Vol 49, No 4 (2004)

Published data related with comparison studies of safety, efficiency and some other properties of cold-adapted live influenza vaccine (LIV) and of inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) are analyzed. LIV and IIV do not differ by systemic reactions after administration; however, it is not ruled out that there can be unfavorable reactions in vaccination of persons with allergy to the chicken-embryo proteins as well as in cases of persistence/reversion of coldadapted strain observed in vaccination of persons with primary impairments of the immune system. There are no convincing data, up to now, on that LIV is superior to IIV in coping with influenza pandemics. The efficiency of LIV and IIV for children aged 3 years and more and for healthy adults is virtually identical. Additional controllable field comparative studies of LIV and IIV efficiency in immunization of elderly persons are needed. Limited data on LIV efficiency for children aged 2 months and more were obtained. The need in a 2-stage vaccination of all age group with the aim of ensuring responses to all 3 LIV components is, certainly, a LIV disadvantage. In case of IIV, the 2-stage vaccination is needed only for persons who were not ill with influenza. The intranasal LIV administration has, from the practical and psychological standpoints, an advantage before the IIV administration by syringe. The ability of LIV to protect from the drift influenza-virus variations could be its advantage before IIV; still, more research is needed to verify it. Transplantable cell lines meeting the WHO requirements could be an optimal substrate for the production of LIV and IIV. Children are the optimal age group for influenza prevention by coldadapted LIV, whereas, IIV fits better for vaccination of adults and elderly persons.

HIV-1 genome regions encoding the gp120 V3 part were sequenced in samples isolated from persons belonging to the category of those infected in the Rostov-Elista outbreak and having the common infection source. Samples were obtained from 5 patients in 1992 and in 2001. A total of 27 sequences obtained in 1992 and 35 sequences obtained in 2001, 2 to 8 sequences for each patient, were analyzed. The diversity level of V3 sequences made, in some patients, 2.2% in 1992 and went up to 4.2% in 2001 samples (p < 0.07). The ratio between the synonymous and non-synonymous substitutions was determined for the gp120 V3 region. The mean ratio value made 0.12 in 1992 samples and 0.23 in 2001 samples. The obtained data confirm the assumption, made previously in a population analysis, on the evolution of the gp120 V3 epitope towards substitution of the Lg initial structure in positions 14 and 15 (through intermediate stages represented by the IG and FG structures) for the FA structure.

ELISA test systems were designed on the basis of synthetic peptides (SP) simulating the primary structure of functionally significant epitopes of the respiratory and cy ncyntial virus (RCV) F-protein for the purpose of investigating the structure and age-related peculiarities of humoral immunity in respect to separate epitopes of PCV F-protein. One of them (221-232) simulates a part of RCV "virus-neutralizing domain" and another one (479-491) is highly important for the fusion mechanisms. New SP-based ELISA were used to examine pair sera in 159 patients with documented RCV infection including children, aged up to 3 years and 3 to 15, and adults. The activity of anti-RCV antibodies to SP was found to be significantly lower in children aged up to 3 years versus the older children and especially versus the adults. The virus neutralizing and, to a greater extent, fusion-inhibiting activities of antibodies were increasing with age, which collated with the results of detecting the antibodies to SP by immuneenzyme assay. The results testify to synchronism of formation of antibodies to different epitopes of the RCV F-protein. The shaping-up of antibodies with the above SP could denote the protective properties of humoral immunity, which justifies the use of the SP-based ELISA in its analysis, especially, in babies as well as in different-type immunodeficiency and immunopathology conditions.

Three types of reaction of human blood leucocytes to herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) were detected. The first reaction type, i.e. production of IFN-a, IFN-y, IL-1(J, IL-6 and TNFa but not of IL-2 or lL-4, denotes the primary body reaction to an infectious agent. The second reaction type is related with infection of activated HSV-1 leucocytes and is accompanied by an inhibited production of IFN-y, IL-6 and IL-8, which is targeted at suppressing the antivirus cell mechanisms. The third reaction type is associated with production of IFN-a, IFN-y, IL-p, IL-6 and TNFa by blood leucocytes affected by HSV-1-infected leucocytes.

Inactivation or elimination of (possibly) contaminated viruses from a pool of prepared several hundreds or thousands of donor-blood samples are an obligatory stage in the donor-blood preparation process. Virus-inactivation is verified through contaminating the basic material with viruses. The quality control of blood preparations, according to the Russian compulsory regulations, must include the testing of ready blood-based drugs for a lack of antibodies to HIV, hepatitis С virus and hepatitis В virus by using the test systems, which could not be exactly designed for the above purpose. Therefore, the below tasks are vital for the Russian Blood Service: 1) cancellation of the norm (belonging to the regulations of the quality control of blood preparations) to test the blood preparations for a lack of antibodies to HIV, hepatitis С virus and to the surface antigen of hepatitis В virus because it is biologically inexpedient and has no analogues in the world practice; 2) introduction of the virus-inactivation methods into the practice of plasma processing; 3) establishment of a special center that would evaluate the efficiency of the virus-inactivation methods used by producers of blood-based preparations; and 4) introduction of the methods of genetic testing of HIV, hepatitis В and С viruses into monitoring the quality of donor-sera pools that are later used in preparations' manufacturing.