Peripheral blood mononuclear cell interleukin-2 and interferon-gamma production, cytotoxicity, and antigen-stimulated blastogenesis during experimental rhinovirus infection
Article Abstract:
Rhinovirus is associated with the common cold in man and with foot and mouth disease in cattle. Rhinovirus has a worldwide distribution and is responsible for approximately 30 percent of all upper respiratory tract infections. The response of the immune system to rhinovirus infection has not been well defined. During rhinovirus infection, peripheral blood levels of T lymphocytes (white blood cells that stimulate antibody production) are reduced. It has been proposed that lymphocytes may migrate to the nasal or lung epithelium to aid in the defense against rhinovirus. Lymphocytes may exert antiviral effects by producing cytokines or by killing cells infected with virus (cytotoxic activity). (Cytokines are proteins, such as interferon and interleukin, that are important in stimulating antibody production.) To determine if rhinovirus stimulates a cellular immune response in individuals with rhinovirus infection, the production of interferon-gamma and interleukin-2 by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC, lymphocytes and monocytes) was determined. Healthy volunteers were inoculated with rhinovirus, and clinical symptoms were monitored for five days following viral challenge (inoculation). Blood samples of PBMCs were collected five days before and five days after viral challenge. Phytohemagglutinin is a plant protein that stimulates human lymphocytes to multiply, and to produce interleukin and interferon. Phytohemagglutinin increased the production of interleukin-2 and interferon-gamma by PBMCs four-fold and two-fold, respectively, five days after inoculation with rhinovirus. Further, the cytotoxic activity of PBMCs was increased five days after viral challenge. The increase in interleukin production was correlated with a reduction in nasal mucus production and a decrease in the number of days of viral infection. These results demonstrate that rhinovirus infection stimulates a cellular immune response. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journal of Infectious Diseases
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0022-1899
Year: 1990
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Acute respiratory viral infections in ambulatory children of urban northeast Brazil
Article Abstract:
In developing countries, acute respiratory infections (ARIs, infections in the lungs) are a leading cause of sickness and death in young children. It is estimated that ARI causes four million deaths each year. In these countries, 50 percent of all deaths occur in children less than five years of age, and ARIs are responsible for one-quarter to one-third of these deaths. These illnesses may be caused by viruses. To determine the prevalence (number of cases) of ARIs, and whether viruses cause them, young children living in a poor urban population in Fortaleza, Brazil were assessed over a 29-month period. The study included 63 families with 175 children under 5 years of age. Staff members visited the families three times a week, recorded any symptoms of ARI and took mucous samples to see if they contained virus. Sixty to 70 percent of the children had symptoms of ARI on more than 75 percent of the days of the year. In fact, if the presence of two or more symptoms was considered to be illness, then 70 percent of the children were ill on a continuous basis. Thirty-five percent of the mucous samples contained viruses. Rhinoviruses (46 percent) were the most common, followed by parainfluenza viruses (16 percent), enteroviruses (16 percent), adenoviruses (10 percent), herpes simplex viruses (7 percent), and influenza viruses (6 percent). These results demonstrate that ARIs are common among poor children in northeast Brazil, and that rhinoviruses are the most common type of viral infection in children with ARIs. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journal of Infectious Diseases
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0022-1899
Year: 1991
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Kinins are generated in nasal secretions during natural rhinovirus colds
Article Abstract:
Many viruses are implicated as the cause of the common cold, the most frequently reported respiratory infection. Thirty percent of these colds are caused by rhinoviruses (RV). Unlike influenza, RVs do not appear to produce any alteration in nasal tissue. This absence of cellular change suggests that RVs do not produce viral cytotoxicity, and supports the alternative hypothesis that inflammatory mediators, or kinins, are generated during RV infection. One hundred insurance company workers, aged 18 to 60 years old, who were free from asthma, allergies, or other chronic respiratory illness, were selected for a prospective study of kinin development during RV infections, or 'colds'. Participants maintained a log of respiratory symptoms and events, and nasal specimens were obtained at the first appearance of symptoms. Sixteen persons experienced the development of natural colds due to RV infections and contributed specimens for viral and kinin studies. During illness, kinin levels increased in nasal lavages in 11 of the 16 subjects, and were substantially higher than those measured during noninfected and asymptomatic periods. The increase was accompanied by increased vascular permeability of tissue in the nasal passages. These findings are in agreement with those of experimentally-induced infection studies. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journal of Infectious Diseases
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0022-1899
Year: 1990
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