Immune status of Greek patients with β-thalassemia major negative for anti-HIV

Summary Patients with thalassemia who receive multiple blood transfusions are at risk for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations were studied in 22 multitransfused thalassemic patients; 10 patients were without splenectomy and 12 were studied after splenectomy. Both groups were negative for anti-HIV. Four additional patients who were found positive for anti-HIV and ten healthy controls were also included in this study. Patients without splenectomy compared to controls and to patients after splenectomy showed a significant decrease of both percentage (p<0.001) and absolute numbers (p<0.001) of Leu-7⁺ cells without significant abnormalities of T4/T8 ratio (1.56±0.4). Patients after splenectomy compared to controls and to patients without splenectomy showed a significant increase of the absolute numbers of lymphocytes and lymphocytes subsets T11⁺, T3⁺, T4⁺, T8⁺ and SmIg⁺ cells. In the seropositive patients for HIV only a significant increase of the absolute number of T8⁺ cells was observed while the T4/T8 ratio was 1.24±0.73. The decrease in the percentage of Leu-7⁺ cells in patients without splenectomy correlated inversely to the total amount of blood transfused. In conclusion patients with thalassemia had normal T4/T8 ratio and did not show the abnormal immunologic profile that has been reported in haemophiliacs.     

Circulating soluble vascular adhesion protein 1 in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

OBJECTIVE: A dysregulated local immune defence with a constant influx of leucocytes provides a basis for continuous intestinal inflammation in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Since vascular adhesion protein 1 (VAP-1) is one of the adhesion molecules that mediates lymphocyte binding to endothelium, we investigated the levels of soluble VAP-1 (sVAP-1) in the sera of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients compared with healthy controls. METHODS: sVAP-1 serum levels were measured in 161 IBD patients (90 ulcerative colitis, 71 Crohn's disease) and 93 controls using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). sVAP-1 levels were correlated with disease activity and localization. In 42 patients, sVAP-1 levels were measured in both the active and inactive phases of the disease. RESULTS: sVAP-1 serum levels were detected in all control and IBD subjects. Mean sVAP-1 levels were 365.5 +/- 153.5 ng/ml in ulcerative colitis patients, 336.4 +/- 172.8 ng/ml in Crohn's disease patients, and 344.7 +/- 150.4 ng/ml in healthy controls. The differences between the groups were not significant. No association between disease activity or disease localization and sVAP-1 was found. CONCLUSIONS: sVAP-1 serum concentrations are not significantly different in IBD and healthy control subjects. sVAP-1 serum levels are of no value in the assessment of disease activity or severity of inflammation in patients with IBD.     

Choroidal thickness and ocular growth in childhood

The involvement of the choroid in ocular growth regulation has been postulated in studies showing that refractive errors correlate with alterations in choroidal thickness (ChT). The advent of optical coherence tomography imaging has enabled qualitative and quantitative assessment of the choroid. In children, ChT changes correlate with a number of ocular pathologies, including myopia, retinopathy of prematurity, and amblyopia. We synthesize mechanisms and evidence regarding choroidal thickness variation during childhood. Subfoveal ChT is influenced by a number of factors including age, ethnicity, gender, axial length, and intraocular pressure. Myopic eyes have thinner choroids compared to emmetropic and hyperopic eyes. ChT may in fact serve as a marker of myopic progression, as ChT thinning occurs early during myopic development, but this association has not been established quantitatively. In addition, subfoveal ChT appears thicker in amblyopic eyes, while prematurity and retinopathy of prematurity may be associated with thinner ChT. Overall, both animal models and clinical research indicate that ChT induces or reflects physiological changes in the eye pertaining to ocular growth or maturation.     

Search for hepatitis B virus DNA in sera from patients with acute type B or non-A, non-B hepatitis

One hundred and three single sera from adults hospitalized with acute type B (78) or non-A, non-B (25) hepatitis were tested for the presence of hepatitis B virus DNA (HBV DNA). All sera from patients with type B hepatitis were IgM anti-HBc-positive. These patients were classified as benign (47) or fulminant (31) hepatitis. The 25 acute non-A, non-B patients were also classified as benign (21) or fulminant (4) hepatitis and were negative for serologic markers of past HBV infection. Serum HBV DNA was detected with similar frequency in benign (38.5%) and fulminant (FH, 34.6%) HBsAg-positive cases. HBV DNA was not detected in either the 26 acute HBsAg-negative hepatitis B cases who were positive for anti-HBc and anti-HBs or the 25 acute non-A, non-B hepatitis cases. The absence of HBV DNA in 43.8% of benign hepatitis B patients who were positive for HBsAg and HBeAg could possibly be attributed to either low level replication of HBV that was not detectable by the [32P]HBV DNA probe or to a period of delayed clearance of free HBeAg following cessation of HBV replication. Emergence of anti-HBs in the presence of HBsAg did not always correspond to clearance of HBV in fulminant type B cases. However, in acute type B hepatitis, irrespectively of severity, disappearance of HBsAg and appearance of anti-HBs was accompanied by reduction of HBV replication to undetectable levels.     

Hospital-based surveillance of rotavirus gastroenteritis in the era of limited vaccine uptake through the private sector

To investigate possible impact of limited vaccine uptake by the private sector since 2007, a prospective observational study included all children <5 years hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in a Tertiary Care Hospital between 09/2006 and 08/2010. Rotavirus (RV) antigen was detected in stools by a rapid immunochromatographic test and genotype analysis was performed on positive samples by RT-PCR. Compared to 2006-2008, the likelihood of rotavirus infection was significantly reduced among children hospitalized for AGE in 2008-2010 (OR 0.64; 95%CI: 0.49-0.84, p < 0.001). This was mainly due to the reduction of RVGE cases in infants 0-11 months (p = 0.035). Moreover, RVGE cases as well as the rate of RVGE/10,000 hospitalized children significantly decreased (p = 0.009 and p = 0.010 respectively). No children with rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) had received any vaccine dose. G4P [8] was the most common genotype (64/90). In conclusion, this study indicates that even low RV vaccination coverage may have significant effect.