Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to N Panoskaltsis.
Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura pathologically consists of a thrombotic microangiopathy that classically spares lung tissues. We describe a case of TTP that presented as a pulmonary-renal syndrome. In reviewing the international literature, pulmonary involvement is not as rare as once was thought, and the diagnosis of TTP should be considered in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary-renal syndromes.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects primarily the hematopoietic and immune systems. At the onset of infection, an initial activation of the immune system occurs, with a subsequent suppression thereafter due to direct viral infection of cells, inhibitory effects of HIV proteins, an altered microenvironment with cytokine imbalance, and increased apoptosis of both infected and non-infected cells. The CD34+ hematopoietic stem cell, however, remains free of infection. Novel methods in gene therapy utilize viral vectors that can introduce genes with good efficiency into the non-dividing stem cell. Therefore, HIV-resistance genes can be introduced into stem cells using these vectors. This confers resistance to infection to their respective progeny, and concurrently allows for repopulation of the immuno-hematopoietic repertoire. Applications of this technology to the patient infected with HIV are discussed in the context of myeloablative therapy and stem cell rescue.
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