Independent and joint effects of antibodies to human heat-shock protein 60 and Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in the development of coronary atherosclerosis

Background—Studies have suggested that the prevalence of antibodies against heat-shock proteins (HSPs), Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cpn), and cytomegalovirus (CMV) is associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), but the independent or joint effects of human (h) HSP60 antibodies and these pathogens in patients have not been fully elucidated. Methods and Results—A total of 405 subjects (276 patients with CAD and 129 control individuals) were tested for serum antibodies to hHSP60, Cpn, and CMV immediate-early-1 (IE1) antigens. Patients were also assessed for serum cholesterol, triglyceride levels, and smoking habit. Significantly elevated levels of antibodies to hHSP60 and Cpn but not to CMV-IE1 antigens were documented in CAD patients. Multiple logistic regression analysis and subanalyses of selected subjects showed that these associations were independent of age, sex, smoking, and serum lipid levels. Antibodies to hHSP60 and Cpn did not correlate quantitatively; however, the relative risk of disease development was substantially increased in subjects with high antibody levels to both hHSP60 and Cpn, reaching an odds ratio of 82.0 (95% CI 10.6 to 625.0). Conclusions—High levels of antibodies to hHSP60 and Cpn are independent risk factors for coronary atherosclerosis, but their simultaneous presence substantially increases the risk for disease development

A lupustörzsek gyógyszerérzékenységének változása az isonicotinsavashydrazid (INH) és streptomycin (SM) kezelés folyamán

A szerzők 50 lupus és 7 tbc cutis verrucosás betegük kóros szöveteiből kezelés előtt, majd INH- és SM-kúrák alatt és után összesen 123 kimetszést végeztek, hogy kitenyésszék belőlük a kórokozót. Friss, kezeletlen gócokból 75,3%-ban Koch-positív leletet kaptak. INH-kúra előtt positív tenyésztési eredményű 27 lupus ? és 3 tbc. verrucosa betegből az INH-kúra folyamánbizonyos időközökben ismételt kimetszéseket végeztek, ugyancsak a recidiv lupus göbcséiből, majd pedig megpróbálták ezekből a mykobacteriumokat kitenyészteni. Az összes tenyésztett törzsek INH- és SM-érzékenységét meghatározták. A két gümős kórformából származó összes törzsek a mykobactereium tbc. R-typusának látszottak telepmorphologiájuk szerint. A megvizsgált lupustörzsek nem bizonyultak nyúlpathogennek. Két ízben chromogen savállók is kitenyésztek. Állatkísérletben 10 törzs virulentiáját vizsgálták, amely minden esetben kicsinek bizonyult. Valamennyi törzs katalaze-pozitív volt. Primer resistens törzsre egy esetben sem akadtak. Az INH-érzékenység sem a hosszú INH-kúrák alatt, sem a betegség kiújulása után mérhetően nem változottin vitro. Ezzel szemben már viszonylag kis mennyiségű SM adására is aránylag rövid idő múlva, a törzsek SM-érzékenységének in vitro csökkenése gyakran mutatkozott. Rámutatnak a szerzők a bőrnek mint sajátos szervnek szerepére a mykobacteriumok és a szervezet kölcsönhatásúban, valamint azokra a gyakorlati klinikai megfigyelésekre, melyek kísérleti eredményeikkelmesszemenően összhangban állana

Isolation of oligonucleotides from the enzymatic digest of ribonucleic acid

Some smaller oligonucleotides were chromatoraphically isolated from RNase digest of RNA using DEAl-cellulose column and slightly alkaline ammonium bicarbonate buffer a t pH = 8,6 for elution on the basis of Staehelin's method. As a result 8-9 well differentiated peaks could be separated by increasing the salt concentration at an appropriately chosen rate without requiring the use of a "Varigrad". The elution curve was found to be similar to that of Staehelin with the difference that also cyclic uridylic acid was found to be present among the mononucleotides. The four dinucleotides were isolated, an overlapping occurring for GC only which was slightly overlapped by AU. Contrary to Staehelins GU elution occurred separately from trinucleotide. The precise identification of the trinucleotides which could be isolated requires further investigations. The sequence of ribonucleotides can be investigated theoretically by Todd's method [l] basedon the gradual degradation ribonucleic acid /RNA/, / summarized by Tankó [ 2/a ] /. An alternative method is to isolate smaller and larger breakdown products of given nucleotide sequence and to determine their structures, the relative quantities, i. e. the frequency of their occurrence in the original polynucleotide chain. The usual methods for isolating mono-, d i - and trinucleotides are paper chromatography arid electrophoresis or the combination of the two methods [3, 4, 5 and 6]. These procedures, however, present some difficulties, in particular as regards quantitative estimations. Volkin and Cohn [7], as well as others [8,9] work with ion exchangers, isolating the oligonucleotides by elution from a column of Dowex resin. Staehelin et al. [l0, 11] use for the separation of oligonucleotides substituted cellulose anion exchangers with ammonium bicarbonate buffer elution at a slightly alkaline pH. The latter method has been applied in present investigations for the separation and isolation of smaller oligonucleotides. The aim is to use the isolated products in the next step, as primaries for enzymatic polymerization, in order to extend the method of Ogur and Small [12] who improved Todd's principle, to gradual degradation and sequential analysis of oligonucleotides as wel

Molecular comparison of echovirus 11 strains circulating in Europe during an epidemic of multisystem hemorrhagic disease of infants indicates that evolution generally occurs by recombination.

International audienceWe compared echovirus 11 (E11) strains implicated in a severe epidemic in Hungary in 1989 with the prototype E11 strain Gregory and with other E11 strains, most of which were isolated over the same period in Europe (Finland, The Netherlands, Romania, Russia) from sporadic cases or from environmental water. Partial sequencing indicated that the Hungarian strains were closely related to each other and to most European strains. They were particularly closely related to one Romanian strain associated with a sporadic case of hemiparesis and several Finnish strains isolated from environmental water. Sequencing of the complete genomes of one Hungarian strain, the Romanian strain, and one Finnish strain revealed differences of only a few nucleotides in the 5' half of the genome, including the 5' nontranslated region (5'-NTR) and the capsid coding region. However, significant differences were observed in the nucleotide sequences of the 3' half of the genome (nonstructural viral protein region and 3'-NTR), indicating that these strains evolved recently and independently by genetic recombination with other unknown E11 or enterovirus strains

Endotoxins do not influence transplacental transmission of lymphotropic human herpesviruses and human papillomaviruses into amniotic fluid taken from healthy mothers before parturition in Hungary

Pregnant women were examined following healthy pregnancies at term. Amniotic fluids were sampled before arteficial rupture of membranes using closed vacutainer system. Blood samples were also taken from the pregnants simultaneously. Endotoxin concentrations of amniotic fluids were tested by the semiquantitative Limulus amebocyte lysate. Both amniotic fluids and blood samples were tested for the presence of DNA of lymphotropic human herpesviruses. The DNA of human papillomaviruses were tested only in the amniotic fluid samples. One-third of the amniotic fluids tested were found to contain measurable amounts of endotoxin. Lymphotropic herpesvirus DNA was deteced in every fourth amniotic fluid sample and in every 8th blood sample. The prevalence of papillomaviruses was 7 of 96 samples. No significant correlation was found between the presence of endotoxin and viruses in the amniotic fluids. Epstein-Barr virus, human cytomegalovirus and human herpesvirus type 7 were found more frequently in the amniotic fluids than in blood samples (7 to 1). The prevalence of human herpesvirus 6 and 8 was higher in the blood samples than that in the amniotic fluids. The mean weight of the neonates were not impaired significantly by the presence of either viruses or endotoxin. Possible post partum consequences, i.e. partial immunotolerance to viruses is discussed