A novel human homologue of yeast nucleosome assembly protein, 65 kb centromeric to the p57KIP2 gene, is biallelically expressed in fetal and adult tissues

Three genes on 11p15.5 are known to undergo genomic imprinting. The gene for insulin-like growth factor II (IGF2) is normally expressed from the paternal allele, while H19 and p57KIP2, a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, are expressed from the maternal allele. Five germline balanced chromosomal rearrangement breakpoints from patients with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) have been mapped to 11p15.5 between p57KIP2 and IGF2, and all are derived from the maternal chromosome. By positional cloning from BWS breakpoints, we have isolated a gene 100 kb and 65 kb centromeric to the proximal end of this BWS breakpoint cluster and p57KIP2, respectively. This gene is homologous to yeast nucleosome assembly protein (NAP1) and to a human homologue of NAP1, and we designate it hNAP2 (human nucleosome assembly protein 2). hNAP2 diverges in its expression pattern from IGF2, H19, and p57KIP2, and it shows biallelic expression in all tissues tested. Thus, hNAP2 is functionally insulated from the imprinting domain of 11p15.      

CD4+ lymphocyte values and trends in individuals infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus and/or co-infected with Hepatitis C Virus in The Gambia

Objectives

This study was undertaken to monitor the CD4+ lymphocyte count in individuals infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and/or co-infected with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and to compare this with the counts in normal individuals in The Gambia.

Methods

Blood samples were taken from 1500 individuals referred for HIV serology at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH) following informed consent. Samples were tested for antibodies to HIV by the Murex ELISA, antibodies to HCV by the Ortho ELISA, and CD4 counts determined by the Dynalimmunomagnetic cell isolation method

Results

Of the 1500 patients screened for HIV and HCV antibodies, 6.7% (101/1500) were infected with HIV, 0.6 % (9/1500) were co-infected with HCV and 1.5 % (22/1500) were infected with HCV alone. Almost half (44.6%; 25/56) of HIV-1 infected patients had a CD4+ lymphocyte count at diagnosis of 200 cells/µl or less as compared to 41.7 % (10/24) of HIV-2 and 75% (6/8) of HIV-D infected patients. The rate of CD4 decline was higher among HIV/HCV co-infected persons than individuals infected with HIV or HCV. The rate of decline was higher among men than women. These differences did not reach statistical significance due in large part to the small number of participants who completed the programme. The CD4+ lymphocyte count of apparently healthy Gambian male and females was 489 cells/µl and 496 cells/µl respectively. This rate is lower than that reported for Caucasians, but in agreement with the global range.

Conclusion

A significant progressive decline in CD4+ lymphocyte count was observed among the female control group who were negative for HIV and HCV. This finding is unclear and calls for a longitudinal study involving a cohort of women in this region.Short title: CD4+ counts in HIV/HCV co-infection