Diseases Commons^™

Selective Impact Of Hiv Disease Progression On The Innate Immune System In The Human Female Reproductive Tract, Timothy Lahey, Mimi Ghosh, John V. Fahey, Zheng Shen, Lucy R. Mukura, Yan Song, Susan Cu-Uvin, Kenneth H. Mayer, Peter F. Wright, John C. Kappes, Christina Ochsenbauer, Charles R. Wira

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: We have previously demonstrated intrinsic anti-HIV activity in cervicovaginal lavage (CVL) from HIV-infected women with high CD4 counts and not on antiretroviral therapy. However, the impact of HIV disease progression on CVL innate immune responses has not been delineated.

Methods: CVL from 57 HIV-infected women not on antiretroviral therapy were collected by washing the cervicovaginal area with 10 ml of sterile normal saline. We characterized subject HIV disease progression by CD4 count strata: >500 cells/µl, 200-500 cells/µl, or <200 cells/µl of blood. To assess CVL anti-HIV activity, we incubated TZM-bl cells with HIV plus or minus CVL. Antimicrobials, cytokines, chemokines and anti-gp160 HIV IgG antibodies were measured by ELISA and Luminex.

Β-Lactams Interfering With Pbp1 Induce Panton-Valentine Leukocidin Expression By Triggering Sara And Rot Global Regulators Of Staphylococcus Aureus, Oana Dumitrescu, Priya Choudhury, Sandrine Boisset, Cedric Badiou, Michele Bes, Yvonne Benito, Christiane Wolz, Francois Vandenesch, Jerome Etienne, Ambrose L. Cheung

Dartmouth Scholarship

Previous articles reported that beta-lactam antibiotics increase the expression of Staphylococcus aureus Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) by activating its transcription. We investigated the mechanisms underlying the inductor effect of beta-lactams on PVL expression by determining targets and regulatory pathways possibly implicated in this process. We measured PVL production in the presence of oxacillin (nonselective), imipenem (penicillin-binding protein 1 [PBP1] selective), cefotaxime (PBP2 s