Nuove Prospettive diagnostiche dell'infezione da Pnumocystis carini

Nel corso di recenti ricerche sono emersi alcuni dati di rilevante interesse: 1- Evidenziazione di P. carinii in soggetti HIV positivi asintomatici ed HIV negativi esenti da infezioni respiratorie in atto (1). Sono in corso a tal proposito ricerche sistematiche volte a stabilire il significato del riscontro di P. carinii in secrezioni broncoalveolari di pazienti con o senza infezione da HIV, dell'eventuale presenza di stipiti differenti del microrganismo e del loro ruolo nella malattia; 2- Isolamento di P. carinii da cellule mononucleate di pazienti di AIDS con PCP, coltivate su linea A549 di derivazione umana (2). Tale sistema, che ha consentito di porre diagnosi di PCP in una vasta percentuale di casi, potrebbe rappresentare, se i risultati verranno confermati da più ampie casistiche, un approccio alternativo o complementare alla diagnosi dell'infezione da P. carinii. 3- Evidenziazione di alcune componenti ad attività proteasica (MW 100-50 kDa) mediante copolimerizzazione del substrato in gel di poliacrilamide (3). L'impiego di questa metodica ha permesso di visualizzare in Pneumocystis 6 bande ad attività proteasica. In particolare, é stato osservato che la banda 90 kDa viene inibita dall'EDTA, inibitore selettivo delle metalloproteasi. La purificazione di tale banda mediante cromatografia su HPT, suggerisce che questa proteasi é fortemente basica in quanto eluita da cationi bivalenti. Ulteriori ricerche sono in corso per stabilire il ruolo di questa proteasi nella patogenesi dell'infezione. Bibliografia essenziale 1- C. Contini, R. Romani, V. Vullo, S. Delia, F. Sorice. Does laboratory recovery of Pneumocystis carinii always mean clinically significant disease? AIDS, 6, 1558-9, 1992 2- C. Contini, R. Romani, M. Manganaro, F. Sorice, S. Delia. Tissue culture isolation of Pneumocystis carinii from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of AIDS patients with PCP. AIDS, 1993, in press. 3- A. P. Massetti, F. Mengoni, C. Contini, G. Sebastiani, F. Folgori, V. Vullo, F. Sorice. Characterization and partial purification of P. carinii proteases. VIII International Conference on AIDS, 19-24 July 1992, PoB 3310

EVALUATION OF DOT IMMUNOBINDING ASSAY (DIB) FOR THE DETECTION OF ANTIBODIES AGAINST BRUCELLA-MELITENSIS

The Authors have employed DIB fro the detection of total anti-Brucella melitensis antibodies and specific IgG and IgM class antibodies in sera from patients with Brucellosis and the results have been compared with those obtained with ELISA test

“Impaired adipokine profile in HIV positive patients without metabolic syndrome: the role of antiretroviral therapy.”

Adipose tissue secretes of a range of biologically active proteins called adipokines. Dysregulation of adipokines is implicated in the etiology of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, but the relation between adiponectin, leptin and antiretroviral therapy has been poorly studied and subject to controversy. This study investigated the relation between plasma adipokine levels and different antiretroviral drug exposure in HIV positive subjects with similar metabolic and anthropometric parameters and without metabolic syndrome. Our data show that antiretroviral drugs impair the adipokine and osteoprotegerin profiles in HIV positive patients without metabolic syndrome and in the absence of impaired glycemic and lipidic parameters

Impiego del Dot Immunobinding assay (DIB) nella diagnosi della Schistosomiasi Urinaria

A Dot Immnunobinding assay (DIB) has been applied to the serodiagnosis of urinary schistosomiasis and its resuls have been compared with those obtained with the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assy (ELISA). The two techniques have been shown to be closely related (p<0.001). DIB however is more economical and can be read in less than 4 hours. It is simple to perform and easily adaptable for field use

Endocardite Batterica da Streptococco di Gruppo C. Considerazioni su un Caso Clinico

Group C streptococci cause commonly infections in animals; they can be found as saprophytes on human mucosae and may occasionally cause severe infections in man. We report the case of a young woman affected by group C streptococcus endocarditis whose distinctive features were the presence of endocardial lesions only on the right ventricular wall and the rapid recovery

Research on staphylococcal enterotoxin B by dot immunobinding assay (DIB). Preliminary observations.

A recently developed immunoenzymatic technique, the Dot Immunobinding assay (DIB), has been applied to the rapid detection of staphylococcal enterotoxin B in filtered culture supernatants. The test has been shown to be highly sensitive and specific, easy to perform and rapid (only 4 hours). The use of nitrocellulose paper as the solid phase allows the exact standardization of the amount of antigen employed and it avoids the overnight incubation usually necessary with the conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

USE OF DOT IMMUNOBINDING ASSAY (DIB) FOR THE RAPID DIAGNOSIS OF HUMAN BRUCELLOSIS

A new immunological method, the Dot Immunobinding Assay is employed for diagnosis of human Brucellosis. This procedure has been shown simple, rapid with high sensitivity and specificity

USE OF DOT IMMUNOBINDING ASSAY FOR THE RAPID DIAGNOSIS OF HUMAN HYDATIDOSIS

A Dot Immunobinding (DIB) assay has been applied to the serodiagnosis of human hydatidosis and its results have been compared with those obtained with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The two techniques have been shown to be closely related (p greater than 0.001), highly sensitive (92.0% of positive results in 75 sera from patients with hepatic or pulmonary hydatidosis) and specific (93.5% of negative results in 31 sera from patients affected by other parasitic diseases and 100% of negative results in 30 normal controls). DIB however is more economical and takes less time (only 4 hours) than ELISA. DIB could be an useful tool in field epidemiological surveys since it is sensitive, specific, simple to perform and it does not require any expensive apparatus

IMMUNOBLOT ANALYSIS OF ANTIBODY-RESPONSE TO SALMONELLA SPP AND ESCHERICHIA-COLI LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDES (LPS) IN TYPHOID PATIENTS

The Authors have applied the Immunoblot technique to perform an immunological analysis in order to detect and characterize the antibodies against the Salmonella Spp and Escherichia Coli (LPS) in patients with typhoid fever

Myelin degrading activity in the CSF of HIV-1-infected patients with neurological diseases

Degradation of purified myelin basic protein (MBP) was studied by SDS gel electrophoresis after addition of CSF samples obtained from HIV-1-infected patients. An increase in MBP degradation was detected in patients with neurological complications, such as AIDS dementia complex (ADC) or progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), when compared with patients with no neurological symptoms (NA) or with other neurological opportunistic infections (OI). In the ADC and PML patients, in addition to CSF proteolytic activity, an increase in CSF-MBP levels and presence of white matter lesions were also observed by neuroimaging (MRI). In other opportunistic infections of the brain, MBP levels but not anti-MBP proteolytic activity increased. Results suggest the involvement of proteases in the virus-induced demyelination