The global prevalence of Trichuris trichiura infection in humans (2010-2023): A systematic review and meta-analysis.

This systematic review and meta-analysis study aimed to evaluate global Trichuris infection prevalence, assessing progress towards the WHO's 2030 target. We searched international databases from 2010-2023, categorizing data by regions and socio-economic variables using a random-effects model. Analyzing 757 articles covering 7154,842 individuals from 78 countries, the study found a pooled global prevalence of (6.64-7.57%), with the highest rates in the Caribbean (21.72%; 8.90-38.18%) and South-East Asia (20.95; 15.71-26.71%) regions. Southern Africa (9.58; 2.11-21.46%), Latin America (9.58; 2.11-21.46%), and Middle Africa Middle Africa (8.94; 6.31-11.98%) also exhibited high prevalence. Eastern Europe had the lowest prevalence at 0.16% (0.09-0.24). Approximately 513 (480-547) million people worldwide were estimated to harbor Trichuris. Moreover ∼1.5% of people tested worldwide (2010-2023) had a moderate to heavy intensity of infection. The study emphasizes the persistent global health threat of Trichuris infection, urging tailored strategies for effective control and prevention on a global scale.

Lymphopenia associated with survivin and its downstream pathway in COVID-19 serving as a potential route in COVID-19 pathogenesis.

PURPOSE: Starting in 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused an epidemic that was growing rapidly and has harmed millions of people globally. It has been demonstrated that survivin regulates lymphocyte survival, a main route involved in COVID-19 pathogenesis. Survivin belongs to the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family, and its primary functions comprise regulating mitosis and inhibiting apoptosis. Since lower survivin expression has been shown to increase the sensitivity of lymphocytes to apoptotic induction, we looked into the function of survivin and its corresponding pathways in COVID-19 pathogenesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The expression of survivin, X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP), caspases 3, 7, 9, and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) was evaluated at both mRNA and protein levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) derived from healthy donors and patients with severe and moderate COVID-19 by qRT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Then, we enforced apoptosis to COVID-19 patient-derived lymphocytes, and the percent was assessed by flow cytometry. RESULTS: Survivin and XIAP were less expressed in PBMCs derived from COVID-19 patients as apoptosis inhibitors than PARP, cleaved-PARP, caspase 9, and cleaved caspases 3 and 7, according to the results of real-time PCR and Western blot analysis. Additionally, according to the flow cytometry results, the down-regulation of survivin served as a potential factor in the lymphocyte depletion observed in patients with COVID-19. CONCLUSION: The role of survivin and its related pathway was first discovered in the development of COVID-19 and may serve as a potential prognostic and therapeutic target.

Inhibition of anti-inflammatory cytokines, IL-10 and TGF-ß, in Leishmania major infected macrophage by miRNAs: A new therapeutic modality against leishmaniasis.

Leishmania major (L. major) applies several mechanisms to escape the immune system. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) and Transforming Growth Factor (TGF-ß) downregulate nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) leading to the survival of Leishmania within macrophages. The miRNAs are known as the modulators of the immune system. The present study was conducted to assess the effect of synthetic miR-340 mimic on cytokines (IL-10 and TGF-ß1) involved in L. major infected macrophages. The miRNAs targeting of IL-10 and TGF-ß1 was predicted using bioinformatic tools. Relative expression of predicted miRNA, IL-10, and TGF-ß1 was measured by RT-qPCR before and after synthetic miRNA mimic transfection. Concentration of IL-10 and TGF-ß was measured in posttreatment condition using ELISA method. Also, infectivity was assessed by Giemsa staining. mmu-miR-340 received the highest score for targeting cytokines. The expression of miR-340 was downregulated in L. major infected macrophages. By contrast, expression of IL-10 and TGF-ß1 was upregulated in infected macrophages. After miRNA transfection, TGF-ß1 and IL-10 were both downregulated and interestingly, the combination of miR-340 and miR-27a had a stronger effect on the downregulation of target genes. This research revealed that transfection of infected macrophages with miR-340 alone or in combination with miR-27a mimic can reduce macrophage infectivity and might be introduced as a novel therapeutic agent for cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Comparative Expression Profile Analysis of Apoptosis-Related miRNA and Its Target Gene in Leishmania major Infected Macrophages.

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is an emerging uncontrollable and neglected infectious disease worldwide including Iran. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression profile of apoptosis-related miRNA and its target gene in macrophages. METHODS: This study was carried out in the Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran from January 2016 to November 2018. Applying literature reviews, bioinformatics software, and microarray expression analysis, we selected miRNA-24-3p interfering in apoptosis pathway. The expression profile of this miRNA and target gene were investigated in Leishmania major (MRHO/IR/75/ER)-infected primary and RAW 264.7 macrophages (IBRC-C10072) compared with non-infected macrophages (control group) using quantitative Real-time PCR. RESULTS: Results of bioinformatics analysis showed that miR-24-3p as anti-apoptotic miRNA inhibits pro-apoptotic genes (Caspases 3 and 7). Microarray expression data presented in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) revealed a significant difference in the expression level of selected miRNA and its target gene between two groups. QRT-PCR results showed that the expression of miR-24-3p was upregulated in L. major infectioned macrophages that approved the results of bioinformatics and microarray analysis. CONCLUSION: Parasite can alter miRNAs expression pattern in the host cells to establish infection and its survival. Alteration in miRNAs levels likely plays an important role in regulating macrophage functions following L. major infection. These results could highlight current understanding and new insights concerning the gene expression in macrophages during leishmaniasis and will help to development of novel strategies for control and treatment of CL.

MicroRNAs Expression Induces Apoptosis of Macrophages in Response to Leishmania major (MRHO/IR/75/ER): An In-Vitro and In-Vivo Study.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to investigate the effect of miR-15a mimic and inhibitor of miR-155 expression on apoptosis induction in macrophages infected with Iranian strain of Leishmania major in-vitro and in-vivo. METHODS: RAW 264.7 cells were infected with L. major promastigotes (MRHO/IR/75/ER), and then were treated with miRNAs. For in-vivo experiment, BALB/c mice were inoculated with L. major promastigotes, and then they were treated with miRNAs. For evaluation of miRNA therapeutic effect, in-vitro and in-vivo studies were performed using quantitative Real-time PCR, Flow cytometry, lesion size measurement, and Limiting Dilution Assay (LDA). This study was performed in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in 2019. RESULTS: In-vitro results of flow cytometry showed that using miR-15a mimic, miR-155 inhibitor or both of them increased apoptosis of macrophages. In in-vivo, size of lesion increased during experiment in control groups (P<0.05) while application of both miR-155 inhibitor and miR-15a mimic inhibited the increase in the size of lesions within 6 wk of experiment (P=0.85). LDA results showed that microRNA therapy could significantly decrease parasite load in mimic or inhibitor receiving groups compared to the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: miR-155 inhibitor and miR-15a mimic in L. major infected macrophages can induce apoptosis and reduce parasite burden. Therefore, miRNA-based therapy can be proposed as new treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Comparison of Three Different DNA Extraction Methods for Linguatula serrata as a Food Born Pathogen.

BACKGROUND: One of the most important items in molecular characterization of food-borne pathogens is high quality genomic DNA. In this study, we investigated three protocols and compared their simplicity, duration and costs for extracting genomic DNA from Linguatula serrata. METHODS: The larvae were collected from the sheep's visceral organs from the Yazd Slaughterhouse during May 2013. DNA extraction was done in three different methods, including commercial DNA extraction kit, Phenol Chloroform Isoamylalcohol (PCI), and salting out. Extracted DNA in each method was assessed for quantity and quality using spectrophotometery and agarose gel electrophoresis, respectively. RESULTS: The less duration was regarding to commercial DNA extraction kit and then salting out protocol. The cost benefit one was salting out and then PCI method. The best quantity was regarding to PCI with 72.20±29.20 ng/µl, and purity of OD260/OD280 in 1.76±0.947. Agarose gel electrophoresis for assessing the quality found all the same. CONCLUSION: Salting out is introduced as the best method for DNA extraction from L. seratta as a food-borne pathogen with the least costand appropriate purity. Although, the best purity was regarding to PCI but PCI is not safe as salting out. In addition, the duration of salting out was less than PCI. The least duration was seen in commercial DNA extraction kit, but it is expensive and therefore is not recommended for developing countries where consumption of offal is common.

Ecological Niche Modeling of main reservoir hosts of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran.

Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL), caused by Leishmania major, is a common zoonotic vector-borne disease in Iran. Close contact with infected reservoir hosts increases the probability of transmission of Leishmania parasite infections to susceptible humans. Four gerbil species (Rodentia: Gerbillidae) serve as the main reservoir hosts for ZCL in different endemic foci of Iran. These species include Rhombomys opimus, Meriones libycus, Meriones hurrianae and Tatera indica; while notable infection has been reported in Nesokia indica as well. The purpose of this study is to model the distribution of these reservoirs to identify the risk areas of ZCL. A data bank was developed including all published data during the period of 1970-2015. Maximum entropy model was used to find the most appropriate ecological niches for each species. The areas under curve obtained were 0.961, 0.927, 0.922, 0.997 and 0.899, instead of 1, for training test in R. opimus, M. libycus, T. indica, M. hurrianae and N. indica, respectively. The environmental variable with the highest gain when used in isolation was slope for R. opimus and N. indica, annual mean temperature for M. libycus, and seasonal precipitation for T. indica and M. hurrianae. Summation of presence probabilities for three main species, i.e., R. opimus, M. libycus and T. indica revealed favorable ecological niches in wide areas of 16 provinces. This is the first study to predict the distribution of ZCL reservoir hosts in Iran. Climatology and topography variables had high contributions toward the prediction of potential distribution of the main reservoir species; therefore, as climate changes, the models should be updated periodically with novel data, and the results should be used in disease-monitoring programs.

The changing profile of cutaneous leishmaniasis agent in a central province of Iran.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran is usually caused by Leishmania major or L. tropica. However, the direct examination or the cultures of biopsies for diagnosis are not very sensitive. The objective of this study was to identify the responsible species obtained from patients suspected of cutaneous leishmaniasis referred to the reference laboratory atYazd in Iran during 2010-2011 using parasitological and molecular assays. After completing a clinical/epidemiologic data questionnaire for 145 patients with suspected skin lesions, scraping samples were collected. Each specimen was examined using both direct microscopy and molecular assay using polymerase chain reaction-restriction length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Location of the lesions included 47.7% on hands, 30.7% on face, 15.4% on feet, and the remainder on other regions. Out of 145 samples, Leishman body was observed in 52 by direct smear and 73 by PCR assay. Molecular assay indicated 36 cases as L. major, 36 cases as L. tropica and one case as unknown. In conclusion, molecular-characterization showed changing profile of Leishmania species in the study area which may have implications on treatment and/or control strategies.