The role of TLR4 and CD14 polymorphisms in the pathogenesis of respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis in greek infants.

Clinical manifestations of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection vary from minimal disease to severe acute bronchiolitis. The structural complex of TLR4/CD14 participates in the virus recognition as a component of natural immune response. Genetic variations of TLR4/CD14 may explain great variations in disease severity. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible role of polymorphisms of TLR4, Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile and CD14, C-159T and C-550T in the development of RSV bronchiolitis. Our study included two groups of Greek infants and young children (A and B). Group A consisted of 50 infants ≤2 years of age hospitalised with bronchiolitis and group B of 99 previously healthy children aged 4-14 years (control group) with a free past medical history. RSV was identified by PCR of genetic material that was extracted from nasopharyngeal samples collected from all patients. Blood samples were used to extract DNA and by using the PCR-RFLP method we performed TLR4 and CD14 genotyping. We found no association between TLR4 polymorphisms (Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile) and the development of acute bronchiolitis. For CD14 polymorphisms, a positive association was found between the C-159T and the development of bronchiolitis (p=0.05) but not for the other loci. There were no differences detected in the frequencies of the four polymorphisms studied among infants with RSV and non-RSV bronchiolitis. It is concluded that protein CD14 may have a functional role in the viral conjunction to the structural complex TLR4/CD14. The association between the polymorphism C-159T and the manifestation of disease found in our study points out that the severity in the development of acute bronchiolitis is not specified exclusively by the pathogen, but the immune response of the host also plays a significant role. More extensive multicentric studies need to take place, in order to lead to safer conclusions.

Serological survey on the immunity to diphtheria of the northern Greek population.

The recent outbreak of diphtheria in the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former USSR and the immigration from these high risk areas to Greece prompted us to determine the diphtheria antitoxin levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in 509 healthy individuals (307 males and 202 females) from northern Greece. The population under study was divided in ten age groups from 1 day to > 60 years old. Diphtheria antitoxin levels of > or = 0.1 IU/ml were considered as protective ones. 44.6% of the examined people were found susceptible. The children up to their twenties seem to be immune to diphtheria in a high proportion (86-88.4%). The diphtheria antitoxin levels declined sharply above this age (17.6% in the age group 21-30 years old). The level of protection in adults appeared to be higher in the oldest group (49%). According to these results, the adults are not properly protected. Booster doses of vaccine for them are recommended to improve the resistance of the northern Greek population from possible infection by toxigenic stains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae, imported or endogenous.

Kinetics, quantitative analysis and radioimmunolocalization using indium-111-HMFG1 monoclonal antibody in patients with breast cancer.

HMFG1 tumour associated monoclonal antibody IgG1 and F(ab')2 fragments were radiolabelled with indium-111 and used to study patients with breast cancer. In vitro and in vivo stability of the radiolabelled antibodies was shown to be satisfactory. Thirty patients with primary breast cancer underwent tumour resection and quantitative evaluation of the radioactivity in the tumour and normal tissues following administration of specific and non-specific antibodies. The mean tumour uptake of HMFG1 F(ab')2 fragments at 24 h was significantly higher (P less than 0.05) than the intact IgG but at 48 h there was no difference. The mean tumour uptake with the specific antibody was higher than the non-specific antibody of the same subclass (P less than 0.05). Lymph node metastases showed higher antibody uptake than the corresponding primary tumours (P less than 0.05). Fifteen patients with primary or metastatic breast cancer were investigated by external body scintigraphy using HMFG1 F(ab')2 fragments. Successful localisation was observed in approximately 50% of the primary and metastatic lesions with no false positive results. All the patients had observable concentration of 111In in the liver (20% of the injected dose), the kidneys and the spleen. Following i.v. administration, F(ab')2 fragments cleared from the blood more rapidly than the intact IgG. We conclude that HMFG1 F(ab')2 fragments can localise specifically and faster than intact IgG in breast cancer but the sensitivity of the radioimmunoscintigraphy is relatively low. This method needs further improvement before becoming clinically useful for detecting and staging breast cancer.