Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Society for Microbiology
Résumé : International audience
Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) is a life-threatening infection in immunocompromised patients. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) is more sensitive than microscopic examination for the detection of P. jirovecii but also detects colonized patients. Hence, its positive predictive value (PPV) needs evaluation. In this 4-year prospective observational study, all immunocompromised patients with acute respiratory symptoms who were investigated for PCP were included, totaling 659 patients (814 bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples). Patients with negative microscopy but positive qPCR were classified through medical chart review as having retained PCP, possible PCP, or colonization, and their clinical outcomes were compared to those of patients with microscopically proven PCP. Overall, 119 patients were included for analysis, of whom 35, 41, and 43 were classified as having retained PCP, possible PCP, and colonization, respectively. The 35 patients with retained PCP had clinical findings similar to those with microscopically proven PCP but lower fungal loads (P extless 0.001) and were mainly non-HIV-infected patients (P extless 0.05). Although the mean amplification threshold was higher in colonized patients, it was not possible to determine a discriminant qPCR cutoff. The PPV of qPCR in patients with negative microscopy were 29.4% and 63.8% when considering retained PCP and retained plus possible PCP, respectively. Patients with possible PCP had a higher mortality rate than patients with retained PCP or colonization (63% versus 3% and 16%, respectively); patients who died had not received co-trimoxazole. In conclusion, qPCR is a useful tool to diagnose PCP in non-HIV patients, and treatment might be better targeted through a multicomponent algorithm including both clinical/radiological parameters and qPCR results.
ISSN: 0095-1137

hal-01063906
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01063906
DOI : 10.1128/JCM.01480-14
PUBMED : 25009050

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Society for Microbiology
Résumé : International audience
Coronaviruses (CoVs) have shown neuroinvasive properties in human and animal secondary to replication in peripheral organ but the mechanism of neuroinvasion is unknown. The major aim of our work was to evaluate the ability of CoVs to enter the central nervous system (CNS) through the blood brain barrier (BBB). Using the high hepatotropic mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) type 3, its attenuated variant 51.6-MHV3, showing low tropism for endothelial cells, and the low hepatotropic MHV-A59 strains from murine coronavirus group, we investigated the viral-induced dysfunctions of BBB in vivo and in brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) in vitro. We report here a MHV strain-specific ability to cross the BBB during acute infection according to their virulence for liver. Brain invasion was only observed in MHV3-infected mice and correlated with enhanced BBB permeability associated with decreased expression of ZO-1, VE-cadherin and occludin but not claudin-5 in the brain or in cultured BMECs. BBB breakdown in MHV3 infection was not related to production of barrier-dysregulating inflammatory cytokines or chemokines by infected BMECs but rather to a downregulation of barrier protective IFN-β production. Our findings highlight the importance of IFN-β production by infected BMECs in preserving BBB function and preventing access of blood-borne infectious viruses to the brain. IMPORTANCE: Coronaviruses (CoVs) infect several mammals including humans and are associated with respiratory, gastrointestinal and/or neurological diseases. Some evidences suggest that human respiratory CoVs may show neuroinvasive properties. Indeed, the SARS-CoV, causing severe acute respiratory syndrome, and the CoVs OC43 and 229E were found in the brains of SARS and multiple sclerosis patients respectively. These finding suggest that hematogenous spread CoVs may gain access to CNS at the BBB level. Herein we report for the first time that CoVs exhibit ability to cross the BBB according to strain virulence. BBB invasion by CoVs correlates with viral-induced disruption of tight junctions on BMECs, leading to BBB dysfunction and enhanced permeability. We provide evidence that production of IFN-β by BMECs during CoV infection may prevent BBB breakdown and brain viral invasion
ISSN: 0022-538X

hal-01187308
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01187308
DOI : 10.1128/JVI.01501-15
PUBMED : 26202229

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Society for Microbiology
Résumé : International audience
: Estradiol signaling is ideally suited for analyzing molecular and functional linkages between the different layers of information directing transcriptional regulations: DNA sequence, chromatin modifications and the spatial organization of the genome. Hence, estrogen receptor (ER) can bind at a distance from its target genes and engages timely and spatially coordinated processes to regulate their expression. In the context of the coordinated regulations of co-linear genes, identifying which ER binding sites (ERBSs) regulate a given gene still remains a challenging question. Here, we investigated the coordination of such regulatory events at a 2 Mb genomic locus containing the estrogen-sensitive TFF cluster of genes in breast cancer cells. We demonstrated that this locus exhibits a hormone and cohesin-dependent reduction in the plasticity of its three-dimensional organization that allows multiple ERBSs to be dynamically brought to the vicinity of estrogen-sensitive genes. Additionally, by using triplex forming oligonucleotides, we could precisely document the functional links between ER engagement at given ERBSs and the regulation of particular genes. Hence, our data evidence a formerly suggested cooperation of enhancers towards gene regulations, and also show that redundancy between ERBSs can occur.
ISSN: 0270-7306

hal-00984591
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00984591
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00984591/document
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00984591/file/Mol._Cell._Biol.-2014-Quintin-MCB.00918-13.pdf
DOI : 10.1128/MCB.00918-13