Humoral immune response of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivors against the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination.

BACKGROUND: There is a great risk of infection with viral-vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) infections after the end of chemotherapy treatment of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which could have been prevented with MMR vaccination. Previous studies reported widely variable rates of seropositivity (seroprotection) for MMR after ALL treatment ends. Also, few studies evaluated the response to MMR booster vaccinations after the end of ALL treatment and reported unclear and difficult to interpret results. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective cross-sectional study evaluated the prevalence of seropositive (protection) antibody titer levels for MMR among ALL childhood survivors who were followed-up at Jeddah Oncology Center, Saudi Arabia. The aim of the study was also to investigate and analyze the response of seronegative patients to a booster MMR vaccination. RESULTS: Fifty-seven ALL children were evaluated. Thirty-five patients (61.4%) were seropositive/seroprotected and the remaining 22 patients (38.6%) were seronegative for MMR. ALL Children under the age of 5 years had a higher prevalence of seronegative titers. Interestingly, the prevalence of seroprotection decreased as the time interval increased post-treatment, while seroconversion rates after administering a booster MMR vaccine were 57.1%, 87.5%, and 78.6%, respectively for MMR. CONCLUSION: We suggest the need for booster MMR vaccination, especially for ALL children under the age of 5 years and those who experienced a protracted time interval post-treatment.

Kidney injury in infants and children with iron-deficiency anemia before and after iron treatment.

BACKGROUND: Our study aimed to investigate the effects of iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) on renal tubular functions before and after iron treatment for infants and children with IDA. We measured urinary levels of two kidney injury markers: neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty-six infants and children with IDA and 20 matched healthy controls were included. We assessed different laboratory parameters, estimated glomerular filtration rate, urinary levels of NGAL, and L-FABP. Urinary kidney injury markers were measured in IDA patients before and after 3 months of oral iron therapy. RESULTS: IDA patients had significantly higher urinary NGAL and L-FABP levels compared to their healthy controls. After 3 months of oral iron treatment, there was a significant improvement (decrease) in urinary NGAL and L-FABP in infants and children with IDA. Urinary markers returned to normal levels (healthy control levels) in children with IDA, but not for infants with IDA compared to their healthy controls. CONCLUSION: Subclinical kidney injury was found in infants and children with IDA. This injury was completely reversible in older children with IDA and partially reversible in infants with IDA after iron therapy. Higher urinary levels of kidney injury molecules in IDA infants after iron treatment are suggestive of more sensitivity of these infants to oxidative stress caused by iron therapy or may be due to the immaturity of the kidney and more damage caused by IDA which may require more time to recover.

Fever of Unknown Origin in Children: A 6 year- Experience in a Tertiary Pediatric Egyptian Hospital.

BACKGROUND: Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is among the most conditions which poses challenge in diagnosis. The presence of information on regional patterns of FUO will shorten the time for diagnosis and reduces health services costs. There are almost no previous studies describing the etiology of FUO in children of Egypt or nearby countries. AIM OF THE STUDY: To determine different causes of FUO and the possible diagnostic procedures. METHODS: Data of patients with FUO, presented to the Infectious Diseases Unit of Mansoura University Children Hospital, were retrospectively collected in a 6 year-period from May 2006 to May 2011. The study included children with a fever of 38.3° C or more documented by a health care provider and for which the cause could not be identified after 3 weeks of evaluation as an outpatient or after a week of evaluation in hospital. Patients were then categorized into 5 groups. RESULTS: 127 patients met the diagnostic criteria. Infectious diseases were the commonest causes of FUO in 46 cases (36.22%) followed by the miscellaneous causes in 38 cases (29.9%). Meanwhile, collagen vascular diseases and malignancy were diagnosed in 13 cases (10.2%) and 10 cases (7.87%) respectively. While, 20 cases (15.75%) remained undiagnosed. CONCLUSIONS: Infectious diseases are the commonest cause of FUO. The delay in diagnosis was due to atypical presentations or inappropriate use of antibiotic prior to the referral. Non infectious causes, malignancy and collagen or vascular disorders were diagnosed in rest of the patients. However, about 15% of our patients remained undiagnosed. The diagnosis was established by non-invasive means in more than two-third of the cases.

Bone mineral density in newly diagnosed children with neuroblastoma.

BACKGROUND: Neuroblastoma is the second most common extracranial malignant tumor of childhood and the most common solid tumor of infancy which is characterized by bone metastasis. Previous reports on bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with leukemia and solid malignancies concentrate on long-term survivors and on the effect of chemotherapeutic agents and irradiation. Also, evaluation of BMD in neuroblastoma was reported in few studies which were conducted upon adult survivors of childhood cancer. Previous studies on both acute leukemia and lymphoma patients suggested that the disease process itself played a role in decrease BMD. METHODS: We evaluated 27 patients with newly diagnosed neuroblastoma for both lumbar (L2-L4) BMD and total BMD using dual energy X-ray absorptiometery (DXA) scan to highlight the effect of neuroblastoma as a disease process on BMD as this disease characterized by bone metastasis. RESULTS: Three out of the 27 patients showed low bone mass in both lumbar and total BMD studies. CONCLUSION: Low bone mass may occur in early disease process of neuroblastoma and it is important to consider BMD assessment during the early course of the disease as well as the long-term survivors as a part of the patient screening in suspected cases.

Reverse hybridization StripAssay detection of beta-thalassemia mutations in northeast Egypt.

AIM: beta-Thalassemias are widely distributed in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries. Reverse hybridization StripAssay method is reported to be rapid, simple, reproducible and less expensive. The aim of this study is to evaluate reverse hybridization StripAssay method for detection of beta-thalassemia mutations in Egyptian children. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Forty children with beta-thalassemia major with mean age of 10.33+/-4.75 years were recruited consecutively from outpatient Hematology Clinic of Mansoura University Children's Hospital. Mutation analysis was performed by the beta-Globin StripAssay MED. RESULTS: The most frequent mutant alleles detected were; IVS 1.110, IVS 1.1 and IVS 1.6 accounting for 33.75, 27.5 and 18.75% respectively. The detection rate of the used method in our population was 90%. CONCLUSION: beta-globin StripAssay is a fast, easy-to-perform and reliable method for genetic screening of beta-thalassemia patients in Egypt. IVS 1.110, IVS 1.1 and IVS 1.6 are the most frequent mutant alleles with poor phenotype/genotype correlation.

Interleukin-12 and peripheral blood invariant natural killer T cells as an axis in childhood asthma pathogenesis.

Interleukin-12 (IL-12) is a key cytokine involved in regulating the balance between TH1 and TH2 cells by promoting TH1 response. A reduced capacity to produce this cytokine could lead to aberrant TH2 development. On the same aspect significant impact of IL-12 on invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells was reported. Therefore, we examined the serum levels of IL-12 and the absolute number of peripheral blood iNKT cells from 37 children with controlled asthma and 11 normal controls (age-matched) and correlating these two parameters with clinical asthma severity and Pulmonary function tests (PFTs). A significant decrease of serum levels of IL-12 and peripheral iNKT cells was found in total asthmatic cases compared with normal controls. This significant decrease of IL-12 levels was observed in severe asthmatic patients compared with mild and moderate cases. Serum levels of IL-12 and the numbers of peripheral iNKT cells were positively correlated with PFTs in both total asthmatic groups and in children with severe persistent asthma. Inverse correlation was found between serum level of IL-12 and different degrees of asthma. Whereas the numbers of peripheral blood iNKT cells showed no significant difference between clinical asthma severities. Impaired IL-12 production in asthmatic children beside decreasing the number of peripheral blood iNKT cells could be considered as a key component in asthma pathogenesis and hence their therapeutic manipulation may be of help in asthma management.