Current Issue : October - December Volume : 2017 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 7 Articles
Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) is a highly pathogenic bacterial strain capable of inducing severe gastrointestinal disease. Here,\nwe show that EHEC uses the T3SS effector NleF to counteract the host inflammatory response by dampening caspase-4-mediated\ninflammatory epithelial cell death and by preventing the production of IL-1...
Background: Scrub typhus (ST) is a disease caused by an obligate intracellular bacterium, Orientia tsutsugamushi,\nan organism that requires a BSL3 laboratory for propagation. The disease is hallmarked by an eschar at the site of\nthe chigger bite, followed by the development of fever, malaise, myalgia, anorexia, and papulomacular rash. Indirect\nimmunofluorescent assay (IFA) is the gold standard for scrub typhus diagnosis, however, the subjectivity of the\nassay, the need for a specialized laboratory and instruments has limited the wide use of the test in resource limited\nareas.\nMethods: A recombinant-protein based enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using the most abundant\nand immunodominant protein for the detection of Orientia specific antibodies in serum has been developed.\nThe performance of the assay was evaluated using prospectively collected acute sera from 248 randomly selected\npatients in Thailand. The ELISA assay was evaluated using two different cutoff values.\nResults: The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve generated cutoff values gave slightly better consistency\nwith diagnosis of ST than those cutoff values established by averaging ELISA optical density of known negatives\nat 99% confidence interval. Both cutoff values provided similar statistical parameters when compared with the\ndiagnosis of ST, indicating the validity of both calculations to derive cutoff values. These results suggest that both\nIgG and IgM ELISA performed well to accurately diagnose scrub typhus cases in endemic areas using only acute\nserum samples.\nConclusions: We have successfully developed an ELISA assay for the detection of Orientia-specific antibodies\nin serum that could provide effective screening of acute sera under clinical setup and it is also a useful assay to\nestimate seroprevalence in various endemic areas....
Background: Due to the populationsââ?¬â?¢ susceptibility, DENV-4 introduction in 2010 led to the occurrence of explosive\nepidemics in the following years in Brazil. In 2011, DENV-4 was identified in Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and it was prevalent\nin 2012 and 2013. Here, we aimed to characterize clinical, epidemiological and laboratorial aspects of DENV-4 cases\nafter this serotype introduction in an endemic scenario.\nMethods: Dengue suspected cases (n = 3727) were received and analyzed from January 2011 to December 2013,\nduring outbreaks occurred in RJ, Brazil. Samples were submitted to virological, serological and molecular methods for\ncase confirmation. DENV-4 cases (n = 705) were characterized according to the type of infection, disease severity and,\nviremia levels and NS1 antigenemia were accessed. Representative strains were partial sequenced for genotyping.\nResults: DENV-4 was identified in 44.2% (705/1593) of dengue positive cases, virus isolated in 48.7% of the cases.\nAnti-DENV IgM was detected in 39.4% of the cases, however an increased detection was observed in cases with\nââ?°Â¥4 days of symptoms (57.0%). NS1 antigen was identified in 41.5% of DENV-4 cases however, after immune complexes\ndissociation, the detection significantly increased (87.6%). Females were more affected than males, so did children aged\n11ââ?¬â??15 years old. Primary cases were more frequently observed than secondary ones and most of them were classified\nas dengue. No differences on NS1 antigenemia and viraemia within the groups were observed. Despite the higher\nfrequency of severe disease on individuals >65 years old, no differences were observed among the groups and type of\ninfection. However, DENV-4 fatal cases were more frequent on secondary infections (57.1%). DENV-4 Genotype II was\nidentified with a probable origin from Venezuela and Colombia.\nConclusions: It has been shown that laboratorial diagnosis is still a reliable tool for the disease surveillance, detecting\nand confirming emerging epidemics. Despite the occurrence of secondary infections, most DENV-4 cases presented a\nmild disease. As RJ is endemic for dengue, high rates of secondary infections would be expected. Despite the existence\nof two genotypes, only Genotype II was identified in our study....
Objective. Up to now, little was known about the immunological changes of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients treated with directacting\nantiviral agents (DAAs); we try to explore the effect of DAAs on the frequency of monocytes, NK cells, and cytokines\nthat promote their activation. Methods. 15 treatment-naive CHC patients and 10 healthy controls were recruited. Patients were\nexamined before DAAs therapy (0 w) and at week 4 (4w) and week 12 (12w) of therapy. Percentage of monocytes and NK cells of\nthe peripheral blood was analyzed by flow cytometry. Serum cytokines IL-12, IL-18, CXCL10, CXCL11, sCD14, and sCD163 were\nmeasured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Results.The frequencyofCD3ââ?¬â??CD16+CD56+ NKcells and classic CD14++CD16âË?â??\nmonocytes decreased, while CD14+CD16+ monocytes and cytokines IL-12, IL-18, CXCL10, CXCL11, sCD14, and sCD163 increased\nat 0 w compared to healthy controls. During DAAs treatment, the decreased NK cells and classic monocytes gradually increased\nto normal levels; the increased inflammatory monocytes and cytokines IL-12 and CXCL11 decreased to normal levels, but the\nincreased cytokines IL-18, CXCL10, sCD14, and sCD163 still remained at high levels at 12 w though they decreased rapidly from\n0w. Conclusion. Our results showed that DAAs treatment attenuated the activation of monocytes and NK cells in CHC patients.\nTrial registration number is NCT03063723....
Theaimof this study was to investigate possible associations between genetic polymorphisms of IL17A G197A(rs2275913) and IL17F\nT7488C (rs763780) with Chagas Disease (CD) and/or the severity of left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) in patients with\nchronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC). The study with 260 patients and 150 controls was conducted in the South and Southeast\nregions of Brazil.Thegenotyping was performed by PCR-RFLP.The A allele and A/A genotype of IL17A were significantly increased\nin patients and their subgroups (patients with CCC; patients with CCC and LVSD; and patients with CCC and severe LVSD) when\ncompared to the control group. The analysis according to the gender showed that the A/A genotype of IL17A was more frequent\nin female with LVSD and mild to moderate LVSD and also in male patients with LVSD. The frequency of IL17F T/C genotype was\nhigher in male patients with CCC and severe LVSD and in female with mild to moderate LVSD. The results suggest the possible\ninvolvement of the polymorphisms of IL17A and IL17F in the susceptibility to chronic Chagas disease and in development and\nprogression of cardiomyopathy....
Background: A rare phenotype of clinical non-progressors to AIDS is not well understood and the new protocol for\nuniversal treatment, may block the understanding of viral control thus it is crucial to define this controversial group.\nMethods: A cohort of 30 persons followed a criteria for viremia control groups 1 (VC1; n = 2) and 2 (VC2; n = 7) and\nnon-viral controllers (NC; n = 21) including number of years of diagnosis, LTCD4+, LTCD8+ counts, plasma viral load and\nthe absence of ART; 241 uninfected control persons were matched to age and sex. Infected persons were regularly\nexamined and submitted to two or three annual laboratory measurements. Polymorphisms and allele frequencies of\nCCR5Ã?â?32 and SDF1ââ?¬â??3ââ?¬â?¢A were detected in the genomic DNA. Plasma levels of cytokines (IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-9, IL-10, IL-13,\nIL-17 and IFN-y) were measured.\nResults: The group investigated is originated from a miscigenetic population and demographic and social characteristics\nwere not significantly relevant. LTCD4+ median values were higher among VC than NC, but significantly lower than\nuninfected controls. Evolution of LTCD4+ and LTCD8+ counts, showed a slight increase of LTCD4+ among VC, but a\nsignificant decrease in the NC. The percentage of annual change in LTCD4+ was also significantly different between the\ngroups. LTCD4+/LTCD8+ ratio was inverted but not significant among the VC, thus the ratio may be a useful biomarker\nfor the VC. A clear signature indicated a change from Th1 to Th2 cytokine profiles from VC to NC, respectively.\nConclusions: The knowledge of viral controllers characteristics in different population groups is important to define a\nstrict universal definition for the sake of learning about the pathogenesis of HIV-1. Data on LTCD4+ seems to be stable\nand repetitive from published data, but the LTCD8+ response and the significance of LTCD4+/LTCD8+ ratio values are in\nneed to further exploration as biomarkers. The change from Th1 to Th2 cytokine profile may help to design and adjust\nspecific treatment protocols for the group....
Background: Blastocystis, a genetically diverse intestinal parasite with controversial pathogenic potential, has\nincreasingly been incriminated for diarrheal illness in immunocompromised individuals including colorectal\ncancer (CRC) patients. The aim of the current study was to assess the possible association between Blastocystis infection\nand CRC condition in Makkah, Saudi Arabia (KSA).\nMethods: Stool samples were collected from 80 non-cancer (NC) and 138 cancer subjects including 74 CRC patients\nand 64 patients with other cancers outside gastrointestinal tract (COGT). Molecularly confirmed Blastocystis isolates\nwere genetically grouped and subtyped using multiplex polymerase chain reaction with restriction fragment length\npolymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and sequence-tagged site primers-based PCR (PCR-STS), respectively.\nResults: Blastocystis hominis were confirmed in 29.7, 25 and 15% among CRC, COGT and NC patients, respectively.\nObtained Blastocystis isolates were initially categorized into 2 groups (A and C), which were subsequently subtyped\ninto 3 different subtypes; subtype-I (38%), subtype-II (44%) and subtype-V (22%). Interestingly, subtype-I was the most\npredominantly detected subtype (54.5%) among CRC patients with a significant association risk (COR 7.548; 95% CI:\n1.629ââ?¬â??34.987; P = 0.004).\nConclusion: To the best of our knowledge, the current study is the first to provide genetic insights on the prevalence\nof Blastocystis hominis among CRC patients in Makkah, KSA. Moreover, the study suggests for a possible association\nbetween subtype-I of Blastocystis hominis and CRC, which could indicate a potential influence of Blastocystis on CRC\ncondition. Further studies are required to confirm this association risk and to investigate the possible underlying\nmechanism of postulated carcinogenic influence of Blastocystis hominis subtype-I....
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