       Document 0183
 DOCN  M9630183
 TI    Impaired natural immunity to pneumolysin during human immunodeficiency
       virus infection in the United States and Africa.
 DT    9603
 AU    Amdahl BM; Rubins JB; Daley CL; Gilks CF; Hopewell PC; Janoff EN;
       Department of Medicine, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, USA.
 SO    Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1995 Dec;152(6 Pt 1):2000-4. Unique
       Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/96094250
 AB    Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is associated with a
       significantly increased incidence of pneumococcal pneumonia and
       concomitant bacteremia. We hypothesized that the predisposition of
       HIV-infected patients to invasive pneumococcal infection may be related,
       in part, to an impaired immune response to the pneumococcal antigen
       pneumolysin (PLY) because PLY facilitates bacterial invasion. We
       measured serum anti-PLY antibodies in two separate populations of
       HIV-infected and HIV-seronegative controls, using both an enzyme-linked
       immunosorbent assay method and a functional assay of antibody inhibition
       of PLY-induced hemolysis and cytotoxicity. HIV-infected patients in the
       United States had significantly lower titers of anti-PLY antibodies by
       both methods than did seronegative control subjects. Moreover,
       HIV-infected patients in Kenya who later developed pneumococcal
       bacteremia also had significantly lower anti-PLY antibody levels at
       baseline compared with seronegative control subjects. We conclude that
       lower baseline levels of antibodies to PLY are associated with the
       higher incidence of bacteremic pneumococcal infections among
       HIV-infected patients.
 DE    Adult  Antibodies, Bacterial/ANALYSIS  AIDS-Related Opportunistic
       Infections/IMMUNOLOGY  Comparative Study  Cytotoxicity, Immunologic
       Cytotoxins/IMMUNOLOGY  Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay  Female  Human
       HIV Infections/*IMMUNOLOGY  HIV Seronegativity/IMMUNOLOGY  *Immunity,
       Natural  Kenya  Male  Pneumonia, Lobar/COMPLICATIONS/IMMUNOLOGY
       Streptolysins/*IMMUNOLOGY  Support, Non-U.S. Gov't  Support, U.S. Gov't,
       Non-P.H.S.  Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.  United States  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

