Improvement in establishing the period of rubella virus primary infection using a mild protein denaturant.

A more precise determination of the date of primary rubella infection in pregnancy is obtained by application of the urea denaturation method. Two denaturation buffers containing 6 and 8 M urea were compared for the detection of rubella IgG avidity by enzyme immunoassay. The results demonstrate that IgG avidity detected by 6M urea increases more rapidly, from 16% on the third day to 51% on the 46th day after the rash, than that obtained by 8 M urea, from 13 to 36%. The specific rubella IgG avidity detected by 6 M urea denaturation buffer increased significantly in paired sera obtained at an interval of 15 days. The same samples did not show any significant increase of IgG avidity when an 8 M urea denaturation buffer was used. The use of a mild denaturant such as 6 M urea indicates the presumptive date of primary rubella infection in pregnancy within 2 months of sampling.

[Determination of interleukin-6 messenger RNA as malignant progression index in monoclonal gammapathy of undetermined significance]. / La misura di RNA messaggero dell'interleuchina-6 quale indice di progressione maligna della gammapatia monoclonale di significato incerto.

The monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) could be considered a preneoplastic condition since no clinical and laboratory features are able to identify in advance the patients at high risk of disease progression. In this study we analysed IL-6mRNA expression on both bone marrow mononuclear cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells sample of multiple myeloma (MM) and MGUS patients for evaluation if IL-6mRNA expression could be considered diagnostic or prognostic aspect of progression disease risk to MM. We concluded that expression of IL-6mRNA hasn't prognostic significance for the progression disease risk to multiple myeloma but could have a discriminant significance the MM and MGUS pathologies when combined with gene rearrangements and immunochemicals analysis.