Utilization Of Fermentation And Purification Strategies To Enhance The Yield Of BmR1 Antigen

Brugia Rapid merupakan UJian diagnostik komersial yang digunakan untuk mengesan jangkitan terhadap Brugia malayi dan Brugia timori (filariasis brugia). Brugia Rapid TM is an established diagnostic test that is commercially available. to detect infection to both B. malayi and B. timori infections (brugian filariasis).

Serodiagnosis Of Strongyloidiasis: Identification Of Cdna Clones, Production Of Recombinant Antigens And Immunoassay Development

Strongyloidiasis merupakan penyakit parasit manusia yang disebabkan oleh cacing Strongyloides stercoralis. Jangkitan daripada cacing ini akan menyebabkan jangkitan jangka panjang dalam manusia, atau boleh disebarkan ke organ-organ lain, terutama bagi individu dengan sistem imun terkompromi, yang biasanya mengakibatkan kematian. Majoriti pesakit adalah tidak bersimptom, atau mengalami masalah gastrousus tak-spesifik, namun masih tiada kaedah ‘gold standard’ untuk mengesan jangkitan tersebut. Diagnosis definitif biasanya dilakukan melalui kombinasi tanda dan simptom klinikal, pengesanan mikroskopik, dan ujian serologi. Sehingga kini, ujian komersil yang sedia ada adalah berasaskan ekstrak asli antigen parasit, tetapi ujian tersebut mempunyai banyak kelemahan; contohnya masalah reaktiviti silang dengan jangkitan cacing yang lain. Ujian berasaskan antigen rekombinan merupakan alternatif yang sesuai bagi meningkatkan spesifisiti diagnostik dan keseragaman kualiti ujian, oleh itu, kajian ini dijalankan untuk mencapai matlamat ini. Peringkat awal kajian ini melibatkan pengujian sampel serum dengan in-house IgG-, IgG4- dan IgE-ELISA disamping kit komersial IgG-ELISA. Strongyloidiasis is a human parasitic disease caused by the nematode Strongyloides stercoralis. Infection by this parasite can cause long-term infection in humans or can disseminate to other organs, especially in individuals with immunosuppression, which commonly results in fatal outcomes. The majority of patients are asymptomatic or present with non-specific gastrointestinal complaints, and there is no gold standard method to rule out the infection. Definitive diagnosis is usually made by a combination of clinical signs and symptoms, microscopic identification, and serology test. To date, the available commercial tests are based on native parasite antigen extract, but such tests have problems of cross-reactivity with other helminthic infections. A recombinant antigen-based test is a good alternative for improved diagnostic specificity and standardized test quality, thus, the present study was conducted to achieve this goal. The initial stage of the study involved testing serum samples with the in-house IgG-, IgG4- and IgE-ELISAs in addition to a commercial IgG-ELISA kit

Development of Multiplexed Infectious Disease Lateral Flow Assays: Challenges and Opportunities

Lateral flow assays (LFAs) are the mainstay of rapid point-of-care diagnostics, with the potential to enable early case management and transform the epidemiology of infectious disease. However, most LFAs only detect single biomarkers. Recognizing the complex nature of human disease, overlapping symptoms and states of co-infections, there is increasing demand for multiplexed systems that can detect multiple biomarkers simultaneously. Due to innate limitations in the design of traditional membrane-based LFAs, multiplexing is arguably limited to a small number of biomarkers. Here, we summarize the need for multiplexed LFA, key technical and operational challenges for multiplexing, inherent in the design and production of multiplexed LFAs, as well as emerging enabling technologies that may be able to address these challenges. We further identify important areas for research in efforts towards developing multiplexed LFAs for more impactful diagnosis of infectious diseases

The First Outbreak of Autochthonous Zika Virus in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

Background: Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is a public health concern. The first ZIKV outside Africa was detected in mosquito in Malaysia. More than six decades ago, serological surveys indicated the presence of human infection with ZIKV in the Malaysian Borneo state of Sabah. It has also been demonstrated that orangutans in Sabah have antibodies against ZIKV. Several years ago, a case of human ZIKV infection was reported in a traveler who visited Sabah. Therefore, it is thought that ZIKV is endogenous to Sabah and is widely distributed. During the recent global epidemic of ZIKV, the first autochthonous case and two subsequent autochthonous cases were detected in Sabah. Because ZIKV infection is mainly asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, the extent of ZIKV infection in the population of Sabah is not known. Furthermore, the presence of ZIKV in vector mosquitoes and animals has not been investigated. Therefore, the present study was performed to analyze the outbreak cases of ZIKV infection and to determine their relationship with the burden of ZIKV infection in the local population, mosquitoes, and wild nonhuman primates in Sabah. Methods: Serum and urine samples were collected from two local patients with ZIKV infection, their household members, and those who resided within 400m of the patients’ residences. Serum samples were also collected from four wild Maca fascicularis. Mosquito samples, mostly female Aedes albopictus, were collected from 30 sites in Kota Kinabalu. The presence of ZIKV was assessed by RT-qPCR and RT-PCR. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using the neighbor-joining method. Results: Two cases of ZIKV infection were identified by reverse-transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) in residents of Kota Kinabalu, and the Taiwanese health authorities reported one case in an individual who visited Kota Kinabalu during the study period. All household members of both local patients and people living within a 400 m radius of the patients were negative for ZIKV. Furthermore, mosquitoes collected from the surroundings of the residences and places visited by the patients and four serum samples from M. fascicularis were also negative for ZIKV. A phylogenetic tree constructed using the nucleotide sequences of the envelope genes of ZIKV showed that the strains from Sabah formed a cluster with strains from Thailand and Cambodia, and belong to the Asian lineage. Conclusions: Our study revealed that ZIKVs in Sabah is of Asian lineage and are not related to the recent outbreak strains in the Americas and Singapore. ZIKV infection in Sabah is sporadic, possibly because of limited transmission of the virus. Further studies are needed to characterize the evolutionary history of ZIKV in Sabah to understand the epidemiology of this infection in Borneo

The First Outbreak of Autochthonous Zika Virus in Sabah, Malaysia Borneo.

Background: Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is a public health concern. The first ZIKV outside Africa was detected in mosquito in Malaysia. More than six decades ago, serological surveys indicated the presence of human infection with ZIKV in the Malaysian Borneo state of Sabah. It has also been demonstrated that orangutans in Sabah have antibodies against ZIKV. Several years ago, a case of human ZIKV infection was reported in a traveler who visited Sabah. Therefore, it is thought that ZIKV is endogenous to Sabah and is widely distributed. During the recent global epidemic of ZIKV, the first autochthonous case and two subsequent autochthonous cases were detected in Sabah. Because ZIKV infection is mainly asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, the extent of ZIKV infection in the population of Sabah is not known. Furthermore, the presence of ZIKV in vector mosquitoes and animals has not been investigated. Therefore, the present study was performed to analyze the outbreak cases of ZIKV infection and to determine their relationship with the burden of ZIKV infection in the local population, mosquitoes, and wild nonhuman primates in Sabah. Methods: Serum and urine samples were collected from two local patients with ZIKV infection, their household members, and those who resided within 400m of the patients’ residences. Serum samples were also collected from four wild Maca fascicularis. Mosquito samples, mostly female Aedes albopictus, were collected from 30 sites in Kota Kinabalu. The presence of ZIKV was assessed by RT-qPCR and RT-PCR. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using the neighbor-joining method. Results: Two cases of ZIKV infection were identified by reverse-transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) in residents of Kota Kinabalu, and the Taiwanese health authorities reported one case in an individual who visited Kota Kinabalu during the study period. All household members of both local patients and people living within a 400 m radius of the patients were negative for ZIKV. Furthermore, mosquitoes collected from the surroundings of the residences and places visited by the patients and four serum samples from M. fascicularis were also negative for ZIKV. A phylogenetic tree constructed using the nucleotide sequences of the envelope genes of ZIKV showed that the strains from Sabah formed a cluster with strains from Thailand and Cambodia, and belong to the Asian lineage. Conclusions: Our study revealed that ZIKVs in Sabah is of Asian lineage and are not related to the recent outbreak strains in the Americas and Singapore. ZIKV infection in Sabah is sporadic, possibly because of limited transmission of the virus. Further studies are needed to characterize the evolutionary history of ZIKV in Sabah to understand the epidemiology of this infection in Borneo

Entamoeba histolytica: Membrane and Non-Membrane Protein Structure, Function, Immune Response Interaction, and Vaccine Development

Entamoeba histolytica is a protozoan parasite that is the causative agent of amoebiasis. This parasite has caused widespread infection in India, Africa, Mexico, and Central and South America, and results in 100,000 deaths yearly. An immune response is a body\u27s mechanism for eradicating and fighting against substances it sees as harmful or foreign. E. histolytica biological membranes are considered foreign and immunogenic to the human body, thereby initiating the body\u27s immune responses. Understanding immune response and antigen interaction are essential for vaccine development. Thus, this review aims to identify and understand the protein structure, function, and interaction of the biological membrane with the immune response, which could contribute to vaccine development. Furthermore, the current trend of vaccine development studies to combat amoebiasis is also reviewed

Current state of infection and prevalence of giardiasis in Malaysia: a review of 20 years of research

Background Giardiasis is a neglected parasitic zoonotic disease caused by Giardia duodenalis that is often overlooked despite the damage inflicted upon humans and domestic/wild animals. Lack of surveillance studies, low sensitivity of diagnostic tools, and resistance to giardiasis treatment add to the challenge in managing giardiasis, leaving a gap that continues to render giardiasis a silent threat to public health worldwide. This situation is not much different in Malaysia, where giardiasis remains a public health problem, especially in the indigenous communities. Realizing the existence of gaps in the literature and information on giardiasis in Malaysia, this review aims to revisit and update the situation of giardiasis in Malaysia based on articles published in 20 years from 2000 to 2020, providing estimates on the incidence of giardiasis in humans, animals, and the environment, which may inform efforts to prevent and control the impact of giardiasis in the country. Methodology We searched PubMed, Science Direct, and Scopus using MeSH terms and text keywords “Giardia duodenalis OR Giardia intestinalis OR Giardia lamblia OR intestinal protozoa AND Malaysia”. Information was collected from all giardiasis reports published between 2000 and 2020. Results Giardiasis in Malaysia is more prevalent among the poorest segments of the population, namely the indigenous communities and people living in densely populated areas such as slums and prisons, due to low standard of personal hygiene, unsafe water resources, and improper sanitation. While the prevalence data is hugely dependent on microscopic fecal examination in epidemiological studies of giardiasis, current studies mostly focused on species identification and genotype distribution by multilocus genotyping. Thus far, the outbreak of giardiasis has not been reported in the country, but the disease was found to be significantly associated with stunting, wasting, and malnutrition among children of the indigenous communities. Surveillance studies also discovered the simultaneous presence of Giardia in the animal-environments, including wild animals, ruminants, and treated and untreated water. The data collected here will be a useful addition to the literature body on giardiasis in Malaysia, which can be exploited in efforts to prevent and control the impact of giardiasis in the country. Conclusions The last 10 years have shown that the overall mean rate of giardiasis in Malaysia is quite encouraging at 13.7%. While this figure appears to be declining, there has been a slight increase in the prevalence of underweight, stunting, and wasting among rural children in 2019. The fact that giardiasis is linked to long-term childhood developmental problems, indicates that addressing and providing better disease control against giardiasis should be a priority in supporting the national agenda to achieve Malaysia Global Nutrition Targets by 2025

Application of Proteomics to the Study of the Therapeutics and Pathogenicity of Giardia duodenalis

Giardia duodenalis remains a neglected tropical disease. A key feature of the sustained transmission of Giardia is the ability to form environmentally resistant cysts. For the last 38 years, proteomics has been utilised to study various aspects of the parasite across different life cycle stages. Thirty-one articles have been published in PubMed from 2012 to 2022 related to the proteomics of G. duodenalis. Currently, mass spectrometry with LC-MS/MS and MALDI-TOF/TOF has been commonly utilised in proteomic analyses of Giardia, which enables researchers to determine potential candidates for diagnostic biomarkers as well as vaccine and drug targets, in addition to allowing them to investigate the virulence of giardiasis, the pathogenicity mechanisms of G. duodenalis, and the post-translational modifications of Giardia proteins throughout encystation. Over the last decade, valuable information from proteomics analyses of G. duodenalis has been discovered in terms of the pathogenesis and virulence of Giardia, which may provide guidance for the development of better means with which to prevent and reduce the impacts of giardiasis. Nonetheless, there is room for improving proteomics analyses of G. duodenalis, since genomic sequences for additional assemblages of Giardia have uncovered previously unknown proteins associated with the Giardia proteome. Therefore, this paper aims to review the applications of proteomics for the characterisation of G. duodenalis pathogenicity and the discovery of novel vaccine as well as drug targets, in addition to proposing some general directions for future Giardia proteomic research

A Review: Natural and Synthetic Compounds Targeting Entamoeba histolytica and Its Biological Membrane

Amoebiasis is the third most common parasitic cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in countries with poor hygienic settings in central and south America, Africa, and India. This disease is caused by a protozoan parasite, namely Entamoeba histolytica, which infects approximately 50 million people worldwide, resulting in 70,000 deaths every year. Since the 1960s, E. histolytica infection has been successfully treated with metronidazole. However, there are drawbacks to metronidazole therapy: the side effects, duration of treatment, and need for additional drugs to prevent transmission. Previous interdisciplinary studies, including biophysics, bioinformatics, chemistry, and, more recently, lipidomics studies, have increased biomembranes’ publicity. The biological membranes are comprised of a mixture of membrane and cytosolic proteins. They work hand in hand mainly at the membrane part. They act as dedicated platforms for a whole range of cellular processes, such as cell proliferation, adhesion, migration, and intracellular trafficking, thus are appealing targets for drug treatment. Therefore, this review aims to observe the updated trend of the research regarding the biological membranes of E. histolytica from 2015 to 2021, which may help further research regarding the drug targeting the biological membrane

Bone repair and key signalling pathways for cell-based bone regenerative therapy: A review

المخلص: إن التقدم في العلاج التجديدي القائم على الخلايا يخلق فرصا جديدة في علاج الاضطرابات والإصابات المرتبطة بالعظام، من خلال تحسين المرحلة التعويضية لشفاء العظام. بصرف النظر عن النهج الكلاسيكي لتطعيم العظام، اكتسب تطبيق العلاجات القائمة على الخلايا، وخاصة الخلايا الجذعية، الكثير من الاهتمام في السنوات الأخيرة. تلعب الخلايا الجذعية دورا مهما في العلاج التجديدي، نظرا لخصائصها الممتازة للتمايز إلى خلايا مكونة للعظام. يتم تنظيم تجديد العظام الجديدة من خلال مجموعة متنوعة من جزيئات الإشارات والشبكات داخل الخلايا المسؤولة عن تنسيق العمليات الخلوية. تشارك سلسلة الإشارات المنشطة بشكل كبير في بقاء الخلايا وانتشارها وموت الخلايا المبرمج والتفاعل مع البيئة المحيطة وأنواع الخلايا الأخرى داخل موقع الشفاء. على الرغم من الأدلة المتزايدة التي تم جمعها من الدراسات التي أجريت على مسارات الإشارات المرتبطة بتكوين العظام، فإن الآلية الدقيقة التي ينطوي عليها التحكم في مرحلة التمايز للخلايا المزروعة ليست مفهومة جيدا. قد يسمح تحديد المسار الرئيسي المنشط المتضمن في تجديد العظام بالتلاعب الدقيق بجزيئات الإشارة ذات الصلة داخل مجموعة الخلايا السلفية لتسريع عملية الشفاء. ستكون المعرفة المتعمقة بالآليات الجزيئية مفيدة في تحسين كفاءة الطب الشخصي والعلاج المستهدف في الطب التجديدي. في هذه المراجعة، نقدم بإيجاز نظرية آلية إصلاح العظام وهندسة أنسجة العظام تليها نظرة عامة على مسارات الإشارات ذات الصلة التي تم تحديدها لتلعب دورا مهما في العلاج التجديدي للعظام القائم على الخلايا. Abstract: Advances in cell-based regenerative therapy create new opportunities for the treatment of bone-related disorders and injuries, by improving the reparative phase of bone healing. Apart from the classical approach of bone grafting, the application of cell-based therapies, particularly stem cells (SCs), has gained a lot of attention in recent years. SCs play an important role in regenerative therapy due to their excellent ability to differentiate into bone-forming cells. Regeneration of new bone is regulated by a wide variety of signalling molecules and intracellular networks, which are responsible for coordinating cellular processes. The activated signalling cascade is significantly involved in cell survival, proliferation, apoptosis, and interaction with the microenvironment and other types of cells within the healing site. Despite the increasing evidence from studies conducted on signalling pathways associated with bone formation, the exact mechanism involved in controlling the differentiation stage of transplanted cells is not well understood. Identifying the key activated pathways involved in bone regeneration may allow for precise manipulation of the relevant signalling molecules within the progenitor cell population to accelerate the healing process. The in-depth knowledge of molecular mechanisms would be advantageous in improving the efficiency of personalised medicine and targeted therapy in regenerative medicine. In this review, we briefly introduce the theory of bone repair mechanism and bone tissue engineering followed by an overview of relevant signalling pathways that have been identified to play an important role in cell-based bone regenerative therapy