Comparable and sustained levels of S1-RBD-IgG and S1-RBD-IgA in BNT162b2 homologous and CoronaVac-BNT162b2 heterologous booster vaccination: A 22-month prospective study in Malaysia.

This prospective cohort study examines the long-term humoral immune responses post-COVID-19 vaccination in 146 individuals who received either a homologous three-dose BNT162b2 vaccine regimen (PPP) or two primary doses of CoronaVac followed by BNT162b2 booster (SSP) in Malaysia. The study focuses on serum anti-S1-RBD-IgG, -IgA, and -IgM, using the ELISA method. The results show that BNT162b2 outperformed CoronaVac in the two dose primary vaccination series.

Natural Gallic Acid and Methyl Gallate Induces Apoptosis in Hela Cells through Regulation of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Protein Expression.

Induction of apoptosis is one of the targeted approaches in cancer therapies. As previously reported, natural products can induce apoptosis in in vitro cancer treatments. However, the underlying mechanisms of cancer cell death are poorly understood.

Lower Formalin-Induced Pain Responses in Painless Diabetic Neuropathy Rat Correlate with the Reduced Spinal Cord NR2B Subunit of N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Activation.

Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is a late complication of diabetic mellitus and may rise into painful and painless variants. Limited studies have looked at nociceptive mechanisms of painless DN variant. The study aimed to determine phosphorylation and total NR2B subunit of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor in the spinal cord of painless DN rat during early phase following formalin injection.

Immunomodulatory Effects of Asiaticoside Against -Infected Macrophages.

Macrophages provide the first line of defense against infection in the gastrointestinal tract by inducing a variety of inflammatory and antimicrobial responses. Secondary metabolites of plants are used as drugs against infections that are resistant to common antibiotics. In this study, the innate effects of asiaticoside on the proinflammatory activity of mouse macrophages infected with were investigated.

Minocycline alleviates nociceptive response through modulating the expression of NR2B subunit of NMDA receptor in spinal cord of rat model of painful diabetic neuropathy.

Background: It has been reported that neuropathic pain can be overcome by targeting the NR2B subunit of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NR2B). This study aimed to investigate the effects of minocycline on phosphorylated and total expression of NR2B in the spinal cord of rats with diabetic neuropathic pain.

Methods: A total of 32 Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly assigned into four groups (n = 8); control healthy, control diabetic (PDN), and PDN rats that received 80 µg or 160 µg intrathecal minocycline respectively.

Ifenprodil Reduced Expression of Activated Microglia, BDNF and DREAM Proteins in the Spinal Cord Following Formalin Injection During the Early Stage of Painful Diabetic Neuropathy in Rats.

The pharmacological inhibition of glial activation is one of the new approaches for combating neuropathic pain in which the role of glia in the modulation of neuropathic pain has attracted significant interest and attention. Neuron-glial crosstalk is achieved with N-methyl-D-aspartate-2B receptor (NMDAR-2B) activation. This study aims to determine the effect of ifenprodil, a potent noncompetitive NMDAR-2B antagonist, on activated microglia, brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF) and downstream regulatory element antagonist modulator (DREAM) protein expression in the spinal cord of streptozotocin-induced painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) rats following formalin injection.

Immunomodulatory effects and structure-activity relationship of botanical pentacyclic triterpenes: A review.

Botanical pentacyclic triterpenes possessed a broad range of pharmacological activities such as anti-oxidant, anti-tumor, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory activities. It is believed that the mechanisms involved in these bioactivities are due to the modulation of immune system. Recently, the pharmacological validation on immunomodulatory of pentacyclic triterpenes derived from higher plants is very limited and several existence review papers related for this group of compound have not been focused for this activity.

The role of TLR-4 in the immunomodulatory effects of recombinant BCG expressing MSP-1C of Plasmodium falciparum.

Introduction: An earlier constructed recombinant BCG expressing the MSP-1C of Plasmodium falciparum, induced inflammatory responses leading to significant production of nitric oxide (NO) alongside higher expression of the enzyme inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and significant production of the regulatory cytokine, IL-10, indicating significant immunomodulatory effects of the construct. The mechanism of these responses had not been established but is thought to involve toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4).

Methodology: The present study was carried out to determine the role of TLR-4 on eliciting the immunomodulatory effects of recombinant BCG expressing MSP-1C of Plasmodium falciparum leading to the production of NO and IL-10, as well as the expression of iNOS.

Expressions of spinal microglia activation, BDNF, and DREAM proteins correlated with formalin-induced nociceptive responses in painful and painless diabetic neuropathy rats.

The complications of diabetic polyneuropathy (DN) determines its level of severity. It may occur with distinctive clinical symptoms (painful DN) or appears undetected (painless DN). This study aimed to investigate microglia activation and signalling molecules brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and downstream regulatory element antagonist modulator (DREAM) proteins in spinal cord of streptozotocin-induced diabetic neuropathy rats.

Epitope-based vaccine as a universal vaccination strategy against infection: A mini-review.

Despite the significant progress in the recent efforts toward developing an effective vaccine against toxoplasmosis, the search for new protective vaccination strategy still remains a challenge and elusive goal because it becomes the appropriate way to prevent the disease. Various experimental approaches in the past few years showed that developing a potential vaccine against the disease can be achievable. The combination of multi-epitopes expressing different stages of the parasite life cycle has become an optimal strategy for acquiring a potent, safe, and effective vaccine.

Minocycline attenuates the development of diabetic neuropathy by modulating DREAM and BDNF protein expression in rat spinal cord.

Aim: This study investigates the effects of minocycline (an inhibitor of microglial activation) administration on the expression level of spinal BDNF and DREAM proteins in diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) rats.

Methods: The rats were divided into four groups ( = 16): non-diabetic control, diabetic control and diabetic rats receiving minocycline (80 μg/day or 160 μg/day). The diabetic rat model was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg STZ).

Imbalanced oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory markers differentiate the development of diabetic neuropathy variants in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Purpose: Diabetic neuropathy is a prolonged symptom of diabetes mellitus that affect a number of diabetes mellitus patients. So far, the variants of diabetic neuropathy, either painful (PDN) or non-painful (or painless, non-PDN) response have distinctive clinical entities. This study aims to determine the effects of oxidative stress parameters and pro-inflammatory factors at spinal cord level of streptozotocin-induced diabetic neuropathy rat model.

Increased Nociceptive Responses in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats and the Related Expression of Spinal NR2B Subunit of -Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptors.

Background: This study investigated the role of NR2B in a modulated pain process in the painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) rat using various pain stimuli.

Methods: Thirty-two Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly allocated into four groups (=8): control, diabetes mellitus (DM) rats and diabetic rats treated with ifenprodil at a lower dose (0.5 μg/day) (I 0.

Apoptosis Activity of the Mouse Macrophage Cell Line J774A.1 Infected with a Recombinant BCG consisting the C-Terminus of Merozoite Surface Protein-1 of .

Macrophage apoptosis exerts an efficient mechanism in controlling intracellular infection during innate immune response against various pathogens including malaria parasites. This study was carried out to determine the apoptosis activity in mouse macrophage cell line J774A.1 infected with a bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) clone and a recombinant BCG clone expressing the C-terminus of merozoite surface protein-1 (BCG-MSP1C) of for 48 h.

Immunogenicity of Multiepitope Vaccine Candidate against Infection in BALB/c Mice.

Background: is a widely prevalent intracellular protozoan parasite which causes serious clinical and veterinary problems. Development of an effective vaccine for controlling toxoplasmosis is an extremely important aim. In the present study, the protective efficacy of recombinant multiepitope antigen (USM.

An evaluation of a recombinant multiepitope based antigen for detection of Toxoplasma gondii specific antibodies.

Background: The inefficiency of the current tachyzoite antigen-based serological assays for the serodiagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii infection mandates the need for acquirement of reliable and standard diagnostic reagents. Recently, epitope-based antigens have emerged as an alternative diagnostic marker for the achievement of highly sensitive and specific capture antigens. In this study, the diagnostic utility of a recombinant multiepitope antigen (USM.

Reduced nitric oxide-mediated relaxation and endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression in the tail arteries of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Diabetes is associated with endothelial dysfunction, which is characterized by impaired endothelium-dependent relaxations. The present study aimed to examine the role of nitric oxide (NO), prostacyclin and endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization (EDH), in the relaxation of ventral tail arteries of rats under diabetic conditions. Relaxations of tail arteries of control and diabetic rats were studied in wire myograph.

Endothelium dependent hyperpolarization-type relaxation compensates for attenuated nitric oxide-mediated responses in subcutaneous arteries of diabetic patients.

Diabetes impairs endothelium-dependent relaxations. The present study evaluated the contribution of different endothelium-dependent relaxing mechanisms to the regulation of vascular tone in subcutaneous blood vessels of humans with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Subcutaneous arteries were isolated from tissues of healthy controls and diabetics.

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori cagA, babA2, and dupA genotypes and correlation with clinical outcome in Malaysian patients with dyspepsia.

Background/aim: The severity of disease outcome in dyspepsia has been attributed to Helicobacter pylori virulence genes. The aim of this study was to determine the distribution of H. pylori virulence genes (cagA, babA2, and dupA) and to determine whether or not there arises a significant correlation with clinical dyspepsia outcomes.

Design and evaluation of a recombinant multi-epitope antigen for serodiagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii infection in humans.

Background: Serological investigation remains the primary approach to achieve satisfactory results in Toxoplasma gondii identification. However, the accuracy of the native antigen used in the current diagnostic kits has proven to be insufficient as well as difficult to standardize, so significant efforts have been made to find alternative reagents as capture antigens. Consequently, multi-epitope peptides are promising diagnostic markers, with the potential for improving the accuracy of diagnostic kits.

Immunomodulatory effects of recombinant BCG expressing MSP-1C of Plasmodium falciparum on LPS- or LPS+IFN-γ-stimulated J774A.1 cells.

Macrophage phagocytosis is the first line of defense of the innate immune system against malaria parasite infection. This study evaluated the immunomodulatory effects of BCG and recombinant BCG (rBCG) strains expressing the C-terminus of the merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP-1C) of Plasmodium falciparum on mouse macrophage cell line J774A.1 in the presence or absence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or LPS + IFN-γ.

Evaluation of the Atlas Helicobacter pylori stool antigen test for diagnosis of infection in adult patients.

Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is one of the most important causes of dyspepsia and gastric cancer and diagnosis can be made by invasive or non-invasive methods. The Atlas Helicobacter pylori antigen test is a new rapid non-invasive method which is simple to conduct.

Induction of an Antibody Response against Plasmodium falciparum F2RIIEBA by Heterologous Prime-boost Immunisation.

Heterologous prime-boost immunisation strategies can evoke powerful antibody responses and may be of value in developing an improved malaria vaccine. Herein, we show that an immunisation protocol that primes Balb/c mice with a recombinant Bacille Calmette-Guérin (rBCG) vaccine consisting of a plasmid encoding a synthetic fragment of the ESAT-6 epitope of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the fragment 2 region II of erythrocyte-binding antigen (F2RIIEBA) and the three repeat sequences of the circumsporozoite protein (NANP)3 of Plasmodium falciparum before subsequently boosting the mice with either two doses of the rBCG clone or with a DNA vaccine expressing the native form of F2RIIEBA generating higher serum anti-F2RIIEBA antibody levels than an immunisation protocol that calls for a homologous prime-boost with two doses of rBCG. These results demonstrate the potential of DNA vaccination in boosting the antibody response to a recombinant vaccine expressing multiple epitopes.

Reduced expression of prostacyclin synthase and nitric oxide synthase in subcutaneous arteries of type 2 diabetic patients.

Diabetic endothelial dysfunction is characterized by impaired endothelium-dependent relaxation. In this study, we measured the expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), prostacyclin synthase (PGIS), and prostacyclin receptor (IP) in subcutaneous arteries of type-2 diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Subcutaneous arteries were dissected from tissues from seven diabetics (4 males and 3 females) and seven non-diabetics (5 males and 2 females) aged between 18 to 65 years, who underwent lower limb surgical procedures.