HeberNasvac, a Therapeutic Vaccine for Chronic Hepatitis B, Stimulates Local and Systemic Markers of Innate Immunity: Potential Use in SARS-CoV-2 Postexposure Prophylaxis.

INTRODUCTION: More than 180 million people have been infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and more than 4 million coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients have died in 1.5 years of the pandemic. A novel therapeutic vaccine (NASVAC) has shown to be safe and to have immunomodulating and antiviral properties against chronic hepatitis B (CHB). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A phase I/II, open-label controlled and randomized clinical trial of NASVAC as a postexposure prophylaxis treatment was designed with the primary aim of assessing the local and systemic immunomodulatory effect of NASVAC in a cohort of suspected and SARS-CoV-2 risk-contact patients. A total of 46 patients, of both sexes, 60 years or older, presenting with symptoms of COVID-19 were enrolled in the study. Patients received NASVAC (100 µg per Ag per dose) via intranasal at days 1, 7, and 14 and sublingual, daily for 14 days. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The present study detected an increased expression of toll-like receptors (TLR)-related genes in nasopharyngeal tonsils, a relevant property considering these are surrogate markers of SARS protection in the mice model of lethal infection. The HLA-class II increased their expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cell's (PBMC's) monocytes and lymphocytes, which is an attractive property taking into account the functional impairment of innate immune cells from the periphery of COVID-19-infected subjects. NASVAC was safe and well tolerated by the patients with acute respiratory infections and evidenced a preliminary reduction in the number of days with symptoms that needs to be confirmed in larger studies. CONCLUSIONS: Our data justify the use of NASVAC as preemptive therapy or pre-/postexposure prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 and acute respiratory infections in general. The use of NASVAC or their active principles has potential as immunomodulatory prophylactic therapies in other antiviral settings like dengue as well as in malignancies like hepatocellular carcinoma where these markers have shown relation to disease progression. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Fleites YA, Aguiar J, Cinza Z, et al. HeberNasvac, a Therapeutic Vaccine for Chronic Hepatitis B, Stimulates Local and Systemic Markers of Innate Immunity: Potential Use in SARS-CoV-2 Postexposure Prophylaxis. Euroasian J Hepato-Gastroenterol 2021;11(2):59-70.

Increased expression of FAK isoforms as potential cancer biomarkers in ovarian cancer.

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase that is expressed in most human cell types (example: Epithelial cells, fibroblasts and endothelial), it serves a key role in the control of cell survival, proliferation and motility. The abnormal expression of FAK has been associated with poor prognosis in cancer, including ovarian cancer. However, although FAK isoforms with specific molecular and functional properties have been characterized, there are a limited number of published studies that examine FAK isoforms in ovarian cancer. The aim of the present study was to analyze the expression level of FAK and its isoforms in ovarian cancer. The expression of FAK kinase and focal adhesion targeting (FAT) domains was determined with immunohistochemistry in healthy ovary, and serous and mucinous cystadenoma, borderline tumor and carcinoma samples. Additionally, the expression of FAK and its isoforms were investigated in three ovarian cancer-derived cell lines with western blotting and reverse transcription-semi-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. An increased expression of FAK kinase domain was determined in serous tumor samples and was associated with advancement of the lesion. FAK kinase domain expression was moderate-to-low in mucinous tumor samples. The expression of the FAK FAT domain in tumor samples was reduced, compared with healthy ovary samples; however, the FAT domain was localized to the cellular nucleus. Expression of alternative transcripts FAK°, FAK28,6 and FAK28 was determined in all three cell lines investigated. In conclusion, FAK kinase and FAT domains are differentially expressed among ovarian tumor types. These results indicated the presence of at least two isoforms of FAK (FAK and the putative FAK-related non-kinase) in tumor tissue, which is supported by the cells producing at least three FAK alternative transcripts. These results may support the use of FAK and its isoforms as biomarkers for ovarian cancer.

[Diffuse ganglioneuromatosis: infrequent pathology communication and review of literature]. / Ganglioneuromatosis difusa: comunicación de una patología infrecuente y revisión de la literatura.

Ganglioneuromatosis is an infrequent disease characterized by mienteric plexus and enteric nervous fiber hyperplasia, habitually manifested by constipation, pain and abdominal distension. There are two ways of presentation: mucosa or transmural. Regularly may be associated with another pathologies like multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 and Von Recklinghausen's disease. The objective of this publication is to present an extremely infrequent pathology and make a bibliographic review of its clinical, diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutical aspects. We present a fifty-six year old male with a six month history ofabdominal pain and pseudo-obstruction syndrome. During the hospitalization he presents infectious complications, with septic shock secondary to nosocomial pneumonia and death. A Necropsy was done and ganglioneuromatosis was diagnosed. Due to the low incidence of this pathology, it is rarely included in the differential diagnosis of pseudo-obstructive syndrome in adults. The post-mortem diagnosis moved us to perform a bibliographic search to amplify our knowledge and compare this particular case with those previously communicated by other authors.

Formación de ayudantes en Alimentación del niño sano / Assistant professors' training in Feeding Healthy Children

Los procesos de enseñanza–aprendizaje son fundamentales para la formación de cualquier profesional. Quienes integran el equipo docente de “Alimentación del niño sano” de la Universidad de Buenos Aires buscan constantemente reformular las estrategias de enseñanza–aprendizaje. Es por eso que se organizó dentro de ésta materia, la “Escuela de ayudantes”. La misma ha tenido sus orígenes en el año 1998. La finalidad, por aquel entonces, fue crear un ámbito de trabajo en equipo, sobre los temas relacionados con la materia y permitió en el 2004 publicar el libro “Nutrición Pediátrica” y su actualización “Nutrición del Niño Sano” en el 2007. Hoy, gracias al esfuerzo de todos los que han formado parte de ella, se ha logrado sistematizar la formación de los ayudantes para lograr mantener al grupo actualizado y preparado para afrontar la tarea de enseñanza. El equipo docente esta integrado por un pediatra y seis licenciados en Nutrición. En el año 2007 se realizó una evaluación de los ayudantes y del funcionamiento del sistema de formación docente. Al finalizar la evaluación el equipo se encuentra conforme con los resultados y con la modalidad de trabajo. La mayoría de los ayudantes considera fundamental la formación docente y cree que la escuela de ayudantes le ha servido para alcanzar ese objetivo. Desde el punto de vista de los contenidos abordados, los conocimientos, las actitudes y vínculos, las experiencias transmitidas, las horas dedicadas y los tópicos discutidos, tanto ayudantes como docentes a cargo están conformes y lo consideran un espacio de enriquecimiento mutuo. Los autores de esta comunicación consideran de vital importancia la “formación de ayudantes” entre los profesionales de la salud que integran equipos docentes universitarios, así como el trabajo intra e ínter – materias

Niveles de colesterol sanguineo en poblaciones infantiles entre 6 y 10 años de dos estratos socioeconómicos diferentes / Serum cholesterol levels in children

Teniendo en cuenta que los niveles de colesterol sérico constituyen un factor predisponente para la aparición de enfermedades cardiovasculares y siendo un factor prevenible y detectable desde la infancia, se realizó un estudio clínico epidemiológico donde se determinaron las concentraciones de colesterol total sérico empleando el método enzimático (REFLOTRON), en 288 niños bogotanos con edades comprendidas entre los 6 y los 10 años de edad, de ambos sexos y pertenecientes a dos estratos socioeconómicos diferentes, con el fin de determinar los valores promedio y las posibles diferencias entre los dos sexos, grupos de edad y estrato socioeconómico. Dentro de los resultados, se obtuvieron valores promedio de colesterol total de 167,271 +/- 28,173 mg/dl, con diferencias significativas entre los promedios de la población de nivel socioeconómico medio alto y los de medio bajo (t<0,05). No se encontraron diferencias significativas en cuanto a la edad ni al sexo

Tumores del soma, 1981-1987 / Tumors of soma, 1981-1987

Se revisaron 323 historias clínicas de pacientes con afección tumoral, que fueron atendidos en el Servicio de Ortopedia del Hospital "Dr. Ernesto Guevara de la Serna" en el período comprendido entre 1981 y 1987, con el objetivo de conocer aspectos generales como edad, sexo y especificamente tipo de tumores, localización, síntoma inicial, tiempo transcurrido entre consulta, diagnóstico, etcetera