Effects of orally administered fumonisin B₁ (FB₁), partially hydrolysed FB₁, hydrolysed FB₁ and N-(1-deoxy-D-fructos-1-yl) FB₁ on the sphingolipid metabolism in rats.

Fumonisin B1 (FB1) is a Fusarium mycotoxin frequently occurring in maize-based food and feed. Alkaline processing like nixtamalisation of maize generates partially and fully hydrolysed FB1 (pHFB1 and HFB1) and thermal treatment in the presence of reducing sugars leads to formation of N-(1-deoxy-D-fructos-1-yl) fumonisin B1 (NDF). The toxicity of these metabolites, in particular their effect on the sphingolipid metabolism, is either unknown or discussed controversially.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) sulfonates as major DON metabolites in rats: from identification to biomarker method development, validation and application.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a trichothecene mycotoxin regularly occurring in cereals. Rats are often used to study toxicokinetics of DON and related compounds, yet only about 30 % of the administered dose is typically recovered. Recently, it was reported that DON is partly metabolised to previously undetected DON- and deepoxy-DON (DOM) sulfonate in rats and tentative structures were proposed.

Characterization of three deoxynivalenol sulfonates formed by reaction of deoxynivalenol with sulfur reagents.

Reduction of the Fusarium mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) in animal feed by treatment with sodium bisulfite and sodium metabisulfite has been successfully demonstrated in several studies. All of them reported formation of one DON sulfonate of strongly reduced toxicity compared to DON. The starting point of the present work was investigation of different sulfur reagents for reduction of DON.

Toll-like receptor 3 is involved in airway epithelial cell response to nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae.

Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is the etiological agent most frequently associated with bacterial exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The present work shows that NTHi strains induced in primary normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NHBE) a cytokine/chemokine response in which CCL-5 and CXCL-10 were predominant. Production of both cytokines was inhibited by an anti-TLR3 monoclonal antibody (mAb) in a dose-dependent manner, but not by control human IgG4 antibodies, thus suggesting a TLR3-dependency of the NTHi stimulation.

Cell-mediated immunity in cervical cancer evolution.

Cell-mediated immunity (CMI) response to different antigens was examined in healthy women, in patients with cervical precancerous lesions, and in patients with cervical cancer. Cervical lesions were diagnosed by cytological (PAP) smears, from examination by colposcopy, and from "punch" biopsy material by histology. CMI response is related to specific processes in healthy and cancer cells.