A Study of Immune System Activity in Healthy Adults

July 29, 2008 updated by: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

A Study of Immune Function in Healthy Adults Aged 18-30 and 45 and Older

The purpose of this study is to compare immune system activity in young people and older people who do not have HIV. This information will be compared to that of HIV patients in another study.

Aging affects immune system activity. This study will look at some of the factors involved. HIV also affects immune system activity. The results from this study, using healthy volunteers, will be compared to those in another study of HIV-infected patients. This may provide information on immune system activity in aging and HIV.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

Aging is associated with declines in both cellular and humoral immunity. A consistent observation of the aging immune system is a change in T cells. Another possible mechanism of diminished cellular immunity associated with age includes accelerated lymphocyte apoptosis. Enhanced lymphocyte apoptosis may play an important role in the pathogenesis of HIV disease. This study will use healthy volunteers to confirm and expand upon such observations. Samples from these volunteers will serve as controls to those from the HIV-infected participants of A5015 (a comparison study of 2 age-differentiated cohorts to determine potential mechanisms that might contribute to accelerated HIV-disease progression that is associated with aging).

This is a non-treatment study; however, volunteers receive hepatitis A and tetanus vaccinations. Numbers of phenotypically naive CD4+ cells (CD45RA+/CD62L+) are compared between healthy, HIV-seronegative volunteers and HIV-seropositive patients of A5015. An array of assays to assess baseline differences in immune function between these study populations are performed. Expression of markers of activation are compared by measuring the coexpression of HLA-DR+/CD38+ and CD28+ on CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes between these populations. To investigate possible age-associated differences in apoptosis, Fas (CD95+) expression is measured on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells by flow cytometry, and spontaneous apoptosis is assessed using the propidium iodide method. DTH hypersensitivity to skin test antigens, lymphocyte proliferation to mitogens, soluble antigens, recall antigens, and neoantigens are compared between the 2 populations. Antibody responses to vaccination with tetanus and hepatitis A are assessed. Finally, thymic size as measured by CT scan and the frequency of T cells that contain TRECs is compared between these 2 populations.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment

48

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • San Francisco, California, United States, 94110
        • Univ of California San Francisco
    • Colorado
      • Denver, Colorado, United States, 80262
        • Univ of Colorado Health Sciences Ctr
    • Hawaii
      • Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, 96816
        • Univ of Hawaii
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
        • Northwestern Univ Med School
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60612
        • Rush Presbyterian - Saint Luke's Med Ctr
    • Missouri
      • St Louis, Missouri, United States, 63108
        • Washington Univ School of Medicine
    • Ohio
      • Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44106
        • Case Western Reserve Univ
    • Texas
      • Galveston, Texas, United States, 775550435
        • Univ of Texas Galveston
    • Washington
      • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98104
        • Univ of Washington

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria

Volunteers may be eligible for this study if they:

  • Are willing to undergo HIV testing.
  • Have a negative urine or serum pregnancy test within 30 days prior to study entry (for women volunteers).
  • Are between the ages of 18 and 30 or are 45 or older.

Exclusion Criteria

Volunteers will not be eligible for this study if they:

  • Have HIV infection.
  • Have a serious infection or other serious medical illness that requires treatment and/or hospitalization within 90 days before study entry.
  • Have had cancer.
  • Have received any of the following within 6 months of study entry: systemic corticosteroids; chemotherapy or radiation; erythropoietin, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), or growth hormone; drugs that affect the immune system including thalidomide, interleukins, interferons, or other cytokines; anabolic steroids at high levels; or any experimental agent, unless allowed otherwise by the researchers.
  • Are immune to hepatitis A.
  • Have received tetanus toxoid within 5 years prior to study entry or have a history of severe reaction to tetanus vaccine at any time in the past.
  • Are pregnant or breast-feeding.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Robert Kalayjian

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 10, 2001

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 30, 2001

First Posted (Estimate)

August 31, 2001

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

July 30, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 29, 2008

Last Verified

June 1, 2003

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • ACTG A5113
  • AACTG A5113

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on HIV Infections

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Macedonia

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

3
Subscribe