Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P05231 (interleukin-6)
 23,907 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Cryptococcosis is an hematogenously disseminated meningoencephalitis during which the relationship between the disease severity and the immune response remains unclear. We thus analyzed, by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, proinflammatory (tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-alpha] and interleukin-6 [IL-6]) and anti-inflammatory (IL-10) cytokine levels in plasma at the time of diagnosis in 51 AIDS patients with culture-proven cryptococcosis. We used a murine model to determine the correlation between cytokine levels and fungal burden in blood and tissues and the kinetics of the immune response and of the formation of cerebral lesions. In AIDS patients, plasma TNF-alpha and IL-10, but not IL-6, levels were significantly higher in the case of fungemia or disseminated infection than in their absence, whereas the presence of meningitis had no influence on these levels. In mice, none of these cytokines were detected within the first day after inoculation. Later on, TNF-alpha and IL-10, but not IL-6, levels in plasma correlated significantly with the fungal burden in the blood and spleen but not the brain. In the brain, cytokine levels were low compared to those in other compartments, and tissue lesions and a degree of infection similar to those observed in humans were seen, further suggesting the relevance of this experimental model. Thus, AIDS patients with cryptococcosis produce an immune response that reflects the dissemination but not the meningeal involvement. This murine model of disseminated cryptococcosis can be used to investigate the pathophysiology of cryptococcosis and new therapeutic approaches.
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PMID:Cytokine profiles of AIDS patients are similar to those of mice with disseminated Cryptococcus neoformans infection. 1056 43

The amino terminal sequence of the Candida albicans cell wall protein Int1 exhibited partial identity with the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II binding site of the Mycoplasma arthritidis superantigen MAM. Int1-positive C. albicans blastospores activated human T lymphocytes and expanded Vbeta subsets 2, 3, and/or 14; Int1-negative strains were inactive. Release of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) but not of tumor necrosis factor-alpha or interleukin-6 was Int1 dependent; interleukin-4 and interleukin-10 were not detected. T lymphocyte activation, Vbeta expansion, and IFN-gamma release were associated with a soluble polypeptide that encompassed the first 263 amino acids of Int1 (Pep(263)). Monoclonal antibody 163.5, which recognizes an Int1 epitope that overlaps the region of identity with MAM, significantly inhibited these activities when triggered by Int1-positive blastospores or Pep(263) but not by staphylococcal enterotoxin B. Histidine(263) was required. Pep(263) bound to T lymphocytes and MHC class II and was detected in the urine of a patient with C. albicans fungemia. These studies identify a candidal protein that displays superantigen-like activities.
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PMID:Superantigen-like effects of a Candida albicans polypeptide. 1841 34