Samaneh Saedi; kiarash ghazvini; Masoud Youssefi; Hadi Safdar; saman soleimanpour; Parviz Afrough; Amir Azimian; hamid solgi; Masoud Keikha
Abstract
AbstractBackground: Mycobacterium tuberculosis is still one of the most dangerous human pathogens. Identification of the relationships between different clinical strains has remained a high priority for epidemiology research. Methods: In this study, we used MLSA (Multilocus sequence analysis) to generate ...
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AbstractBackground: Mycobacterium tuberculosis is still one of the most dangerous human pathogens. Identification of the relationships between different clinical strains has remained a high priority for epidemiology research. Methods: In this study, we used MLSA (Multilocus sequence analysis) to generate a highly robust phylogeny of M. tuberculosis. MLSA, based on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was performed on five genes fragments from the Rpsl (302 bp), MprA (559 bp), LipR (322 bp), KatG (488 bp) and Fgd1 (266 bp), in order to identify polymorphic nucleotide sites, and the discriminatory power of each locus for all genes was measured with Hunter‐Gaston Index (HGI). Results: In this study, a sequence type (ST) number was assigned to each unique allelic profile, and 9 sequence types were identified from 20 strains, these imply that there is a high diversity of strains in this area. Conclusion: Our results showed that the presence of high genetic diversity among clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis in Northeast of Iran. There is no evidence for recent transmission. Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Multi-locus sequence analysis; Molecular epidemiology; Tuberculosis; KatG; Rpsl1. IntroductionMycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), the causative agents of tuberculosis (TB), is one of the most successful human pathogens, infecting nearly one-third of the people all around the world, causing over 9 million new cases and 1.7 million deaths each year [1-2]. Identification of the relationships between different clinical strains of M. tuberculosis has great significance to the public health [3].
Masoud Keikha
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) is remains as one of the most public health concern that approximately 9.9 million individuals were fell ill with TB and 1.5 million people died from this disease (1-2). Routinely, local tuberculosis control programs follow the DOTS (directly-observed treatment, short-course) strategy ...
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Tuberculosis (TB) is remains as one of the most public health concern that approximately 9.9 million individuals were fell ill with TB and 1.5 million people died from this disease (1-2). Routinely, local tuberculosis control programs follow the DOTS (directly-observed treatment, short-course) strategy that introduced by WHO since 2006 (3)In summary, tuberculosis is one of the top health challenge throughout the worldwide that HIV and emergence of drug-resistant TB confounds this problem. Implementation and evaluation of stewardship can helpful strategy to elimination of tuberculosis and curb drug-resistant TB. Development of new antimicrobial stewardship that guarantee treatment adherence and rapid case detection could be associated with decrease TB burden. According to previous literature, antimicrobial stewardship plans containing ongoing healthcare workers’ education, laboratories modification, formulary restriction as well as optimizing the drug dosage and treatment course could increase case detection and appropriate prescription that reduce drug-resistant TB burden in various geographical region.
Masoud Youssefi; Golsa Teimouri; Farnaz Zahedi Avval; kiarash ghazvini; Masoud Keikha
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the serum levels of ST2 protein and interleukin-33 in patients affected to tuberculosis and compare them with the control group. In the present study, at first 30 patients affected to TB were randomly selected and 52 healthy individuals, who were matched with respect ...
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The aim of this study was to determine the serum levels of ST2 protein and interleukin-33 in patients affected to tuberculosis and compare them with the control group. In the present study, at first 30 patients affected to TB were randomly selected and 52 healthy individuals, who were matched with respect to their age and gender, included in the study as the control group. After that, the serum levels of sST2 and IL33 were measured by ELISA sandwich method using commercial Quantikine Human ELISA kit (R&D Systems). The data were finally analyzed by SPSS software. IL-33 levels in the TB group were higher than the healthy controls and a statistically significant difference was observed in the IL-33 levels between the two groups (P = 0.021). Moreover, IL-33R (ST2) was slightly increased in the TB patients compared to the healthy controls, although statistical analysis showed no significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.083). Regarding the high normal variation of sST2 and the limitations of the present study, it is recommended that future studies of sST2 be performed in with higher number of TB patients.
Mohsen karbalaei; Kiarash Ghazvini; Masoud Keikha
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) infection is caused by an intracellular bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). The disease is among the most important infectious diseases, which has dedicated most cases of morbidity and mortality to itself worldwide. The global report of World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019 ...
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Tuberculosis (TB) infection is caused by an intracellular bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). The disease is among the most important infectious diseases, which has dedicated most cases of morbidity and mortality to itself worldwide. The global report of World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019 shows that from 10.7 million infected people in 2018, 1.6 million died. Although the BCG vaccine has been used for about a hundred years, it is only effective in children, but is not able to produce a protective and reliable immunity against adult pulmonary TB. Hence, using an alternative vaccine with high more efficacy than BCG seems to be urgent. The IL-33/ST2 axis forms of IL-33 and ST2, and both of them are the members of IL-1 family. IL-33 is secreted as an alarm in response to cell damages and cellular stress, and ST2 causes stimulation of MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway, which is needed for the proper response of infected cells to Mtb and other intracellular pathogens. In Th2 cells, NF-κB enters into the nucleus, and acts as a transcription factor. Finally, cytokines such as IL-4, IL-5, and IL-10 are produced which are effective in the prevention of tissue damage. Based on various information, it is recommended that IL-33 can be as a novel therapeutic candidate in post-exposure cases of TB disease.
Masoud Youssefi; Majid Eslami; Mohsen Karbalaei; Masoud Keikha; Kiarash Ghazvini
Abstract
Cancer is defined as uncontrolled cell division, which could spread or invade various tissues. There are more than 200 types of cancer, including breast, skin, lung, colon, and prostate cancer, and lymphoma, the symptoms and indications of which vary depending on the type of tissues. Cancer has several ...
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Cancer is defined as uncontrolled cell division, which could spread or invade various tissues. There are more than 200 types of cancer, including breast, skin, lung, colon, and prostate cancer, and lymphoma, the symptoms and indications of which vary depending on the type of tissues. Cancer has several treatments with different applications. For instance, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery or their combination are common treatment modalities for cancer. However, a complete cure for cancer has not been achieved yet. On the other hand, novel drugs for cancer treatment are not efficient due to the ability of cancer cells to develop resistance against chemotherapeutic agents. Recently, natural compounds have been reported to improve the efficiency of cancer treatment. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are natural compounds that could be used as dietary supplements in cancer patients. PUFAs are classified into two main categories, including n-3 and n-6 PUFAs. According to the literature, n-3 PUFAs exert protective effects against cancer through the induction of apoptotic pathways and suppressing cell proliferation, while n-6 PUFAs cause tumor formation by inducing cell growth and proliferation. Using PUFAs in combination with chemotherapeutic agents is considered to be an effective approach to the treatment of cancer patients through increasing cancer cell death. This review aimed to discuss the interactive effects of the structure and function of PUFAs on cancer and cell processes through various signaling pathways.
Mohsen Karbalaei; Saman Soleimanpour; Majid Eslami; Bahman Yousefi; Masoud Keikha
Abstract
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is considered to be a major public health concern and a successful intracellular pathogen associated with high mortality worldwide. The Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is the only available vaccine for the prevention of tuberculosis (TB) and tubercular meningitis ...
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Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is considered to be a major public health concern and a successful intracellular pathogen associated with high mortality worldwide. The Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is the only available vaccine for the prevention of tuberculosis (TB) and tubercular meningitis in children. However, BCG is not adequately effective in the treatment of the adults affected to TB. According to the literature, there are controversial data on the potential role of B cells. B cells and humoral immune response play a key role in the amplification of the host immune response against TB. This review study aimed to discuss B cells and humoral immune responses in TB infection and assess its application as a therapeutic option. The monitoring of various B cell phenotypes in TB could be a reliable marker for the prediction of TB in individuals, especially in the latent form. According to the findings, the CMI response (especially Th1 activities) is not sufficient for efficient protection against TB, and B cells and Abs influence the innate immunocytes and Th1, while playing a pivotal role in various outcomes of exposure with tubercle bacilli. Although B cells may contribute to Mtb in the development of active TB, further investigations are required regarding the effects of B cells and humoral immunity on TB pathogenesis and the targeted harmful humoral-mediated response. Moreover, B cells and antibodies could be proper biomarkers to promote the studies regarding the detection of reliable diagnostic tools for the reactivation of latent TB, as well as use as a new generation of therapeutic options.
Kiarash Ghazvini; Shamsoddin Mansouri; Mohammad-Taghi Shakeri; Masoud Youssefi; Mohammad Derakhshan; Masoud Keikha
Abstract
Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic bacterial disease and a leading cause of mortality among single-agent infectious diseases following the human immunodeficiency virus infection across the world. Logistic regression is a method of statistical analysis with predictive capability. This multivariate ...
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Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic bacterial disease and a leading cause of mortality among single-agent infectious diseases following the human immunodeficiency virus infection across the world. Logistic regression is a method of statistical analysis with predictive capability. This multivariate statistical method could be used to evaluate the correlations between independent variables (albeit confounding) and a dependent variable. The present study aimed to assess the influential factors in the incidence of TB based on the estimations of a logistic regression predictive model.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on two groups consisting of 189 TB patients and 189 controls. The influential factors in TB were compared between the groups, including age, gender, marital status, risk of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), smoking habits, history of asthma, organ transplantation, body mass index (BMI), vitamin D3 level, diabetes, and rate of hemoglobin and malignant diseases. In addition, the predictive potential of the logistic regression model was determined based on various indices, such as sensitivity, specificity, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of the regression model were estimated at 78% and 68%, respectively, and the area under the ROC curve was calculated to be 0.821. Among the available influential factors in the dependent variable (i.e., TB), the variables of vitamin D3 and hemoglobin levels and BMI were considered significant. Conclusion: According to the results, the logistic regression model is appropriate for the prediction of TB considering the accuracy and predictive power of its criteria, as well as the area under the ROC curve (0.821), which could provide the test accuracy for the diagnosis TB.