We investigated the cis-acting sequences that function in the B-cell-specific and interferon-gamma-inducible expression of the HLA-DR alpha gene, a human class II major histocompatibility complex ...gene. The effects of 5' deletions on the activity of the DR alpha promoter and the influence of upstream DR alpha promoter elements on the activity of the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase promoter were examined by a transient transfection assay in human B-, T-, and fibroblast cell lines. We show that the DR alpha gene is regulated by positive and negative cis-acting sequences between positions -1300 and +31 from the site of initiation of transcription. We also demonstrate that the DR alpha promoter sequences from positions -116 to -92 and from -136 to -80 are the minimal sequences required for conferring B-cell specificity and interferon-gamma inducibility upon the Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase promoter, respectively.
El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado.
Objective: The objective of this study was to ...evaluate the association between (1) different types of ACEs and migraine, and (2) the number of ACEs and migraine among adolescent mothers in Lima, Peru. Methods: Our cross-sectional study included 787 adolescent mothers (14- to 18-years of age) in Peru. In-person interviews were conducted postpartum, in hospital, within 2-days of delivery. Nine types of ACEs were assessed, including exposure to three categories of abuse, two categories of neglect, and four categories of household dysfunction. Multivariable logistic regression procedures were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the association between ACEs and migraine while adjusting for putative confounders. Results: Approximately 75% of adolescent mothers reported having experienced at least one type of ACE. Adolescent mothers who reported any childhood abuse had 1.49-fold increased odds of migraine (aOR = 1.49; 95% CI 1.03–2.18) compared to those with no history of childhood abuse. Adolescent mothers who reported experiencing household dysfunction had 1.56-fold increase odds of migraine (aOR = 1.56; 95% CI 1.09–2.24). Compared to participants who reported no ACE, those who experienced four or more ACEs had 3.09-fold (aOR = 3.09; 95% CI 1.80–5.40) increased odds of migraine (ptrend < 0.001). Conclusion: Exposure to ACEs is highly prevalent in adolescent-aged mothers postpartum and is associated with increased odds of migraine. These findings support the importance of screening for ACEs and migraine among adolescent mothers; and the need for providing culturally appropriate, trauma-informed headache care.
National Institutes of Health
Revisión por pares
BACKGROUND: Suicide is a leading cause of maternal death globally, and suicide prevalence rates have been shown to be increased in those with migraine. No previous study has examined the association ...between migraine and suicidal ideation during pregnancy. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between migraine and suicidal ideation among a cohort of pregnant women. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 3372 pregnant women attending prenatal care clinics in Lima, Peru. Suicidal ideation and depression were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale during early pregnancy. Migraine classification (including migraine and probable migraine) was based on International Classification of Headache Disorders-III beta criteria. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). RESULTS: Suicidal ideation was more common among those with migraine (25.6%) as compared to those with probable migraine (22.1%, P < .001) or non-migraineurs (12.3%, P < .001). After adjusting for confounders, including depression, those with migraine or probable migraine had a 78% increased odds of suicidal ideation (OR = 1.78; 95% CI: 1.46-2.17), as compared with non-migraineurs. Women with both migraine and depression had a 4.14-fold increased odds of suicidal ideation (OR = 4.14; 95% CI: 3.17-5.42) compared to those with neither condition. CONCLUSION: Migraine is associated with increased odds of suicidal ideation in pregnant women even when controlling for depression. These findings support the consideration of screening women with comorbid migraine and depression for suicidal behavior during pregnancy.
Revisión por pares
The pathogenesis of CAD is similar in man and woman, yet some risk factors have a greater impact on the CAD risk in woman than in man. In this study we assessed the effect of the apoE gene ...polymorphism on lipid metabolism and risk for CAD in women younger than 65 years (premature CAD). In a cross-sectional case-control study, 147 female Caucasian patients with premature CAD (confirmed by coronarography) were compared with a control group of 114 healthy Caucasian women. The apoE allele frequencies of patients vs. controls were 5.1% vs. 5.7% for ε2, 85.4% vs. 83.3% for ε3, and 9.5% vs. 11% for ε4. The subjects with ε2/3 genotype had statistically significantly higher triglycerides levels than the subjects with ε3/3 genotype (2.23 ± 2.13 mmol⋅L
-1 vs. 1.73 ± 0.84 mmol⋅L
-1; p<0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed no association between risk genotypes (ε3/4 and ε4/4) of the apoE gene polymorphism and CAD risk (OR 0.9; 95% CI 0. 5-1.7,
P=0.7). We observed metabolic clustering of diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, higher BMI and triglycerides, and lower HDL cholesterol in the CAD group compared to the control group. Arterial hypertension, diabetes, HDL cholesterol level, and BMI were independent risk factors for premature CAD in female population, whereas, the risk genotype of the apoE gene polymorphism was not. In conclusion, in Slovene women risk genotypes of the apoE gene polymorphism are not associated with premature CAD; a metabolic clustering of diabetes, HDL, triglycerides and arterial hypertension is frequently present in Caucasian women with premature CAD.
Migraine is associated with a number of cardiometabolic risk factors including abnormalities in lipid metabolism. However, little is known about these associations among pregnant migraineurs. We ...conducted the present study to evaluate the extent to which altered lipid profiles are associated with history of migraine among pregnant women.
Background
Individually both migraine and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prevalence estimates are higher among women. However, there is limited data on the association of migraine and PTSD in ...women during pregnancy.
Methods
We examined the association between migraine and PTSD among women attending prenatal clinics in Peru. Migraine was characterized using the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD)-III beta criteria. PTSD was assessed using the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C). Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) after adjusting for confounders.
Results
Of the 2922 pregnant women included, 33.5% fulfilled criteria for any migraine (migraine 12.5%; probable migraine 21.0%) and 37.4% fulfilled PTSD criteria. Even when controlling for depression, women with any migraine had almost a 2-fold increased odds of PTSD (OR: 1.97; 95% CI: 1.64–2.37) as compared to women without migraine. Specifically, women with migraine alone (i.e. excluding probable migraine) had a 2.85-fold increased odds of PTSD (95% CI: 2.18–3.74), and women with probable migraine alone had a 1.61-fold increased odds of PTSD (95% CI: 1.30–1.99) as compared to those without migraine, even after controlling for depression. In those women with both migraine and comorbid depression, the odds of PTSD in all migraine categories were even further increased as compared to those women without migraine.
Conclusion
In a cohort of pregnant women, irrespective of the presence or absence of depression, the odds of PTSD is increased in those with migraine. Our findings suggest the importance of screening for PTSD, specifically in pregnant women with migraine.
Human immunodeficiency virus 1 has been implicated as the main etiologic agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. However, other infectious agents may accelerate the progression of this ...disease. In particular, hepatitis B virus has been suggested as one such cofactor. Therefore, we have investigated the effects of hepatitis B virus gene products on expression of the human immunodeficiency virus I in transient transfection studies of Jurkat lymphoblastic T cells, using as reporter the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene coupled to the long terminal repeat of human immunodeficiency virus I. As measured by the amount of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity, gene expression directed by the human immunodeficiency virus I long terminal repeat increased approximately 10-fold in response to the hepatitis B virus X protein. This trans-activation by the X protein is multiplicative with the effect of phorbol esters and can be accounted for by an increase in the steady-state level of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase mRNA. Analysis of deletion and clustered point mutants in the long terminal repeat indicated that the X protein exerts its effect through multiple cis-acting sites. These results provide a possible molecular basis for the association of hepatitis B virus and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and confirm that the X protein is a transcriptional transactivator.
The study sought an association between the G1691A factor V point mutation and factor VII Arg/Gln(353) gene polymorphism and premature coronary artery disease (CAD), and the interactive effect on CAD ...risk between the G1691A factor V point mutation and factor VII Arg/Gln(353) gene polymorphism as well as between tested polymorphisms and traditional risk factors. 167 patients with CAD younger than 55 years were compared with 132 healthy subjects. The frequency of factor V point mutation was 7.8 % among Slovene patients with premature CAD, and 4.5 % among controls. No association was found between either the factor V point mutation (AG genotype) or M1M1 genotype of factor VII Arg/Gln(353) gene polymorphism and the risk of CAD in Slovenia using univariate analysis (factor V point mutation: OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 0.7-4.9; p = 0.25; factor VII Arg/Gln(353) gene polymorphism: OR = 1, 95 % CI = 0.6-1.7; p = 0.9). However, a joint effect on the risk of CAD was found between factor V point mutation (AG genotype) and M1M1 genotype (OR = 3.6, 95 % CI = 1-12.9; p = 0.03). Additionally, an interactive effect on CAD risk was found between AG genotype and metabolic risk factors (OR = 3.8, 95% CI = 1.1-13.6; p = 0.03). In conclusion, we provide evidence for a joint effect on CAD risk between G1691A factor V point mutation and factor VII Arg/Gln(353) gene polymorphism as well as between factor V point mutation and metabolic risk factors.
Innate and adaptive immunity are connected via antigen processing and presentation (APP), which results in the presentation of antigenic peptides to T cells in the complex with the major ...histocompatibility (MHC) determinants. MHC class II (MHC II) determinants present antigens to CD4+ T cells, which are the main regulators of the immune response. Their genes are transcribed from compact promoters that form first the MHC II enhanceosome, which contains DNA-bound activators and then the MHC II transcriptosome with the addition of the class II transactivator (CIITA). CIITA is the master regulator of MHC II transcription. It is expressed constitutively in dendritic cells (DC) and mature B cells and is inducible in most other cell types. Three isoforms of CIITA exist, depending on cell type and inducing signals. CIITA is regulated at the levels of transcription and post-translational modifications, which are still not very clear. Inappropriate immune responses are found in several diseases, including cancer and autoimmunity. Since CIITA regulates the expression of MHC II genes, it is involved directly in the regulation of the immune response. The knowledge of CIITA will facilitate the manipulation of the immune response and might contribute to the treatment of these diseases.
Using transient expression assays, the HLA-DQ alpha and HLA-DQ beta genes of the human major histocompatibility complex were screened for cis-acting regulatory elements. Two regions in the HLA-DQ α ...gene and one in the HLA-DQ beta gene were identified which fulfilled the criteria for transcriptional enhancers.
