RESUMO
A seroepidemiological study was conducted on a representative sample of the northern Greek population (healthy individuals, age range=1 day to 80 years) to assess the prevalence of antibodies to pertussis toxin (PT) and filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA). Antibody concentrations were significantly elevated with age (analysis of variance (ANOVA), P<0.001). In addition, a significant increase in antibody levels was detected in subjects >50 years old compared to children aged 5-10 years (post-hoc Scheffe analysis, P=0.007). These data suggest that pertussis occurs frequently in Greek adults, and that sometimes a fifth booster vaccine dose is not given after the second year of life. Routine revaccination with the acellular vaccine for children >4 years of age, adolescents, and adults should be considered in order to ensure effective protection of the whole population.
Assuntos
Adesinas Bacterianas/imunologia , Anticorpos Antibacterianos/sangue , Bordetella pertussis/imunologia , Hemaglutininas/imunologia , Toxina Pertussis/imunologia , Fatores de Virulência de Bordetella/imunologia , Coqueluche/epidemiologia , Adolescente , Adulto , Distribuição por Idade , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Antígenos de Bactérias/sangue , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Grécia/epidemiologia , Humanos , Imunoglobulina G/imunologia , Lactente , Recém-Nascido , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estudos Retrospectivos , Estudos Soroepidemiológicos , Coqueluche/imunologiaRESUMO
TGF-beta 1 belongs to a family of pluripotent growth factors (TGF beta s) and has been implicated in the development and progression of human breast cancer. There are conflicting data though, suggesting that TGF-beta has the pontency both to promote and inhibit the progression of mammary neoplasia. We examined the expression of TGF-beta 1 mRNA in 24 breast carcinomas using the technique of the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to obtain quantitative results. Overexpression of TGF-beta 1 gene was found in 75% of the cases. We also correlated the overexpression of the TGF-beta 1 gene with clinicopathological parameters including histological grade, tumour cellularity, oestrogen receptor status (ER), progesterone receptor status (PR) and lymph node involvement. The results led us to the conclusion that the increasing ratio of overexpression related to the stage of cancer in an analogous way (P similar to 1). No significant association was identified between the ratio of overexpression and the grade, ER, PR, or lymph node involvement (r(s) = 0.5, 0.2, 0.1, 0.1 respectively; P < 0.0001) in all categories.
