Immunobiology of Pneumocystis carinii.
Immunobiology of Pneumocystis carinii.
复制标题
卡氏肺孢子虫的免疫生物学。
DOI：
10.1159/000157145
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发表时间：
1989
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Cushion,MT
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Walzer,PD;Cushion,MT
Pneumocystis carinii was discovered in the early 1900s by Chagas during his studies of trypanosomiasis. The organism remained little more than a medical curiosity until the 1940s when it was found to be the cause of interstitial plasma cell pneumonia, a disorн der of institutionalized premature and malн nourished infants. In the 1960s, P. carinii emerged as a major cause of pneumonia in the immunocompromised host [1], The ready availability of effective chemotheraн peutic and chemoprophylactic agents and the formidable technical problems encounн tered in working with P. carinii in the laboraн tory discouraged studies of the basic immuн nobiology of the organism. The development of the acquired immuн nodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the 1980s has dramatically altered our concepts of P. carinii [2], Pneumocystosis is a leading opportunistic infection and cause of death in AIDS, occurring in at least 60% and perhaps as many as 80-90% of these patients. P. carн inii has presented major new challenges in AIDS, especially the high rate of relapse of the pneumonia and the high frequency of serious adverse reactions to currently availн able antimicrobial drugs. The introduction of antiviral agents such as azidothymidine has had little impact on these problems. The heightened medical interest in P. carн inii associated with AIDS is reflected in the rise in the number of publications [3], Alн though the vast majority of these reports are clinical studies, there is evidence that the organism has begun to attract the attention of basic scientists. At the first international P. carinii symposium and workshop at Brisн tol, UK, in July, 1988, in vitro cultivation techniques and molecular approaches to the organism received considerable emphasis. The proceedings of this meeting will be pubн lished in the Journal of Protozoology in early 1989.
