophysiology of the disease, we studied memory B and T cells and cytokine concentrations in peripheral blood.

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Background: LPS-responsive beige -like anchor protein (LRBA) deficiency is a primary immunodeficiency disease caused by loss of LRBA protein expression, due to biallelic mutations in gene. LRBA deficiency patients exhibit a clinically heterogeneous syndrome. The main clinical complication of LRBA deficiency is immune dysregulation.

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The original version of this article unfortunately contained mistakes in reference numbers. The in-text citations and the references were mismatched. The original article has been corrected.

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