The novel SARS‐CoV2 has disrupted health systems and the economy, and public health interventions to slow its spread have been costly. How and when to ease restrictions to movement hinges in part on ...whether SARS‐CoV2 will display seasonality due to variations in temperature, humidity, and hours of sunshine. Here, we address this question by means of a spatio‐temporal analysis in Spain of the incidence of COVID‐19, the disease caused by the virus. Use of spatial Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (SUR) allows us to model the incidence of reported cases of the disease per 100,000 population as an interregional contagion process, in addition to a function of temperature, humidity, and sunshine. In the analysis we also control for GDP per capita, percentage of older adults in the population, population density, and presence of mass transit systems. The results support the hypothesis that incidence of the disease is lower at higher temperatures and higher levels of humidity. Sunshine, in contrast, displays a positive association with incidence of the disease. Our control variables also yield interesting insights. Higher incidence is associated with higher GDP per capita and presence of mass transit systems in the province; in contrast, population density and percentage of older adults display negative associations with incidence of COVID‐19.
Hydroxychloroquine is an antimalarial agent that has been used in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis treatment for many years. Recently, novel mechanisms of action have been ...proposed, thereby broadening the therapeutic perspective of this medication. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the immunomodulatory activity of hydroxychloroquine in T helper 17 (Th17) cytokines in healthy individuals and patients.
Eighteen female patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (mean age 39.0±12.9 years) and 13 female patients with rheumatoid arthritis (mean age 51.5±7.7 years) were recruited from Universidade Federal de Pernambuco-Brazil. The patients were included after fulfilling four classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus or rheumatoid arthritis from the American College of Rheumatology. After being stimulated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and ionomycin in the absence or presence of different concentrations of hydroxychloroquine, the interleukin 6, 17 and 22 levels were quantified with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in culture supernatants of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy individuals and patients.
We demonstrated that in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy volunteers and in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis patients, there was a significant reduction in the IL-6, IL-17 and IL-22 supernatant levels after adding hydroxychloroquine.
Our in vitro results demonstrated that hydroxychloroquine inhibits IL-6, IL-17 and IL-22 production and contributes to a better understanding of the mechanism of action of this medication.
To analyze the role of interleukin 22 (IL-22) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
IL-22 serum levels were measured in 83 patients with established RA under treatment with disease-modifying antirheumatic ...drugs and in 30 healthy controls matched for age and sex. Patients were assessed for clinical and laboratory variables. Correlations of IL-22 serum levels with disease activity measures Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and Disease Activity Score for 28 joints (DAS28), serological markers, bone erosions, and demographic factors were assessed. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 30 patients with RA and 14 controls were purified and stimulated in vitro with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)/ionomycin. IL-22 production by PBMC and in serum was investigated by ELISA.
IL-22 levels were increased in patients with RA compared with controls (mean 432.37 pg/ml and 67.45 pg/ml, respectively; p < 0.001). Levels of IL-22 correlated with DAS28 and CDAI measures. Rheumatoid factor (RF) positivity was correlated with higher levels of IL-22 in patients with RA (mean 575.08 pg/ml; p = 0.001). The presence of bone erosions was associated with high IL-22 levels (p = 0.0001). PBMC stimulated with PMA/ionomycin expressed higher levels of IL-22 in patients with RA than controls but this was not significant (mean 584.75 pg/ml and 295.57 pg/ml; p = 0.553).
IL-22 is elevated in the serum of patients with established RA. Elevated serum IL-22 allows discrimination between patients with different clinical and laboratory measures and indicates the potential of IL-22 as an additional tool for assessment of activity in RA, particularly in patients with RF antibodies and longterm disease. IL-22 is associated with bone-destructive disease.
Carvacrol (CV) is an essential oil with numerous therapeutic properties, including immunomodulatory activity. However, this effect has not been studied in nanoemulsion systems. The objective of this ...study was to develop an innovative carvacrol-loaded nanoemulsion (CVNE) for immunomodulatory action. The developed CVNE comprised of 5% w/w oily phase (medium chain triglycerides + CV), 2% w/w surfactants (Tween 80®/Span 80®), and 93% w/w water, and was produced by ultrasonication. Dynamic light scattering over 90 days was used to characterize CVNE. Cytotoxic activity and quantification of cytokines were evaluated in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) culture supernatants. CVNE achieved a drug loading of 4.29 mg/mL, droplet size of 165.70 ± 0.46 nm, polydispersity index of 0.14 ± 0.03, zeta potential of −10.25 ± 0.52 mV, and good stability for 90 days. CVNE showed no cytotoxicity at concentrations up to 200 µM in PBMCs. CV diminished the production of IL-2 in the PBMC supernatant. However, CVNE reduced the levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-2, IL-17, and IFN-γ at 50 µM. In conclusion, a stable CVNE was produced, which improved the CV immunomodulatory activity in PBMCs.
Schistosomiasis is a devastating worldwide widespread tropical disease that currently affects more than 230 million people, making it an issue of great socioeconomic and public health importance. ...Unfortunatelly there is a single drug for the treatment of all forms of schistosomiasis, praziquantel, which was introduced in therapy in 1980. The article goes by antimony compounds, emetine, hydantoin, nitrofurans, lucanthone, hycanthone, oxamniquine derivatives and organophosphates until it finally gets to praziquantel derivatives. The intent of this review is to provide a panorama of drugs that were and are being used in human chemotherapy looking to the past to improve rational design drugs in the future. Not only clinical used compounds will be shown but also synthesized and tested compounds in vitro and in vivo in animal models which haven't yet to be used in humans. Prospects for drug discovery and vaccines to be used in the treatment and prevention of schistosomiasis, clinical trials, concerns about the resistance/decreased effectiveness of the treatment, and patent database will also be discussed. At the end of the review the reader will notice that much has been done but much still needs to be done yet.
•Chikungunya Fever is an arboviral disease that often evolves to a chronic inflammatory musculoskeletal symptoms.•Increased levels of galectin-9 have implications in delaying viral clearance, by ...reducing TCD8+ response.•Galectins 9 in involved in the physiopathology of arboviral diseases, no previous information in Chikungunya Fever is available.•Galectin-9 is increased in chikungunya chronic disease and its levels are associated with inflammatory symptoms.•Galectin-3 showed lower levels in CHIK patients, while other galectins (1,4, and 7) were similar in patients and controls.
Chikungunya fever (CHIKF) is an arboviral disease that has caused an epidemic burst of chronic inflammatory joint disease in Latin America in the last few years. Efforts are being spent in understanding the mechanisms by which it may cause such articular damage and in determining possible biomarkers of the disease. Galectins (GAL) are a family of animal lectins with an affinity for beta-galactosides. They have multiple functions including working as receptors in innate immunity and as a control for inflammatory responses in both innate and adaptive immunity. They regulate functions of immune cells, such as lymphocytes and macrophages, which have a main role in the chikungunya inflammatory process. Galectins are also involved in chronification of viral diseases, participate in the immunopathogenesis of chronic joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, and have a role in inflammation in other arboviral diseases, such as dengue. Thus, we intended to determine the serum levels of galectin-1, -3, -4, -7, and -9 in patients with subacute and chronic articular manifestations of CHIKF and to evaluate their associations with clinical manifestations. We evaluated 44 patients with clinical manifestations of CHIKF and serological confirmation with IgM and/or IgG chikungunya virus (CHIKV) antibodies. Forty-nine age- and gender-matched healthy individuals served as controls. Anti−CHIKV IgM and IgG antibodies and galectins serum levels were measured by ELISA. We found higher levels of GAL-9 (patients median 2192 1500–2631 pg/mL, controls median 46.88 46.88−46.88 pg/mL, p < 0.0001) and lower levels of GAL-3 (patients median 235.5 175.5–351.8 pg/mL, controls median 2236.0 1256.0–2236.0 pg/mL, p < 0.0001) in patients than in controls. There was no statistical difference in levels of GAL-1, -4 and -7 between patients and control groups. There was no difference in GAL-9 serum levels between patients with subacute or chronic symptoms (median 2148 1500–2722 pg/mL x 2212 1844–2500 pg/mL, p = 0.3626). A significant association of GAL-9 with joint stiffness, both in its duration and intensity, was found. These results may reflect the participation of GAL-9 in the immunopathogenesis of the inflammatory process in chikungunya fever, as morning stiffness may reflect the systemic inflammatory process.
Introduction: Gout is considered to be an autoinflammatory disease and the presence of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals stimulates activation of NPRL3 inflammasome and subsequently caspase-1, ...generating production of active IL-1β and IL-18. However, the association between serum cytokines levels and clinical manifestations of the disease is not yet well understood. We evaluated the serum profile of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17A, IL-18, IL-22, and IL-23) and described their relationship with clinical and laboratory data.
Methodology: Thirty-nine male patients with gout (GG) were assessed for clinical and laboratory variables and cytokine levels were measured by ELISA. For the purposes of comparison, 34 males with no previous history of arthritis were also included in the study (CG).
Results: Seventeen participants (43%) exhibited active arthritis on evaluation. Levels of IL-18 were significantly higher in patients in relation to the CG (p = 0.0013). No statistically significant differences were found between the GG and CG for the other measured cytokines. There was a moderate correlation between IL-18 and ESR (R = 0.43, p = 0.0073), CRP (R = 0.47, p = 0.0025), and serum levels of IL-6 (R = 0.36, p = 0.023). An association was observed between serum levels of IL-6 and the presence of tophi (p = 0.005) and deformities (p = 0.0008), as well as a correlation between this cytokine and ESR (R = 0.41, p = 0.011) and CRP (R = 0.48, p = 0.02).
Conclusions: IL-18 is associated with inflammatory activity in gout, as well as with IL-6 levels, while IL-6 is associated with clinical and laboratory activity, the presence of tophi and articular deformities, and may be a prognostic marker of this pathology.
High serum levels of galectins 1 and 4 in osteoarthritis patients de Oliveira, Priscilla Stela Santana; Cardoso, Pablo Ramon Gualberto; de Paula Silva, Simão Kalebe ...
Clinical biochemistry,
June 2023, 2023-Jun, 2023-06-00, 20230601, Volume:
116
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
•OA patients have higher gal-1 and 4 serum levels than healthy controls.•Gal-1 levels are associated to joint edema in OA patients.•There is no difference of Gal-3 and Gal-7 serum levels between OA ...patients and healthy controls.
Although immunostaining of galectins is associated with cartilage damage, the serum levels of these lectins in osteoarthritis (OA) are not fully understood.
Therefore, we evaluate the concentrations of galectins-1, 3, 4, and 7 in patients with osteoarthritis and correlate them with clinical parameters.
This cross-sectional study involved 60 osteoarthritis patients and 43 healthy volunteers, who had serum samples collected for galectins titration by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA).
Our finds showed that the median values of gal-1 and 4 serum levels in patients were statistically higher (13,990 and 969.1 pg/mL, respectively) than in healthy controls (1,798 and 519.5 pg/mL) with p < 0.001. Further, gal-1 expressed higher levels in patients who had joint edema at the time of collection with a median value of 14,970 pg/mL.
Surprisingly, galectin-4 appears to be involved in the osteoarthritis inflammation process as the well-known galectin-1.
Although several cytokines and chemokines have been investigated as possible mediators of fibrosis in systemic sclerosis (SSc), specific correlation between cytokines and organ involvement have not ...been found yet, and a cytokine profile characteristic of SSc is far to be identified. We studied the profile of antifibrotic and profibrotic transcripts involved in skin of SSc patients. The mRNA expression was detected by fluorescence‐based quantitative real‐time PCR (qPCR) in skin's biopsies from 14 patients with SSc and 5 healthy controls. PDGF‐A, CTGF, CCL3, IL‐6, IL‐13, IL‐7, IFNγ, IL‐17, IL‐22 and RORc were analysed in these samples. CCL3, IL‐7, IL‐13 and IFN‐γ were more expressed in skin's biopsy of patients with SSc (P = 0.0002, P = 0.0082, P = 0.0243, P = 0.0335, respectively) when compared with healthy controls. We also found a positive correlation between CCL3 and IL‐7 transcripts (P = 0.0050 r = 0.7187). Furthermore, we observed that patients with lung involvement had lower expression of PDGF‐A (P = 0.0385). We found an increase in IL‐7, IFN‐γ, CCL3 and IL‐13 relative mRNA expressions on the skin's biopsy of patients with SSc, and a positive correlation between IL‐7 and CCL3. These molecules are involved in the pathogenesis of SSc, and how their interactions occur should be the subject of further studies.
The sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-type lectin Siglec-15 is a promising target to cancer immunotherapy in several tumor types. The present study aimed to investigate Siglec-15 expression in ...gastric cancer (GC) patient tissue and to evaluate its clinical value. Siglec-15 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry with 71 patients. Siglec-15 staining was observed in tumor cells of 53 (74.64%) patients, with significant association with histologic classification and angiolymphatic invasion (p<0.05). Immunohistochemistry analysis also detected Siglec-15 in tumor-associated stroma cells (macrophages/myeloid cells). There was no significant association with outcomes parameters. Siglec-15 expression in well differentiated histological GC tissues and in the tumor microenvironment are potential targets to be further investigated as a novel prognostic factor for GC.
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