Potential of Casiopeínas® Copper Complexes and Antituberculosis Drug Combination against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

New compounds with antituberculosis activity and their combination with classic drugs have been evaluated to determine possible interactions and antagonism. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro activity of Casiopeínas® copper-based compounds (CasIIIia, CasIIIEa, and CasIIgly) alone and combined with isoniazid (INH), rifampicin, or ethambutol (EMB) against resistant and susceptible Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Seventeen clinical M. tuberculosis isolates (5 multi-drug resistant and 2 resistant to INH and/or EMB) were subjected to determination of the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) by the resazurin microtiter assay and combination assessment by the resazurin drug combination microtiter assay. The Casiopeínas® alone showed a remarkable effect against resistant isolates with MIC values from 0.78 to 12.50 µg/ml. Furthermore, a synergistic effect mainly with EMB is shown for both resistant and susceptible clinical isolates. Casiopeínas® are promising candidates for future investigation into the development of antituberculosis drugs, being one of the first examples of essential metal-based drugs used in this field.

HLA and MICA genes in patients with tuberculosis in Brazil.

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes have been investigated because of their crucial role in the defense against pathogens and their high degree of polymorphism. We performed a case-control study to assess a genetic association of MHC genes with susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB). The allelic lineages HLA-A*02 and B*18 were significantly less frequent in TB patients (n = 112, 44.6% women) than in controls (n = 224, 51.5% women): 18.8% vs 26.5%; odds ratio (OR) = 0.64; P = 0.037 and 2.7% vs 6.9%; OR = 0.37; P = 0.041. The negative association with haplotype HLA-B*18-MICA*018 (2.3% patients vs 6.4% controls; OR = 0.34; P = 0.035) was significant as a consequence of strong linkage disequilibrium (D' = 0.827 for patients and 0.923 for controls). These findings suggest a trend toward protection of the HLA-A*02 and HLA-B*18 alleles.

Isoniazid and verapamil modulatory activity and efflux pump gene expression in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

INTRODUCTION: Resistance to first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs is a major concern in the treatment of the disease. New strategies, such as the use of efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs), are being investigated to improve the outcome of the treatment. Verapamil (VP), one such inhibitor, was shown to inhibit several efflux pump (EP) Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins and demonstrate synergic activity with anti-TB drugs.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the combinatory effect of isoniazid (INH) and VP in M. tuberculosis.METHODS: Minimal inhibitory concentrations and combinatory effects of INH+VP were determined using respectively resazurin microtitre assay plate (REMA) and resazurin drugs combination microtitre assay (REDCA). From the results, we selected three bacilli with different susceptibility profiles and assessed their expression of 10 EP genes through quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction after exposure to INH, VP and INH + VP for 48 h.RESULTS: A significant reduction of INH MIC was observed in INH-susceptible isolates upon combination with VP. In brief, gene expression assays revealed expression patterns that could be correlated with each resistance profile, presence or absence of gene mutations and combinatory effect with VP.CONCLUSION: Combining VP with INH showed important results in drug-susceptible strains, and clinical trials on combined VP + anti-TB drugs should be discussed.

Pyrazinamide susceptibility testing in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using the fast resazurin microtiter assay plate.

SETTING: Department of Clinical Analysis and Biomedicine, State University of Maringa, Maringa, PR, Brazil. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of the resazurin microtiter assay (REMA) plate at pH 5.5 in detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis susceptibility to pyrazinamide (PZA). DESIGN: The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of PZA in M. tuberculosis H37Rv and M. bovis AN5 reference strains and in 34 clinical M. tuberculosis isolates (26 PZA-susceptible and eight PZA-resistant) was determined using REMA at pH 5.5 and compared to REMA at pH 6.0. RESULTS: REMA at pH 5.5 was helpful in discriminating PZA-susceptible from resistant M. tuberculosis isolates when â©¿50 µg/ml PZA was considered as the cut-off for PZA susceptibility. Furthermore, it provided results in 8 days. However, two PZA-resistant isolates failed to grow at pH 5.5. CONCLUSION: As the REMA method is rapid, inexpensive, easy to perform and read, it would be of great usefulness in low-income countries for detecting PZA-resistant M. tuberculosis. REMA at pH 5.6-5.9 should be evaluated on an extended panel of clinical M. tuberculosis isolates with a greater range of MIC values in different laboratories for a better understanding of its utility in differentiating PZA-resistant from PZA-susceptible isolates.

[Frequency of anti-Cysticercus cellulosae antibodies in individuals from five counties in the Northern region of Brazil]. / Freqüência de anticorpos anti-Cysticercus cellulosae em indivíduos de cinco municípios da região Norte do Estado do Paraná-Brasil.

An epidemiological and serological study was carried out on a sample of 2,180 individuals, in five counties in the north of Paraná State-Brazil, using the indirect immunofluorescence test to detect anti-Cysticercus cellulosae antibodies. These individuals, 69 (3.2%) showed significant titers of antibodies. No single significant difference between the proportion of reactivity in Sarandi (6.6%) and in Marialva (4.7%) was observed (Z = 1,319, P = 0.0936), but it was significantly higher than that observed in Mandaguaçu, Paiçandu and Maringá (P < 0.01). Of these individuals, 47.9% were within 21-49 years old and 79.4% were of female sex. "Headache" (70.6%), "faintness" (57.4%), and "convulsions" (7.4%) were among the most frequent by reported, moreover, cases of Taenia infections (22.1%) and the custom of eating uncooked beef (41.2%) or pork (27.9%) and meat containing cysticerci (25.0%) were also related.

In vitro interaction of eupomatenoid-5 from Piper solmsianum C. DC. var. solmsianum and anti-tuberculosis drugs.

SETTING: Department of Clinical Analysis and Biomedicine, State University of Maringa, Maringa, Parana, Brazil. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the in vitro interaction between eupomatenoid-5 (EUP-5), extracted from Piper solmsianum C. DC. var. solmsianum, and first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and 20 clinical isolates. DESIGN: Resazurin drugs combination microtiter assay (REDCA) was performed to determine the interaction between EUP-5 and isoniazid, rifampicin (RMP) and ethambutol (EMB). RESULTS: Synergism was observed in M. tuberculosis H37Rv and eight clinical isolates with EUP-5+RMP, and in M. tuberculosis H37Rv and 17 clinical isolates with EUP-5+EMB combinations. CONCLUSION: EUP-5 is a promising compound for further studies on the development of anti-tuberculosis drugs.

Anti-tuberculosis neolignans from Piper regnellii.

The present study determined the anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis activities of supercritical CO2 extracts, neolignans eupomatenoid-5 (1), conocarpan (4) and eupomatenoid-3 (7) and their derivatives (2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) from Piper regnellii, as well as their cytotoxicities. The supercritical CO2 extract from leaves was purified by chromatographic methods, yielding compounds (1), (4) and (7), which were identified by (1)H NMR and comparison with literature data. Anti-M. tuberculosis activity (H37Rv and clinical isolates) was evaluated using a resazurin microtiter assay plate (REMA) to determine the MIC. The cytotoxicity assay was carried out in macrophages J774G.8 by sulforhodamine B colorimetric assay. The supercritical CO2 extracts from leaves and stems, and compound (4) showed activity against M. tuberculosis (MIC 15.6 µg/ml). Compound (1) showed the best activity (MIC 1.9 µg/ml), with good SI. Compounds (7) and (8) showed low activity against M. tuberculosis H37Rv. The derivative compounds did not show increased anti-M. tuberculosis activity. This is the first report, to our knowledge, to describe neolignans from P. regnellii with activity against M. tuberculosis, and compound (1) is a potential candidate for future antituberculosis drugs.

Use of the polymerase chain reaction to detect Mycobacterium leprae in urine.

Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been applied to detect M. leprae in different clinical samples and urine seems to be attractive for this purpose. PCR was used to improve the sensitivity for diagnosing leprosy by amplifying a 151-bp PCR fragment of the M. leprae pra gene (PCR-Pra) in urine samples. Seventy-three leprosy patients (39 males and 34 females, 14 to 78 years old) were selected for leprosy diagnosis at a reference laboratory in Maringá, PR, Brazil. Of these, 36 were under anti-leprosy multidrug therapy with dapsone and rifampicin for tuberculoid (TT) and dapsone, rifampicin and clofazimine for borderline (BB) and lepromatous (LL) forms. The control group contained 50 healthy individuals without any clinical history of leprosy. DNA isolated from leprosy patients' urine samples was successfully amplified by PCR-Pra in 46.6% (34/73) of the cases. The positivity of PCR-Pra for patients with the TT form was 75% for both patients under treatment and non-treated patients (P = 0.1306). In patients with the LL form, PCR-Pra positivity was 52 and 30% for patients under treatment and non-treated patients, respectively (P = 0.2386). PCR-Pra showed a statistically significant difference in detecting M. leprae between the TT and LL forms of leprosy in patients under treatment (P = 0.0033). Although the current study showed that the proposed PCR-Pra has some limitations in the detection of M. leprae, this method has the potential to be a useful tool for leprosy diagnosis mainly in TT leprosy where the AFB slit-skin smear is always negative.

Evaluation of the microscopic observation drug susceptibility assay for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistance to pyrazinamide.

The microscopic observation drug susceptibility assay (MODS) was evaluated to determine susceptibility to pyrazinamide in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and compared with the broth microdilution method (BMM), absolute concentration method (ACM), and pyrazinamidase (PZase) determination. We tested 34 M. tuberculosis clinical isolates (24 sensitive and eight resistant to pyrazinamide) and the control strains M. tuberculosis H37Rv (ATCC 27294) and Mycobacterium bovis AN5. The MODS, BMM, ACM and PZase determination provided results in average times of 6, 18, 28 and 7 days, respectively. All methods showed excellent sensitivity and specificity (p <0.05). Of the methods studied, the MODS proved to be faster, efficient, inexpensive, and easy to perform. However, additional studies evaluating the MODS in differentiating pyrazinamide-resistant and pyrazinamide-susceptible M. tuberculosis must be conducted with a larger number of clinical isolates.

Direct detection of Mycobacterium bovis in bovine lymph nodes by PCR.

Thirty-five lymph node samples were taken from animals with macroscopic lesions consistent with Mycobacterium bovis infection. The animals were identified by postmortem examination in an abattoir in the northwestern region of state of Paraná, Brazil. Twenty-two of the animals had previously been found to be tuberculin skin test positive. Tissue samples were decontaminated by Petroff's method and processed for acid-fast bacilli staining, culture in Stonebrink and Lowenstein-Jensen media and DNA extraction. Lymph node DNA samples were amplified by PCR in the absence and presence (inhibitor controls) of DNA extracted from M. bovis culture. Mycobacterium bovis was identified in 14 (42.4%) lymph node samples by both PCR and by culture. The frequency of PCR-positive results (54.5%) was similar to that of culture-positive results (51.5%, P > 0.05). The percentage of PCR-positive lymph nodes increased from 39.4% (13/33) to 54.5% (18/33) when samples that were initially PCR-negative were reanalysed using 2.5 microl DNA (two samples) and 1 : 2 diluted DNA (three samples). PCR sensitivity was affected by inhibitors and by the amount of DNA in the clinical samples. Our results indicate that direct detection of M. bovis in lymph nodes by PCR may be a fast and useful tool for bovine tuberculosis epidemic management in the region.

Use of the polymerase chain reaction to detect Mycobacterium leprae in urine

Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been applied to detect M. leprae in different clinical samples and urine seems to be attractive for this purpose. PCR was used to improve the sensitivity for diagnosing leprosy by amplifying a 151-bp PCR fragment of the M. leprae pra gene (PCR-Pra) in urine samples. Seventy-three leprosy patients (39 males and 34 females, 14 to 78 years old) were selected for leprosy diagnosis at a reference laboratory in Maringá, PR, Brazil. Of these, 36 were under anti-leprosy multidrug therapy with dapsone and rifampicin for tuberculoid (TT) and dapsone, rifampicin and clofazimine for borderline (BB) and lepromatous (LL) forms. The control group contained 50 healthy individuals without any clinical history of leprosy. DNA isolated from leprosy patients’ urine samples was successfully amplified by PCR-Pra in 46.6 percent (34/73) of the cases. The positivity of PCR-Pra for patients with the TT form was 75 percent for both patients under treatment and non-treated patients (P = 0.1306). In patients with the LL form, PCR-Pra positivity was 52 and 30 percent for patients under treatment and non-treated patients, respectively (P = 0.2386). PCR-Pra showed a statistically significant difference in detecting M. leprae between the TT and LL forms of leprosy in patients under treatment (P = 0.0033). Although the current study showed that the proposed PCR-Pra has some limitations in the detection of M. leprae, this method has the potential to be a useful tool for leprosy diagnosis mainly in TT leprosy where the AFB slit-skin smear is always negative.

pncA mutations in pyrazinamide-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates from the southeast region of Brazil.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the presence of mutations in the pncA gene in 31 pyrazinamide-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis and 5 susceptible strains. MICs and pyrazinamidase (PZase) activity were also determined. METHODS: All 36 M. tuberculosis clinical isolates were genotyped by mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units (MIRUs) and most were also typed by spoligotyping. The MIC value necessary to inhibit 99% of the resistant mycobacterial isolates was determined by microplate Alamar Blue assay (MABA) and by Löwenstein-Jensen assay (LJA). The PZase activity was measured by pyrazinamide deamination to pyrazinoic acid and ammonia, and the entire pncA sequence including the 410 bp upstream from the start codon was determined by DNA sequencing of purified PCR products. RESULTS: Of the 31 isolates resistant to pyrazinamide, 26 (83.9%) showed at least one mutation in the pncA gene or in its putative regulatory region. Among the 22 different mutations detected in the pncA gene and in its regulatory region, 9 (40.9%) mutations (consisting of six substitutions, two insertions and one deletion) have not been described in previous studies. Three pyrazinamide-resistant isolates, confirmed by MIC varying from 800 to 1600 mg/L, carried the wild-type pncA sequence and retained PZase activity. CONCLUSIONS: These results contribute to the knowledge of the molecular mechanism of pyrazinamide resistance in Brazil and also expand the profile of pncA mutations worldwide. The MABA was successfully used to determine the MICs of pyrazinamide.