Influence of INF-gamma gene polymorphism in HTLV-1 proviral load

Financial Support FAPESP, CNPq, CTC/FUNDHERP and INCTC

Clonagem e expressão da glicoproteína transmembrana do vírus linfotrópico de células T humanas em sistema procarioto

HTLV-1 is the virus that causes T cell lymphoma/leukemia in adults and a neurological disorder known as HTLV-associated myelopathy or tropical spastic paraparesis. One of the transmission means is through contaminated blood and its byproducts. Because of the risk of HTLV-associated infections, screening for HTLV was introduced for Brazilian blood donors in 1993. Most of the diagnostic kits used in the national blood banks are bought from foreign companies. Brazil does not have the technology to produce this material and there is a need to produce diagnostic systems with national technology. In this study, we show the expression of gp21/HTLV-1 in Escherichia coli and its reactivity towards monoclonal antibodies and the antibodies of infected patients. Expressing these proteins is the first step towards obtaining diagnostic kits with Brazilian biotechnology

HLA-G 14-bp Insertion/Deletion Polymorphism Is a Risk Factor for HTLV-1 Infection

About 95% of HTLV-1 infected patients remain asymptomatic throughout life, and the risk factors associated with the development of related diseases, such as HAM/TSP and ATL, are not fully understood. The human leukocyte antigen-G molecule (HLA-G), a nonclassical HLA class I molecule encoded by MHC, is expressed in several pathological conditions, including viral infection, and is related to immunosuppressive effects that allow the virus-infected cells to escape the antiviral defense of the host. The 14-bp insertion/deletion polymorphism of exon 8 HLA-G gene influences the stability of the transcripts and could be related to HTLV-1-infected cell protection and to the increase of proviral load. The present study analyzed by conventional PCR the 14-bp insertion/deletion polymorphism of exon 8 HLA-G gene in 150 unrelated healthy subjects, 82 HTLV-1 infected patients with symptoms (33 ATL and 49 HAM), and 56 asymptomatic HTLV-1 infected patients (HAC). In addition, the proviral load was determined by quantitative real-time PCR in all infected groups and correlated with 14-bp insertion/deletion genotypes. The heterozygote genotype frequencies were significantly higher in HAM, in the symptomatic group, and in infected patients compared to control (p < 0.05). The proviral load was higher in the symptomatic group than the HAC group (p < 0.0005). The comparison of proviral load and genotypes showed that -14-bp/-14-bp genotype had a higher proviral load than +14-bp/-14-bp and +14-bp/+14-bp genotypes. Although HLA-G 14-bp polymorphism does not appear to be associatedFundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)Centro de Terapia Celular da Fundacao Hemocentro de Ribeirao Preto (CTC/FUNDHERP)Instituto Nacional de Celulas Tronco e Terapia Celular (INCTC

New diagnostic criteria for neurocysticercosis: Reliability and validity

Made available in DSpace on 2019-09-12T16:53:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2016Programa Iberoamericano de Ciencia y Tecnologia para el Desarrollo (CYTED)Department of Health's NIHR Biomedical Research Centres funding schemeDr. Marvin Weil Epilepsy Research FundObjectiveThe diagnosis of neurocysticercosis (NCC) remains problematic because of the heterogeneity of its clinical, immunological, and imaging characteristics. Our aim was to develop and assess a new set of diagnostic criteria for NCC, which might allow for the accurate detection of, and differentiation between, parenchymal and extraparenchymal disease. MethodsA group of Latin American NCC experts developed by consensus a new set of diagnostic criteria for NCC. A multicenter, retrospective study was then conducted to validate it. The reference standard for diagnosis of active NCC was the disappearance or reduction of cysts after anthelmintic treatment. In total, three pairs of independent neurologists blinded to the diagnosis evaluated 93 cases (with NCC) and 93 controls (without NCC) using the new diagnostic criteria. Mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to estimate sensitivity and specificity. ResultsInter-rater reliability (kappa) of diagnosis among evaluators was 0.60. For diagnosis of NCC versus no NCC, the new criteria had a sensitivity of 93.2% and specificity of 81.4%. For parenchymal NCC, the new criteria had a sensitivity of 89.8% and specificity of 80.7% and for extraparenchymal NCC, the new criteria had a sensitivity of 65.9% and specificity of 94.9%. InterpretationThese criteria have acceptable reliability and validity and could be a new tool for clinicians and researchers. An advantage of the new criteria is that they consider parasite location (ie, parenchymal or extraparenchymal), which is an important factor determining the clinical, immunological, and radiological presentation of the disease, and importantly, its treatment and prognosis. Ann Neurol 2016;80:434-442[Fleury, Agnes] Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Invest Biomed, Insurgentes Sur 3877, Mexico City 14269, DF, Mexico[Carpio, Arturo; Romo, Matthew L.] Univ Cuenca, Fac Ciencias Med, Cuenca, Ecuador[Carpio, Arturo] Columbia Univ, GH Sergievsky Ctr, New York, NY USA[Fleury, Agnes; Cardenas, Graciela; San-Juan, Daniel] Secretaria Salud Mexico, Inst Nacl Neurol & Neurocirugia, Mexico City, DF, Mexico[Romo, Matthew L.] CUNY, Grad Sch Publ Hlth & Hlth Policy, New York, NY 10021 USA[Abraham, Ronaldo] Universidade de Taubaté (Unitau), Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil[Fandino, Jaime] FIRE, Fdn Ctr Colombiano Epilepsia & Enfermedade Neurol, Cartagena, Colombia[Duran, Juan C.] Hosp Clin, Unidad Neurol, La Paz, Bolivia[Moncayo, Jorge] Univ Int Ecuador, Escuela Med, Quito, Ecuador[Rodrigues, Cleonisio Leite] Hosp Geral, Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil[Serrano-Duenas, Marcos] Pontificia Univ Catolica Ecuador, Hosp Carlos Andrade Marin, Fac Med, Serv Neurol,IESS, Quito, Ecuador[Takayanagui, Oswaldo] Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Med, Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil[Sander, Josemir W.] UCL, Inst Neurol, NIHR Univ Coll London Hosp, Biomed Res Ctr, London, England[Sander, Josemir W.] SEIN, Heemstede, Netherland