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Laterza L, Putignani L, Settanni CR, Petito V, Varca S, De Maio F, Macari G, Guarrasi V, Gremese E, Tolusso B, Wlderk G, Pirro MA, Fanali C, Scaldaferri F, Turchini L, Amatucci V, Sanguinetti M, Gasbarrini A. Ecology and Machine Learning-Based Classification Models of Gut Microbiota and Inflammatory Markers May Evaluate the Effects of Probiotic Supplementation in Patients Recently Recovered from COVID-19. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24076623. [PMID: 37047594 PMCID: PMC10094838 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24076623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Revised: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Gut microbiota (GM) modulation can be investigated as possible solution to enhance recovery after COVID-19. An open-label, single-center, single-arm, pilot, interventional study was performed by enrolling twenty patients recently recovered from COVID-19 to investigate the role of a mixed probiotic, containing Lactobacilli, Bifidobacteria and Streptococcus thermophilus, on gastrointestinal symptoms, local and systemic inflammation, intestinal barrier integrity and GM profile. Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale, cytokines, inflammatory, gut permeability, and integrity markers were evaluated before (T0) and after 8 weeks (T1) of probiotic supplementation. GM profiling was based on 16S-rRNA targeted-metagenomics and QIIME 2.0, LEfSe and PICRUSt computational algorithms. Multiple machine learning (ML) models were trained to classify GM at T0 and T1. A statistically significant reduction of IL-6 (p < 0.001), TNF-α (p < 0.001) and IL-12RA (p < 0.02), citrulline (p value < 0.001) was reported at T1. GM global distribution and microbial biomarkers strictly reflected probiotic composition, with a general increase in Bifidobacteria at T1. Twelve unique KEGG orthologs were associated only to T0, including tetracycline resistance cassettes. ML classified the GM at T1 with 100% score at phylum level. Bifidobacteriaceae and Bifidobacterium spp. inversely correlated to reduction of citrulline and inflammatory cytokines. Probiotic supplementation during post-COVID-19 may trigger anti-inflammatory effects though Bifidobacteria and related-metabolism enhancement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucrezia Laterza
- CeMAD, Digestive Disease Center, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Lorenza Putignani
- Department of Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine, Unit of Microbiology and Diagnostic Immunology, Unit of Microbiomics and Immunology, Rheumatology and Infectious diseases Research Area, Unit of Human Microbiome, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, 00165 Rome, Italy
| | - Carlo Romano Settanni
- CeMAD, Digestive Disease Center, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Valentina Petito
- CeMAD, Digestive Disease Center, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Simone Varca
- CeMAD, Digestive Disease Center, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Flavio De Maio
- Laboratorio di Microbiologia Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze di Laboratorio ed Infettivologiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | | | | | - Elisa Gremese
- Immunology Facility, Gstep, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Barbara Tolusso
- Immunology Facility, Gstep, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Giulia Wlderk
- CeMAD, Digestive Disease Center, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Maria Antonia Pirro
- CeMAD, Digestive Disease Center, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Caterina Fanali
- CeMAD, Digestive Disease Center, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Franco Scaldaferri
- CeMAD, Digestive Disease Center, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Turchini
- CeMAD, Digestive Disease Center, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Valeria Amatucci
- CeMAD, Digestive Disease Center, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Maurizio Sanguinetti
- Laboratorio di Microbiologia Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze di Laboratorio ed Infettivologiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Antonio Gasbarrini
- CeMAD, Digestive Disease Center, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
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Di Tommaso N, Santopaolo F, Gasbarrini A, Ponziani FR. The Gut-Vascular Barrier as a New Protagonist in Intestinal and Extraintestinal Diseases. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24021470. [PMID: 36674986 PMCID: PMC9864173 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24021470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2022] [Revised: 01/07/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The intestinal barrier, with its multiple layers, is the first line of defense between the outside world and the intestine. Its disruption, resulting in increased intestinal permeability, is a recognized pathogenic factor of intestinal and extra-intestinal diseases. The identification of a gut-vascular barrier (GVB), consisting of a structured endothelium below the epithelial layer, has led to new evidence on the etiology and management of diseases of the gut-liver axis and the gut-brain axis, with recent implications in oncology as well. The gut-brain axis is involved in several neuroinflammatory processes. In particular, the recent description of a choroid plexus vascular barrier regulating brain permeability under conditions of gut inflammation identifies the endothelium as a key regulator in maintaining tissue homeostasis and health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Di Tommaso
- Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Francesco Santopaolo
- Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Antonio Gasbarrini
- Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
- Translational Medicine and Surgery Department, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Romana Ponziani
- Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
- Translational Medicine and Surgery Department, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy
- Correspondence:
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PLVAP as an Early Marker of Glomerular Endothelial Damage in Mice with Diabetic Kidney Disease. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24021094. [PMID: 36674624 PMCID: PMC9865597 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24021094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Revised: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/01/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Plasmalemma vesicle-associated protein (PLVAP) is the main component of endothelial diaphragms in fenestrae, caveolae, and transendothelial channels. PLVAP is expressed in the adult kidney glomerulus upon injury. Glomerular endothelial injury is associated with progressive loss of kidney function in diabetic kidney disease (DKD). This study aimed to investigate whether PLVAP could serve as a marker for glomerular endothelial damage in DKD. Glomerular PLVAP expression was analyzed in different mouse models of DKD and their respective healthy control animals using automatic digital quantification of histological whole kidney sections. Transgenic mice expressing a dominant-negative GIP receptor (GIPRdn) in pancreatic beta-cells as a model for diabetes mellitus (DM) type 1 and black and tan brachyuric (BTBR) ob/ob mice, as a model for DM type 2, were used. Distinct PLVAP induction was observed in all diabetic models studied. Traces of glomerular PLVAP expression could be identified in the healthy control kidneys using automated quantification. Stainings for other endothelial injury markers such as CD31 or the erythroblast transformation-specific related gene (ERG) displayed no differences between diabetic and healthy groups at the time points when PLVAP was induced. The same was also true for the mesangial cells marker α8Integrin, while the podocyte marker nephrin appeared to be diminished only in BTBR ob/ob mice. Glomerular hypertrophy, which is one of the initial morphological signs of diabetic kidney damage, was observed in both diabetic models. These findings suggest that PLVAP is an early marker of glomerular endothelial injury in diabetes-induced kidney damage in mice.
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Ma K, Chen X, Zhao X, Chen S, Yang J. PLVAP is associated with glioma-associated malignant processes and immunosuppressive cell infiltration as a promising marker for prognosis. Heliyon 2022; 8:e10298. [PMID: 36033326 PMCID: PMC9404362 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2022] [Revised: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous reports have confirmed the significance of plasmalemma vesicle-associated protein (PLVAP) in the progression of multiple tumors; however, there are few studies examining its immune properties in the context of gliomas. Here, we methodically investigated the pathophysiological characteristics and clinical manifestations of gliomas. A total of 699 patients diagnosed with gliomas in the cancer genome atlas along with 325 glioma patients in the Chinese glioma genome atlas were collected for the training and validation sets. We analyzed and visualized the total statistics using RStudio. PLVAP was markedly upregulated among high grade gliomas, O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase promoter unmethylated subforms, isocitrate dehydrogenase wild forms, 1p19q non-codeletion subforms, and mesenchyme type gliomas. The receiver operating characteristics analysis illustrated the favorable applicability of PLVAP in regard to estimating mesenchyme subform gliomas. Subsequent Kaplan–Meier curves together with multivariable Cox analyses upon survival identified high-expression PLVAP as a distinct prognostic variable for patients with gliomas. Gene ontology analysis of PLVAP among gliomas has documented the predominant role of this protein in glioma-associated immunobiological processes and also in inflammatory responses. We consequently examined the associations of PLVAP with immune-related meta-genes, and PLVAP was positively correlated with hematopoietic cell kinase, lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) I, MHC II, signal transducer and activator of transcription 1, and interferon and was negatively correlated with immunoglobulin G. Moreover, association analyses between PLVAP and glioma-infiltrating immunocytes indicated that the infiltrating degrees of most immune cells exhibited positive correlations with PLVAP expression, particularly immunosuppressive subsets such as tumor-related macrophages, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, and regulatory T lymphocytes. In summary, we originally demonstrated that PLVAP is markedly associated with immunosuppressive immune cell infiltration degrees, unfavorable survival, and adverse pathology types among gliomas, thus identifying PLVAP as a practicable marker and a promising target for glioma-based precise diagnosis and therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaiming Ma
- Department of Neurosurgery, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Xin Chen
- Department of Neurosurgery, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China.,Center for Precision Neurosurgery and Oncology of Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaofang Zhao
- Department of Neurosurgery, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Suhua Chen
- Department of Neurosurgery, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Jun Yang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China.,Center for Precision Neurosurgery and Oncology of Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China
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Candidate Biomarkers for the Detection of Serious Infections in Children: A Prospective Clinical Study. CHILDREN 2022; 9:children9050682. [PMID: 35626858 PMCID: PMC9139697 DOI: 10.3390/children9050682] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2022] [Revised: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Serious bacterial infections (SBI) in children are associated with considerable morbidity and mortality, and their early identification remains challenging. The role of laboratory tests in this setting is still debated, and new biomarkers are needed. This prospective, observational, single-center study aims to evaluate the diagnostic role of blood biomarkers in detecting SBI in children presenting with signs of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). A panel of biomarkers was performed, including C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), white blood cell count (WBC), absolute neutrophil count (ANC), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10, human terminal complement complex (C5b-9), Plasmalemma-Vesicle-associated protein 1 (PV-1), Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (ICAM-1), and Phospholipase A2 (PLA2). Among 103 patients (median age 2.9 years, 60% males), 39 had a diagnosis of SBI (38%). Significant predictors of SBI were CRP (p = 0.001) and ICAM-1 (p = 0.043). WBC (p = 0.035), ANC (p = 0.012) and ANC/WBC ratio (p = 0.015) were also significantly associated with SBI in children without pre-existing neutropenia. ROC curves, however, revealed suboptimal performance for all variables. Nevertheless, a model that combined CRP and ANC/WBC ratio had more in-depth diagnostic accuracy than either of the two variables. Overall, this study confirms the limited usefulness of blood biomarkers for the early diagnosis of SBI. WBC, ANC, ANC/WBC ratio, CRP, and ICAM-1 showed the best, albeit moderate, diagnostic accuracy.
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