Clinical Significance of Serum ECP in Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Pneumonia

PURPOSE: Allergic inflammation of the lower respiratory tract is a characteristic clinical feature in asthma patients, in which eosinophils play an important role. The activity of eosinophil may be determined by measuring the level of eosinophil cationic protein(ECP) in sputum or serum as a potential marker of the inflammatory severity. METHODS: We measured the serum concentrations of ECP produced by eosinophils in 29 children with M. pneumoniae as the infected group, 26 children with M. pneumoniae as the non-infected group. RESULTS: Number of infected group was 29(male 18, female 11, mean age 5.5 years old), and that of non-infected group was 26(male 17, female 9, mean age 5.2 years old). There were no sex and age differences between the two groups. The mean concentrations of serum ECP in infected group and non-infected group were 14.37+/-9.00microgram/L and 9.15+/-7.75microgram/L, respectively. It showed significant change statistically(P<.05). Total eosinophil count in infected group(221.10+/-232.84/mm3) was higher than that of non-infected group(171.8+/-262.46/mm3). There was no significant difference between the two groups. But there was an increment of serum ECP and eosinophilia and no increment of total IgE and specific IgE in either group(P<.001). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that ECP may as a factor cause damage to the respiratory system similar to asthma in children with M. pneumonia.

MELAS Syndrome Confirmed by Mitochondrial DNA Analysis in Siblings

MELAS(mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes) syndrome is a major subgroup of mitochondrial myopathy. Recent advances in molecular genetics revealed specific mutations in mitochondrial DNA which cause MELAS. We described here clinical and molecular genetic findings of sister and brother with MELAS syndrome. For molecular genetic studies, DNAs from peripheral blood nucleated cells were used. And the substitution of adenine to guanine at the nucleated position 3243 in the mitochondrial tRNALeu(UUR) gene was confirmed in the patients. Their mother was a heteroplasmic pattern which supports maternal transmission.