Publications by authors named "Ochs H"

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected not only individual lives but also the world and global systems, both natural and human-made. Besides millions of deaths and environmental challenges, the rapid spread of the infection and its very high socioeconomic impact have affected healthcare, economic status and wealth, and mental health across the globe. To better appreciate the pandemic's influence, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches are needed.

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Purpose: To define the clinical and histological characteristics of nephritis in patients with X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) and their immunological profiles.

Methods: The clinical, immunological, and histological findings of nine patients with XLA and nephritis were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: Based on kidney histological findings, patients with XLA and nephritis could be divided into two groups, viz.

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Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) is a multifaceted monogenic disorder with a broad disease spectrum and variable disease severity and a variety of treatment options including allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and gene therapy (GT). No reliable biomarker exists to predict disease course and outcome for individual patients. A total of 577 patients with a WAS variant from 26 countries and a median follow-up of 8.

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Introduction: Dengue virus infection is a global health problem lacking specific therapy, requiring an improved understanding of DENV immunity and vaccine responses. Considering the recent emerging of new dengue vaccines, here we performed an integrative systems vaccinology characterization of molecular signatures triggered by the natural DENV infection (NDI) and attenuated dengue virus infection models (DVTs).

Methods And Results: We analyzed 955 samples of transcriptomic datasets of patients with NDI and attenuated dengue virus infection trials (DVT1, DVT2, and DVT3) using a systems vaccinology approach.

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Rabies is an ancient neuroinvasive viral (genus Lyssavirus, family Rhabdoviridae) disease affecting approximately 59,000 people worldwide. The central nervous system (CNS) is targeted, and rabies has a case fatality rate of almost 100% in humans and animals. Rabies is entirely preventable through proper vaccination, and thus, the highest incidence is typically observed in developing countries, mainly in Africa and Asia.

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Article Synopsis
  • Selective anti-polysaccharide antibody deficiency (SPAD) and the novel primary immunodeficiency (PID) known as XMEN are linked to CD5 B-cell predominance, with recent studies revealing more phenotypic variance due to mutations in the MAGT1 gene.
  • A prospective classification update is suggested to accurately reflect the impact of MAGT1 glycobiological defects and to consider past cases that exhibited similar B-cell characteristics.
  • Immunological evaluations using flow cytometry and next-generation sequencing confirmed a specific MAGT1 mutation, proposing the need for a revised classification that integrates both SPAD and XMEN insights based on recent findings.
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Background: Autoimmunity can be the first or predominant manifestation in patients with primary immunodeficiency disorder, also known as inborn errors of immunity (IEI). This study aims to evaluate the immune status of pediatric patients with polyautoimmunity to identify those with underlying immune defects.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, pediatric patients with polyautoimmunity including at least one confirmed autoimmune endocrine disease were enrolled.

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Age is a significant risk factor for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity due to immunosenescence and certain age-dependent medical conditions (e.g., obesity, cardiovascular disorder, and chronic respiratory disease).

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Purpose: To understand the natural history and clinical outcomes for patients with X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) in the United States utilizing the United States Immunodeficiency Network (USIDNET) patient registry.

Methods: The USIDNET registry was queried for data from XLA patients collected from 1981 to 2019. Data fields included demographics, clinical features before and after diagnosis of XLA, family history, genetic mutation in Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK), laboratory findings, treatment modalities, and mortality.

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G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) are involved in various physiological and pathophysiological processes. Functional autoantibodies targeting GPCRs have been associated with multiple disease manifestations in this context. Here we summarize and discuss the relevant findings and concepts presented in the biennial International Meeting on autoantibodies targeting GPCRs (the 4th Symposium), held in Lübeck, Germany, 15-16 September 2022.

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The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is associated with increased levels of autoantibodies targeting immunological proteins such as cytokines and chemokines. Reports further indicate that COVID-19 patients may develop a broad spectrum of autoimmune diseases due to reasons not fully understood. Even so, the landscape of autoantibodies induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection remains uncharted territory.

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Several perturbations in the number of peripheral blood leukocytes, such as neutrophilia and lymphopenia associated with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity, point to systemic molecular cell cycle alterations during severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. However, the landscape of cell cycle alterations in COVID-19 remains primarily unexplored. Here, we performed an integrative systems immunology analysis of publicly available proteome and transcriptome data to characterize global changes in the cell cycle signature of COVID-19 patients.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Brazil faced lengthy school closures due to SARS-CoV-2, and the infection status of students and workers during reopening was assessed through a study of 2,259 individuals from 28 schools.
  • - The study found that a significant number of students (421) and school workers (446) had active SARS-CoV-2 infections, with many being either asymptomatic or having mild symptoms, indicating a high level of undetected infections.
  • - Results underscored the importance of public health measures to ensure safety in schools and mitigate social inequalities while minimizing negative impacts on students and staff during this critical period.
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Introduction: Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) serves as the prototype of how variants in a gene, which encodes a protein central to actin cytoskeletal homeostasis can manifest clinically in a variety of ways including infection, atopy, autoimmunity, inflammation, bleeding, neutropenia, non-malignant lymphoproliferation, and malignancy. Despite the discovery of the gene almost 30 years ago, our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying WAS continues to unfold.

Areas Covered: This review will provide an overview of the approach to the diagnosis of WAS as well as the management of its associated complications.

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Severe combined immunodeficiency, SCID, is a pediatric emergency that represents the most critical group of inborn errors of immunity (IEI). Affected infants present with early onset life-threatening infections due to absent or non-functional T cells. Without early diagnosis and curative treatment, most die in early infancy.

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Interleukin10 (IL10) and IL10 receptor (IL10R) deficiencies are monogenic inborn errors of immunity (IEI) causing early-onset inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). In this report, we systematically reviewed articles that included related keywords using PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. The articles were screened for eligibility criteria before data extraction.

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X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is a primary immunodeficiency disorder caused by mutations in the Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) gene leading to B lymphocyte deficiency and susceptibility to infection. A potential benefit of earlier diagnosis and treatment initiation on morbidity and mortality in XLA is incompletely understood. In the USIDNET Registry, we describe infection frequency and infection-related mortality in patients with XLA and their relationship to age of diagnosis and treatment initiation.

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Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy targeting B cell maturation antigen (BCMA-CARTx) is an emerging treatment for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (R/R MM). Here we characterize the epidemiology of infections, risk factors for infection, and pathogen-specific humoral immunity in patients receiving BCMA-CARTx for R/R MM. We performed a retrospective cohort study in 32 adults with R/R MM enrolled in 2 single-institution phase 1 clinical trials of BCMA-CARTx administered after lymphodepleting chemotherapy alone (n = 22) or with a gamma secretase inhibitor (GSI).

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study explored the immune response of COVID-19 patients compared to healthy individuals and those with other inflammatory diseases like HLH and MIS-C, uncovering shared immunological pathways and gene patterns.
  • - Key findings revealed that specific neutrophil-associated genes are linked to a hyperinflammatory state and are dysregulated in severe COVID-19 patients, particularly those in the ICU.
  • - This research suggests potential therapeutic targets based on the identified genomic and proteomic changes associated with COVID-19 severity, as confirmed by artificial intelligence modeling.
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Article Synopsis
  • COVID-19 is linked to the production of autoantibodies, similar to systemic autoimmune diseases, indicating their role in the disease's severity.
  • A study of 246 individuals revealed that higher levels of autoantibodies targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) and RAS-related molecules correlate with more severe cases of COVID-19.
  • Specific autoantibodies, particularly against the receptors CXCR3 and AGTR1, were identified as having the strongest association with the severity of the disease, suggesting that changes in their levels and patterns could potentially predict COVID-19 outcomes.
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