CD86 occupancy in belatacept-treated kidney transplant patients is not associated with clinical and infectious outcomes.

The CD86 occupancy assay has been developed to measure the number of CD86 molecules unbound to belatacept, but its association with clinical outcomes has not been assessed yet. All kidney transplant patients switched to belatacept in our center between 2016 and 2018 were included. Blood samples were collected before each infusion for 1 year to assess CD86 occupancy by CD86 antibody cytometry staining on the surface of CD14 monocytes.

A 1-Year Prospective French Nationwide Study of Emergency Hospital Admissions in Children and Adults with Primary Immunodeficiency.

Purpose: Patients with primary immunodeficiency (PID) are at risk of serious complications. However, data on the incidence and causes of emergency hospital admissions are scarce. The primary objective of the present study was to describe emergency hospital admissions among patients with PID, with a view to identifying "at-risk" patient profiles.

Autologous Myoblasts for the Treatment of Fecal Incontinence: Results of a Phase 2 Randomized Placebo-controlled Study (MIAS).

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of intrasphincteric injections of autologous myoblasts (AMs) in fecal incontinence (FI) in a controlled study.

Summary Of Background Data: Adult stem cell therapy is expected to definitively cure FI by regenerating damaged sphincter. Preclinical data and results of open-label trials suggest that myoblast therapy may represent a noninvasive treatment option.

Dual T cell- and B cell-intrinsic deficiency in humans with biallelic RLTPR mutations.

Combined immunodeficiency (CID) refers to inborn errors of human T cells that also affect B cells because of the T cell deficit or an additional B cell-intrinsic deficit. In this study, we report six patients from three unrelated families with biallelic loss-of-function mutations in RLTPR, the mouse orthologue of which is essential for CD28 signaling. The patients have cutaneous and pulmonary allergy, as well as a variety of bacterial and fungal infectious diseases, including invasive tuberculosis and mucocutaneous candidiasis.

Efficacy of Rituximab in Refractory Inflammatory Myopathies Associated with Anti- Synthetase Auto-Antibodies: An Open-Label, Phase II Trial.

Objective: Anti-synthetase syndrome (anti-SS) is frequently associated with myositis and interstitial lung disease (ILD). We evaluated prospectively, in a multicenter, open-label, phase II study, the efficacy of rituximab on muscle and lung outcomes.

Methods: Patients were enrolled if they were refractory to conventional treatments (prednisone and at least 2 immunosuppressants).

Long-term remissions of severe pemphigus after rituximab therapy are associated with prolonged failure of desmoglein B cell response.

Pemphigus is a severe blistering condition of the skin and mucosa caused by autoantibodies directed against desmogleins, which are a type of keratinocyte adhesion protein. B cell depletion by rituximab has short-term efficacy against pemphigus. We aimed to assess the long-term course of pemphigus patients after B cell depletion and to understand the immunological mechanisms that mediate long-lasting remissions.

Number and phenotype of rheumatoid arthritis patients' CD4+CD25hi regulatory T cells are not affected by adalimumab or etanercept.

Objective: To analyse the therapeutic effects of etanercept (ETA) or adalimumab (ADA) on the numbers and phenotypes of CD4+CD25hi Tregs in RA patients.

Methods: RA patients received ADA (n = 28) or ETA (n = 20) and stable-dose MTX or LEF. Therapeutic responses were assessed with the 28-joint DAS (DAS-28) criteria after 12 weeks of treatment.

Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS): a multiorgan antiviral T cell response.

Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) is a severe, drug-induced reaction that involves both the skin and the viscera. Evidence for reactivation of herpes family viruses has been seen in some DRESS patients. To understand the immunological components of DRESS and their relationship to viral reactivation, we prospectively assessed 40 patients exhibiting DRESS in response to carbamazepine, allopurinol, or sulfamethoxazole.

B-cell and T-cell phenotypes in CVID patients correlate with the clinical phenotype of the disease.

Background: Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is a heterogeneous disorder characterized by recurrent infections and defective immunoglobulin production.

Methods: The DEFI French national prospective study investigated peripheral T-cell and B-cell compartments in 313 CVID patients grouped according to their clinical phenotype, using flow cytometry.

Results: In patients developing infection only (IO), the main B-cell or T-cell abnormalities were a defect in switched memory B cells and a decrease in naive CD4(+) T cells associated with an increase in CD4(+)CD95(+) cells.

Critical role of TLR2 and TLR4 in autoantibody production and glomerulonephritis in lpr mutation-induced mouse lupus.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by pathogenic autoantibodies directed against nuclear Ags and immune complex deposits in damaged organs. Environmental factors have been thought to play a role in the onset of the disease. The recognition of these factors is mediated by TLRs, in particular TLR2 and TLR4 which bind pathogen-associated molecular patterns of Gram(+) and Gram(-) bacteria, respectively.

B-cell depletion immunotherapy in pemphigus: effects on cellular and humoral immune responses.

Pemphigus are B-cell-mediated autoimmune diseases affecting skin and mucous membranes. They are characterized by the production of pathogenic autoantibodies directed against desmogleins (Dsg). In this prospective study, we treated 21 pemphigus patients with rituximab and analyzed immunological modifications induced by anti-CD20 immunotherapy.

Transitional B cells in humans: characterization and insight from B lymphocyte reconstitution after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Transitional B cells have been recently identified in human peripheral blood. However, their precise role in human B cell differentiation has not been established. Therefore, besides characterizing them further in the blood of healthy adults and children and cord blood, we used the immune reconstitution after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) model to define their role in human B cell development.

A single cycle of rituximab for the treatment of severe pemphigus.

Background: The combination of multiple cycles of rituximab and intravenous immune globulins has been reported to be effective in patients with severe pemphigus. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of a single cycle of rituximab in severe types of pemphigus.

Methods: We studied 21 patients with pemphigus whose disease had not responded to an 8-week course of 1.

Duodenal intraepithelial T lymphocytes in patients with functional dyspepsia.

Aim: To quantify the intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) and to document the membrane expression of CD4, CD8, TCRgamma delta and adhesion and/or activation-associated molecules (CD103, CD28, CD44, CD69, HLA-DR, CD95/Fas) in the duodenal mucosa of patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) in order to provide arguments for an immunological process in FD.

Methods: Twenty-six FD patients according to Rome II criteria (20 were H pylori negative) were studied and compared to 12 healthy adults. IELs were isolated from five duodenal biopsy samples, then quantified by microscopy and flow cytometry while the membrane phenotypes were determined by cytofluorometry.

Antidonor humoral transfer induces transplant arteriosclerosis in aortic and cardiac graft models in rats.

Objective: The humoral pathway is suggested as playing a key role in transplant arteriosclerosis. The humoral immunity is demonstrated in the present study to induce direct vascular lesion.

Methods: Ten abdominal aortic grafts were performed on 4 groups of rats: Brown Norway (BN) isografts, BN to Lewis (LEW) allografts, and two BN to nude (RNU) grafted groups with and without any humoral transfer.

[Heterogeneity and function of human B lymphocytes].

B lymphocytes represent an important arm of the immune system. Besides their main function of providing antibodies protecting against pathogens, they also exert some regulatory functions, in particular for secondary lymphoid tissue differentiation. Human B cells can be divided in various subsets representing different maturation stages and different pathways of humoral immune responses.

[B-cell anomalies in systemic lupus erythematosus].

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a non-organ-specific autoimmune disease characterized biologically by B lymphocyte hyperactivity and the production of autoantibodies directed against various cellular components, in particular nuclear antigens. Different strains of mice spontaneously develop a lupus-like disease and constitute a guidelight for human SLE. Both polyclonal B cell stimulation and clonal expansion induced by self-antigens participate in B cell hyperactivity observed in human and mouse SLE.