Progressive specific immune attrition after primary, secondary and tertiary immunizations with bacteriophage ΦX174 in asymptomatic HIV-1 infected patients

Abstract

Multiple boosters of immunizations in asymptomatic treatment-naive HIV-1-infected patients may result in a specific immune attrition and vaccine-induced viremia. Short-term monotherapy with ZDV may have blunted these adverse effects. Hyperimmunization of HIV-1-infected patients may be detrimental unless accompanied by antiretroviral therapy.

Prospective 5-year study of peripheral blood CD4+, CD8+, and CD19+/CD20+ lymphocytes and serum Igs in children born to HIV-1+ women

“…The few intervening publications have documented a decrease in the CD19 + /CD5 + B-cell compartment in 7-to 12-month-old HIV-1 + infants, 35 lower CD19 + B-cell numbers in more symptomatic HIV-1 + children, 36 low numbers of functionally active B cells in HIV-1 + patients with low p24 antibody serum titers, 37 and high serum IgG and IgA levels in HIV-1 + children. 38 Recently, Rubinstein et al 39 have documented progressive immunologic attrition in 17 relatively asymptomatic HIV + adults by using bacteriophage ϕ X174 immunizations. Recently, significant increases in CD19 + B cells have been described in pediatric HIV-1 + patients given the protease inhibitor ritonavir.…”

Immunocompatibility of Bacteriophages as Nanomedicines

“…TLR9 was first shown to recognize deoxycytidylate-phosphatedeoxyguanylate (CpG) regions in bacterial DNA and is now known to be important in defending against different viral and parasitic pathogens [72]. Abundant portions of unmethylated CpG dinucleotides (CpG motifs) that are found in prokaryotic (primarily bacterial) genomes as well as synthetic oligonucleotides [72,73] containing CpG motifs have in recent years been shown to activate the innate immune system and can elicit a Th1-dominated response, resulting in release of a wide range of cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-6, IL-18, and TNF-α) [74][75][76]. This discovery has opened door for research into the use of CpG motifs for the use as a powerful adjuvant for DNA vaccines and/or immunomodulatory agents not only to direct an adaptive long-lived immune response against pathogenic agents, but also to prevent unwanted Th2 humoral immune responses [76].…”

“…In this study, function was evaluated by measuring the ability of T cells to provide help to B cells in antibody production, amplification, and isotype switching. In vivo humoral responses to phage phiX174 have been used for more than 30 years in clinical immunology as a measure of T helper cell-dependent antibody production [73,101,102].…”

Approaches to Detecting Immunotoxic Effects of Environmental Contaminants in Humans

“…A second injection 4 weeks later will produce a strong anamnestic response. This procedure allows for the determination of primary and anamnestic responses to the bacteriophage challenges and makes possible the concurrent measuring of the rate of clearance of the injected bacteriophage (45). Decreased bacteriophage clearance has been shown to be significantly delayed in immunodeficient patients (45).…”

“…This procedure allows for the determination of primary and anamnestic responses to the bacteriophage challenges and makes possible the concurrent measuring of the rate of clearance of the injected bacteriophage (45). Decreased bacteriophage clearance has been shown to be significantly delayed in immunodeficient patients (45). Immunization with bacteriophage has been conducted by several groups in different countries and has proven to be a harmless procedure (44).…”