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

As a result of inadequate surveillance systems and definitive diagnostic standards, it is impossible to quantify the incidence and true pattern of infectious diseases in Africa. Nonetheless, it is clear that viral, bacterial, spirochetal, protozoal, helminthic, and mycotic infections contribute the greatest proportion of health afflictions among all age groups and population subgroups. Particularly alarming is the high prevalence of viral hepatitis in tropical Africa. By the age of 30 years, 70-90% of Africans show indications of past or current hepatitis B virus infection. Scarification, blood sucking vectors, sexual intercourse, and multiple uncontrolled injections are considered the major risk factors associated with this infection, which appears to be etiologically related to primary liver carcinoma. At least 25% of children born to mothers with antigens to hepatitis B become infected. Hepatitis B immunization--demonstrated to be safe and effective in infants as well as adults--is the best strategy to curb the infection rate. Human T-cell lymphotropic retroviruses have a higher prevalence in Africa than any other continent and are linked to T and B-cell neoplasia. In terms of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, a minimum of 5-10 million Africans are infected and there are well over 100,000 cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The major risk factor for HIV infection is heterosexual promiscuity. Another problematic infection is Lassa fever virus, which can reach epidemic proportions but has not led to significant mortality.
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PMID:Infectious diseases in Africa. 288 36

In human lymphocytes three dipeptidyl peptidases were discovered in our laboratory. For a correct demonstration of activities of these enzymes discriminating substrates must be used. Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV) is revealed with Gly-Pro-4-methoxy-2-naphthylamide (Gly-Pro-MNA) and Fast Blue B (FBB). It is present in the surface membrane of about 40% lymphocytes of the peripheral blood. Only T-lymphocytes bear the reaction. Reacting lymphocytes belong predominantly to OKT4+ subset. Some OKT8+ lymphocytes also react. With more sensitive substrates (Lys-Pro-MNA, Phe-Pro-MNA and Ala-Pro-MNA) a co-reaction of DPP II was demonstrated "in situ" and in zymograms. In haemoblastoses a positive reaction in cells indicates their derivation from the T-lineage of lymphocytes. A negative reaction does not exclude a T-cell malignancy, however. A decreased number of DPP IV positive lymphocytes in the peripheral blood indicates a diminished immunocompetent potential of T-cells, e.g. immunodeficiency in patients with malignant lymphoma, gastric and colocrectal carcinoma, AIDS, etc. DPP II demonstrated with Lys-Ala-MNA occurs in about 60% of lymphocytes belonging to T and B subsets. It is localized in lysosomes. Although Lys-Pro-MNA is a more sensitive substrate a co-reaction of DPP IV must always be considered. Patients with chronic B-lymphocytic leukaemia displaying a high number of DPP II+ cells usually have a worse prognosis. DPP I assessed with Gly-Pro-MNA and nitrosalicylaldehyde occurs in about 20% of T and B lymphocytes. The number of positively reacting cells increases after corticosteroid therapy. The influence of the treatment on the activity can be shown very well in histograms of DPP I activity measured by computer-assisted microfluorometry.
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PMID:Dipeptidyl peptidases of human lymphocytes. 290 80

The relationship between virus infections of the skin and mucosae and the development of malignant tumors is discussed. Guided by seroepidemiological data, virus infections with herpes simplex have been associated with the development of cervical carcinoma, genomes specific for HSV, however, have only occasionally been detected in malignant tumor tissue from the cervix. In contrast, DNA specific for papilloma virus could be identified to a high percentage in cervical cancerous and precancerous tissue as well as in bowenoid papulosis in both sexes. Aside from oncogenic papilloma virus, malignant degeneration seems to be dependent on both endogenic cofactors such as immunodeficiency and exogenic cofactors like sunlight or additional virus infections.
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PMID:[Virus infections of the skin and mucous membranes and malignant tumors]. 300 52

Antibody titers to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated early antigens (EA) and the viral capsid antigen (VCA) were determined by ELISA on 263 sera obtained from healthy donors, patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD), non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL), infectious mononucleosis (IM), Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). As expected, most lymphoma patients showed markedly elevated anti-VCA IgG and anti-EA IgG antibody titers. Only one patient in the NHL group (n = 56) consisting of patients with lymphomas other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and hairy-cell leukemia (HCL), and 3 patients with HCL (n = 19) had high antibody titers of the IgA class to VCA and EA. Seventeen out of 48 patients (36%) with CLL had high IgA anti-VCA titers and 10 of these sera (21%) also contained IgA anti-EA. The geometric mean titer (GMT) of IgA anti-VCA was 2,510, the GMT of IgA anti-EA was 780. These antibody titers were about 10 times lower than the corresponding GMT of the NPC patients investigated in this study. The elevated IgG and IgA antibody titers to VCA and EA in CLL and HCL patients seem to reflect an immunodeficiency secondary to the malignant disease leading to reactivation of latent EBV infection. The possibility that at least some of these B-cell lymphomas are associated with EBV cannot be excluded.
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PMID:Increased incidence of IgA antibodies to the Epstein-Barr virus-associated viral capsid antigen and early antigens in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. 301 85

Ataxia telangiectasia (AT) is a primary immunodeficiency syndrome characterized by oculocutaneous telangiectasia, ataxia, recurrent infection and development of malignancies. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a B-cell lymphocytotropic virus which causes infectious mononucleosis and is also highly associated with Burkitt's lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and lymphoproliferative disorders in immunodeficient patients. 10 Japanese patients with AT were studied concerning the status of EBV infection by specific EBV serology, and reactivity of peripheral lymphocytes to EBV. All the AT patients had high EBV antibody titers of IgG to viral capsid antigen (VCA) and early antigen (EA), while low titers of IgG to EBV-associated nuclear antigen (EBNA), compared with age and sex matched healthy controls. However, significant differences were not apparent with antibodies to several other viruses between the AT patients and controls. These antibody characteristics were thought to be that an activated EBV infection occurred in AT patients. Then the lymphocytes were exposed to B95-8 strain EBV. There was no significant differences in EBNA induction frequency at 24 hours prior to cellular DNA synthesis, between the AT and controls. EBV-specific T cell killer function was very low as judged with the days of establishment of lymphoblastoid cells expressing EBNA on all cells after EBV exposure, when compared with the lymphocytes from controls. These AT lymphoblastoid cells easily expressed EA and VCA by cultivation at lower temperature of 33 degrees C, 12-0-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate treatment, 60Co irradiation and by P3HR-1 strain EBV infection. Malignant transformation with high colony forming efficiency in soft agarose and tumor formation in nude mice easily occurred with some of AT lymphoblastoid cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Studies on Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and reactivity of peripheral B lymphocytes to EBV in patients with ataxia telangiectasia]. 301 55

The Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPMV) was reisolated from a cryopreserved sample of the original MPMV-containing rhesus breast carcinoma, and complete integrated MPMV provirus was detected in chromosomal DNA of this tumor. Reanalysis of the in vivo pathogenicity and molecular character of MPMV reisolated from the rhesus breast tumor and analysis of the original MPMV after long-term in vitro propagation in human and rhesus cells show that the original MPMV produces an acquired immunodeficiency similar to that caused by the recently described simian acquired immune deficiency syndrome type D retroviruses, and the MPMV genome and its immunosuppressive effect in vivo have remained stable despite prolonged in vitro passage in human and rhesus cells.
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PMID:Immunodeficiency in rhesus monkeys associated with the original Mason-Pfizer monkey virus. 302 Mar 2

Data on cancer rates from West Indian populations are scarce, and to the authors' knowledge there are no published data on cancer rates and distributions among Haitians. Proportional distributions of cancers among three groups of patients living in Florida were compared: Haitian born blacks, United States born blacks, and non-Haitian Caribbean born blacks. The incidence rate of cancer of the cervix among the Haitian and United States born black groups was also compared. Increased rates of certain malignancies associated with viral infection or immunodeficiency were found in the Haitian group. These tumors were hepatocellular carcinoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, reticulum cell sarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, and carcinoma of the uterine cervix. The age-adjusted incidence rate of carcinoma of the cervix was especially high among Haitian women even with a liberal estimate of the female Haitian population from whom the cases were drawn. Except for cancer of the cervix, the numbers of cancers of interest were small, and age-adjusted incidence rates were not calculated. Continued epidemiological study of larger numbers of patients is needed to evaluate these findings further.
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PMID:Cancer among Haitians in Florida. 302 99

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been associated with classic infectious mononucleosis, Burkitt's lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and B-cell lymphomas in primary and secondary immunodeficiency disease. The availability of specific serologic diagnosis of EBV, rather than dependence on heterophile antibody positivity, has broadened the scope of EBV-associated diseases. A chronic neuroasthenia syndrome accompanied by antibody titers to the viral capsid antigen and early antigen of EBV, which are higher than found in asymptomatic individuals, is one such additional EBV-associated syndrome. This paper describes the clinical and laboratory responses to EBV that are present in this chronic syndrome. It then discusses management of these patients and the difficulties in establishing a cause-and-effect relationship between EBV and chronic neuroasthenia along with recommendations for future studies.
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PMID:Chronic Epstein-Barr virus infection. 303 34

The infectious aspects of cancer in humans were epidemiologically pioneered by Dr. David Burkitt through his observations of lymphomatous tumors seen in children in equatorial Africa. Years, later, the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was shown to be intimately associated with such tumors and is now recognized as a component of some B-cell lymphomas and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Still the questions of an active, passive, or accessory role persist. The ability of this virus to cause immunosuppressive hemopoietic disturbances in individuals infected with EBV but not developing cancer raise questions about host susceptibility, host immune response, and possible coconspiring, infectious, oncogenic agents. Recent associations of EBV antibody found in diseases, such as squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and acquired immunodeficiency syndromes, point to its possible accessory role as an immunosuppressive agent. The ability of EBV to spread by extracellular and intracellular mechanisms demonstrates its variable infectious potential. Numerous EBV-transformed human cell lines attest to its ability to confer "immortality" with uncontrolled growth patterns. This review critically examines the association of EBV with various malignancies, the type of evidence which links it there, and the implications for further investigations and therapy.
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PMID:Epstein-Barr virus-associated malignancies. 303 69

An increased incidence of malignancies occurs in ataxia telangiectasia. These are most frequently hematopoietic in children and epithelial in adults. Both cellular immunodeficiency and chromosome damage have been implicated in their etiology. There has been only one report of a salivary malignancy, a parotid mucoepidermoid carcinoma. We describe a second salivary malignancy, a metastasizing acinic cell carcinoma of the parotid gland, that developed in a 33-yr-old woman with ataxia telangiectasia. The marked chromosomal abnormalities that were present may have been involved in the pathogenesis of her tumor.
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PMID:Ataxia telangiectasia and acinic cell carcinoma of the parotid gland. 317 93


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