Cell-mediated immunity (CMI) has been shown to be critical for the prevention and control of varicella-zoster virus (VZV)-related diseases. Because a large population-based study has revealed that diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for herpes zoster, we studied VZV-specific immune responses of patients with diabetes mellitus and compared them with those of healthy individuals. In this study, we found that patients with diabetes mellitus had significantly lower CMI to VZV than did healthy individuals. These results suggest that the increased risk for herpes zoster among patients with diabetes mellitus may be related to decreased VZV-specific CMI.

Cell-mediated immunity (CMI) is critical for the prevention and control of varicella-zoster virus (VZV)-related disease. To assess CMI to VZV, a varicella skin test and interferon-gamma enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay were both performed in healthy volunteers, and the results were compared. A total of 151 subjects were examined: 16 aged 20-29 years, 26 aged 30-39 years, 18 aged 40-49 years, 73 aged 50-59 years, and 18 aged 60-69 years. All were seropositive by a glycoprotein antigen-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (gpELISA). Skin test reactivity was significantly correlated with the ELISPOT count, and both decreased with increasing age, indicating an age-dependent decline in CMI to VZV. In contrast, the antibody titer obtained by the gpELISA did not correlate with skin test reactivity. The results suggest that the skin test and ELISPOT assay are both reliable for assessing CMI to VZV and can easily be applied to screen individuals susceptible to the development of herpes zoster.

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Despite the growing evidences that immune dysfunction contributes to tumor progression, the prognostic value in patients with neuroblastoma regarding circulating immune blood cell counts has not been well characterized. To answer this, we conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the prognostic value of the circulating immune cell counts at diagnosis in a cohort of 55 patients with neuroblastoma. Based on a novel index by multiplying the absolute monocyte count (AMC)/μl and absolute lymphocyte count (ALC)/μl, we sub-grouped patients with AMC × ALC ≥ 1 × 10 6 (/μl) 2 as high group and patients with AMC × ALC < 1 × 10 6 (/μl) 2 as low group. In the entire cohort, the 4-year progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) for high group ( n = 38) vs low group ( n = 17) was 81.7% (95%CI; 63.6–91.3%) and 90.7% (95%CI; 73.8–96.9%) vs 31.7% (11.6–54.1%) and 56.5% (29.7–76.4%; p < 0.001 for PFS and p = 0.015 for OS), respectively, suggesting that a low AMC × ALC is associated with poor prognosis. In the subgroup analysis for high-risk patients, the 4-year PFS and OS for high group ( n = 17) vs low group ( n = 13) was 59.8% (31.2–79.7%) and 79.8% (49.4–93.0%) vs 8.5% (0.5–31.7%) and 42.0% (15.4–66.8%; p < 0.001 for PFS and p = 0.089 for OS), respectively. Our data demonstrate that AMC × ALC at diagnosis is a cost-effective and easily measurable biomarker for predicting prognosis in neuroblastoma.

Background: Open reading frame 58 (ORF58) of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) lies at the 3'end of the Unique long (U L ) region and its functional is unknown. In order to clarify whether ORF58 is essential for the growth of VZV, we constructed a deletion mutant of ORF58 (pOka-BAC∆58) from the Oka parental genome cloned into a bacterial artificial chromosome (pOka-BAC).