Relationship between Helicobacter pylori cytotoxin-associated gene A protein with clinical outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

INTRODUCTION: The Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) infection leads to intensification of symptoms and calenture of autoimmune diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between H. pylori infection and clinical outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. METHODOLOGY: This study was performed on 100 RA patients. Blood samples were collected for measuring Anti-H. pylori IgG antibodies and cytotoxin-associated gene A (CagA) protein. Fresh fecal samples were also collected and the fecal H. pylori antigen was extracted. Clinical condition as well as severity and type of RA symptoms in both groups of H. pylori positive and H. pylori negative were also compared. RESULTS: Serum levels of rheumatoid factor (RF), ESR, CRP, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (Anti-CCP), and anti-mutated citrullinated vimentin (Anti-MCV) were significantly higher in H. pylori positive patients than in H. pylori negative patients (P < 0.05). Serum RF, ESR, CRP and Anti-MCV levels were significantly higher in CagA positive patients than in CagA negative patients (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in DAS-28 scores between H. pylori positive and H. pylori negative patients (P = 0.064) as well as between patients with positive and negative fecal H. pylori antigen (P = 0.237). However, DAS-28 score was significantly higher in CagA positive patients than in CagA negative patients (P < 0.001). Furthermore, mean VAS score was significantly higher in H. pylori positive patients (P = 0.031) and CagA positive patients (P = 0.004); however, there were no significant differences in VAS scores between patients with positive and negative fecal H. pylori antigen (P = 0.310). CONCLUSION: Follow-up and examination of RA patients in terms of infection with serum and fecal H. pylori organism and CagA seems necessary that will contribute to better and further control and treatment of the patients.

Correlations between cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, anti-ganglioside antibodies, electrodiagnostic findings and functional status in Guillain-Barré syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Due to underlying autoimmune background of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), the possible role of infectious agents cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and also due to association of anti-ganglioside antibodies with GBS, the present study aimed to investigate the associations between serum anti-ganglioside antibodies (AGA) level, type of infection and electrodiagnostic (ED) findings with the severity and three-month functional outcome of patients with GBS. METHODS: In a prospective study, 30 patients with GBS were selected and before starting the treatment, baseline serum samples of patients were obtained for measuring the serum AGA including the antibodies against GQ1b, GT1b, GD1a, GD1b, GM1, GM2, GM3 and strains of CMV and EBV. All the patients were precisely examined for ED findings. Functional status of patients on admission and three months after admission were recorded according to the modified Rankin scale (mRS). RESULTS: The results of patients' serum assessment revealed that CMV IgM was positive in one patient (3.3%), CMV IgG in 29 patients (96.7%) and EBV IgG in 27 patients (90%). Anti-GM1 was found in 3 patients (10%) and anti-GM3 was found only in one patient (3.3%). However, no statistical significant association was found between the AGA and strain of the disease and ED findings. CONCLUSION: Despite the coexistence of AGA and serum antibodies against CMV and EBV in some GBS patients, there was not clear association in this regard. However, the AGA was positive in patients who suffered from severe phase of the disease.

The effect of regular training on plasma cytokines response in healthy and diabetic rats.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of regular swimming exercise on plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1beta and of IL-6 cytokines in healthy and diabetic rats. METHODS: In this study, carried out from March 2008 to March 2009 in the Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz, Iran, 40 Wistar rats (250-300 g) were randomly divided into 4 groups (n=10): control-sedentary, control-exercised, diabetic-sedentary, and diabetic-exercised. Diabetes was induced by a single injection of streptozotocin (50 mg/kg, intraperitoneally). The exercise protocol consisted of swimming (one hour/day, and 5 days/week) for 8 weeks. The plasma cytokines were measured by using specific kits and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. RESULTS: The findings of this study showed that the mean difference of IL-6 was significant among the groups, and that regular swimming increased the plasma levels of IL-6 to 9-times in healthy rats and to 23-times in diabetic ones (p=0.000, F (3,31)=54.79). However, there were no significant differences in IL-1beta, and TNF-alpha levels among the groups. CONCLUSION: According to findings of this study, regular exercise causes an increase in plasma levels of IL-6, and this enhancement is much higher in diabetics rather than healthy rats. Thus, by increasing direct absorption of blood glucose by skeletal muscle, IL-6 can have a beneficial role in continuing the activities of diabetic patients.

Effects of age increment and 36-week exercise training on antioxidant enzymes and apoptosis in rat heart tissue.

This study investigated the onset of age-related changes in the myocardial antioxidant enzymes and apoptosis and the vulnerability of the myocardium to oxidative stress following exercise training. Few studies have investigated the influence of the most prevalent life-prolonging strategy physical exercise, on the age increment alterations in the myocardial antioxidant enzymes and apoptosis at mid age and to determine whether exercise-induced antioxidant defense system could attenuate lipid peroxidation. Thirty six male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to exercise trained (n = 18) and sedentary (n = 18) groups. The rats in the training group went under 12, 24 and 36 weeks of moderate exercise trainings (25 m·min(-1) for 60-min with a 0% slope). Six sedentary controls were killed together with each exercise group at the end of the training programs. Levels of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and catalase (CAT) activity in myocardial homogenates were unchanged by training irrespective of the protocol duration. However, an increased content of the TBARS was detected in hearts from both the 24 and 36-week trained and sedentary control rats when compared with their corresponding 12-week groups (p<0.01). The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) remained unchanged after the 12-week training period whereas a significant increase was observed in heart homogenates of 24-week trained animals as compared with their sedentary controls (p<0.05). The activity of glutathione peroxidase (GPX) remained unchanged. The rates of apoptosis which was detected by ELISA assays, were significantly modified after 24 and 36-week of training (p<0.05). These results demonstrate that a long-term endurance training (24 weeks) induced increases in SOD activities in rat myocardium and elicited a marked reduction in apoptosis rate. However, a shorter training program (12 weeks) was not effective in increasing heart antioxidant defenses. Key pointsExercise training induces activity of myocardial SOD.Long-term regular moderate-intensity exercise decreases the rate of myocardial apoptosis.Short-term regular moderate-intensity exercises do not change the rate of myocardial anti oxidant capacity and apoptosis.