Mycobacteria, specially Mycobacterium tuberculosis are among the micro-organisms that are increasing dramatically the number of infections with death, all over the world. A great number of animal experimental models have been proposed to investigate the mechanisms involved in the host response against these intracellular parasites. Studies of airway infection in guinea-pigs and rabbits, as well...

RATIONALE Human secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) displays bactericidal activity against pathogens such as Escherichia coli and Streptococcus. Furthermore, it has been reported that murine SLPI shows potent antimycobacterial activity. OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to investigate whether human recombinant SLPI not only kills mycobacteria but also acts as a pattern rec...

During inflammatory responses and wound healing, the conversion of soluble fibrinogen to fibrin, an insoluble extracellular matrix, long has been assumed to create a scaffold for the migration of leukocytes and fibroblasts. Previous studies concluded that fibrinogen is a necessary cofactor for mycobacterial trehalose 6,6'-dimycolate-induced responses, because trehalose dimycolate-coated beads, ...

Bromelain, a mixture of proteases derived from pineapple stem, has been reported to have therapeutic benefits in a variety of inflammatory diseases, including murine inflammatory bowel disease. The purpose of this work was to understand potential mechanisms for this anti-inflammatory activity. Exposure to bromelain in vitro has been shown to remove a number of cell surface molecules that are vi...

Tuberculous meningitis is characterized by cerebral tissue destruction. Monocytes, pivotal in immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, secrete matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), which facilitates leukocyte migration across the blood-brain barrier, but may cause cerebral injury. In vitro, human monocytic (THP-1) cells infected by live, virulent M. tuberculosis secreted MMP-9 in a dose-de...

background and purpose: an important factor involved in infertility is reactive oxygen species (ros). ros can damage sperm dna, and involve lipid per-oxidation. ros elevation is under the influence of leukocyte activation. the objective of this study was to evaluate the level of ros as well as leukocyte, in normozoospermic (no) and ologoasthenoteratozoospermic (oat) ejaculates. materials and me...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens that are recognized by human CD8+ T cells are potentially important vaccine target molecules. We used a motif-based strategy to screen selected proteins of M. tuberculosis for peptides predicted to bind to human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*0201. We identified two 10 amino acid peptides that elicited cytolytic T lymphocyte activity and interferon-gamma productio...

Eales' disease, first described by the British ophthalmologist Henry Eales in 1880, is characterized by three overlapping stages of venous inflammation (vasculitis), occlusion, and retinal neovascularization. Diagnosis is mostly clinical and requires exclusion of other systemic or ocular conditions that could present with similar retinal features. In recent years, immunological, molecular biolo...