Effect of hepatitis C virus on C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 in hemodialysis patients

Patients with end-stage renal disease are at a high risk of hepatitis C virus [HCV] infections. These patients are on maintenance hemodialysis where they are exposed to dialysis fluid and dialysis membrane that generate an acute-phase response, which leads to inflammation, reflected in increased inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein [CRP] and interleukin-6 [IL-6]. The aim of this study was to investigate levels of IL-6 and CRP in patients on hemodialysis and to determine effects of HCV on these markers. A total of 43 patients [39.5% men and 60.5% women; age range, 21 to 65 years] on maintenance hemodialysis for a period of at least 3 months were included. Twenty-four of them were HCV positive. Serum IL-6 and CRP were assessed in all patients. Of HCV-positive patients, 11 [45.8%] had high levels of CRP, while 13 [54.2%] had low levels and increased levels of IL-6 [1064 +/- 544.2 pg/mL, P=.19]. Of 19 HCV-negative patients, 13 [68.4%] had high levels of CRP, while 6 [31.6%] had low levels, and all these patients had low levels of IL-6, as compared to HCVpositive patients. No significant correlation was observed between the levels of CRP or IL-6 and the duration of dialysis. In our study, we found high serum IL-6 and CRP levels in HCV-positive hemodialysis patients, compared with HCVnegative ones. However, we failed to show the significance of these differences. More studies with large sample sizes and evaluation of the other inflammatory markers are warranted

Evaluation of four ELISA based immunoassays for the detection of IgM antibodies against dengue virus

Dengue fever is a problem of serious concern which is mainly transmitted by mosquito, Aedes aegypti. These days' different ELISA kits are used for the diagnosis of dengue fever. It was a validation study. Study was conducted in the Department of Immunology at University of Health Sciences, Lahore during the period of August 2009 to October 2009. In this study four ELISA kits [Human, Nova Tech, Vircell and DRG] were used to determine IgM antibodies against dengue fever in forty four patients who were labelled positive for dengue fever by different commercially available ELISA kits. Human ELISA kit gave most accurate results with respect to the agreement, sensitivity, specificity and K value. Human ELISA kit was found most reliable for the diagnosis of dengue fever