View clinical trials related to Immune System Diseases.
Filter by:Background: - Behcet s disease (BD) is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the body. People with BD may develop oral or genital ulcers, skin problems, and eye disease. Most drugs used to treat BD suppress the immune system, but they are not always helpful and may have side effects. A new drug, anakinra, may be able to treat BD with fewer side effects. Because it has not been studied in people with BD, anakinra is considered an experimental treatment. Objectives: - To test whether anakinra can be a safe and effective treatment for Behcet s disease. Eligibility: - People who have active Behcet's disease, with an oral or genital ulcer within the past month, or three or more flares of eye disease in the past 6 months. Design: - Participants will be screened with a physical exam and medical history. They will also have blood and urine tests. They will be divided into two groups: those with oral or genital ulcers and those with eye disease. - All participants will keep a diary of symptoms for a month before starting the study drug. - Participants with oral or genital ulcers will receive daily injections of anakinra for 3 to 6 months. Treatment will be monitored with frequent blood draws and daily diaries. Those who improve but do not have a full response to the drug may receive a higher dose. Those who improve after 6 months may have an extra 6 months on either anakinra or placebo to study the differences in response. - Participants with eye disease will receive anakinra for up to 12 months. Treatment will be monitored with frequent blood draws, daily diaries, and regular eye exams. - All participants will have a final study visit 1 month after stopping the study drug.
Both antiretroviral therapy (ART) and prevention of opportunistic infections (OIs) have been associated with significantly decreased mortality in HIV-infected individuals. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMZ), also known as bactrim, is a common antibiotic and used as prophylaxis for OIs. For countries with high prevalence of HIV and limited health infrastructure, the WHO endorses universal TMP/SMZ for all HIV-infected individuals. Notably, these guidelines were created prior to the scale-up of ARTs. Following ART and subsequent immune recovery, TMP/SMZ may no longer be required. In the US and Europe, for example, TMP/SMZ is discontinued after patients show evidence of immune recovery. Therefore, we propose a prospective randomized trial among HIV infected individuals on ART with evidence of immune recovery (ART for > 18mo and CD4 >350 cells/mm3) to determine whether continued TMP/SMZ prophylaxis confers benefits in decreasing morbidity (malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea), mortality, CD4 count maintenance, ART treatment failure and malaria immune responses.
Patients with obstructive jaundice (OJ) often require surgical, endoscopic or radiological interventions to facilitate biliary drainage and relieve jaundice. However it is known that patients with OJ have increased surgical risks than non-jaundiced patients undergoing the same procedures. Surgery for severe OJ is associated with a significant post-operative mortality (10-15%) and morbidity (30-65%). The commonest complications are related to sepsis but the pathophysiological mechanisms behind this susceptibility to bacterial infection are not clear. Recent work has shown a pivotal role of bile in the maintenance of enterocyte tight junctions and the expression of tight junction-associated proteins which could account for the translocation of enteric bacteria and bacterial products to mesenteric lymph node complexes, the portal circulation and subsequently the liver. Some of these bacterial products, such as endotoxin and quorum sensing signalling molecules (QSSMs), have immunomodulatory properties which may dampen normal immune responses to infection resulting in life-threatening organ dysfunction. Bacterial endotoxin and quorum sensing signalling molecules (QSSMs) represent good candidates for the mediators of this immune suppression and although there is a compelling case for their involvement in the pathogenesis of sepsis, evidence to support their involvement in the aetiology of infection in OJ is currently lacking.
This study is being done to evaluate the zoster vaccine response in the nursing home elderly (80 years or older). As the immune system ages, the response to vaccines is not always as strong as in younger people. Previous zoster vaccine studies have excluded nursing home residents so the vaccine effect in this population is not known. Furthermore, the immune and genetic reasons as to why the vaccine works well in some people but not in others are also unknown. The goal of this study is to evaluate why some immune systems respond well to the vaccine and why others do not.
Oxygen administration is a common practice in intensive care units, although concern is growing about oxygen toxicity. The aim of the study is to access whether a rigorous maintenance of a state of normal oxygenation in critically ill patients could obtain better outcomes, such as mortality, infections and organ failures, in comparison to conventional oxygen therapy practice.
Background: - There has been little research on the long-term health effects from oil spills, even though at least 10 percent of all oil tanker spills between 1970 and 2009 have affected coastal populations. The Deepwater Horizon disaster, with its release of approximately 5 million barrels (~680,000 tons) of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, is far larger than any of the individual tanker spills. Given the magnitude of this spill and the scope of the potential exposures, including the 55,000 workers involved in clean-up efforts and countless residents of the affected areas, researchers are interested in monitoring Gulf clean-up workers to understand the adverse consequences of oil spills in general. - The Gulf Long-term Follow-up Study will investigate health effects associated with the clean-up activities following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. More than 100,000 persons completed safety training in preparation for participation in clean-up activities related to the spill. Many of these individuals participated in active clean-up efforts, but others did not. Exposures among persons involved in clean-up range from negligible to potentially significant, especially for workers involved in tasks associated with direct exposure to crude or burning oil, or to chemical dispersants. However, prediction of adverse health effects is not possible because the long-term human health consequences of oil spills are largely unknown. In addition to the oil itself, the widespread economic and lifestyle disruption caused by the oil spill may contribute to mental health problems among this population. Objectives: - To investigate potential short- and long-term health effects associated with clean-up activities and exposures surrounding the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Eligibility: - English-, Spanish-, and Vietnamese-speaking workers and volunteers at least 21 years of age engaged or potentially engaged in oil spill clean-up operations in the Gulf of Mexico, or who lived in affected areas (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida coastal regions). Design: - Participants will be divided into groups of those who performed oil-spill clean-up-related work ( exposed ) and those who did not engage in clean-up-related work ( unexposed controls). - Participants will be screened with a full medical history and physical examination, as well as an interview to determine the nature of their potential exposure. - Participants will provide blood, hair, toenail, urine, and saliva (spit) samples. Participants may also have a lung function exam. - Participants will have researchers collect dust from their homes by using wipes and special vacuum bags. - Participants will also provide detailed contact information, including their Social Security number, to be contacted in the future for long-term health follow-up appointments. These appointments will include 30-minute telephone interviews every 2 years....
The main purpose of this trial is to assess the safety and feasibility of treatment with two-dose infusion of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells from adipose tissue expanded in vitro in patients undergoing haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT, who have developed chronic and extensive graft versus host disease (GVHD). Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) express low levels of HLA class I molecules, and do not express class II molecules neither CD40, CD80 and CD86, being unable to induce proliferation of allogeneic lymphocytes. In addition, MSCs inhibit lymphocyte proliferation by inhibiting cell division and maintaining these cells in a quiescent state. This supports the hypothesis that MSCs are universal suppressors.
The purpose of this study is to enrol generally healthy adults, who are asked to provide a blood sample, to study how the immune system works.
To evaluate safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and immunogenicity of CDP7657
The objective of this study is to determine whether 12 weeks of mesalamine therapy added to a standard HIV treatment decreases systemic immune activation and inflammation in HIV-infected patients, possibly resulting in better recovery of the immune system. The study hypothesis is that decreasing inflammation directly in the gut may decrease both of these potential causes of chronic inflammation, potentially resulting in an immunologic benefit.