ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Acute respiratory failure develops quickly in patients with a severe form of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV2). Despite being commonly acknowledged as a measure of the body's overall iron storage, ferritin's predictive value is associated with COVID-19. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between COVID-19 and serum ferritin levels as the biochemical markers of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. METHOD: A biochemical test was performed at Baxshin Hospital in the period from February 2022 to April 2022. It was performed on a total of 85 patients (63.53% males and 36.47% females), ranging in age from 25 to 79 years old, with an average age of 48.4 years old. The patient's blood samples were taken to screen for ferritin levels. RESULT: The resulting outcome of this work is high serum ferritin levels for the majority of infected patients. Overall, there is a significant difference between male and female serum ferritin observed with a p-value < 0.05. The median interquartile range (IQR) of serum ferritin was 896 ng/mL for males, while it was only 611 ng/mL for females. The current study showed that age level has a great effect on elevated ferritin levels. It has been discovered that gender impacts increasing ferritin levels; 62% were found to be men and 38% were found to be women, with average ferritin levels of 1111 ng/mL and 712.8 ng/mL, respectively. CONCLUSION: SARS-CoV-2 infection causes significant laboratory abnormalities, including a high level of serum ferritin.
ABSTRACT
We recently cloned a c-Jun amino-terminal kinase (JNK) sequence from the C6/36 cell line, derived from the mosquito Aedes albopictus. We showed that SP600125, an inhibitor of JNK proteins, inhibits phagocytosis by C6/36 cells, suggesting that the JNK-like protein regulates phagocytosis. Here, we show that C6/36 cells constitutively express low levels of mRNA encoding the antibacterial peptides, cecropin and defensin, but that these mRNAs were up-regulated upon stimulation by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Thus, the C6/36 cells have properties similar to those of mammalian macrophages. To characterize further the functional properties of C6/36 cells, we have assayed the role of the JNK-like protein in phagocytosis, endocytosis, and viral infection. C6/36 cells phagocytosed bacteria and artificial beads, and this was only slightly up-regulated following LPS stimulation, suggesting that newly stimulated JNK-like protein was not necessary for phagocytosis. SP600125 inhibited the acidification of intracellular compartments, including those involved in the endocytic pathway. Pretreatment of C6/36 cells with SP600125 or bafilomycin A1, but not cytochalasin D, inhibited the entry of West Nile virus (WNV), suggesting that WNV is internalized mainly by endocytosis, and that the JNK signalling pathway is important for endocytic entry. These findings indicate that the JNK-like protein regulates basic physiological functions, including phagocytosis and endocytosis and infection of WNV.
Subject(s)
Aedes/metabolism , Anthracenes/metabolism , Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases/genetics , Signal Transduction/physiology , Aedes/virology , Animals , Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides/drug effects , Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides/genetics , Blotting, Northern , Cell Line/metabolism , Cell Line/ultrastructure , DNA Primers , Defensins/drug effects , Defensins/genetics , Endocytosis/physiology , Insect Proteins/drug effects , Insect Proteins/genetics , JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases , Lipopolysaccharides/pharmacology , Microscopy, Electron , Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases/antagonists & inhibitors , Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases/drug effects , Phagocytosis/physiology , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction , West Nile virus/pathogenicityABSTRACT
When Western blot analysis of heat-killed bacteria- and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated Aedes albopictus mosquito cell line C6/36 was performed using antiphospholyrated c-Jun amino-terminal kinase (JNK) antibodies, approximately 46 kDa protein was clearly detected with a peak around 30 min. After the C6/36 cells were incubated at 45 degrees C in order to induce apoptosis, the 46 kDa protein continued to be detected for at least 3 h. The internalization of fluorescein-labelled bacteria was inhibited by a JNK-specific inhibitor SP600125, suggesting that phagocytosis involves the JNK signalling pathway in mosquito cells. Based on these results, we found one candidate for the nucleotide sequence of JNK (Ae-JNK) from the C6/36 cells. This study is the first report regarding the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) of mosquito.
