Immunomodulatory effects of cysteamine and its potential use as a host-directed therapy for tuberculosis.

Objective: Cysteamine, a drug approved to treat cystinosis, has been proposed as a host-directed therapy for (Mtb) and SARS-CoV-2. The impact of cysteamine on the immune responses has not been fully investigated. We aimed to evaluate the immunomodulatory effects of cysteamine on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) using the purified protein derivative (PPD) as a recall antigen, and an unspecific stimulus as staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB).

Therapy modulates the response to T cell epitopes over the spectrum of tuberculosis infection.

Background: Identifying stage-specific antigens is essential for developing tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics and vaccines. In a low TB endemic country, we characterized, the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-specific immune response to a pool of Mtb-derived epitopes (ATB116), demonstrated as associated with TB disease.

Methods: In this prospective observational cross-sectional study, we enrolled healthy donors (HD), subjects with TB disease, and TB infection (TBI) at baseline and therapy completion.

Anti-RBD Antibody Levels and IFN-γ-Specific T Cell Response Are Associated with a More Rapid Swab Reversion in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis after the Booster Dose of COVID-19 Vaccination.

This study investigated the incidence and severity of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections (BIs) and the time to swab reversion in patients with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) after the booster dose of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. We enrolled 64 PwMS who had completed the three-dose mRNA vaccine schedule and had never experienced COVID-19 before. Among the 64 PwMS, 43.

Alternative biomarkers of tuberculosis infection in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

Introduction: IFN-γ release assays (IGRAs) are one of the referral tests for diagnosing tuberculosis infection (TBI). To improve IGRAs accuracy, several markers have been investigated. Patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID), taking biological drugs, have a higher risk to progress to TB-disease compared to the general population.

Older Age, a High Titre of Neutralising Antibodies and Therapy with Conventional DMARDs Are Associated with Protection from Breakthrough Infection in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients after the Booster Dose of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine.

: We aimed to analyse the incidence and severity of breakthrough infections (BIs) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients after a COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination booster dose. : We enrolled 194 RA patients and 1002 healthcare workers (HCWs) as controls. Clinical, lifestyle and demographic factors were collected at the time of the third dose, and immunogenicity analyses were carried out in a subgroup of patients at 4-6 weeks after the third dose.