Browsing by Author "Alexis Kalergis"

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    Adrenal dysregulation in children who were born extremely premature - a pilot study
    (2016) Carmen Campino; Alejandro Martinez-Aguayo; Rene Baudrand; Cristian Carvajal; Hernan Garcia; Marlene Aglony; Rodrigo Bancalari; Lorena Garcia; Carolina Loureiro; Andrea Vecchiola; Alejandra Tapia; Carolina Valdivia; Cristobal Fuentes; Carlos Lagos; Sandra Solari; Fidel Allende; Alexis Kalergis; Carlos Fardella
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    Bacterial and Viral Coinfections with the Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus
    (2021) Gaspar Pacheco; Nicolás Marcelo Salvador Gálvez Arriagada; Jorge A. Soto; Catalina A. Andrade; Alexis Kalergis
    The human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) is one of the leading causes of acute lower respiratory tract infections in children under five years old. Notably, hRSV infections can give way to pneumonia and predispose to other respiratory complications later in life, such as asthma. Even though the social and economic burden associated with hRSV infections is tremendous, there are no approved vaccines to date to prevent the disease caused by this pathogen. Recently, coinfections and superinfections have turned into an active field of study, and interactions between many viral and bacterial pathogens have been studied. hRSV is not an exception since polymicrobial infections involving this virus are common, especially when illness has evolved into pneumonia. Here, we review the epidemiology and recent findings regarding the main polymicrobial infections involving hRSV and several prevalent bacterial and viral respiratory pathogens, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, human rhinoviruses, influenza A virus, human metapneumovirus, and human parainfluenza viruses. As reports of most polymicrobial infections involving hRSV lack a molecular basis explaining the interaction between hRSV and these pathogens, we believe this review article can serve as a starting point to interesting and very much needed research in this area.
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    Differential Diagnosis in the Management of Acute Respiratory Infections through Point-of-Care Rapid Testing in a Post-Pandemic Scenario in Latin America: Special Focus on COVID-19, Influenza, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus
    (2024) Carlos A. Alvarez-Moreno; Evaldo Stanislau Affonso de Araújo; Elsa Baumeister; Katya Andrea Nogales Crespo; Alexis Kalergis; José Esteban Muñoz Medina; Pablo Tsukayama; Cesar Ugarte-Gil
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    Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccines: A Review of the Candidates and the Approved Vaccines
    (2023) Xanthippi Topalidou; Alexis Kalergis; Georgios Papazisis
    Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is responsible for a significant proportion of global morbidity and mortality affecting young children and older adults. In the aftermath of formalin-inactivated RSV vaccine development, the effort to develop an immunizing agent was carefully guided by epidemiologic and pathophysiological evidence of the virus, including various vaccine technologies. The pipeline of RSV vaccine development includes messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), live-attenuated (LAV), subunit, and recombinant vector-based vaccine candidates targeting different virus proteins. The availability of vaccine candidates of various technologies enables adjustment to the individualized needs of each vulnerable age group. Arexvy® (GSK), followed by Abrysvo® (Pfizer), is the first vaccine available for market use as an immunizing agent to prevent lower respiratory tract disease in older adults. Abrysvo is additionally indicated for the passive immunization of infants by maternal administration during pregnancy. This review presents the RSV vaccine pipeline, analyzing the results of clinical trials. The key features of each vaccine technology are also mentioned. Currently, 24 vaccines are in the clinical stage of development, including the 2 licensed vaccines. Research in the field of RSV vaccination, including the pharmacovigilance methods of already approved vaccines, promotes the achievement of successful prevention.
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    The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio predicts the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in luminal B breast cancer
    (2019) Mauricio Rivas; Francisco Acevedo; Francisco Dominguez; Hector Galindo; Mauricio Camus; David Oddo; Alejandra Villarroel; Dravna Razmilic; Jose Peña; Matias Munoz Medel; Maria Elena Navarro; Alejandra Perez-Sepulveda; Lidia Medina; Tomas Merino; Juan Briones; Alexis Kalergis; Cesar Sanchez
    Objective: Tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer (BC) patients is a predictor for overall survival. The aim of our study was to determine a relationship between the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) prior to NAC, BC subtypes and the probability of a pathologic complete response (pCR). Materials and Methods: Medical records were collected retrospectively from Centro de Cancer at Red Salud UC-Christus. Clinical data collected included peripheral blood cell counts, BC subtype at diagnosis and the pathology report of surgery after chemotherapy. Results: A total of 88 patients were analyzed. Approximately, a 25% had a pCR, and displayed a significant correlation between BC subtype and pCR (p= 0.0138 Chi2); this was more frequent in epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2) enriched subtype patients (54%). Luminal B BC patients with a pCR had significantly lower NLR levels (t test, p= 0.0181). Conclusions: HER2-enriched tumors had a higher probability of pCR. In Luminal B tumors, NLR had a statistically significant relationship with the probability of pCR. In this subtype, NLR could be a useful biomarker to predict tumor response to NAC. Further studies including other clinical parameters for systemic inflammation such as platelet counts, intratumoral NLR or body mass index could help identify patients that would get the most benefit from NAC.
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    Understanding the Neurotrophic Virus Mechanisms and Their Potential Effect on Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Development
    (2024) Felipe R. Uribe; Valentina P. I. González; Alexis Kalergis; Jorge A. Soto; Karen Bohmwald
    Central nervous system (CNS) pathologies are a public health concern, with viral infections one of their principal causes. These viruses are known as neurotropic pathogens, characterized by their ability to infiltrate the CNS and thus interact with various cell populations, inducing several diseases. The immune response elicited by neurotropic viruses in the CNS is commanded mainly by microglia, which, together with other local cells, can secrete inflammatory cytokines to fight the infection. The most relevant neurotropic viruses are adenovirus (AdV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), enterovirus (EV), Epstein–Barr Virus (EBV), herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), and herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), and the newly discovered SARS-CoV-2. Several studies have associated a viral infection with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and neuropsychiatric lupus (NPSLE) manifestations. This article will review the knowledge about viral infections, CNS pathologies, and the immune response against them. Also, it allows us to understand the relevance of the different viral proteins in developing neuronal pathologies, SLE and NPSLE.