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Query: UMLS:C0021051 (immunodeficiency)
 71,517 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Recent advances in immunobiology have shed new light on our understanding of the essential role of immunity as it relates to body economy. Immunity, once thought to be the primary defense mechanism against microbial infection, appears to have a much broader function--recognition and elimination of foreign bodies and preservation of the integrity of the individual. As our understanding of the pathophysiology of the immune system became more clear, immunologic reconstitution emerged as a new, promising mode of treatment for a variety of diseases with immunodeficiency. Bone marrow transplantation, thymus transplanation, transfer factor therapy, infusion of leukocytes, BCG vaccination, and other specific or nonspecific immunostimulants have been tried, with dramatic beneficial results in some instances. Although still in its infant stage, this form of treatment appears to have great potential and wide application in the prevention and treatment, not only of primary immunodeficiency, but also of many other diseases such as cancer, the so-called autoimmune diseases, and even aging.
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PMID:Immunologic reconstitution in man--present status. 23 98

Evidence indicating an essential relationship between immunologic deviation and cancer has accumulated rapidly over the past 15 years. Following a brief review of the enormous body of literature linking experimental immunodeficiency and cancer, this discussion will center on humans with primary immunodeficiency disorders and the inordinate number of malignancies which develop in these patients.
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PMID:Primary immunodeficiency and malignancy. 23 76

It is well known that there are many independent and inter-related clinical and pathologic factors which influence the prognosis of patients with benign and malignant conditions. Lymphocyte level is an index of cell-mediated immunity which is important in host defense against cancer. But it is surprising that a simple test such as peripheral lymphocyte count could be correlated with clinical stages and survival results in patients with Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-lymphomatous solid tumors. Regarding the latter, lymphocyte count had prognostic values in patients with cancer of the bone, Ewing's sarcoma; breast; colon; kidney, neuroblastoma; uterine cervix, and other sites. In general, higher lymphocyte counts before therapy correlated with longer survival. Using newer immunologic techniques, T and B lymphocytes can be identified and the different subtypes of leukemia, immunodeficiency and lymphoproliferative diseases have been studied intensively. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia represents a proliferation of B cells, while the Sezary syndrome represents that of T lymphocytes. There is a qualitative and quantitative disturbance of Blymphocytes in patients with multiple myeloma. In Hodgkin's disease, there is hyperactivity of the B cells and functional defect of the T cells. Finally, the nodular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma resulted from neoplastic transformation of the B lymphocytes. In several nonmalignant autoimmune conditions, abnormality of T-cell or B-cell counts has been reported. For example, T cells were reported to be decreased in patients with ulcerative or granulomatous colitis and in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, However, it needs to be pointed out that, in 1973, Farid and associates (44) reported a significant increase in T and a proportionate reduction of B rosette in 17 patients with untreated Grave's disease and 16 with Hashimoto's thyroiditis as compared with 24 normal and eight goiter controls. In 1975, six publications later, they (143) had to announce a retraction because further studies by them and by other investigators could not repeat the earlier results. Despite variations and lack of standardization of the test systems, some consistent deviations of T-lymphocyte and B-lymphocyte counts have been reported. T lymphocytes were quantitatively decreased in patients with carcinoma of the brain, breast, head and neck, liver, lung and urologic organs and with malignant melanoma. In general, there is a marked decrease of T cells with increasing stage of disease and a return of T cells to normal level after successful therapy. Cellular immunity is depressed, often lasting for years after localized radiation therapy, whether or not the thymus is included in the treatment field...
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PMID:Peripheral lymphocyte count and suppopulations of T and B lymphocytes in benign and malignant diseases. 30 Jan 79

Immunologic function was evaluated in 27 patients with multiple myleoma (MM). When tested for their ability to develop delayed hypersensitivity to panel of skin test antigens, 2 out of 15 such patients were found to be anergic. The property of human peripheral blood T lymphocytes to form rosettes with sheep [total E and active or early rosette-formimg cells (RFC)] and human erythrocytes (H-RFC) was also studied. In addition, rosette formation with mouse erythrocytes (M-RFC) was investigated as a B cell marker. Decreased proportions of total E-RFC were found in one third of the patients with MM when compared to normal volunteers. By contrast, both mean percentages and ranges of active E-RFC, H-RFC, and M-RFC in the MM patients overlapped those revealed in healthy controls. The rosette-forming ability of peripheral blood lymphocytes was tested before and after treatment with levamisole, thymosin, and transfer factor in healthy controls, as well as in some groups of patients with MM active systemic lupus erythematosus and Hodgkin's disease. A positive effect of all three immunomodulating agents could only be demonstrated on cells from T cell-deficient patients. It is suggested that the immunodeficiency syndrome associated with MM and related malignancies may reflect quantitative and possibly selective defects of lymphocyte subpopulations.
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PMID:Immune function in patients with multiple myeloma (delayed cutaneous reactivity and lymphocytes bearing receptors for sheep, human and mouse erythrocytes). 30 1

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonitis is a diffuse bilateral alveolopathy encountered in the immunocompromised host with cancer, a congenital immune deficiency disorder, an organ transplant, severe protein-energy malnutrition or recipients of immunosuppressive therapy for other conditions. The onset is abrupt with fever and tachypnea. No rales are heard and the roentgenogram reveals a diffuse alveolar disease. Once the pneumonitis is evident, the infection is usually fatal if no treatment is given. The diagnosis is best established by the demonstration of the causative organism in specimens obtained by open lung biopsy, or other invasive methods, and stained with Gomori's methenamine silver nitrate, toluidine blue O or polychrome stains. Of the two drugs available for treatment, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is preferred over pentamidine isethionate because of relative difference in adverse effects. With either drug the recovery rate is about 75%. The infection can be prevented in high risk patients by the administration of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole prophylactically.
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PMID:Pneumocystis pneumonia: a plague of the immunosuppressed. 30 68

A 10-year-old girl with eczema, asthma, recurrent abscesses, middle ear infections and pneumonias developed a histiocytic lymphoma of the brain. Immunologic evaluation revealed hyperimmunoglobulinemia E, depressed neutrophil chemotaxis, absent delayed hypersensitivity skin test tests, low T-lymphocyte numbers and depressed in vitro lymphocyte responses. The occurrence in this patient of a histiocytic lymphoma, which is commonly associated with more classic immunodeficiency syndromes or immunosuppression for transplantation, suggests that individuals with hyperimmunoglobulinemia E and recurrent infections may also be at increased risk for developing unusual malignancies.
Cancer 1977 Jun
PMID:Fatal histiocytic lymphoma of the brain associated with hyperimmunoglobulinemia-E and recurrent infections. 32 74

To evaluate the immunologic surveillance theory of cancer, we reviewed the epidemiologic observations that have been made on cancer risk among population groups with immune deficiency. Lymphoproliferative neoplasms predominate in various groups, most notably renal transplant recipients treated with immunosuppressive agents and patients with primary immunodeficiency syndromes. In some immune disorders, specific forms of nonlymphoid neoplasia seem to occur excessively, although the patterns are not clear-cut or consistent. The available epidemiologic evidence fails to support the concept that immunosurveillance mechanisms are generally involved in carcinogenesis but does provide clues to immunologic processes that may predispose to particular neoplasms.
Natl Cancer Inst Monogr 1977 Dec
PMID:Immunosurveillance and cancer: epidemiologic observations. 34

Microbial infections reportedly have a favorable effect on the course of certain malignant diseases. Intralesional inoculation of micro-organisms can bring about tumor regression in certain clinical and experimental situations. In order to evaluate the influence of immediate postoperative wound infection on the course of Stage II melanomas, a retrospective study was undertaken of 211 patients who had undergone axillary or groin dissection. None had any antibiotic, steroid, chemoimmunotherapy, or cryosurgery and there was no history of a second primary neoplasm, pregnancy, immunodeficiency, or administration of immunosuppressive drugs. Forty of these patients developed significant postoperative wound infections. Although their representation according to sex, tumor location, number of nodes involved, and other parameters was comparable to that of the remaining 171 patients who did not develop wound infections, the incidence of local recurrence in the group with infections was significantly lower (p less than 0.01). Patient survival and disease-free interval following node dissection were not influenced by infection. Postoperative infections in the groin or axilla offered only local protection from tumor recurrence; the ultimate course of the disease was not affected.
Cancer 1979 Mar
PMID:Effect of postoperative wound infection on the course of stage II melanoma. 37 84

Thymosin fraction 5 contains several distinct hormonal-like factors which are effective in partially or fully inducing and maintaining immune function. Several of the peptide components of fraction 5 have been purified, sequenced and studied in assay systems designed to measure T-cell differentiation and function. These studied indicate that a number of the purified peptides act on different subpopulations of T-cells (see Figure 1). Thymosin beta 3 and beta 4 peptides act on terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) negative precursor T-cells to induce TdT positive cells. Thymosin alpha 1 induces the formation of functional helper cells and conversion of Lyt- cells to Lyt 1+, 2+, 3+ cells. Thymosin alpha 7 induces the formation of functional suppressor T-cells and also converts Lyt- cells to Lyt 1+, 2+, 3+ cells. These studies have provided further evidence that the thymus secretes a family of distinct peptides which act at various sites of the maturation sequence of T-cells to induce and maintain immune function. Phase I and Phase II clinical studied with thymosin in the treatment of primary immunodeficiency diseases, autoimmune diseases, and cancer point to a major role of the endocrine thymus in the maintenance of immune balance and in the treatment of diseases characterized by thymic malfunction. It is becoming increasingly clear that immunological maturation is a process involving a complex number of steps and that a single factor initiating a single cellular event might not be reflected in any meaningful immune reconstitution unless it is the only peptide lacking. Given the complexity of the maturation sequence of T-cells and the increasing numbers of T-cell subpopulations that are being identified, it would be surprising if a single thymic factor could control all of the steps and populations involved. Rather, it would appear that the control of T-cell maturation and function involves a complex number of thymic-specific factors and other molecules that rigidly control the intermediary steps in the differentiation process.
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PMID:Current status of thymosin research: evidence for the existence of a family of thymic factors that control T-cell maturation. 39 36

A young woman developed Hodgkin's disease (nodular sclerosis) in pregnancy and gave birth to a boy who developed common variable immunodeficiency. Initially there was normal IgG with low IgA and IgM, and antibody deficiency. IgG levels fell progressively over 4 years. Cellular immunity was normal. We suggest that this is a further family with immune deficiency presenting with common variable immunodeficiency and lymphoid malignancy.
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PMID:Progressive hypogammaglobulinaemia in a child born to a mother with Hodgkin's disease. 45 17


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