Serine protease inhibitor, serpin, is a biomarker following Schistosoma mansoni re-infection in mice

@#Schistosomiasis is a chronic parasitic disease affecting mostly low income and resourcelimited countries. Despite the distribution of the curative medicine, praziquantel (PZQ), the frequency of re-infection is commonly reported, thus, making a difficulty to discriminate treatment failure after re-infection. Therefore, assessing Schistosoma mansoni re-infection after praziquantel administration is crucial to prove the treatment efficacy and to break the transmission of infection in endemic areas. The evolution of highly sensitive and specific diagnostic markers, reliable to detect the re-infection and to evaluate the treatment efficacy, is required to control schistosomiasis. In this study, the potential role of serpin recombinant antigen of S. mansoni as a biomarker of re-infection and chemotherapeutic efficacy has been assessed. Therefore, 20 mice were experimentally challenged and re-challenged with 50 S. mansoni cercariae and divided into 4 equal groups; the first included infected mice (control positive), the second group was twice infected with S. mansoni and left untreated, the third included mice twice infected then treated with praziquantel following the last challenge, and the forth one remained uninfected and untreated (control negative). The current findings demonstrated that high levels of IgG and IgG1 bound to serpin were detected following the re-infection and rapidly declined post treatment. In summary, S. mansoni recombinant serpin could be used as a promising marker to discriminate S. mansoni re-infection and evaluated the efficacy of treatment. The translation of such a potential tool in endemic areas will provide a significant support for the elimination and control programs against schistosomiasis.

Metastatic carcinoma in cervical lymph nodes

The objective of this study is the correlation between the different groups of cervical lymph nodes and the primary tumours above the clavicles. Cervical lymph node metastases as the only site of disease is an uncommon presentation of squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of unknown primary origin. This retrospective analysis examines the records of 166 consecutive patients at King Hussein Medical Centre diagnosed between 1986 - 1992. All patients presented very late with large neck lymph nodes of more than 4-8 cm in diameter. The diagnostic protocol employed and the results of radical treatment are evaluated. Sixty seven patients received radiation therapy with intent to cure and 99 patients received radiation with intent to palliate. The overall survival for all patients at 2 years was 19%, and at 5 years, 6 patients [3.6%]. The most frequently affected nodes were the jugulodigastric, mid jugular, submandibular and cervical unilateral, contralateral or bilateral. The most common histologies were squamous cell carcinoma, adneocarcinoma and anaplastic carcinoma. Disease control above the clavicles was not achieved despite radical treatment. Lymphomas and leukaemias were excluded from this study