Ayşe Sağmak Tartar; Şafak Ozer Balın; Ayhan Akbulut; Meltem Yardım; Suleyman Aydın
Abstract
Background:Brucella spp. are facultative intracellular pathogens that can cause chronic infections in many tissues and organs. Objectives: To investigate serum dermcidin, salusin-alpha, salusin-beta and TNF-alpha levels and their correlation with each other in patients with acute brucellosis. Methods: ...
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Background:Brucella spp. are facultative intracellular pathogens that can cause chronic infections in many tissues and organs. Objectives: To investigate serum dermcidin, salusin-alpha, salusin-beta and TNF-alpha levels and their correlation with each other in patients with acute brucellosis. Methods: From 50 patients hospitalized upon diagnosis of acute brucellosis, blood samples were collected and dermcidin, salusin-alpha, salusin-beta and TNF-alpha levels in serum samples were measured using an ELISA assay. The control group included 40 volunteers. Results: Brucellosis group had significantly lower plasma dermcidin, salusin- alpha, salusin-beta levels compared to the healthy control group (respectively p:0.008, p<0.001, p<0.001). Moreover, Brucellosis group had significantly higher plasma TNF-alpha levels comparisons with the controls (p=0.002). In the examination of the correlation between TNF-alpha and dermcidin, salusin-alpha and salusin-beta in the brucellosis group, only a negative correlation was found between salusin-beta and TNF-alpha. In the control group, there was a positive and statistically significant correlation between salusin-beta and TNF-alpha. Conclusion: Dermcidin, salusin-alpha, and, particularly salusin-beta levels are important in Brucella pathogenesis. The paradoxical correlation between TNF-alpha and salusin-beta in patients with brucellosis and control group is remarkable. However, there is a need for extensive studies conducted with more patients to further elucidate this topic.
Sadaf Asaei; Manoochehr Rasouli; Ali Moravej
Volume 10, Issue 3 , September 2013, , Pages 158-166
Abstract
Background: Increased levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in acute human brucellosis have been reported. Previous studies have shown that the production and level of IL-6 and IL-8 cytokines are associated with the polymorphism of the encoding genes. Objective: To investigate the probable ...
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Background: Increased levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in acute human brucellosis have been reported. Previous studies have shown that the production and level of IL-6 and IL-8 cytokines are associated with the polymorphism of the encoding genes. Objective: To investigate the probable association between IL-6 (-174 C/G) and IL-8 (-251 A/T) gene polymorphisms and susceptibility/resistance to brucellosis. Methods: The patient group included 196 patients suffering from Brucella infection and the control group consisted of 82 healthy animal husbandmen from the same geographical area. IL-8 (-251 A/C) and IL-6 (-174 C/G) gene polymorphisms were analyzed by PCR-RFLP and Allele Specific PCR (AS-PCR) respectively. Results: The frequency of -251 IL-8 AA genotype was significantly lower in the controls compared with that of the patients (p=0.0051), while the frequencies of other genotypes (AT and TT) and alleles (A and T) were not significantly different among the participants. No association was found between IL-6 (-174 C/G) polymorphism and brucellosis. Conclusion: This study indicates that the IL-8 -251 AA genotype may be considered as a genetic susceptibility factor for brucellosis.
Esra Kazak; Sergio Costa Oliveria; Güher Goral; Halis Akalin; Emel Yilmaz; Yasemin Heper; Haluk Barbaros Oral
Volume 7, Issue 3 , September 2010, , Pages 132-141
Abstract
Background: Because of high morbidity of the brucellosis in humans and the potential use of the microorganism as an agent of biologic warfare, protection of effective vaccines and specific diagnostic reagents become necessary to eradicate brucellosis. Objective: In this study we aimed to investigate ...
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Background: Because of high morbidity of the brucellosis in humans and the potential use of the microorganism as an agent of biologic warfare, protection of effective vaccines and specific diagnostic reagents become necessary to eradicate brucellosis. Objective: In this study we aimed to investigate the cytokine responses and changes in peripheral blood lymphocyte subgroups of acute brucellosis patients in response to L7/L12 and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) recombinant proteins derived from Brucella abortus. Methods: levels of IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-10 secreted from PBMCs of 25 acute brucellosis patients and 15 healthy controls, stimulated with Phytohemagglutinin (PHA), L7/L12 or GAPDH were measured by ELISA. Furthermore alterations in lymphocyte subgroups in response to these Brucella antigens were determined by flow cytometry. Results: Extracellular IFN-γ levels were found to be elevated after stimulation with L7/L12 in patients with acute brucellosis, whereas no significant changes were found in IL-4 and IL-10 levels. Similar data was also obtained with GAPDH, but the stimulation of IFN-γ production was not observed in all patients and was not as strong as that observed for L7/L12. Moreover, when the distribution of lymphocytes subgroups (CD3+, CD3+CD4+, CD3+CD8+, CD4+CD25+, CD3+CD69+ and CD3+CD152+) was evaluated, it was found that the stimulation with L7/L12 and GAPDH only led to an increase in the percentage of CD3+CD69+ lymphocytes. Conclusion: These data indicate that Brucella abortus L7/L12 or GAPDH induce a Th1 type immune response in acute brucellosis patients. Additionally, these recombinant proteins, especially L7/L12, may be used in new vaccine preparations and diagnostic tests.
