Whole genomic sequencing as a tool for diagnosis of drug and multidrug-resistance tuberculosis in an endemic region in Mexico.

Background: Whole genome sequencing (WGS) has been proposed as a tool for diagnosing drug resistance in tuberculosis. However, reports of its effectiveness in endemic countries with important numbers of drug resistance are scarce. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of this procedure in isolates from a tuberculosis endemic region in Mexico.

Prime-boost BCG vaccination with DNA vaccines based in β-defensin-2 and mycobacterial antigens ESAT6 or Ag85B improve protection in a tuberculosis experimental model.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that there are about 8 million new cases annually of active Tuberculosis (TB). Despite its irregular effectiveness (0-89%), the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) BCG is the only vaccine available worldwide for prevention of TB; thus, the design is important of novel and more efficient vaccination strategies. Considering that β-defensin-2 is an antimicrobial peptide that induces dendritic cell maturation through the TLR-4 receptor and that both ESAT-6 and Ag85B are immunodominant mycobacterial antigens and efficient activators of the protective immune response, we constructed two DNA vaccines by the fusion of the gene encoding β-defensin-2 and antigens ESAT6 (pDE) and 85B (pDA).

Differential expression of antimicrobial peptides in active and latent tuberculosis and its relationship with diabetes mellitus.

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most important infectious diseases, causing 1.8 million deaths annually worldwide. This problem has increased because of the association with human immmunodeficiency virus and diabetes mellitus type 2, mainly in developing countries.

Susceptibility to infectious diseases based on antimicrobial peptide production.

In the last few years, the great impact of antimicrobial peptides on infectious disease susceptibility and natural resistance has been reported. In some cases, susceptibility to diseases is related to antimicrobial peptide polymorphisms and gene copy numbers, but for the vast majority of infectious diseases, these phenomena need to be elucidated. This review is focused on the current knowledge about susceptibility and resistance conferred by genetic variations in antimicrobial peptide expression in infectious diseases.

Genetic homogeneity of axenic isolates of Giardia intestinalis derived from acute and chronically infected individuals in Mexico.

Twenty-six axenic isolates of Giardia intestinalis, established in Mexico City over an 11-year period from symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals with acute or chronic infections, were typed genetically. A segment of the glutamate dehydrogenase gene was amplified by PCR and examined by restriction analysis using BspH1 and ApaI to determine the major genetic assemblages to which the isolates belonged. This was coupled with the amplification and analysis of segments of variant-specific surface protein genes to determine genetic subgroupings.