ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 Associated Mucormycosis (CAM), an opportunistic fungal infection, surged during the second wave of SARS Cov-2 pandemic. Since immune responses play an important role in controlling this infection in immunocompetent hosts, it is required to understand immune perturbations associated with this condition for devising immunotherapeutic strategies for its control. We conducted a study to determine different immune parameters altered in CAM cases as compared to COVID-19 patients without CAM. METHODOLOGY: Cytokine levels in serum samples of CAM cases (n = 29) and COVID-19 patients without CAM (n = 20) were determined using luminex assay. Flow cytometric assays were carried out in 20 CAM cases and 10 controls for determination of frequency of NK cells, DCs, phagocytes, T cells and their functionalities. The cytokine levels were analyzed for their association with each other as well as with T cell functionality. The immune parameters were also analyzed with respect to the known risk factors such as diabetes mellitus and steroid treatment. RESULTS: Significant reduction in frequencies of total and CD56 + CD16 + NK cells (cytotoxic subset) was noted in CAM cases. Degranulation responses indicative of cytotoxicity of T cell were significantly hampered in CAM cases as compared to the controls. Conversely, phagocytic functions showed no difference in CAM cases versus their controls except for migratory potential which was found to be enhanced in CAM cases. Levels of proinflammatory cytokines such as IFN-γ, IL-2, TNF-α, IL-17, IL-1ß, IL-18 and MCP-1 were significantly elevated in cases as compared to the control with IFN-γ and IL-18 levels correlating negatively with CD4 T cell cytotoxicity. Steroid administration was associated with higher frequency of CD56 + CD16- NK cells (cytokine producing subset) and higher MCP-1 levels. Whereas diabetic participants had higher phagocytic and chemotactic potential and had higher levels of IL-6, IL-17 and MCP-1. CONCLUSION: CAM cases differed from the controls in terms of higher titers of proinflammatory cytokines, reduced frequency of total and cytotoxic CD56 + CD16 + NK cell. They also had reduced T cell cytotoxicity correlating inversely with IFN-γ and IL-18 levels, possibly indicating induction of negative feedback mechanisms while diabetes mellitus or steroid administration did not affect the responses negatively.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Mucormycosis , Humans , Interleukin-18 , Interleukin-17 , Cytokines , SteroidsABSTRACT
The objective of the study is to evaluate the surgical outcome between free nasoseptal mucoperichondrial flap using septal cartilage vs fascia lata using fat in terms of morbidity, hospital stay and postoperative complications. It is a retrospective comparitive study of 127 patients, diagnosed with CSF leak and who underwent repair of anterior skull base defect using free nasoseptal mucoperichondrial graft with septal cartilage in 73 cases compared with fascia lata with fat in 54 cases over the time frame of 5 years. The success rate with free nasoseptal flap with septal cartilage was 97.3% and that with fascia lata with fat was 96.3%. There was a significant association between mean hospital stay and the technique of CSF repair (unpaired t test, p -0.02). In our study the complications following the repair with free nasoseptal flap with septal cartilage was significantly less (p < 0.05, chi square test). The above study concludes that in patients treated with free nasoseptal flap using septal cartilage has less hospital stay, less post-operative morbidity in the form of pain, movement and dependence for cleaning and dressing in comparison to fascia lata using fat.
