Edouard Tuaillon

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montpellier | CHU Montpellier · Department of Bacteriology-Virology

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections drive one in twenty new cancer cases. Despite the potential for improving treatment, screening, and vaccination strategies, little is known as to why the vast majority of HPV infections clear spontaneously within two years. To untangle the dynamics of these non-persisting infections, we performed a combined qua...

Epithelial cytokines are involved in the orchestration of T1/T2 inflammatory patterns. We question the persistence of this trait in air‐liquid interface epithelial cultures (ALI) and whether this local orientation can be related to systemic patterns (e.g. blood eosinophil counts (BECs). We investigated alarmin release related to high‐vs‐low T2 phen...

Key points: High-altitude (HA) hypoxia has the potential to alter the structural-functional integrity of the neurovascular unit (NVU) in humans. For the first time, we examined to what extent chronic and lifelong hypoxia impacts multimodal biomarkers reflecting NVU structure-function in lowlanders and native Andean highlanders. Despite lowlanders...

Vaccination against the COVID-19 virus is currently the best option to combat the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic worldwide. However, in addition to logistical and economic barriers, hesitancy to be vaccinated threatens to jeopardize efforts to contain the disease. An increasing number of people in Africa are delaying or rejecting recommended vaccines. Since t...

Blood spotted onto filter paper can be easily collected outside healthcare facilities and shipped to a central laboratory for serological testing. However, dried blood testing generally requires manual processing for pre-analytical steps. In this study, we used a standardized blood collection device combined with an automated elution system to test...

Objectives Common representations of the world of gold mining–especially illegal–are usually negative: the activity conjures up images of drug trafficking, human exploitation, the sex trade, environmental destruction, and infectious diseases, in particular sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The aim of the present article is to describe the lev...

We explored antibody response after first and second BNT162b2 vaccinations, to predict the need for subsequent injections in nursing home (NH) residents. 369 NH residents were tested for IgG against SARS-CoV-2 Receptor-Binding Domain (RBD-IgG) and nucleoprotein-IgG (SARS-CoV-2 IgG II Quant and SARS-CoV-2 IgG Alinity assays, Abbott Diagnostics). In...

Identification of the main SARS-CoV-2 variants in real time is of interest to control the virus and to rapidly devise appropriate public health responses. The RT-qPCR is currently considered to be the reference method to screen SARS-CoV-2 mutations, but it has some limitations. The multiplexing capability is limited when the number of markers to de...

Vaccines derived from human adenoviruses (HAdV) are currently being used and trialed against numerous infectious agents. However, pre-existing humoral immunity can impair vaccines efficacy and safety. Strategies to circumvent this immunity often involve the use of vectors with lower seroprevalence. We evaluated HAdV-C5, HAdV-D26 and HAdV-B35 seropr...

Total HIV DNA is a standard marker to monitor the HIV reservoir in people living with HIV. We investigated HIV DNA quantification accuracy by a real-time PCR kit (qPCR) and digital PCR (dPCR) method within the same set of primers and probes. Among 48 aviremic patients followed for up to 7 years with qPCR, the mean coefficient of variation of total...

Background Blood spotted onto filter paper can be easy collected outside healthcare facilities and shipped to central laboratory for serological testing. However, dried blood testing generally requests manual processing for elution. In this study, we used a standardized blood collection device combined with an automatized elution system to test ill...

Background Elimination of HCV among people who use drugs (PWUD) remains a challenge even in countries in which HCV care is provided free of cost. We assessed whether an innovative community-based respondent-driven sampling (RDS) survey, coupled with HCV screening and immediate treatment, could be efficient to detect and cure active PWUD with chroni...

Objectives We analyzed the results of the QuantiFERON Glod Plus assay (QFT) and cytokine patterns associated with active tuberculosis (ATB) among patients with positive QFT. Methods A total of 195 patients are QFT-positive, among which 24 had an ATB and 171 had a latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) secretion was analyzed...

Objective: To evaluate the implementation of a screening strategy for the partners and children of pregnant women with hepatitis B virus (HBV) attending antenatal care. Methods: We identified pregnant women positive for HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) at antenatal consultation in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. At post-test counselling, women were advise...

Subclinical mastitis (SCM) is an important risk factor of postnatal HIV-1 transmission that is still poorly understood. A longitudinal sub-study of the ANRS12174 trial including 270 breastfeeding mothers in Lusaka, Zambia measured sodium (Na ⁺ ) and potassium (K ⁺ ) in archived paired breast milk samples collected at week 14, 26 and 38 postpartum t...

Background SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antigen (N-Ag) can be detected in the blood of patients with Covid-19. We used a highly sensitive and specific assay to explore the presence of N-Ag in urine during the course of Covid-19, and explore its relationship with the severity of the disease. Methods We studied urine and blood N-Ag using highly sensitive...

As opposed to surface marker staining, certain cell types can only be recognized by intracellular markers. Intracellular staining for use in cell sorting remains challenging. Fixation and permeabilization steps for intracellular staining and the presence of RNases notably affect preservation of high-quality mRNA. We report the work required for the...

Background Men who have sex with men are increasingly diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections (STI) in France. To address this situation, quarterly screening for HIV combined with hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV), as well as annual screening for C.trachomatis (CT) and N.gonorrhoeae (NG) are recommended. The MemoDepistages program offe...

We report the case of a 9-months-old boy that has presented a steroid-dependent post-pneumococcal chronic aseptic meningitis was associated with persistence of pneumococcal cell wall components in cerebrospinal fluid during more than 20 months. Suggesting that this antigenic persistence could be involved in post-infectious manifestations through in...

Among CD4+ T-cells, T helper 17 (Th17) cells play a sentinel role in the defense against bacterial/fungal pathogens at mucosal barriers. However, Th17 cells are also highly susceptible to HIV-1 infection and are rapidly depleted from gut mucosal sites, causing an imbalance of the Th17/Treg ratio and impairing cytokines production. Consequently, dam...

Senegal introduced the infant hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination in 2004 and recently committed to eliminating hepatitis B by 2030. Updated epidemiological data are needed to provide information on the progress being made and to develop new interventions. We estimated the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in children and adults liv...

Introduction La Polyarthrite Rhumatoïde (PR) est le plus fréquent des rhumatismes inflammatoires chroniques. Le facteur rhumatoïde (FR) est très fréquemment positif dans la PR (70 à 80 %), sans être spécifique de cette pathologie puisqu’il s’observe dans d’autres pathologies auto-immunes, infectieuses ou hématologiques (Ingegnoli - 2013). Il est pr...

Angiogenesis is in a constant balance between pro and anti-angiogenic factors. Neoangiogenesis, implicated in metastatic spreading is characterized in solid cancers, but fairly new in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We hypothesize that secretion of angiogenic factors could be correlated to the pathogenesis of CLL, and therefore predict the outc...

Background Limited information exists on nursing home (NH) residents regarding BNT162b2/Pfizer vaccine efficacy in preventing SARS-CoV-2 and severe COVID-19, and its association with post-vaccine humoral response. Methods 396 residents from seven NHs suffering a SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 (VOC-α) outbreak at least 14 days after a vaccine campaign were rep...

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antigen (N-Ag) can be detected in the blood of patients with Covid-19. In this study, we used a highly sensitive and specific nucleocapsid-Ag assay to explore the presence of N-Ag in urine during the course of Covid-19, and explore its relationship with the severity of the disease. Material and Methods: Urine a...

Background Limited information exists on nursing home (NH) residents regarding BNT162b2/Pfizer vaccine efficacy in preventing SARS-CoV-2 and severe Covid-19, and its association with post-vaccine humoral response. Methods 396 residents from seven NHs suffering a SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 (VOC-α) outbreak at least 14 days after a vaccine campaign were repe...

Background Nursing Home (NH) residents are at high risk of serious illness and death from coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), especially with the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concerns (VOC). It is unknown as to whether a history of Covid-19 prior to the vaccine and post-vaccine RBD-IgG levels are predictors of BNT162b2 vaccine effectiveness against VOC-...

Analysing 92,598 variant screening tests performed on SARS-CoV-2 positive samples collected in France between 1 July and 31 August 2021 shows an increase of Kappa-like infections. Full genome sequencing reveals that these correspond to Delta variants bearing the S:E484Q mutation. Most of these sequences belong to a phylogenetic cluster and also bea...

Various neurological symptoms have been associated to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection including headache, fever, anosmia, ageusia, but also, encephalitis, Guillain-Barre syndrome and ischemic stroke. Responsible for the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 may access and affect the centr...

Background The humoral immune response following COVID-19 vaccination in nursing home residents is poorly known. A longitudinal study compared levels of IgG antibodies against the spike protein (S-RBD IgG) (S-RDB protein IgG) after one and two BNT162b2/Pfizer jabs in residents with and without prior COVID-19. Methods In 22 French nursing homes, CO...

Background The COVID-19 epidemic has spread rapidly within aged-care facilities (ACFs), where the infection-fatality ratio is high. It is therefore urgent to evaluate the efficiency of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Methods We analysed the COVID-19 outbreaks that took place between March and Ma...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the capabilities of chest computed tomography (CT) in distinguishing between active and latent tuberculosis in patients positive for interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) testing, and to compare the performance of CT with that of quantitative IGRA testing in a low incidence setting. Materials and...

Methods: Twenty-two French nursing homes were included. COVID-19 had been diagnosed with real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2. Blood S-protein IgG and nucleocapsid (N) IgG protein (N-protein IgG) were measured 21-24 days after the first jab (1,004 residents) and 6 weeks after the second (820 residents)....

This study compares IgG antibody levels after a single dose of the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine in nursing home residents with vs without prior COVID-19.

Background Frail older persons may have an atypical presentation of COVID-19. The value of rRT-PCR testing for identifying SARS-CoV-2 nursing homes (NH) residents is not known. Objective To determine whether (i) atypical symptoms may predict rRT-PCR results and (ii) rRT-PCR results may predict immunization against SARS-CoV-2 in NH residents. Desi...

Objectives The implementation of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) may enhance the efficiency of SARS‐CoV‐2 testing, as RDTs are widely accessible and easy to use. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of a diagnosis strategy based on a combination of antigen and IgM/IgG serological RDTs. Methods Plasma and nasopharyngeal samples were...

As breastfeeding is of utmost importance for child development and survival, identifying whether breast milk is a route of transmission for human viruses is critical. Based on the principle of Koch’s postulate, we propose an analytical framework to determine the plausibility of viral transmission by breast milk. This framework is based on five crit...

Importance: Recent studies have suggested that olfactory dysfunction and gustatory dysfunction are associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, olfaction has been evaluated solely on reported symptoms, after COVID-19 diagnosis, and in both mild and severe COVID-19 cases, but rarely has it been assessed in prospectively unselected p...

Objectives In 2017, to reduce the proportion of men who have sex with men (MSM) in the undiagnosed HIV population in France (38%), HIV screening is advised each 3 months and STI screening is advised each year in multipartner MSM. Despite the range of testing solutions, over 40% of MSM were not tested for HIV and over 50% for STIs in the past year....

Background COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in nursing homes (NHs). It is urgent to evaluate the effect of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures to reduce COVID spreading. Methods We analysed COVID-19 outbreaks in 12 NH using rRT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2. We estimated secondary attack risks (SARs) and identified cofactors associated with the prop...

We assessed the expression of CD169, a type I interferon-inducible receptor, on monocytes (mCD169) in 53 adult patients admitted to the hospital during the COVID-19 outbreak for a suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 infection. mCD169 was strongly overexpressed in 30 out of 32 (93.7%) confirmed COVID-19 cases, compared to three out of 21 (14.3%) patients in who...

Objectives: The implementation of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) may enhance the efficiency of SARS-CoV-2 testing, as RDTs are widely accessible and easy to use. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of a diagnosis strategy based on a combination of antigen and IgM/IgG serological RDTs. Methods: Plasma and nasopharyngeal samples were...

Human milk is a significant source of different CD133 + and/or CD34 + stem/progenitor-like cell subsets in healthy women but their cell distribution and percentages in this compartment of HIV-positive women have not been explored. To date, a decrease of CD34 + hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell frequencies in peripheral blood and bone marrow of...

Introduction Dans une région d’Amazonie, les orpailleurs clandestins (5000 à 10 000 personne) restent à ce jour une population isolée et vulnérable dont l’état de santé global, notamment les IST, demeure mal connu. L’objectif de cette étude était de déterminer la prévalence du VIH, des hépatites B, C, D, et de la syphilis dans cette population, et...

Zika virus (ZIKV) can be associated with neurological impairment in children and adults. To reach the central nervous system, viruses have to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a multicellular system allowing a tight separation between the bloodstream and the brain. Here, we show that ZIKV infects cells of the BBB and triggers a subtle change in...

Background Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of hepatitis B virus (HBV) involves neonatal immunoprophylaxis, with a birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine and immune globulin, and provision of peripartum antiviral prophylaxis in highly viraemic women. However, access to assays to quantify HBV DNA levels remains inadequate in resource-poo...

Background Prevention of mother‐to‐child transmission (PMTCT) is a challenge for controlling the hepatitis B epidemic. In Sub‐Saharan countries, pilot interventions including the screening of pregnant women for HBsAg, implementation of anti‐HBV therapy and infant immunization within 24 hours of life are initiated and need to be evaluated.This pilot...

We assessed the expression of the cell adhesion molecule Sialoadhesin (CD169), a type I interferon-inducible receptor, on monocytes (mCD169) in 53 adult patients admitted to the hospital during the COVID-19 outbreak for a suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 infection. mCD169 was strongly overexpressed in 30 out of 32 (93.7%) confirmed COVID-19 cases, compared...

The present study examined if repeated bouts of micro- and hypergravity during parabolic flight (PF) alter structural integrity of the neurovascular unit (NVU) subsequent to free radical-mediated changes in regional cerebral perfusion. Six participants (5♂, 1♀) aged 29 ± 11 years were examined before, during and after a 3h PF and compared to six se...

Objectives: SARS-CoV-2 antibody assays are needed for serological surveys and as a complement to molecular tests to confirm COVID-19. However, the kinetics of the humoral response against SARS-CoV-2 remains poorly described and relies on the performance of the different serological tests. Methods: In this study, we evaluated the performance of six...

Objective To assess the American Testing Guidance for Nursing Homes (NHs) - updated May 19, 2020 - with a new COVID-19 case. Design Case investigation. Setting and Subjects: All 79 residents and 34 Health Care Personnel (HCP) of a NH. Methods 7 days after identification of a COVID-19 resident, all residents and HCP underwent rRT-PCR testing for...

Background Knowledge of the COVID-19 epidemic extent and the level of herd immunity is urgently needed to help manage this pandemic. Methods We used a panel of 167 samples (77 pre-epidemic and 90 COVID-19 seroconverters) and SARS-CoV1, SARS-CoV2 and MERS-CoV Spike and/or Nucleopcapsid (NC) proteins to develop a high throughput multiplex screening...

Usutu virus (USUV), an African mosquito-borne flavivirus closely related to West Nile virus, was first isolated in South Africa in 1959. USUV emerged in Europe two decades ago, causing notably massive mortality in Eurasian blackbirds. USUV is attracting increasing attention due to its potential for emergence and its rapid spread in Europe in recent...

Blood collected and dried on a paper card – dried blood spot (DBS) – knows a growing interest as a sampling method that can be performed outside care facilities by capillary puncture, and transported in a simple and safe manner by mail. The benefits of this method for blood collection and transport has recently led the World Health Organization to...

Background: Immune control of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is impaired in HIV-infected individuals. We explored maternal factors associated with EBV acquisition in HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) infants and the relationship between EBV infection and serious adverse events (SAE) during the first year of life. Methods: Two hundred and one HEU...

The existence of an antisense Open Reading Frame (ORF) that encodes a putative AntiSense Protein (ASP) on the proviral genome of Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) was a source of debate for 30 years. During the last years, some progresses have been made to characterize the cellular immune response against ASP in HIV-1 seropositive patient...

Diagnostic of acute hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is based on the detection of anti-HAV IgM without testing for the pathogen itself. We evaluated the usefulness of HAV RNA testing for confirmation of acute hepatitis A and to provide indications about the level of HAV replication in HIV-positive and HIV-negative subjects during an unprecedented...

Background Stem/progenitor cells have been identified in human milk. However, characterization and percentages of cell subsets in human milk using hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell markers according to the differential expression of CD45, i.e., as CD45 dim/+ (mainly hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells) and CD45 ⁻ (mainly non-hematopoietic stem...

The risk of postnatal HIV transmission exists throughout the breastfeeding period. HIV shedding in breast milk beyond six months has not been studied extensively. The aim of this study was to determine prevalence and determinants of HIV shedding in breast milk during continued breastfeeding A cross-sectional study was nested in the PROMISE-PEP tria...

Background: Although novel hepatitis C (HCV) RNA point-of-care technology has the potential to enhance diagnosis in resource-limited settings, very little real-world validation of their utility exists. We evaluate the performance of HCV RNA quantification using the Xpert® HCV Viral Load Fingerstick assay (Xpert® HCV VL Fingerstick assay) as compar...

Introduction Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are responsible for one-third of all cancers caused by infections. Most HPV studies focus on chronic infections and cancers, and we know little about the early stages of the infection. Our main objective is to better understand the course and natural history of cervical HPV infections in healthy, unvaccin...