View clinical trials related to Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes.
Filter by:Several dideoxynucleosides have now been shown to have activity against HIV but to have different toxicities. This study will involve therapy of patients with AIDS or ARC with two of these agents, AZT and 2', 3'-dideoxyinosine (ddI), which have different toxicity profiles, over a 2-year period of time. The rationale for using the two drugs will be to reduce toxicity and also possibly to delay or prevent the development of resistance. Patients will be randomized to receive either an alternating regimen or a continuous simultaneous regimen with these two drugs. The study will be structured as a randomized pilot study.
This study will monitor the long-term effects of gene therapy in patients with severe combined immunodeficiency disease (SCID) due to a deficiency in an enzyme called adenosine deaminase (ADA). It will also follow the course of disease in children who are not receiving gene therapy, but may have received enzyme replacement therapy with the drug PEG-ADA. ADA is essential for the growth and proper functioning of infection-fighting white blood cells called T and B lymphocytes. Patients who lack this enzyme are, therefore, immune deficient and vulnerable to frequent infections. Injections of PEG-ADA may increase the number of immune cells and reduce infections, but this enzyme replacement therapy is not a definitive cure. In addition, patients may become resistant or allergic to the drug. Gene therapy, in which a normal ADA gene is inserted into the patient's cells, attempts to correcting the underlying cause of disease. Patients with SCID due to ADA deficiency may be eligible for this study. Patients may or may not have received enzyme replacement therapy or gene transfer therapy, or both. Participants will have follow-up visits at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, at least once a year for a physical examination, blood tests, and possibly the following additional procedures to evaluate immune function: 1. Bone marrow sampling - A small amount of marrow from the hip bone is drawn (aspirated) through a needle. The procedure can be done under local anesthesia or light sedation. 2. Injection of small amounts of fluids into the arm to study if the patient's lymphocytes respond normally. 3. Administration of vaccination shots. 4. Collection of white blood cells through apheresis - Whole blood is collected through a needle placed in an arm vein. The blood circulates through a machine that separates it into its components. The white cells are then removed, and the red cells, platelets and plasma are returned to the body, either through the same needle used to draw the blood or through a second needle placed in the other arm. 5. Blood drawings to obtain and study the patient's lymphocytes.
The goal of the protocol is to define the normal humoral and cellular immune responses to antigens in volunteers and to define abnormalities of these immune responses in patients with immunodeficiency diseases or cancer. In vitro assays and in vivo skin tests and immunization with antigens will be utilized.
The purpose of this study is to find out why cancers develop in HIV-positive patients. Cancer is a leading cause of death in AIDS patients. Common cancers in HIV-infected patients include Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), a cancer of the immune system. Risk factors include certain chemicals, viruses, and perhaps even anti-HIV drugs. Doctors would like to find out which risk factors are most important and how they relate to cancer in AIDS patients.
To compare the safety and effectiveness of a new drug, fluconazole, with that of the usual therapy, amphotericin B, in the prevention of a relapse of cryptococcal meningitis (CM) in patients with AIDS who have been successfully treated for acute CM in the last 6 months. Cryptococcal meningitis is a life-threatening infectious complication of AIDS. Because relapse after treatment occurs in over 50 percent of cases, chronic maintenance therapy with intravenous (IV) amphotericin B is usually given. However, amphotericin B is not always effective, has toxic effects, and must be given by the intravenous route. Fluconazole is an antifungal agent that can be given orally and has been shown to be effective against cryptococcal infections in animals and against acute CM in a few AIDS patients. Also, the side effects experienced by over 2000 patients or volunteers given fluconazole have seldom been severe enough to require withdrawal of the drug.
To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a 6-month course of isoniazid ( INH ) in the prevention of clinical tuberculosis in anergic (having diminished or absent reactions to specific antigens) HIV-infected persons who are at high risk for tuberculous infection. A substantial number of HIV-infected persons are anergic, and thus do not respond to the only currently available diagnostic tool for tuberculosis infection (that is, the PPD (purified protein derivative) skin test). Many of these anergic persons are, however, infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and eventually develop reactivation tuberculosis, causing both individual illness and spread of infection to others in the community. This study examines the possibility of using INH prophylaxis (that is, for prevention) in anergic HIV-infected patients at high risk for tuberculosis as a means of decreasing the sharp rise in the incidence of tuberculosis due to HIV infection. INH is inexpensive and relatively safe, and thus may demonstrate an acceptable risk/benefit ratio as a medication that can be given over a limited period of time to a population suspected of having, but not proved to have, M. tuberculosis infection. If this study shows INH to be safe and effective in this setting, it could have a major effect on public health in this country.
To determine the safety and immunogenicity of Env 2-3 in combination with MTP-PE/MF59 adjuvant in adult volunteers with HIV infection. By vaccinating those who have HIV infection, perhaps the replication (reproduction) of existing viral strains can be suppressed and the asymptomatic period early in the infectious process can be prolonged. One potential way to do this is to boost HIV antigen-specific CD4 responses, which may in turn increase the effectiveness of CD8 killing of HIV infected cells.
To quantitate in an HIV-infected population the percentage of patients demonstrating the "booster" phenomenon (attainment of a positive response to a second tuberculin purified protein derivative skin test when the first skin test was negative); to determine the relationship between the booster phenomenon and CD4-positive lymphocyte cell counts; to detect any relationship between the booster phenomenon and HIV exposure category. The accuracy of skin testing to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb) infection is dependent upon the host's ability to mount a delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction; however, the DTH response may be impaired or absent in patients with impaired cell-mediated immunity, a classic characteristic of HIV infection. Patients in whom immunity is diminished, but not absent, may test negative the first time a purified protein derivative skin test for MTb is administered, but if the same skin test is repeated, a positive DTH response may then be elicited. This occurrence is known as the "booster" phenomenon.
To correlate HIV-1 viral load in vaginocervical secretions (VCS), as measured by culture and nucleic acid detection, with that found in peripheral blood and HIV clinical status. To determine whether systemic and local HIV specific antibody influences the quality and type of virus isolated from VCS. To ascertain whether the presence of specific infectious agents (e.g., HPV, HSV, CMV, etc.) influences the amount and type of virus isolated from VCS. Predictors for the development of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in HIV infected individuals have been studied primarily among adult males and in selected small populations. Although many of these predictors may be relevant to women, HIV infection does manifest itself differently between the sexes. Therefore, it is important to study the spectrum of HIV disease in women and to identify unique and common markers, cofactors, and predictors of disease progression.
To determine how fast ribavirin reaches the bloodstream, what concentration of ribavirin is reached in blood and how long it remains in the blood (pharmacokinetics) when given by different routes of administration. To find the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of ribavirin. The effects of ribavirin on the immune system, and on the virus will be measured by T4 cell count and p24 antigen levels. Early studies with ribavirin in patients with AIDS and AIDS related complex (ARC) have shown that ribavirin appears to inhibit the spread of the virus. Determination of how much and how often to give the drug will require further knowledge of the pharmacokinetics and toxicity of the drug in patients with AIDS or ARC and in chronic virus carriers who do not have symptoms.