Gene Expression of Estrogen Receptors in PBMC From Patients With Puumala Virus Infection

Serum Cytokine Alterations Associated with Age of Patients with Nephropathia Epidemica

Nephropathia epidemica (NE) is a zoonotic disease caused by hantaviruses transmitted from rodents, endemic in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. The disease presents clinically with mild, moderate, and severe forms, and time-dependent febrile, oliguric, and polyuric stages of the disease are also recognized. The patient's cytokine responses have been suggested to play a central role in disease pathogenesis; however, little is known about the different patterns of cytokine expression in NE in cohorts of different ages and sexes. Serum samples and clinical records were collected from 139 patients and 57 controls (healthy donors) and were used to analyze 48 analytes with the Bio-Plex multiplex magnetic bead-based antibody detection kits. Principal component analysis of 137 patient and 55 controls (for which there was full data) identified two components that individually accounted for >15% of the total variance in results and together for 38% of the total variance. PC1 represented a proinflammatory TH17/TH2 cell antiviral cytokine profile and PC2 a more antiviral cytokine profile with patients tending to display one or the other of these. Severity of disease and stage of illness did not show any correlation with PC1 profiles; however, significant differences were seen in patients with high PC1 profiles vs. lower for a number of individual clinical parameters: High PC1 patients showed a reduced number of febrile days, but higher maximum urine output, higher creatinine levels, and lower platelet levels. Overall, the results of this study point towards a stronger proinflammatory profile occurring in younger NE patients, this being associated with markers of acute kidney injury and low levels of high-density cholesterol. This is consistent with previous work indicating that the pathology of NE is immune driven, with an inflammatory immune response being associated with disease and that this immune response is more extreme in younger patients.

Bisphenol A induces DNA damage in cells exerting immune surveillance functions at peripheral and central level

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic xenoestrogen diffused worldwide. Humans are chronically exposed to low doses of BPA from food and drinks, thus BPA accumulates in tissues posing human health risk. In this study, we investigated the effects of BPA on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from human healthy donors, and in glia and microglia of rat offspring at postnatal day 17 (17PND) from pregnant females who received BPA soon after coupling and during lactation and weaning. Results indicated that BPA affected Phytoemagglutinin (PHA) stimulated PBMC proliferation causing an S-phase cell cycle accumulation at nanomolar concentrations while BPA was almost ineffective in resting PBMC. Furthermore, BPA induced chromosome aberrations and the appearance of shattered cells characterized by high number of fragmented and pulverized chromosomes, suggesting that the compound could cause a massive genomic rearrangement by inducing catastrophic events. The BPA-induced DNA damage was observed mainly in TCD4+ and TCD8+ subsets of T lymphocytes and was mediated by the increase of ERK1/2 phosphorylation, p21/Waf1 and PARP1 protein expression. Intriguingly, we observed for the first time that BPA-induced effects were associated to a sex specific modulation of ERα and ERβ in human PBMC. Immunofluorescence analysis of rat hippocampus corroborated in vitro findings showing that BPA induced ɣH2AX phosphorylation in microglia and astrocytosis by decreasing ERα expression within the dentate gyrus. Overall these results suggest that BPA can alter immune surveillance functions at both peripheral and central level with a potential risk for cancer, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration.

Viral load of patients with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in Argentina

Hantavirus causes severe illness including pneumonia, which leads to hospitalization and often death. At present, there is no specific treatment available. The hantavirus pathogenesis is not well understood, but most likely both virus-mediated and host-mediated mechanisms, are involved. The aim of this study was to correlate viral load in samples of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome cases and hantavirus infected individuals, with clinical epidemiological parameters and disease outcome. The variables that could potentially be related with viral load were analyzed. The retrospective study included 73 cases or household contacts, with different clinical evolution. Viral load was measured by reverse-transcription and real time polymerase chain reaction. There was no statistically significant association between blood viral RNA levels and severity of disease. However, viral load was inversely correlated with IgG response in a statistically significant manner. The level of viral RNA was significantly higher in patients infected with Andes virus South lineage, and was markedly low in persons infected with Laguna Negra virus. These results suggest that the infecting viral genotype is associated with disease severity, and that high viral load is associated with a low specific IgG response. Sex, age and disease severity were not related with viral load. Further investigations increasing strikingly the number of cases and also limiting the variables to be studied are necessary.

Influence of menstrual cycle on the expression of clock genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in Macaca fascicularis

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether the expression patterns of periphery clock genes were influenced by menstrual cycle in a monkey model.

STUDY DESIGN

In this preliminary study, the expression patterns of four clock genes (Bmal1, Clock, Cry1 and Per2) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 6 female Macaca fascicularis in menstrual, late follicular and mid luteal phases of menstrual cycle were determined by qrt-PCR.

RESULTS

Bmal1 and Per2 mRNA levels were found to exhibit significant diurnal rhythms in all phases of the menstrual cycle. The expression of Cry1 mRNA was statistically rhythmic in late follicular and mid luteal phases. A main effect of menstrual cycle existed on the rhythms of Bmal1, Cry1 and Per2 expression, but not Clock expression. No significant differences were detected between menstrual phase and late follicular phase in all clock genes. Significant differences were found on the expression of Bmal1, Cry1 or Per2 mRNA between late follicular phase and mid luteal phase, when no difference existed in estrogen level, indicating the role of progesterone on biological clock gene expression. Furthermore, the peak of Bmal1 mRNA level slightly advanced in mid luteal phase compared with that in menstrual and late follicular phases.

CONCLUSION

The expression patterns of clock genes in PBMCs were influenced by menstrual cycle, potentially by the change of progesterone levels, and this effect maybe correlated with early pregnancy.

No gender-related differences in the severity of nephropathia epidemica, Germany

BACKGROUND

The number of cases of hantavirus disease caused by Puumala virus is increasing enormously in Germany within the last years. Men are overrepresented in hantavirus disease and differences in course and symptoms in relation to gender were reported from several countries. This study was conducted to define possible gender-specific risk factors and aspects of severity in hantavirus infections occurring in Germany.

METHODS

Characteristics, clinical parameters and symptoms were recorded in a retrospective analysis of 108 patients with serologically confirmed hantavirus infection treated in our department. This cohort corresponds in regard to age, time of infection and gender ratio to the characteristics of the overall cases reported in Germany.

RESULTS

The frequency of characteristic symptoms of hantavirus disease did not differ between males and females. The median of nadir and peak levels of clinical parameters did not exhibit relevant differences that would point to a more severe course in males or females. The clinical course and duration of hospitalization were similar for both sexes. No relevant differences in renal and pulmonary findings were observed. Males with hantavirus disease exhibited more cardiac findings than females.To compare the unequal gender distribution of the rodent-borne Puumala hantavirus disease with the gender ratio of other infectious diseases, we analyzed the gender ratio for notifiable infections according to their mode of transmission. Our data revealed a general overrepresentation of men in infections carried by arthropods and rodents.

CONCLUSIONS

In contrast to reports from other countries, no crucial differences in the symptoms, course or severity of hantavirus disease between infected men and female were observed in our cohort. However behavioural differences may account for the fact that men are more often affected by certain infectious diseases than females.