The Prevalence of Brucellosis in Different Provinces of Iran during 2013-2015.

BACKGROUND: Brucellosis as a zoonotic disease is widespread among human and animal that it continues to be a major public health problem. Due to the shortage of recent epidemiologic data regarding the brucellosis distribution in Iran, we convinced to evaluate the prevalence of brucellosis in provinces of Iran. METHODS: In this descriptive study, data were collected from brucellosis suspected patients referred to Noor Pathobiology Laboratory, Tehran, Iran from 18 out of 31 provinces of Iran during 2013-2015. RESULTS: Overall, 2635 out of 17103 attending cases (15.4%) were recognized as brucellosis patients. The most prevalent rate was found in patients aged 20-39 yr old (41%) which of them 67% were male. Patients with brucellosis were significantly diagnosed in spring season (Apr to late May). Among included provinces, Hamadan Province had the highest (25%) prevalence followed by Markazi and Mazandaran with 24.7% and 22.5%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Brucellosis is still considered as an important infectious disease with a high prevalence in many provinces of Iran. It is necessary to implement a national brucellosis control program by increasing medical education, public knowledge and various controlling plans for preventing, controlling and eradicating of brucellosis.

Sirolimus vs mycophenolate moftile in Tacrolimus based therapy following induction with Antithymocyte globulin promotes regulatory T cell expansion and inhibits RORγt and T-bet expression in kidney transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence suggests that regulatory T cells (Tregs) have a crucial role in immune tolerance and long-term graft survival. However, the influence of immunosuppressive drugs on the level of Tregs has not been fully understood. Therefore we prospectively compare the effect of two different calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)-based immunosuppression protocols on Tregs frequencies and expression of regulatory and effector T cell-related genes in renal transplant recipients. METHODS: The study included 24 renal transplant recipients who received induction therapy (Antithymocyte globulin) and were on triple immunosuppressive therapy so that one group was on Tacrolimus (Tac), mycophenolate moftile (MMF) and prednisolone (P) whereas another group was on Tac, Sirolimus (SRL) and P. The frequency of circulating Treg cells was analyzed by flow cytometry before and 4 months after transplantation. Also, the mRNA expression of FOXP3, T-bet, GATA3 and RORγt was examined by quantitative RT-PCR before and 4 months after transplantation. RESULTS: Compared to baseline, the frequency of CD4+ CD25+ FOXP3+ Treg cells was significantly increased in the all patients following transplantation. Patients who received Tac/MMF had significantly higher CD4+ CD25+ FOXP3+ Treg cells compared to patients who received Tac/SRL. There was no a significant difference in the frequency of CD3+CD8+ CD28- Tregs between two different calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)-based immunosuppression protocols. FOXP3 mRNA levels in the patients who received Tac/MMF were increased 4 months after transplantation and the expression was significantly higher than patients who received Tac/SRL. On the other hand, T-bet and RORγt expression levels were significantly lower in the Tac/SRL group in comparison to Tac/MMF group. We did not observe any significant difference in GATA3 mRNA level between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that although Tac/MMF-containing immunosuppressive regimen could significantly increase the frequency of CD4+ CD25+ FOXP3+ Tregs, unlike to Tac/SRL-containing regimen, it could not significantly decrease the expression levels of RORγt and T-bet.

HLA class II allele and haplotype frequencies in Iranian patients with leukemia.

Previous studies demonstrated significant differences in a number of HLA allele frequencies in leukemia patients and normal subjects. In this study, we have analyzed HLA class II alleles and haplotypes in 110 leukemia patients (60 acute myelogenous leukemia "AML", 50 chronic myelogenous leukemia"CML") and 180 unrelated normal subjects. Blood samples were collected from all of the patients and control subjects. DNA was extracted by salting out method and HLA typing was performed using PCR-SSP method. Significant positive association with AML was obtained for HLA-DRB1*11allele (35% vs. 24.7%, P=0.033). Two alleles including HLA-DRB4 and -DQB1*0303 were significantly less frequent in AML patients than in controls. HLA-DQB1*0303 allele was never observed in CML patients compared with allele frequency in controls (4.2%). According to haplotype analysis, HLA-DRB1*0101/DQA1*0104/-DQB1*0501 frequencies were significantly higher and -DRB1*16/-DQA1*01021/-DQB1*0501 frequencies were significantly lower in CML patients than in controls. In conclusion it is suggested that HLA-DRB1*16 allele and HLA-DRB1*15/-DQA1*0103/-DQB1*06011 and -DRB1*16/-DQA1*01021/-DQB1*0501 haplotypes predispose individuals to AML and HLA-DRB4 allele predispose to CML. Future studies are needed to confirm these results and establish the role of these associations in AML and CML.

CD40 ligand expression on stimulated T-helper lymphocytes in patients with common variable immunodeficiency.

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most common symptomatic primary antibody deficiency, characterized by reduced serum immunoglobulins levels and increased susceptibility to recurrent pyogenic infections. In this study, we evaluated CD40 ligand expression on stimulated versus unstimulated T-helper lymphocytes of nine Common variable immunodeficient patients in comparison with fifteen normal controls. Phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) and Ionomycin were used to stimulate cells in vitro. After six hours stimulation, the cells were subjected to surface staining with three-color staining procedure. Events were analyzed by flow cytometer, using FloMax software. Results were reported as the percentage of lymphocytes expressing CD markers. We did not find any significant statistical difference in CD40 ligand expression between patients and controls (p > 0.05), despite having stimulation documented by CD69 expression as activation marker in each run. The results of this study are in agreement with some other studies, indicating that CD40 ligand expression on stimulated T-helper lymphocytes of Common variable immunodeficiency patients is similar to normal controls.