Investigation of markers of allergic sensitization and viral infections in children with allergy and asthma.

BACKGROUND: Allergic diseases are the most prevalent chronic diseases in the developed countries. It is believed that early allergic sensitization and respiratory viral infections play an important role in the development of allergic diseases and asthma. METHODS: The current study investigated the correlation between asthma, allergy, and various markers - allergen-specific IgE, IgG4 and IgA, ECP, IgM, and IgG antibodies against respiratory viruses hRSV and hPIV1-4 - in blood serum samples from 80 children (mean age 5.2 years) recruited from the Lithuanian birth cohort. Children were divided into three groups according to their diagnosis: asthma (n = 25), allergy without asthma (n = 14), and control group (n = 41). RESULTS: Based on retrospective data, airway infections and bronchitis by the age of two years were associated with asthma in later childhood. The presence of IgM and IgG antibodies against hRSV and hPIV1-4 at the age of five years were not associated with asthma and allergy: a high rate of persistent or past respiratory viral infections was revealed in all three groups. Among allergic children, increased levels of allergen-specific IgE and d1-specific IgG4 were determined. CONCLUSION: The current study provides new insights into the relationships between allergic sensitization and respiratory virus infections in children.

Studies on the prevalence of oncogenic HPV types among Lithuanian women with cervical pathology.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer. Therefore, the detection of oncogenic HPV types is important in predicting the risk of cervical cancer. The aim of the current study was to estimate the prevalence of 16 carcinogenic and potentially carcinogenic HPV types in the study group of Lithuanian women with various grades of cervical pathology in comparison to healthy women. A total of 824 cervical specimens were investigated for HPV DNA: 547 specimens of women with abnormal cytology and 277 specimens of healthy women. Cytological diagnosis was confirmed by histology. For the detection of HPV infection, HPV DNA was amplified by PCR using three different primer systems. HPV DNA was detected in 67.6% of specimens collected from women with abnormal cytology and 24.2% of specimens collected from healthy women. The frequency of HPV-positive specimens correlated with the severity of cervical pathology: it ranged from 50.0% in the subgroup of atypical squamous cells to 80.6% in cervical cancer. In cases confirmed by histology the frequency of HPV-positive specimens ranged from 68.6% in the subgroup of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1 to 89.2% in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 or carcinoma in situ. HPV DNA-positive samples were further investigated for the presence of 16 HPV types by multiplex PCR. The most common HPV type was HPV 16 (detected in 42.3% of HPV-positive specimens) followed by HPV 31 (10.1%), HPV 33 (8.2%), and HPV 56 (5.7%). In contrast, the frequency of HPV 18 was lower as compared to other countries.