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ABSTRACT: Assessment of specific antibody (Ab) production to polysaccharide antigens is clinically relevant, identifying patients at risk for infection by encapsulated bacteria and thus enabling a more rigorous selection of patients that can benefit of immunoglobulin replacement therapy. Classically, the gold-standard test is the measurement of antibody production to pure polysaccharide pneumococcal (PPV) immunization. Several factors, including introduction of conjugate vaccination schedule, serotyping analysis, high baseline Ab levels, have hindered the evaluation of polysaccharide antigens. This is even more difficult in secondary immunodeficiencies (SID), where patients can show secondary responses despite lack of primary antibody responses and present with recurrent or severe infections. Assessment of specific Ab production to pure Salmonella typhi Vi polysaccharide (TV) immunization has been proposed as a complementary test to PPV, given its low seroprevalence. To set the optimal cut-off value for PPV and TV response in SID, we tested different biostatistical methodologies, including ROC analysis, Youden index, Union index and Closest-topleft in a cohort of 42 SID patients and 24 healthy controls. The statistically chosen cut-offs value pre-post TV Ab ratio was ≥5, (sensitivity of 90%, specificity of 100%) and a postvaccination TV concentration of 28.5 U/mL (sensitivity of 90%, specificity of 95%), showing relevant clinical correlate.

Background: There is increasing evidence supporting that neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory humoral mediated disorder associated with NMO-IgG/AQP-4 antibodies. However, little is known about the subsets of B cells and T cells that contribute to the pathogenesis or therapy response. Objectives: To describe the clinical and immunological changes associated with intravenous immunoglobulins (IV-Igs) plus rituximab (RTX) in a patient with a severe acute attack of NMO and intrathecal synthesis of NMO-IgG/AQP-4, who previously did not respond to intravenous methylprednisolone and plasma exchange. Methods: We sequentially analysed the levels of NMO-IgG/AQP-4 by immunohistochemistry, and B and T cells subsets by multiparametric flow-cytometry, in the CSF and peripheral blood (PB), before and after IV-Igs plus RTX therapy. Results: In the CSF before treatment, and compared to PB, there was a higher percentage of CD4+ T cells and a lower percentage of CD8+ T cells and CD19+ B cells. After therapy, the percentage of CD4+ T cells remained high, and that of CD8+ T cells increased. The observed decrease in the percentage of CD19+ B cells was lower than in the PB. When the CSF was compared, it was found that the percentage of effector-memory and effector CD8+ T cells had increased after therapy, and that of IgM memory B cells and switched-memory B cells decreased. The observed changes paralleled the decrease of NMO-IgG/AQP-4 results to negative and the clinical improvement. Conclusions: Our findings confirm that, besides intrathecal humoral immune response against AQP4, B and T cell subsets are involved in the modulation of inflammation within and outside the central nervous system. Resumen: Antecedentes: La neuromielitis óptica (NMO) es una enfermedad predominantemente humoral mediada por anticuerpos IgG-NMO/AQP-4. Sin embargo, no se conoce bien la contribución de las diferentes subpoblaciones de células B y T en su patogenia o en la respuesta a los tratamientos. Objetivos: Describir los cambios clínicos e inmunológicos asociados al tratamiento con inmunoglobulinas intravenosas (Ig-IV) y rituximab (RTX) en una paciente con un brote grave de NMO y síntesis intratecal de IgG-NMO/AQP-4 que no había respondido a metilprednisolona y recambio plasmático. Métodos: Se analizaron, de forma secuencial en el LCR y en la sangre periférica (SP), las subpoblaciones linfocitarias mediante citometría de flujo multiparamétrica y los IgG-NMO/AQP-4, antes y después del tratamiento con Ig-IV y RTX. Resultados: En el LCR antes del tratamiento, y comparado con la SP, predominaban las células T CD4+ y estaban menos representadas las T CD8+ y las B CD19+. Tras el tratamiento, el porcentaje de células T CD4+ se mantuvo alto, el de T CD8+ aumentó y el de B CD19+ disminuyó, aunque menos que en la SP. Al comparar los LCR se vio que tras la terapia el porcentaje de células T CD8+ memoria efectoras y efectoras había aumentado, y el de células B memoria IgM y el de células B con cambio de isotipos, disminuido. Los cambios observados fueron paralelos a la negativización de los IgG-NMO/AQP-4 y a la mejoría clínica. Conclusiones: Nuestros hallazgos confirman que, además de una respuesta inmunitaria humoral intratecal durante el brote de NMO, subpoblaciones específicas de células B y T participan en la modulación de la inflamación dentro y fuera del sistema nervioso central. Keywords: Neuromyelitis optica, Cerebrospinal fluid, Anti-aquaporin-4 autoantibodies, CD19+ and CD8+ T cell subsets, Palabras clave: Neuromielitis óptica, Líquido cefalorraquídeo, Autoanticuerpos Anti-acuaporina-4, Subclases de células B CD19+ y T CD8+

Objectives: Identifying patients with COVID-19 who are at risk of poor evolution is key to early decide on their hospitalization. We evaluated the combined impact of nucleocapsid (N)-antigenemia profiled by a rapid test and antibodies against the S1 subunit of the SARS-CoV S protein (S1) on the hospitalization risk of patients with COVID-19., Methods: N-antigenemia and anti-S1 antibodies were profiled at admission to the emergency department in 146 patients with COVID-19 using the Panbio® antigen Rapid Test and the SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G II Quant/SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G assay from Abbott. A multivariable analysis was used to evaluate the impact of these factors on hospitalization., Results: Patients with a positive N-antigen test in plasma and anti-S1 levels <2821 arbitrary units/mL needed hospitalization more frequently (20 of 23, 87%). A total of 20 of 71 (28.2%) of those showing a negative N-antigen test and anti-S1 ≥2821 arbitrary units/mL were hospitalized for 18 of 52 (34.6%) of the patients with only one of these conditions. Patients with a positive N-antigen test and low antibody levels showed an odds ratio, 95% confidence interval, and P-value for hospitalization of 18.21, 2.74-121.18, and 0.003, respectively, and exhibited the highest mortality (30.4%)., Conclusions: Simultaneous profiling of a rapid N-antigen test in plasma and anti-S1 levels could help to early identify patients with COVID-19 needing hospitalization., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest JME, MDG, JFBM, FB, and RLI had filled a patent on antigenemia as a predictor of poor outcomes in COVID-19 (EP20383140). Amanda de la Fuente reports financial support was provided by Carlos III Health Institute (PFIS: FI20/00278), co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF)/Investing in Your Future. Francisco Sanus Ferri reports that financial support was provided by the Network of Biomedical Research Centers of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and by “Programa de donaciones estar preparados; UNESPA” (Madrid, Spain). Tamara Postigo contract was supported by Fundació La Marató de TV3 (ajudes Econòmiques a Projectes de Recerca sobre Covid-19 - La Marató 2020, code 202108-30-31). Jesus F Bermejo-Martin has patent pending to EP20383140. Marta Dominguez-Gil has patent pending to EP20383140. Ferran Barbe has patent pending to EP20383140. Raul Lopez-Izquierdo has patent pending to EP20383140. Jose Maria Eiros has patent pending to EP20383140. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. The remaining authors have no competing interest to declare., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Evidence is scant regarding the long-term humoral and cellular responses Q7 triggered by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mRNA vaccines in cancer patients after repeated booster doses. The possibility of T-cell exhaustion following these booster doses in this population has not yet been fully studied and remains uncertain., Methods: In this single-center prospective observational study, we explored the specific humoral and cellular response to S1 antigen in 36 patients with solid malignancies at baseline, and after the second and third doses of the mRNA-1273 vaccine., Results: A dual behavior was observed: 24 (66.7%) patients showed partial specific IFN-γ response after the second dose that was further enhanced after the third dose; and 11 (30.5%) already showed an optimal response after the second dose and experienced a marked fall-off of specific IFN-γ production after the third (4 patients negativization), which might suggest T cell exhaustion due to repetitive priming to the same antigen. One (2.8%) patient had persistently negative responses after all three doses. Seroconversion occurred in all patients after the second dose. We then studied circulating exhausted CD8+ T-cells in 4 patients from each of the two response patterns, those with increase and those with decrease in cellular response after the third booster. The patients with decreased cellular response after the booster had a higher expression of PD1 + CD8 + and CD57 + PD1 + CD8 + exhausted T cells compared with those with an increased cellular response both in vivo and in vitro . The proportion of PD1 + CD8 + and CD57 + PD1 + CD8 + exhausted T cells inversely correlated with IFN-γ production., Discussion: Our preliminary data show that the two-dose SARS-CoV-2 vaccine regimen was beneficial in all cancer patients of our study. An additional booster seems to be beneficial in suboptimal vaccine seroconverters, in contrast to maximal responders that might develop exhaustion. Our data should be interpreted with caution given the small sample size and highlight the urgent need to validate our results in other independent and larger cohorts. Altogether, our data support the relevance of immunological functional studies to personalize preventive and treatment decisions in cancer patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Benitez Fuentes, Mohamed Mohamed, de Luna Aguilar, Jiménez García, Guevara-Hoyer, Fernandez-Arquero, Rodríguez de la Peña, Garciía Bravo, Jiménez Ortega, Flores Navarro, Bartolome Arcilla, Alonso Arenilla, Baos Muñoz, Delgado-Iribarren García-Campero, Montealegre Sanz, Sanchez-Ramon and Perez Segura.)

The vast majority of patients with soft tissue sarcomas (STS) of the trunk and bilateral lung metastases at diagnosis are considered incurable. These tumors have poor prognosis as only a palliative therapeutic approach can be offered to patients. We report on an extremely rare case in which bilateral lung metastases disappeared spontaneously following surgical resection of the primary CIC-rearranged sarcoma with no addition of chemotherapy or any other systemic therapy. A 53-year-old female presented with a rapidly swelling mass on her back. A magnetic resonance imaging scan of the chest revealed a large soft tissue mass on the posterior chest wall and bilateral lung metastases. Soon after stereotactic core-needle biopsy confirmation of round-cell sarcoma, the patient underwent surgery of the primary tumor as it started to be increasingly symptomatic. The resected specimen was pathologically diagnosed a poorly differentiated grade 3 sarcoma. Approximately 1 month later, a new CT scan revealed that the lung metastases were smaller and some of them had completely disappeared. Shortly afterward, the patient started adjuvant external beam radiotherapy of the tumor bed for 14 months. During the last follow-up visit, the patient confirmed no evidence of disease for 35 months postoperatively. In parallel, a histological study of pulmonary nodules, molecular analyses of the tumor, and a comprehensive study of the patient's immunophenotype were performed to gain some additional insights in the potential causes of this rare phenomenon., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2021 by S. Karger AG, Basel.)

In this article several members of diverse scientific associations and reproduction experts from Spain have updated different genetic and immunological procedure recommendations in couples affected by reproductive dysfunction with the goal of providing a set of useful guidelines for the clinic. The laboratory test has been considered as highly recommendable for making clinical decisions when the result of the diagnostic test is relevant, moderately recommendable when the results are of limited evidence because they are inconsistent, and low when the benefit of the test is uncertain. It is expected that these recommendations will provide some useful guidelines for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of couples presenting reproductive dysfunction., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by demyelination and neurodegeneration, driven by a Th17/Th1-immune response, which afflicts mainly young women. Although MS causes are not completely known, it is notorious that the disease is characterized by an extended focal degradation of the myelin sheath, with ulterior axonal and neuronal damage. Lipid molecules play a main dual role in MS, both as target molecules of myelin destruction and as mediators of inflammation. Indeed, recent cumulative evidence suggests that abnormalities in the lipidbinding proteins of myelin and sphingolipid content that confer increased immunogenicity may underlie the autoimmune response against the myelin sheath. CNS is after all, the second organ richer in lipid content after adipose tissue. On the other hand, soluble factors called adipokines, secreted by adipose tissue, modulate inflammatory responses and contribute to metabolic dysfunction, which may be important in MS pathophysiology. Disability accumulation in MS patients is slow but persistent, often leading to a decreased mobility and physical activity, resulting in more weakness, fatigue and associated increased risk of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). In turn, MetS may trigger MS in susceptible individuals and is a bad prognostic factor. Here we review what are the facts linking lipids, MetS and MS, what we do not know yet, and what we should do to move this field forward., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.)

A main focus in healthcare is the active search for alternative strategies to antibiotics, both for prophylactic and therapeutical interventions, due to the accelerated and widespread increase in antibiotic resistance. This problem is more marked for patients with recurrent infections, in which the risk for antibiotic resistance and adverse effects is higher and can be life-threatening. Although antibiotics remain the mainstay of treatment for infectious diseases, prophylactic vaccines via the mucosal route in defined populations of patients with recurrent infections has gained use in recent years. Concomitantly, relevant advances in the formulation and administration of these vaccines driven by an increased knowledge of mucosal immunity have expanded their use, although still in its infancy. These drugs target both the innate and adaptive immune systems, at the actual point of entry of most pathogens. A fascinating new application of the concepts of trained immunity may open novel studies in their potential uses, given the paradoxically simultaneous pro-tolerogenic and boosting effector effects on diverse immune cells for different antigens. Here we delineate an updated review on the immunomodulatory mechanisms of mucosal polybacterial vaccines., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.)

Cumulative recent evidence from clinical trials, observational studies and case reports has shown that subcutaneous administration of immunoglobulin (SCIg) exerts similar immunomodulatory capacity than intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) in autoimmune neurological diseases. Besides the beneficial clinical effects, the profile of safety and autonomy for the patient is higher for SCIg, while it is cost-saving in terms of the health resources used. However, there are still very few approved indications for SCIg and a certain resistance to choose SCIg for other autoimmune conditions even despite patients' interests. Here we present an updated review of the known immunomodulatory mechanisms of action of Ig and the current hypothesis supporting the clinical and immunological advantages of SCIg over IVIg that derive from their specific pharmacokinetic features., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.)

Improper activation of the immune system contributes to a variety of clinical conditions, including autoimmune and allergic diseases as well as solid organ and bone marrow transplantation. One approach to counteract this activation is through adoptive therapy with regulatory T cells (Tregs). Efforts to manufacture these cells have led to good maunfacturing practice-compliant protocols, and Treg products are entering early clinical trials. Here, we report the stance of the European Union Cooperation in Science and Technology Action BM1305, "Action to Focus and Accelerate Cell-based Tolerance-inducing Therapies-A FACTT," which identifies hurdles hindering Treg clinical applications in Europe and provides possible solutions., (Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.)

Common variable immune deficiency (CVID) B cells have impaired responses to TLR7 and TLR9 agonists including poor cell proliferation, loss of cytokine production, and failure to produce IgG or IgA. We show that TLR7- or 9-activated B cells from CVID subjects with >0.5% peripheral isotype-switched CD27(+) B cells (group 2) have increased mature Cγ1 and Cγ2 heavy-chain mRNA transcripts compared to subjects who have <0.5% isotype-switched cells (group 1). While TLR-stimulated CVID plasmacytoid dendritic cells for all subjects had impaired IFN-α production, TLR7 or TLR9 stimulation in the presence IFN-α normalized isotype-switched CD27(+) B cells, enhanced activation-induced cytidine deaminase mRNA, and significantly improved IgG production only for group 2 subjects. IFN-α also upregulated TLR7 and TLR9 mRNA expression comparable to normal levels in B cells of group 2 subjects, indicating that the loss of IFN-α could be a significant component of the B-cell defect for these subjects.

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), alone or in combination with autoimmune hemolytic anemia (Evans syndrome) and/or autoimmune neutropenia, is frequent in patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID). A 34-year-old man with CVID had long-standing unresponsive ITP. The patient had a 9-year history of CVID on substitutive therapy with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). The clinical course of CVID was complicated with refractory fistulizing inflammatory bowel disease, nodular regenerative hyperplasia of the liver, splenomegaly, severe portal hypertension, and hypercatabolism of IgG. ITP was refractory to medical therapy, including different combinations of corticosteroids, high-dose IVIG, azathioprine, and vincristine. Splenectomy was not performed because of severe portal hypertension. He received a total five doses of rituximab, a monoclonal antibody directed against CD20 antigen, at a dose of 375 mg/m(2). After an initially slow response, his platelet count increased to more than 50,000/microL by the fourth week of infusion. Therapy was well tolerated, and B lymphocytes were effectively depleted from the peripheral blood. The patient was completely tapered off glucocorticoids and maintained platelets at above 40,000/microL. The patient has not taken immunosuppressive agents for 11 months. Early treatment with rituximab might be an option for patients with CVID and ITP that do not respond to other treatments or for patients for whom a splenectomy is contraindicated.