[Perioperative immunologic changes in colorectal cancer patients]. / Modificari imunologice perioperatorii la pacientii cu cancer colorectal.

The aim of the study was to investigate the perioperative immunological profile in colon cancer patients and possible correlations with disease. To investigate the changes in immune mediators profile induced by tumor resection, we assessed the serum levels of cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha), chemokines (MIP-1alpha, MCP-1, ENA-78) and growth factors (VEGF, bFGF) in colon cancer patients before, during and after surgery and compared the results with those measured for a group of healthy controls. We have used XMap profiling technology (Luminex) that allows simultaneous measurement of multiple parameters in small volumes of samples. Circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1, IL-6, IL-8 and antiinflamatory cytokine IL-10 were elevated in cancer patients with respect to healthy controls. Before surgery, serum levels of MCP-1 and MIP-1alpha positively correlated with the levels of proinflammatory cytokines. During surgery, an increase in serum concentration of all determined mediators was noticed, with positive correlation between TNF-alpha, IL-8, MCP-1 and MIP-1alpha. Interestingly, these correlations were no more noticed one week after operation. Postoperatively, cytokines levels decreased as compared to those noticed before surgery, but still higher than in control group. These preliminary results suggest that both tumor and surgical act may influence immune mediators' network.

Impact of smoking on the immunological profile of patients with laryngeal carcinoma.

Immunity plays an important role in the prognosis and the natural development of cancer. Previous studies have shown that the presence of tumor in the body could modify the immune response leading to immunosuppression. The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunological changes of patients with larynx squamous cell carcinoma undergoing potentially curative surgery. We assessed the serum levels of cytokines (IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, GM-CSF), chemokines (MCP-1 and MIP-1alpha) and growth factors (VEGF and bFGF) in laryngeal cancer patients before, during and after surgery. We have used a novel multianalyte XMap profiling technology that allows simultaneous measurement of multiple parameters in small volumes of samples. To investigate the changes in immune mediators' profile induced by tumor resection, we assessed the culture supernatants of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) derived from the patients, before and after surgery. The results suggested a predominance of a Th2 type of immune response associated with the presence of the tumor (especially in the case of heavy smokers who smoke more than 40 pack-years). However, shifts towards a Th1 type of immune response as well as an improvement of monocyte functions were noticed after surgery.

[Involvement of soluble mediators of inflammation in the pathogenic agent interaction--immune system in acute bacterial meningitis]. / Implicarea mediatorilor solubili ai inflamatiei în interactia agent patogen--sistem imun din cadrul meningitelor infectioase.

Acute Bacterial Meningitis is a medical emergency, which warrants early diagnosis and aggressive therapy, which in most cases must be initiated as an "empirical" treatment. Such an approach needs permanent epidemiological surveillance due to the major variability of the etiological agents depending upon time, geographical areas and demographic characteristics of the population. A program for the surveillance of meningitis is in progress in Romania, but the available clinical inbformation is incomplete and not well documented by paraclinical data, poorly reflecting the real incidence of the disease. The specific anatomic localization of the disease has major influences on the antiinfectious immune response. Inflammation is involved in the disease pathogenesis, especially in promotion and evolution of neurological sequelae (neuronal demyelinisation and degeneration) even in case of pathogen clearance following antimicrobial therapy. Activation of the immune response in a immunologically "privileged "region can lead to the break of tolerance and induction of autoimmunity (neuronal degenerescence). On the other hand, an efficient immune response is necessary for the clearance of pathogenic agents. A detailed investigation of the interaction between pathogenic agents and the immune system in relation to the particular meningeal localization and also a study on the involvement of soluble mediators of inflammation (cytokines, chemokines) in the pathogenesis of meningitis might prove useful for differential diagnosis (viral or "aseptic" meningitis) and also for elucidating the mechanisms which that underlie the disease pathogenesis/neurological complications.

Cytokine profiling by multiplex immunoassay as an effective approach to assess immunomodulatory activity of bacterial product CANTASTIM.

The bacterial product CANTASTIM (CS) is a purified extract of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that induces non-specific protection against bacterial infection, enhances macrophage effector functions and modulates production of cytokines. Most likely, it interacts with components of the innate immune response. Cytokine production can be used to assess the bioactivity of this product but these biomolecules operate in vivo in a complex regulatory network with reciprocal influences so there is a need for profiling an array of cytokines rather than an individual analysis. Current technology development of multiplex immunoassay for simultaneous measurement of multiple analytes in a single assay has greatly improved the throughput and cost effectiveness of cytokine profiling and proved to be an effective approach to evaluate the immunomodulatory activity of the bacterial product CS.