CLINICAL DIAGNOSTIC VALUE OF AUTOANTIBODIES IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF AUTOIMMUNE LIVER DISEASES

We are studied the 15 patients with autoimmune liver diseases and 36 patients without autoimmune pathology found the diagnostic value of antinuclear and antimitochondrial autoantibodies (AMA-M2) tests, and antibodies to asialoglycoprotein receptor (anti-ASGPR). Based on the ROC analysis showed that the diagnostic sensitivity and diagnostic specificity of AMA-M2 was 73% and 100% and for anti-ASGPR – 60% and 77%, respectively. Therefore, the test for anti-ASGPR in autoimmune diseases of the liver showed no advantages over standart tests, and its using in clinical practice requires clarification

Stage-Dependent Role of Nitric Oxide in Control of Trypanosoma cruzi Infection

Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas' disease, is known to be susceptible to nitric oxide (NO)-dependent killing by gamma interferon-activated macrophages. Mice deficient for inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) are highly susceptible to T. cruzi, and inhibition of iNOS from the beginning of infection was reported to lead to an increase in trypomastigotes in the blood and to high mortality. In the present study, we investigated whether NO production is essential for the control of T. cruzi in all phases of the infection. BALB/c mice were treated at different time intervals after T. cruzi infection with an iNOS inhibitor, aminoguanidine or l-N(6)-(1-iminoethyl)-lysine (L-NIL). Treatment initiated with the beginning of the infection resulted in 100% mortality by day 16 postinfection (p.i.). If treatment was started later during the acute phase at the peak of parasitemia (day 20 p.i.), all the mice survived. Parasitemia was cleared and tissue amastigotes became undetectable in these mice even in the presence of the iNOS inhibitor L-NIL. Inhibition of iNOS in the chronic phase of the infection, i.e., from day 60 to day 120 p.i., with L-NIL did not result in a reappearance of parasitemia. These data suggest that while NO is essential for T. cruzi control in the early phase of acute infection, it is dispensable in the late acute and chronic phase, revealing a fundamental difference in control mechanisms compared to those in infections by other members of the order Kinetoplastida, e.g., Leishmania major