Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0001175 (AIDS)
 120,706 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Multinucleated giant cells (MGCs) were found in the brains of two patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), but were absent in five other AIDS brains. In one case there was a distinctive distribution of MGCs in disseminated clusters; damage of brain parenchyma was minor or absent. In another case, MGCs were restricted largely to the perivascular spaces and were accompanied by lesions of toxoplasmosis and cytomegalovirus infection. In paraffin sections, morphological and histochemical-staining characteristics of MGCs were similar to those of macrophages. Occasional immuno-labeling of MGCs with monoclonal antibody to leukocyte common antigen suggested a hematogenous origin. MGCs were not stained by immunocytochemistry for neural markers glial fibrillary acidic protein, S 100 protein, neurofilament proteins, neuron specific enolase, and myelin basic protein and, therefore, appear unlikely to originate from the neuroepithelium. In the absence of evidence of other infections in case 1, the peculiar tissue reaction found could be a direct result of infection by the AIDS retrovirus. The formation of MGCs is likely to represent a cytopathic effect of the virus on lymphoid or monohistiocytic cells infiltrating the brain (infection of these cells could occur before or after they entered the brain). These assumptions are supported by the finding of similar MGCs in permissive lymphoid cell cultures after infection with the AIDS retrovirus.
 ...
PMID:Multinucleated giant cells in brain: a hallmark of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). 396 3

Immune responses to defined antigens of the AIDS opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans that arise as a consequence of alimentary tract colonization or induced candidemia were assessed. Lymphocyte activation and antibody production to the abundant immunodominant antigen enolase were evident in germfree mice colonized with C. albicans. Lymphocytes from colonized or intravenously challenged mice responded to a recombinant C. albicans enolase fusion protein (EFP). The responses to EFP were significantly higher than the responses to a control protein, glutathione S-transferase. In immunoblotting experiments, enolase was the immunodominant humoral immunogen in these mice. These results demonstrate that enolase stimulates cellular and humoral responses and that specific immune responses to enolase are sensitive indicators of the presence of proliferating C. albicans in mice.
 ...
PMID:Humoral and cellular immune responses to enolase after alimentary tract colonization or intravenous immunization with Candida albicans. 803 25

We examined the production of secreted aspartyl proteinase (Sap), a putative virulence factor of Candida albicans, by a series of 17 isolates representing a single strain obtained from the oral cavity of an AIDS patient before and after the development of clinical and in vitro resistance to fluconazole. Isolates were grown in Sap-inducing yeast carbon base-bovine serum albumin medium containing 0, 0.25, 0.5, or 1 MIC of fluconazole, and cultures were sampled daily for 14 days to determine extracellular Sap activity by enzymatic degradation of bovine serum albumin. Extracellular Sap activity was significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner for the most fluconazole-susceptible isolate (MIC, 1.0 microg/ml) and significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner for the most fluconazole-resistant isolate (MIC, >64 microg/ml). Enhanced extracellular Sap production could not be attributed to cell death or nonspecific release of Sap, because there was no reduction in the number of CFU and no significant release of enolase, a constitutive enzyme of the glycolytic pathway. Conversely, intracellular Sap concentrations were significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner in the most fluconazole-susceptible isolate and decreased in the most fluconazole-resistant isolate. Enhanced Sap production correlated with the overexpression of a gene encoding a multidrug resistance (MDR1) efflux pump occurring in these isolates. These data indicate that exposure to subinhibitory concentrations of fluconazole can result in enhanced extracellular production of Sap by isolates with the capacity to overexpress MDR1 and imply that patients infected with these isolates and subsequently treated with suboptimal doses of fluconazole may experience enhanced C. albicans virulence in vivo.
 ...
PMID:Enhanced extracellular production of aspartyl proteinase, a virulence factor, by Candida albicans isolates following growth in subinhibitory concentrations of fluconazole. 1077 Jul 52

With the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is becoming a more chronic, manageable disease; nevertheless, the prevalence of neurological complications of AIDS is increasing. In this study, protein levels of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and dopamine transporter (DAT) in the substantia nigra of HIV-infected brains and -seronegative controls were determined by immunoblotting. The immunoreactivity of neuronal specific enolase (NSE) was used to assess cell loss. Although there were no changes in levels of immunoreactive DAT or NSE proteins in HIV brains, levels of immunoreactive TH were significantly reduced, relative to controls. These results suggest that decreases in TH, the rate-limiting enzyme of dopamine synthesis, may be a factor in the neurological manifestations of HIV infection.
 ...
PMID:Dopaminergic marker proteins in the substantia nigra of human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected brains. 1679 75