Severity of Coronavirus Disease 19: A Profile of Inflammatory Markers in Iraqi Patients

@#Introduction: Accumulating evidence indicates that inflammatory responses play a major role in the development and/or severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Therefore, a retrospective, cross-sectional study was performed to provide an inflammatory profile in COVID-19. Methods: The study included 139 patients infected with COVID-19, who were admitted to inpatient wards and intensive care units in Baghdad Teaching Hospital. There were 105 patients suffering from non-severe illness and 34 patients had severe disease. This study simultaneously evaluated six peripheral blood markers of inflammation to determine their predictive value in COVID-19 severity. These were C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), ferritin, D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). Results: The medians of age, CRP, ESR, ferritin, D-dimer and NLR were significantly elevated in severe cases of COVID-19 compared to non-severe cases. The LDH also tended to have increased levels in severe cases but the difference was not significant compared to non-severe cases. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that D-dimer was the most significant risk factor, followed by NLR, ferritin and CRP. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis identified that the best cut-off values of CRP, ESR, ferritin, D-dimer, LDH and NLR for predicting severity in COVID-19 patients were 22.7 mg/L, 59.5 mm/h, 719.4 ng/mL, 367.5 ng/mL, 468.5 U/L and 12.9, respectively. Conclusion: Age and the inflammatory markers CRP, ESR, ferritin, D-dimer, and NLR showed higher medians in severe cases of COVID-19 compared to non-severe cases. In this context, D-dimer and NLR are suggested to be important predictive markers of severe disease.

Modulating heat shock proteins 70 and 90 expression by low power laser irradiation [635nm and 780nm] in jurkat E6.1 T-lymphocyte leukemia cell line

Heat shock proteins [HSPs] are molecular chaperones involved in protein folding, stability and turnover, and due to their role in cancer progression, the effect of low power laser irradiation [LPLI] on the expression of HSP70 and HSP90 in Jurkat E6.1 T-lymphocyte leukemia [JELT] cell line was investigated in vitro. JETL cells were irradiated with LPLI at 635nm and 780m wavelengths [energy density 9.174 J/cm[2], and assessed for the expression of HSP70 and HSP90 by flow cytometry after 24, 48 and 72 incubation time periods [ITPs]. At 24 hours ITP post-irradiation, control cultures showed that 10.7% of cells expressed HSP70, while LPLI cultures at 635nm and 780nm manifested a higher expression [32.1and 21.3%, respectively], and the difference was significant [P

Assessment of Urinary Tract Infection and Cytokine (IL-2, IL-4 and IL-17A) Serum Levels in Iraqi Samples of Systemic Autoimmune Diseases (Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus) Patients

Aetiopathogenetic mechanisms that lead to autoimmune diseases are complex, but Urinary tract infection (UTI) and cytokines have been suggested to mediate important effects. Methods: UTI and serum levels of three cytokines (IL-2, IL-4 and IL-17A) were assessed in 98 rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 33 ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and 20 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) Iraqi patients, as well as 45 controls. Results: Out of 151 systemic autoimmunity patients, 23.8% were observed to have UTI, and such frequency was approximated in RA, AS and SLE (23.5, 27.3 and 20.0%, respectively), while in controls, it was 11.1%. Two pathogens were identified as a cause of UTI; E. coli and Proteus spp. In total patients, E. coli was present as a single causative pathogen in 10.6%, while for Proteus spp. it was 8.6%, in addition to 4.6% of mixed infection. The corresponding frequencies were 10.2, 8.2 and 5.1% in RA, 15.2, 6.1 and 6.1% in AS, 5.0, 15.0 and 0.0 in SLE and 8.9, 0.0 and 2.2% in controls, respectively. IL-2 was significantly increased in total patients (21.68 vs. 9.66 pg/ml), as well as RA, AS and SLE (25.10, 24.06 and 14.16 pg/ml, respectively) compared to controls. A similar increase was observed in UTI+ve versus UTI-ve cases in total patients, AS and SLE, but not RA or controls. Such differences were less clear in IL-4, while IL-17A showed no significant variations. Conclusion: UTI represents an important clinical complication in systemic autoimmunity and IL-2 also has its role in the pathogenesis.

HLA antigens and inflammatory bowel disease in a sample of Iraqi patients

This study investigated the association between HLA antigens and inflammatory bowel disease in 65 Iraqi patients [50 ulcerative colitis, 15 Crohn disease] compared with 67 matched controls. At HLA class I region, the patients showed significantly increased frequencies of A9 and B41 and a decrease of A11. Similar results were found when the clinical types were considered separately, except for A11, which was not significant. At HLA class II region, DR8 was significantly increased in the total patients, but the association was not maintained for ulcerative colitis or Crohn disease patients; instead Crohn disease was positively associated with DQ1. Comparing the clinical types revealed a significant difference in the antigen B16, suggesting that B16 is a differentiating marker in the disease

Some immunological evaluations of propolis in albino male mice

Propolis is a complex resinous bee product that has a wide range of biological activities. In the present investigation, two oral doses [10 and 20 mg/kg/day] of propolis [ethanol extract] were evaluated immunologically in albino male mice [80 animals] through three types of experiments. In the first, the propolis was tested alone, while in the second and third experiments, propolis was given before and after the immune suppressive drug MMC [pre- and post treatments, respectively]. The three experiments were paralleled with three negative controls, in which the propolis was replaced with distilled water. In the first experiment, the dose 10 mg/kg of propolis enhanced the parameters investigated, and a significant increase was observed in the total count of leucocytes [10.7 vs. 7.8 x 103 cells/cu. mm. blood], lymphocytes [7.0 vs. 5.3 x 103 cells/cu.mm.blood], neutrophils [2.9 vs. 2.1 x 103 cells/cu.mm.blood], monocytes [0.5 vs. 0.3 x 103 cells/cu.mm.blood] and eosinophils [0.3 vs. 0.1 x 103 cells/cu.mm. blood], PI [15.2 vs. 10.8%], PFC [72 vs. 38%], AR [0.84 vs. 0.57 mm] and DTH [0.68 vs. 0.40] as compared to negative controls. Much more enhancements were observed in the dose 20 mg/kg. In the second and third experiments, a similar picture was drawn in the interaction of propolis [pre- and post-treatments] with MMC, in which the propolis extract was able to modulate the immune suppressive effect of MMC, and this was dependent on the type of treatment and dose, and again, the dose 20 mg/kg was more effective in this respect

HLA antigens among Iraqi muslims Arabs and Kurds

The HLA system is a relevant tool in population genetics analysis. From the genetic point of view, the HLA system is of general interest because of the extreme polymorphism of all known HLA loci. The aiiele and haplotype frequencies have a wide diversity among human population and differ in geographically and racially among populations. Iraq had a high percentage of Muslims people that distributed in two groups [Arab and Kurd], These groups are ancient populations and affected by many settlement in many centuries ago. These ancient settlements had left marks on the genetic structure of the modern Iraqi populations. The later immigrations to other countries were high in later years. The aim of study is to estimate the gene frequency of HLA class i [A, B, Cw] alleies in Iraqi Arab Muslims and Kurd Muslims and determine the genetic differences between them. A total of unrelated 1400 Iraqi Arab Muslims [AM] and 705 Kurd Muslims [KM] healthy volunteers and individuals referred to Immunology and Tissue Typing Center in Al-Karamah Teaching Hospital for organ transplantation and Forensic medicine, were examined for HLA polymorphism using complement dependent cytotoxicity test from June-2003 to April-2004. The phenotypes of HLA typing of Iraqi Arab Muslims [AM] and Kurd Muslims [KM] were in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Regarding HLA class I [A and Cw loci], there was a significant differences between these groups. Lasly, there was no significant difference between them inHLA-B. This may be due to their inhabitants different area in Iraq, and also due to their different origin as Arab and Kurd races with mild differences due to outbreedmg and migration The effects of invaders and settlements from out side the country and intermixing with them may play an important role in these differences

HLA antigens of Arab Christians in Iraq

Iraq had more than twenty-four millions inhabitants of populations. This nation is one of the most populated countries in the world.it is difficult to define Iraqi populations genetically [HLA polymorphism] because they are structured of a mixture of many groups. [HLA phenotype frequencies that encoded by many closely. linked genes that are responsible for a variety of cell surface alloantigen proteins that are responsible for differences in different ethnic groups. .Arab Christians in Iraq. accounting for more than .three millions inhabitant mostly the northwest and other yurts of Iraq. This raised the need for a preliminary study of the HLA trend in this population. 1- Estimating the gene frequency of HLA class I [A. B. C w] and class 11 [DR and DQ] alleles in Iraqi Arab Christians. 2-Assessing the genetic relationship between Iraqi .Arab Christians and other Arabian, Asian and European populations. A total of underrated 568 Iraqi Arab Christians [AC] healthy volunteers and individuals referred to Immunology and. Tissue Typing Center in Al Karamah Teaching Hospital for organ transplantation and Forensic medicine were examined for HLA polymorphism using complement dependent cytotoxicity test from June-2003 to .April-2004 The phenotypes of all loci [AC]] were in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium In case of. HLA-A locus. three variants dominate this locus A1 [0.123], A2 /[0.149] and .A3[0.134] which showed some similarities with Arabian .Asian and European people in the world. A3 had been found to be associated with Hereditary Hemochromatosis HHI but the risk increased when there is linkage disequilibrium between A3 B14. Fortunately B14 allele had a low frequency. In this group and common allele was B35 [0.154], and B5 [0.128] which had an association with Behcet's syndrome. So one can predict high incidence of this disease in this group of populntioin. Last locus was studied in class I was Cw4 that had a higher rate [0.173] in HLA Cw loci. In case of class II, it was done on small number of persons and the common allele was DR2 [53.84%] which is protective from insulin dependent diabetes mellitus disease while DQ1 is common allele in HLA-DQ loci. HLA typing of [AC] had some similarity with Arabian people because of their same ancestry and also had some similarly with Caucasoid Europeans because of outbreeding and intermixing with those populations due to migration

Distribution of HLA antigens in two Arab populations in Iraq

Background: HLA is the mast highly polymorphic gene system in the human body and hence in the population, whether they are ethmic [Caucasoid, Orientals and Negros] or their religions [Muslims, Christians and Jewish]. This extensive polymorphism of HLA genes therefore make it very unlikely that two random individuals will express identical set of HLA molecules. Iraq is one of the countries that had many ethmic group like Arab Muslims and Arab Christians who lived many provinces. HLA study of these two groups was important for determining the heterogeneity in Iraqi people

Aim of Study: estimating the gene frequency of HLA class I [A. B, Cw] alleles in Iraqi Arab Muslims and Arab Christians and determine the genetic differences between them

Materials and Methods: a total of unrelated 1400 Iraqi Arab Muslims [AN and 568 Arab Christians [AC] healthy volunteers and individuals referred to Immunology and Tissue Typing Center in Al-Karamah Teaching Hospital for organ transplantation and Forensic medicine] were examined for HLA polymorphism using complement dependent cytotoxicity test from June-2003 to April-2004

Results and conclusions: the phenotypes of HLA typing of Iraqi Arab Muslins [AND Arab Christians [AC] were in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Regarding HLA class I [A and B loci], there was no significant differences between these groups. Lastly, there was a significant difference between them in HLA-Cw. This may be due to their inhabitants the same area in Iraq, and due to their sane origin as Arab race with mild differences due to outbreeding and migration. The effects of invaders and settlements from outside the country and intermixing with hen may play an important role in these differences