Protease inhibitor variants in healthy children and those with hepatitis

A study to assess the serum concentration and phenotypes of alpha-1 antitrypsin was conducted on 119 healthy school children and 28 children suffering from acute viral hepatitis. Serum alpha-1 antitrypsin was measured quantitatively by radial immunodiffusion where as phenotypes were determined by isoelectric focusing and further confirmation was done by immunofixation. Ten percent control and 15 percent of the children suffering from acute viral hepatitis had serum alpha-1 antitrypsin level below the normal range. MM was the most common in two groups. Deficiency variant MZ was found in two healthy controls while another variant FZ, associated with deficiency state in two patients with acute hepatitis. Genetic alpha-1 AT deficiency does exist in children but due to lack of facilities the deficiency in most of the cases remain undiagnosed

Alpha-1-antitrypsin variants in bronchial asthma in Kuwait

Serum alpha-1-apantitrypsin [alpha 1AT] levels and protease inhibitor [PI] phenotypes were determined in 176 patients with bronchial asthma. The results were compared with 121 nonasthmatic controls. In the bronchial asthma group, 144 patients [81.8%] had M pheno-type, compared to 118 [97.5%] in the controls. Severe deficiency of alpha 1AT associated with Z phenotype were found in 18 patients [10%], compared to 2 [1.6%] in the controls. Intermediate deficiency associated with MZ and FZ phenotypes were found in 9 [5%] patients with bronchial asthma. MS phenotype was found in 2, MI in 2, and FM in 1 patient with bronchial asthma. The severely deficient group of asthmatics with Z phenotype was found to be heterogenous in clinical presentation. When compared to the asthmatic patients with M phenotype, no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups regarding the type of asthma, severity of the disease, steroid dependency, smoking habits or age at onset. The finding that deficient phenotpyes were more frequent in the asthmatic group suggests that this may be an important contributing factor in the development of bronchial asthma. Exaggerated immunologic and inflammatory responses in such patients, together with the harsh environmental conditions prevailing in Kuwait, may lead to the development of bronchial asthma in subjects deficient in alpha 1 AT

Serum protease inhibitors in opisthorchiasis, hepatoma, cholangiocarcinoma, and other liver diseases.

Serum alpha 1-antitrypsin, alpha 1-antichymotrypsin and alpha 2-macroglobulin increased significantly in patients suffering from liver diseases: hepatoma, amoebic liver abscess, hepatitis, hepatic cirrhosis, cholangiocarcinoma, carcinoma of the head of pancreas including liver fluke infection (opisthorchiasis). Marked increase of alpha 1-antitrypsin and alpha 1-antichymotrypsin were found in cholangiocarcinoma, carcinoma of the head of pancreas, amoebic liver abscess, hepatic cirrhosis and hepatoma. alpha 2-macroglobulin increased markedly in hepatic cirrhosis. The concentrations of protease inhibitors found in opisthorchiasis were only moderately elevated.

Determinaçäo dos valores normais de alfa-1-antitripsina no soro humano / Determination of normal values of alpha-1-antitrypsin in human serum

A alfa-1-antitripsina é uma anti-proteose responsável por aproximadamente 90% da inibiçäo sérica, sendo importante a sua determinaçäo tanto nos casos de deficiência genética como do aumento em processos neoplásicos, inflamatórios e infecciosos. No presente trabalho estuda-se uma metodologia adaptada às condiçöes de nosso país, utilizando reagentes acessíveis com obtençäo de resultados satisfatórios de 1,33 + ou - 0,24mg de tripsina inibidos por ml ou 306 + ou - 55 mg% de alfa-1-antitripsina, em indivíduos normais, concordantes com a maior parte dos investigadores neste campo de trabalho

Serum alpha-1 antichymotrypsin is a possible growth inhibitor of Plasmodium falciparum.

Serum protease inhibitors were determined in paired sera from 7 patients with cerebral malaria and 2 patients with acute malaria showing high and low growth inhibition activity in the initial and follow-up sera respectively. Alpha-1 antichymotrypsin and alpha-1 antitrypsin but not alpha-2 macroglobulin showed direct correlation with the growth inhibition activity. When alpha-1 antitrypsin was deliberately added to the malarial culture no growth inhibition occurred indicating that the alpha-1 antichymotrypsin was the most likely factor responsible for inhibition of growth of malarial parasites in vitro.