The Effects of Enterococcus faecium and Selenium on Methotrexate Treatment in Rat Adjuvant-induced Arthritis

The effects of probiotic bacteria Enterococcus faecium (EF) and selenium were studied on methotrexate (MTX) treatment in rats with adjuvant arthritis (AA)

McCune-Albright syndrome

McCune-Albright syndrome (MAS) is a very rare disease characterizedby the triad of bone defects, skin hyperpigmentation, andvarious types of endocrine and non-endocrine manifestations. Itfalls into the category of sporadic genetic disorders and its exactincidence is unknown. In its more severe forms, the disease manifestsitself already in early childhood and can gradually affectmore and more organs throughout life. The extent and degree ofinvolvement of affected tissues are heterogeneous due to themosaicism of the genetic mutation. The disease is the subject ofextensive research and new pathogenetic mechanisms are beingelucidated, leading to new diagnostic and therapeutic choices. Inaddition, the authors present a case report of an adult femalepatient with McCune-Albright syndrome. The clinical picture isdominated by bone involvement, thyroid hyperfunction and persistenthyperestrogenism. The case report underlines the fact thatmanagement of patients with McCune-Albright syndrome continuesto be a challenge

The Effects of Enterococcus faecium and Selenium on Methotrexate Treatment in Rat Adjuvant-induced Arthritis

The effects of probiotic bacteria Enterococcus faecium (EF) and selenium were studied on methotrexate (MTX) treatment in rats with adjuvant arthritis (AA). Arthritic rats were preventive treated orally with the following substances: lyophilized EF (15 mg/kg/day, 5 days a week); sodium selenite pentahydrate (SSe, 0.050 mg/kg containing 0.015 mg/kg selenium, 5 days a week); MTX (0.6 mg/kg/week), and their combinations for the period of 50 days from adjuvant application. Levels of serum albumin, serum nitrite/nitrate concentrations, hind paw swelling, arthrogram scores, whole body bone mineral density (BMD), and bone erosions were evaluated as markers of inflammation and destructive changes associated with arthritis. Long-term preventive treatment with low-dose MTX significantly inhibited the markers of both inflammation and arthritis. EF or SSe when administered singly or in combination had no significant effect on given parameters in arthritic rats. EF but not SSe potentiated the beneficial effects of MTX, which resulted in a more significant reduction of hind paw swelling, arthrogram scores and whole body BMD decrease. EF had a tendency to improve also the effect of MTX on serum albumin and nitrite/nitrate concentrations. Our results indicate that EF may increase the preventive effect of MTX treatment in rat AA by improving its anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic effects

Glycoprofiling as a novel tool in serological assays of systemic sclerosis: A comparative study with three bioanalytical methods

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease seriously affecting patient’s quality of life. The heterogeneity of the disease also means that identification and subsequent validation of biomarkers of the disease is quite challenging. A fully validated single biomarker for diagnosis, prognosis, disease activity and assessment of response to therapy is not yet available. The main aim of this study was to apply an alternative assay protocol to the immunoassay-based analysis of this disease by employment of sialic acid recognizing lectin Sambucus nigra agglutinin (SNA) to glycoprofile serum samples. To our best knowledge this is the first study describing direct lectin-based glycoprofiling of serum SSc samples. Three different analytical methods for glycoprofiling of serum samples relying on application of lectins are compared here from a bioanalytical point of view including traditional ELISA-like lectin-based method (ELLA), novel fluorescent lectin microarrays and ultrasensitive impedimetric lectin biosensors. Results obtained by all three bioanalytical methods consistently showed differences in the level of sialic acid present on glycoproteins, when serum from healthy people was compared to the one from patients having SSc. Thus, analysis of sialic acid content in human serum could be of a diagnostic value for future detection of SSc, but further work is needed to enhance selectivity of assays for example by glycoprofiling of a fraction of human serum enriched in antibodies for individual diagnostics.Slovak Scientific Grant Agency VEGA 2/0162/14 and from the Slovak Research and Development Agency APVV 0282-11 is acknowledged. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 311532 and this work has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, Technological Development and Demonstration under grant agreement No. 317420. This publication is the result of the project implementation: Applied Research in the field of Industrial Biocatalysis, ITMS code: 26240220079 supported by the Research & Development Operational Programme funded by the ERDF. Research leading to these results was supported by BASF Slovakia