Susceptibility to programmed cell death in T-lymphocytes from septic patients: a mechanism for lymphopenia and Th2 predominance.

Sepsis causes lymphopenia which is inversely correlated with patient survival. The role of apoptosis-specific immune-activation and activation-induced cell-death in sepsis is incompletely understood. Fifteen septic patients and 20 healthy controls were included.

Transitory immunologic response after implantation of the DeBakey VAD continuous-axial-flow pump.

Background: The development of local and systemic infection is a significant risk factor associated with implantation of a ventricular assist device. The immunologic consequence of continuous-flow rotary blood pumps is not known.

Methods: Six male adult patients (mean age 47 plus minus 10.

Death-inducing receptors and apoptotic changes in lymphocytes of patients with heart transplant vasculopathy.

The specific role of lymphocyte apoptosis and transplant-associated atherosclerosis is not well understood. The aim of our study was to investigate the impact of T cell apoptotic pathways in patients with heart transplant vasculopathy. Amongst 40 patients with cardiac heart failure class IV who have undergone heart transplantation, 20 recipients with transplant-associated coronary artery disease (TACAD) and 20 with non-TACAD were investigated one year postoperative.

Highly active antiretroviral therapy responders exhibit a phenotypic lymphocyte pattern comparable to that of long-term nonprogressors.

Background: The implementation of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in patients with progressive HIV-1 disease has resulted in a marked reduction of HIV-1-associated morbidity and mortality. In fact, the risk of HAART responders to develop opportunistic infections becomes similar to that of long-term nonprogressors (LTNPs).

Methods: Reasoning that HAART may ultimately have consequences on both the quantity and quality of immune responses of a HIV-1-infected person, we assessed CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets in HAART recipients over a time period of 15 months and compared them to the lymphocyte phenotype of LTNPs and healthy controls.

Impaired T cell proliferation, increased soluble death-inducing receptors and activation-induced T cell death in patients undergoing haemodialysis.

Haemodialysis is a widespread option for end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Long-term success of dialysis is, however, limited by a high rate of serious bacterial and viral infections. We compared T cell functions in ESRD patients undergoing haemodialysis (n = 20), or were not dialysed and received conventional medical treatment (n = 20).