Evaluation of the effects of miRNAs in familial Mediterranean fever

WOS: 000460116500002PubMed ID: 29442258Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an inherited autoinflammatory disorder that can result in attacks with accompanying recurrent episodes of fever, serositis, and skin rash. MiRNAs are demonstrated to be associated with a number of other diseases; however, no comprehensive study has revealed its association with FMF disease. The aim is to investigate the role of microRNAs in FMF. We included 51 patients with genetically diagnosed FMF who had clinical symptoms and 49 healthy volunteers. Fifteen miRNAs that were found to be associated with autoinflammatory diseases and have a part in immune response were evaluated. The expression levels of 11 miRNAs (miR-125a, miR-132, miR-146a, miR-155, miR-15a, miR-16, miR-181a, miR-21, miR-223, miR-26a, and miR-34a) in the patient group were significantly low, compared with the control group (p<0.05). The patient group was analyzed and compared within itself, and the expression levels of 5 miRNAs (miR-132, miR-15a, miR-181a, miR-23b, miR-26a) in the patients who took colchicine seemed to have increased and levels of 5 miRNAs (miR-146a, miR-15a, miR-16, miR-26a, miR-34a) in the patients who took colchicine were significantly lower (p<0.05). Furthermore, the attack patients were compared with the control group, and their expression levels of 4 miRNAs (miR-132, miR-15a, miR-21, miR-34a) were significantly lower (p<0.05). Levels of 9 miRNAs (miR-132, miR-146a, miR-15a, miR-16, miR-181a, miR-21, miR-223, miR-26a, miR-34a) in non-attack patients decreased significantly (p<0.05). Our study demonstrates that miRNAs could be effective in the pathogenesis of FMF

Evaluation of the effects of miRNAs in familial Mediterranean fever (vol 38, pg 635, 2018)

WOS: 000460116500003PubMed ID: 3061759

Nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in healthy children aged less than five years

Purpose: In Turkey, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) was introduced to the national immunization program as PCV7 in 2008, and was replaced with PCV13 in 2011. The aim of the study was to demonstrate the pneumococcal carriage rate and the serotype distribution in healthy children under 5 years in Turkey who were vaccinated with PCV13. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study including the collection of questionnaire data and nasopharyngeal (NP) specimens among children aged <5 years from five centers from March 2019 to March 2020. Pneumococcal isolates were identified using optochin sensitivity and bile solubility. Serotyping was performed using a latex agglutination kit and Quellung reaction. Results: NP swab samples were collected from 580 healthy children. The observed overall carriage rate was 17.8%. None of the hypothesised predictors of S. pneumoniae carriage, except maternal education level was statistically significant (p = 0.017). High maternal education level appeared to decrease the risk (lower vs. higher maternal education OR: 1.992 [95% CI; 1.089–3.643], p = 0.025). The overall NP S. pneumoniae carriage prevalence for the PCV13-vaccinated children was 17.8% (103/580). The most common serotypes detected were serotype 15B (n = 10, 9.7%), serotype 23F (n = 9, 8.7%), serotype 23A (n = 9, 8.7%), serotype 11A (n = 7, 6.7%), serotype 19F (n = 5, 4.8%) and serotype 15F (n = 5, 4.8%). Of the isolates, 28 (27.2%) were in PCV13 vaccine strains (VSs), and 75 (72.8%) strains were non-VS. The serotype coverage rate was 27.2% for PCV13. Conclusion: The overall S. pneumoniae carriage rate was higher than in earlier studies from Turkey. Post-vaccine era studies from around the world have reported a decrease in VS serotypes and a ‘serotype replacement’ to non-VS serotypes, as we determined in our study