Biomedical subjects

E Fortin

Publications and source records attributed to E Fortin.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

The structure of individual differences in heterogeneous stock mice across problem types and motivational systems.

Sixty Heterogeneous Stock (HS) mice received a battery of six problem-solving tasks and three control procedures. The problem-solving tasks included Hebb-Williams, a place learning task conducted in a plus maze, radial maze, a working memory test following the radial maze, a set of detour problems and a visual non-matching to sample task. The control procedures consisted of land and water activity measures and a light-dark test. The correlation matrix derived from these tasks did not exhibit positive manifold, that is, positive correlations across all problem-solving tasks. Principal components analysis reduced the correlation matrix to four components with eigenvalues exceeding 1.0. Instead of the general factor solution common in the study of human problem-solving, this component structure appeared more congenial to a modular interpretation, with the four components each explaining approximately the same magnitude of matrix variance.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

A novel inflammatory eye disease induced by lymphocytes from knockout mice sensitized against the deleted ocular antigen.

Lens-associated uveitis (LAU), a severe inflammatory eye disease, is thought to be mediated by autoimmunity against lens crystallins. Previously described animal models for this disease are antibody-mediated, since no cellular response to self crystallins could be induced in experimental animals. Here, we describe a new model for LAU, in which lymphocytes from knockout mice deficient in alphaB-crystallin are sensitized against the deleted protein and induce severe ocular inflammation when adoptively transferred into wild type recipients. Similar to LAU, the experimental disease developed only following rupture of the lens capsule, produced in this study by capsulotomy; no disease was detected in recipient eyes with no capsulotomy, or in those treated with cautery, or in eyes affected by systemic treatment with sodium iodate, lipopolysaccharide or X-irradiation. The ocular changes in affected eyes included heavy cellular infiltration and proteinaceous exudate in both the anterior and posterior segments of the eye, that reached their peak on day 4 following cell transfer and subsided quite rapidly thereafter.

Adoptive Transfer↗

PubMed1999

Discontinuation of anticytomegalovirus therapy in patients with HIV infection and cytomegalovirus retinitis.

CONTEXT: Persons with cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have required lifelong anti-CMV therapy to prevent the progression of retinal disease and subsequent loss of vision. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether patients who were taking highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and who had stable CMV retinitis could safely discontinue anti-CMV therapy without reactivation of their retinitis or increase in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viral load. DESIGN: Prospective nonrandomized interventional trial performed from July 1997 to August 1999. SETTING: Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. PATIENTS: Fourteen patients with stable CMV retinitis and HIV infection and CD4+ cell counts higher than 0.1 5 x 10(9)/L and being treated with systemic anti-CMV medications and HAART. INTERVENTIONS: Discontinuation of specific anti-CMV therapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Reactivation of CMV retinitis, development of extraocular CMV infection, detection of CMV in blood and urine, HIV burden, immunologic function, quality of life, morbidity, and mortality. RESULTS: Twelve (89.7%) of 14 patients had evidence of immune recovery uveitis before anti-CMV drugs were discontinued. No patient had reactivation of CMV retinitis or development of extraocular CMV disease during mean follow-up of 16.4 months (range, 8.3-22.0 months) without anti-CMV therapy. Human immunodeficiency viral load remained stable following cessation of anti-CMV medications. Blood and urine assays for CMV were briefly positive in 9 patients but did not predict reactivation of CMV disease. Worsening immune recovery uveitis was associated with a substantial (>3 lines) vision loss in 3 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Maintenance anti-CMV medications were safely stopped in those patients who had stable CMV retinitis and elevated CD4+ cell counts and who were taking HAART. The study demonstrates that immune recovery following potent antiretroviral therapy is effective in controlling a major opportunistic infection, even in patients with a history of severe immunosuppression.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗

PubMed1999

Treatment of noninfectious intermediate and posterior uveitis with the humanized anti-Tac mAb: a phase I/II clinical trial.

To evaluate the safety and potential therapeutic activity of humanized anti-IL-2 receptor mAb (Daclizumab) therapy in the treatment of patients with severe, sight-threatening, intermediate and posterior noninfectious uveitis, a nonrandomized, open-label, pilot study was performed. Patients with uveitis were treated with a minimum of 20 mg of prednisone, cyclosporine, antimetabolites, or any combination of these agents were eligible. Patients were weaned off their systemic immunosuppressive agents according to a standardized schedule, while ultimately receiving Daclizumab infusions every 4 weeks. Anti-IL-2 receptor antibody therapy, given intravenously with intervals of up to 4 weeks in lieu of standard immunosuppressive therapy, appeared to prevent the expression of severe sight-threatening intraocular inflammatory disease in 8 of 10 patients treated over a 12-month period, with noted improvements in visual acuity. One patient met a primary endpoint with a loss of vision of 10 letters or more from baseline in one eye and another patient discontinued therapy because of evidence of increased ocular inflammation. All patients were able to tolerate the study medications without the need for dose reduction. We report effective long-term use of anti-IL-2 therapy for an autoimmune indication. These initial findings would suggest that anti-IL-2 receptor therapy may be an effective therapeutic approach for uveitis and, by implication, other disorders with a predominant Th1 profile.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Multiformic modulation of endotoxin effects by linomide.

Linomide is a potent immunomodulator that either enhances or suppresses certain immunological processes. Of particular interest is this compound's capacity to inhibit a variety of organ-specific autoimmune diseases. Here, we report on the effects of linomide on several immunological reactions elicited by endotoxin (LPS), both in vivo and in vitro. In rats and mice linomide inhibited the elicitation of endotoxin-induced uveitis (EIU), an acute inflammatory eye disease that develops within 24 h following footpad injection of LPS. Linomide also inhibited the production of TNF-alpha and IL-6 by LPS-stimulated rat and mouse macrophage monolayers. On the other hand, treatment with linomide significantly increased the levels of IL-1beta (mice and less in rats), IL-6 (rats), and TNF-alpha (mice) in serum samples collected 2 h following injection with LPS. The increased production of proinflammatory cytokines in linomide-treated mice was also indicated by the enhanced lethal effect of LPS in these mice. The finding of elevated levels of these cytokines in animals with suppressed EIU is also in line with previous observations of an inverse relationship between EIU severity and levels of TNF-alpha. Data recorded here underscore the unique capacity of linomide to both enhance and suppress the immune system.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗

PubMed1998