Major Depressive Disorder and Pulmonary Tuberculosis Comorbidity Exacerbates Proinflammatory Immune Response-A Preliminary Study.

Background: Major depressive disorders (MDDs) occurs frequently in patients with tuberculosis (TB). Elevated serum pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in MDD patients is a well-established fact. Therefore, an integrated clinical practice should be considered.

Thiamine pyrophosphate diminishes nitric oxide synthesis in endothelial cells.

Although thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) is considered a protective agent for endothelial cells, it is still unknown if this is associated with nitric oxide (NO) synthesis. Our aim was to evaluate the synthesis of NO in endothelial cells incubated with TPP and high glucose concentrations. Endothelial cells from the umbilical cord vein from newborns (n = 20), were incubated with 5, 15 or 30 mmol/L glucose, in absence or presence of 0.

CD3ICOS T cells show differences in the synthesis of nitric oxide, IFN-γ, and IL-10 in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis or in healthy household contacts.

Evidence indicates that more than 90 % of infected individuals never develop active tuberculosis. This fact highlights the relevance of the immune response in tuberculosis control. The inducible co-stimulator (ICOS) is a regulator of the function, differentiation, proliferation, and activation of T cells.

Effect of Histoplasma capsulatum glucans on host innate immunity.

β-1,3-Glucan is important for infective forms (mycelial phase) of Histoplasma capsulatum and shares many features allotted to pathogen-associated molecular patterns. These cell wall carbohydrates interact with phagocytes by binding to Toll and lectin-like receptors, present on cell surfaces of macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells. This review focuses on recent findings of the major H.

O-glycosylation of NnTreg lymphocytes recognized by the Amaranthus leucocarpus lectin.

O-glycosidically-linked glycans have been involved in development, maturation, homing, and immune regulation in T cells. Previous reports indicate that Amaranthus leucocarpus lectin (ALL), specific for glycans containing galactose-N-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylgalactosamine, recognizes human naïve CD27(+)CD25(+)CD4(+) T cells. Our aim was to evaluate the phenotype of CD4(+) T cells recognized by ALL in peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from healthy volunteers.

High mortality associated with hyperglycemia, neutrophilia, and lymphopenia in critically ill patients.

A common finding in patients admitted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is hyperglycemia without prior history of diabetes. This increase in blood glucose is considered a negative prognostic factor for patients in the ICU. Hence, we performed a retrospective cohort study in patients admitted at the ICU of the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER) in a 7-month period; we collected data about their blood glucose concentration during their stay at the ICU.

The interaction between Histoplasma capsulatum cell wall carbohydrates and host components: relevance in the immunomodulatory role of histoplasmosis.

Histoplasma capsulatum is an intracellular fungal pathogen that causes respiratory and systemic disease by proliferating within phagocytic cells. The binding of H. capsulatum to phagocytes may be mediated by the pathogen's cell wall carbohydrates, glucans, which consist of glucose homo and hetero-polymers and whose glycosydic linkage types differ between the yeast and mycelial phases.

Incubation with DNase I inhibits tumor cell proliferation.

Background: Deoxyribonuclease I (DNase-I) plays an important role in the elimination of damaged-, aging- or cancer cells. Various authors suggest that programmed cell death (PCD) is attenuated in cancer cells due to a reduced activity of DNase-I.

Material And Methods: In this work, we evaluated cell viability (violet crystal stain), cell proliferation (tritiated thymidine) and DNA degradation of tumoral cells (Calu-1, SK-MES-1, HeLa, HEp-2, L-929) incubated with different concentrations of DNase I.

Effect of Bifidobacterium bifidum DSM 20082 cytoplasmic fraction on human immune cells.

The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of the soluble cytoplasmic fraction from Bifidobacterium bifidum DSM 20082 (Bb) lysate on peripheral blood T cells. In peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy subjects, cytotoxic activity, proliferation, apoptosis, and up-regulation of CD8 or CD4 molecules in T cells were examined. When peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated with Bb lysate, the main effect was observed in CD8+ cells as a significant increase of CD8 molecules in a dose-dependent manner, and this behavior was observed at 24, 48, and 72 h after stimulation; in contrast, stimulation with Bb lysate showed no effect on the up-regulation of CD4 molecules in T helper cells.

Increased expression of CD30 and CD57 molecules on CD4(+) T cells from children with atopic asthma: a preliminary report.

T helper type 2 (Th2) cells play an important role in the onset and persistence of allergic airway inflammation. Consequently, many authors have attempted to identify cell surface markers associated with a Th2 phenotype. This work was aimed at correlating CD30 and CD57 expression on CD4(+) T cells with interleukin (IL)-4 production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from allergic patients.

Hypertriglyceridemia is linked to reduced nitric oxide synthesis in women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), which affect 8% to 15% of pregnancies, are associated with nitric oxide dysfunction and hyperlipidemia, but their precise role in HDP remains controversial. In order to gain more insight into the mechanisms underlying HDP, we evaluated some indicators common to the diseases associated with endothelial dysfunction.

Methods: Plasma samples were obtained from 47 normotensive women (control group) and from 27 women with HDP (experimental group).

Purification of the receptor for the N-acetyl-D-glucosamine specific adhesin of Mannheimia haemolytica from bovine neutrophils.

The GlcNAc-specific adhesin from Mannheimia haemolytica (MhA) has been shown to participate in pathogenicity of mannheimiosis due to its capacity to adhere to tracheal epithelial cells and activate the oxidative burst of bovine neutrophils. In this work, we purified the MhA receptor from bovine neutrophils (MhAr) by affinity chromatography on MhA-Sepharose. The MhAr, which corresponded to approximately 2% of the protein from cell lysate, is a glycoprotein mainly composed of Glu, Ala, Ser, Gly, and Asp, without cysteine.

Differential O-glycosylation in cortical and medullary thymocytes.

Differentiation of T lymphocytes is characterized by variable expression of CD8/CD4 co-receptor molecules and changes in the glycosylation pattern. In this work, O-glycosylation was analyzed in microsomes from murine thymocytes purified with the PNA and Amaranthus leucocarpus (ALL) lectins, specific for the T antigen (Gal beta1,3GalNAc1,0 Ser/Thr) in cortical and medullary thymocytes, respectively. Three peptides were used as acceptors for UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine: polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyl-transferase (GalNAc transferase); the peptide motif TTSAPTTS was the best glycosylated one.

Intracellular expression of interleukin-4 and interferon-gamma by a Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen-stimulated CD4+ CD57+ T-cell subpopulation with memory phenotype in tuberculosis patients.

In some chronic pathological conditions, antigen persistence activates and expands the CD4+ CD57+ T-cell subset. The host immune response against tuberculosis infection is maintained through the continuous presence of antigen-stimulated effector/memory helper T cells. To determine whether CD4+ CD57+ T cells were also expanded in human tuberculosis, we analysed (by flow cytometry) the phenotype of peripheral blood CD4+ T cells from 30 tuberculosis patients and 30 healthy controls.

Comparative analysis of mononuclear cell surface markers in atopic processes--a preliminary study.

Atopic disorders are driven by the Th2 cell subset. We have determined the expression of costimulatory molecules and cell surface markers on peripheral CD4+ T cells and antigen presenting cells, in different atopic diseases, and we have also tried to correlate the expression of these markers with the severity of the disease. Cells from patients with atopic and contact dermatitis, mild or severe asthma, and symptomatic and non-symptomatic atopic rhinitis were analyzed by flow cytometry.