RESUMO
For several years cytokine production has been associated with infections but it was not suspected that some types of food could also induce cytokines, even in a state of non-infection. Lactic bacteria can induce interferon (IFN) production in human healthy subjects, thus, a better protection against infections would be expected. Therefore, we planned to evaluate the effect of two diets including yoghurt or milk on IFN-gamma production during nutritional recovery in two different situations of malnutrition: (1) children with diarrhoea; and (2) patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). Both the diet including yoghurt of that including milk seemed to increase IFN-gamma production at the end of nutritional recovery in the malnourished children with diarrhoea. The significance of interferon production and the lymphocyte subset increase should be explored to know if a better resistance against pathogens is related to them. Regulation of intestinal absorption and moderate stimulation of interferon production make the yoghurt-based diet a good choice in the nutritional care of children. In the same way, an increase in the IFN-gamma production was observed in AN patients consuming yoghurt. This increase of IFN-gamma production could be considered a biological marker to detect the effect of probiotics on the immune response, especially in the improvement of a deficient nutritional status.
Assuntos
Anorexia Nervosa/dietoterapia , Anorexia Nervosa/imunologia , Diarreia/dietoterapia , Diarreia/imunologia , Interferon gama/biossíntese , Leite/imunologia , Leite/microbiologia , Distúrbios Nutricionais/dietoterapia , Distúrbios Nutricionais/imunologia , Iogurte/microbiologia , Adolescente , Animais , Anorexia Nervosa/sangue , Índice de Massa Corporal , Criança , Feminino , Fermentação/imunologia , Humanos , Lactente , Interferon gama/sangue , Interferon gama/imunologia , Marrocos , Fito-Hemaglutininas/imunologia , EspanhaRESUMO
Cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) from North Africa show an unusual bimodal age distribution. As elsewhere, the tumor is closely associated with the presence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The expression of EBV genes and c-onc genes was studied in biopsy specimens from tumors at different clinical stages from 11 young (10 to 30-year-old) and 11 adult (30 to 65-year-old) patients. It was found that the two age groups do not differ in their pattern of gene expression, that there is a tendency for later stage biopsies to express more viral and c-onc transcripts, and that samples expressing larger numbers of EBV genes also tend to express many different c-onc specificities.