Current approaches to deveolop a live vaccine against Leishmani major

Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease that is endemic in 88 countries. Most of the patients after recovery from the infection develop a long-lived natural immunity against re-infection. Reactivation of leishmaniasis subsequent to suppression of the immune system due to HIV infection or administration of systemic immunosuppressive drugs, underscores the importance of developing new drugs and effective vaccine. Despite the many efforts that have been done, there is still no effective vaccine. Up to now, many candidate vaccines from three generations of the vaccine, including Live/killed vaccines, subunit vaccines, and DNA vaccines have been developed and studied. However the sophisticated vaccines, such as prime-boost DNA vaccines are introduced, the best results are obtained from live vaccines. As safety is the most important obstacle to the use of live vaccines, many different approaches have been used to enhance the safety of live vaccine candidates. In this short review, these approaches are summarized

YKL-40 gene expression and plasma levels of CD30 are not affected by isoflurane or propofol: pilot study

Background: It has been hypothesized that the body's response to anesthesia techniques can increase risk of cancer recurrence and metastatic disease after surgery and also can modulate immune responses. Some acute inflammatory markers have been measured to survey the immunomodulatory effect of anesthesia, but in this research, we studied the plasma level of CD30 and YKL-40 gene expression which can present major changes of the immune system

Materials and Methods: Our study was a controlled before and after study. 34 women with biopsy-proven breast cancer were randomized to receive either propofol general anesthesia [n=17] or standard isoflurane general anesthesia [n=17]. There were no significant differences between the two patient groups in age, body weight, and height, length of general anesthesia, operative time and group of surgery. The blood samples were collected in two different sets, before anesthesia and 72-h postoperatively. Soluble CD30 [sCD30] plasma level was measured by ELISA and YKL-40/CHI3L1 gene expression was evaluated by real-time-PCR

Results: The results showed that the anesthetics, propofol and isoflurane, have no effect on the expression of YKL-40. Despite increased in the expression of YKL-40 that was observed in patients receiving isoflurane, this increase was not statistically significant. There was no significant increase or decrease in plasma concentrations of sCD30

Conclusion: YKL-40 and sCD30 are not affected by isoflurane or propofol. So, in immunological perspective, there is no preference in use of isoflurane or propofol in breast cancer patients

Application of multiplex PCR for detection and differentiation of entamoeba histolytica, entamoeba dispar and entamoeba moshkovskii

Entamoeba moshkovskii and E. dispar are impossible to differentiate microscopically from the pathogenic species E. histolytica. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction [Multiplex PCR] is a widespread molecular biology technique for amplification of multiple targets in a single PCR experiment. For detection and differentiation of the three-microscopy indistinguishable Entamoeba species in human, multiplex PCR assay using different DNA extraction methods was studied. A conserved forward primer was derived from the middle of the small-subunit rRNA gene, and reverse primers were designed from signature sequences specific to each of these three Entamoeba species. A 166-bp PCR product with E. histolytica DNA, a 580-bp product with E. moshkovskii DNA and a 752-bp product with E. dispar DNA were generated in a single-round and multiplex PCR reaction. We recommend this PCR assay as an accurate, rapid, and effective diagnostic method for the detection and discrimination of these three Entamoeba species in both routine diagnosis of amoebiasis and epidemiological surveys

Cloning and expression of Leishmania major superoxide dismutase B1: a potential target antigen for serodiagnosis of Leishmaniasis

Leishmaniasis- a neglected public health problem- is a group of diseases affecting an estimated 12 million people worldwide. In the present study, recombinant Leishmania major superoxide dismutase B1 [rLmSODB1] has been utilized as a potential antigen for the serodiagnosis of human cutaneous [CL] and visceral leishmaniasis [VL] in the endemic regions of southern part of Iran. Additionally, the sensitivity and specificity of ELISA-based serodiagnosis using rLmSODB1 and the soluble Leishmania antigen [SLA] were compared. For the first time, rLmSODB1 has been cloned successfully and used for ELISA-based serodiagnosis. Sera from 30 CL and 24 VL cases were included in this study. Additional studies were also done for the evaluation of cross-reactivity using sera from 41 endemic controls including normal endemic donors [n= 20], systemic lupus erythematosus patients [n=5], rheumatoid arthritis patients [n= 5], and patients with tuberculosis [n=11]. Analysis indicated that rLmSODB1 was recognized by62.5% and 13.3% of sera from patients with VL and CL, showing a sensitivity of 72.7% and 53.6%, respectively. However 95.8% of VL and 30% of CL sera reacted with SLA, revealing sensitivities of 96% and 58.8%, respectively. Additionally, from 41 sera collected either from healthy subjects or patients affected with other diseases, 97.5% were negative with SLA or rLmSODB1 [specificity 97.6%]. These results show that rLmSODB1 almost does not react with sera from patients with tuberculosis and autoimmune diseases and may be considered as a candidate antigen for the specific immunodiagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis