The combination of arsenic, interferon-alpha, and zidovudine restores an “immunocompetent-like” micro-environment in patients with adult T-cell leukemia lymphoma

Abstract

The combination of arsenic, interferonalpha, and zidovudine restores an "immunocompetent-like" microenvironment in patients with adult T-cell leukemia lymphoma. Retrovirology 2014 11(Suppl 1):O4.

Th17 Cells and Tregs in HTLV-1 Infection

“…Th17-mediated pro-inflammatory responses can enhance viral replication. However, the contributions of Tregs and Th17 cells in HTLV-1associated conditions vary depending on the infection stage and host immunological state [4,21,[28][29][30] .…”

“…Previous research has shown that increased FOXP3 expression in patients with ATL contributes to enhanced Tregs activity, leading to increased secretion of TGF-β and IL-10, which then activates the immunosuppression phenotype seen in HAM/TSP patients [32] . Therefore, it can be concluded that the role of Tregs in the pathogenesis of HTLV-1 infection varies based on the stage of infection and the host immune status [4,21,28,29] . Th17 cells, which express ROR-γt as a transcription factor and secrete IL-17A, are one of the most prominent subsets of inflammatory cells [34,35] .…”

Conference Highlights of the 16th International Conference on Human Retrovirology: HTLV and Related Retroviruses, 26–30 June 2013, Montreal, Canada

“…They suggested the usefulness of new molecular techniques for proviral load and clonality analyses (currently used as a standard in clinical care in some countries), which actually led to the identification of one cured patient with the disappearance of a dominant clone. Kchour et al rather focussed on cytokine analysis of patients treated with AZT/IFN combined with arsenic and argued that this therapy induced restoration of an “immunocompetent-like” microenvironment, although they did not directly analyze stromal cells [25]. However, patients did display a high response rate and CR rate as well as a shift of a cytokine expression profile from a Th2 to a Th1 response.…”