ABSTRACT
A study was performed in Israel to determine the rate of mother-to-infant HCV transmission in newborns at risk. A group of 22 HCV-infected mothers and their 23 newborns were followed up from early after birth by testing their serum for the presence of HCV antibodies and HCV-RNA. Antibody against HCV was detected in the blood of all newborns immediately after birth, but dropped to low or undetectable levels by 7 months of age. HCV-RNA was detected 2 days after birth in the blood of five infants (22%) but fell to undetectable levels by 6 months. HCV-HVR1 sequence analysis performed in one mother-infant pair on the second day after birth revealed two nucleotide changes. Two months later the same sequence was detected again in the HVR1, suggesting a very low replication rate. Thus, the study showed that vertically transmitted HCV was eliminated in all newborn infants by 6 months after delivery, with concomitant disappearance of HCV antibodies. The mechanism of HCV elimination in newborns at risk remains to be elucidated.
Subject(s)
Hepacivirus/physiology , Hepatitis C/transmission , Hepatitis C/virology , Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical , Pregnancy Complications, Infectious/virology , Adult , Base Sequence , DNA, Complementary , Female , Hepacivirus/genetics , Hepacivirus/immunology , Hepatitis C Antibodies/blood , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Molecular Sequence Data , Pregnancy , RNA, Viral/blood , Sequence Analysis, DNA , Time Factors , Viral Load , Viral Proteins/geneticsABSTRACT
Two strategies for the design of therapeutically useful cannabinoids have been combined to produce compounds with greatly increased antiinflammatory activity and with a low potential for adverse side effects. Enantiomeric cannabinoids with a carboxylic acid group at position 7 and with an elongated and branched alkyl sidechain at position 5' have been synthesized and tested for antiinflammatory activity. They were effective when given orally at doses of 10 micrograms/kg in reducing paw edema in mice that had been induced by either arachidonic acid or platelet activating factor. Leukocyte adhesion to culture dishes was also reduced in peritoneal cells from mice in which the cannabinoids were orally administered in the same dose range as for the paw edema tests. Antinociception could be observed in the mouse hot plate assay; however, little stereochemical preference was seen in contrast to the above tests where the 3R,4R compounds are more active than the 3S,4S enantiomers. Finally, in agreement with earlier reports on the naturally occurring pentyl side chain acids, the synthetic acids showed little activity in producing catalepsy in the mouse, suggesting that they would be nonpsychotropic in humans.
