Oral serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin improves duodenal immune reconstitution and absorption function in patients with HIV enteropathy.

Objectives: To examine the impact of serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin, an oral medical food known to neutralize bacterial antigen and reduce intestinal inflammation, on restoration of mucosal immunity and gastrointestinal function in individuals with HIV enteropathy.

Design: Open-label trial with intensive 8-week phase of bovine serum immunoglobulin (SBI) 2.5 g twice daily with a 4-week washout period and an optional 9-month extension study.

Impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy initiation on CD4(+) T-cell repopulation in duodenal and rectal mucosa.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the effects of HAART initiation on CD4(+) T-cell repopulation and T-cell immune activation in rectal and duodenal mucosa.

Design: The effects of HAART on the gastrointestinal tract remain controversial, and studies have reached different conclusions regarding its effectiveness at restoring mucosal CD4(+) T cells depending upon time of initiation, duration of treatment and gastrointestinal tract region studied.

Methods: We obtained blood, rectal biopsies and duodenal biopsies from 14 chronically infected individuals at baseline and at 4-9 months post-HAART initiation.

Gastrointestinal-associated lymphoid tissue immune reconstitution in a randomized clinical trial of raltegravir versus non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based regimens.

Objectives: To examine immune restoration in duodenal tissue and correlates of reduction of immune activation in chronic HIV-infected patients randomized to different treatment regimens.

Design: Randomized clinical trial (RCT) comparing raltegravir to a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based regimen, both with fixed-dose tenofovir difumerate/emtricitabine.

Methods: Antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naive volunteers underwent upper endoscopy for duodenal biopsies before and after 9 months of therapy.

Quantitation of hepatitis C virus RNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in HCV-monoinfection and HIV/HCV-coinfection.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) represent an extrahepatic hepatitis C virus (HCV) reservoir, the significance of which is unclear due to limited studies and varying test methodologies. In this study, a commercial viral load assay for measuring cell-associated PBMC HCV RNA was evaluated. HCV RNA was extracted from PBMCs, sorted CD14+, and CD19+ cells and corresponding plasma samples using the Abbott m2000 and Real-Time HCV assay.

Molecular characterization of stool microbiota in HIV-infected subjects by panbacterial and order-level 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) quantification and correlations with immune activation.

Background: The relationship between gut microbial community composition at the higher-taxonomic order level and local and systemic immunologic abnormalities in HIV disease may provide insight into how bacterial translocation impacts HIV disease.

Methods: Antiretroviral-naive patients with HIV underwent upper endoscopy before and 9 months after starting antiretroviral treatment. Duodenal tissue was paraffin-embedded for immunohistochemical analysis and digested for fluorescence activated cell sorting for T-cell subsets and immune activation (CD38+/HLA-DR+) enumeration.