Potential therapeutic options for celiac Disease: An update on Current evidence from Gluten-Free diet to cell therapy.

Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic autoimmune enteropathy and multifactorial disease caused by inappropriate immune responses to gluten in the small intestine. Weight loss, anemia, osteoporosis, arthritis, and hepatitis are among the extraintestinal manifestations of active CD. Currently, a strict lifelong gluten-free diet (GFD) is the only safe, effective, and available treatment. Despite the social burden, high expenses, and challenges of following a GFD, 2 to 5 percent of patients do not demonstrate clinical or pathophysiological improvement. Therefore, we need novel and alternative therapeutic approaches for patients. Innovative approaches encompass a broad spectrum of strategies, including enzymatic degradation of gluten, inhibition of intestinal permeability, modulation of the immune response, inhibition of the transglutaminase 2 (TG2) enzyme, blocking antigen presentation by HLA-DQ2/8, and induction of tolerance. Hence, this review is focused on comprehensive therapeutic strategies ranging from dietary approaches to novel methods such as antigen-based immunotherapy, cell and gene therapy, and the usage of nanoparticles for CD treatment.

Prevalence of Trichinella spp. Infections in Hunted Wild Boars in Northern Iran.

BACKGROUND: Trichinellosis is an important and neglected foodborne zoonotic infectious disease in worldwide. The most human outbreaks in recent years have been related to consumption of wild boar meat. This cross-sectional study determined the prevalence of Trichinella spp. infections in hunted wild boars in northern Iran. METHODS: Thirty-five hunted wild boars were subjected in this study in 2015. All samples were examined by conventional artificial digestion method to detect of muscle larvae. Genomic DNA was extracted by phenol-chloroform method from isolated larvae. To identify the Trichinella species, a PCR-based method was applied using the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) and mitochondrial small-subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequences. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of Trichinella spp. infection was 5.7% (2/35, 95%CI= 0-13.4). The mean larval burdens in two positive samples were 0.05 and 6 larvae per gr tissue muscle, respectively. The PCR reaction, using specific primers, yielded two 367 bp and 195 bp bands on agarose gel for ITS 2 and rrnS, respectively. CONCLUSION: There is a hidden burden of Trichinella spp. infection in wild boar population in Iran. Moreover, T. britovi is the prevalent species circulating in wild boars of Iran. Therefore, education of the hunters and other consumers should be performed about the risk of consumption of raw or undercooked meat and meat products from wild boars.

Using recombinant Chlamydia trachomatis OMP2 as antigen in diagnostic ELISA test.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis causes sexually transmissible diseases in human. Timely and sensitive detection of this pathogen is very important. There are many cross-reactions in bacteriological and serological methods in detection of this type of pathogens. The aim of this study was to achieve a more specific antigen for serological tests. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Blood samples were taken from 192 women with suspected chlamydial infection and sera were isolated. ELISA plate wells were coated with recombinant C. trachomatis OMP2 as antigen. Cut-off system was determined with 40 negative sera. The final results of this research were compared with Euroimmun commercial kit. RESULTS: The ELISA system cut-off was calculated at 0.27 using negative sera samples. ODs of positive samples were higher than 0.27 and negative samples were lower than it. We obtained 30 samples (15.62%) as positive and 162 cases (84.37%) as negative. Sensitivity and specificity of the recombinant antigen were 90% and 86%, respectively. This antigen showed no cross-reactivity with sera of patients infected with Hydatid cyst, HCV, Epstein barr virus, HBV, Helicobacter pylori, Toxoplasma gondii, Cytomegalovirus, Mycoplasma, Measles and Varicella zoster virus. CONCLUSION: The sensitivity and specificity of rOMP2 in ELISA for detection of C. trachomatis were 90% and 86%, respectively. Though the sensitivity was higher than results of Euroimmun commercial kit, its specificity was calculated lower than reference kit.

Alterations of BDNF and NT-3 genes expression in the nucleus paragigantocellularis during morphine dependency and withdrawal.

Locus coeruleus (LC) plays a key role in opioid dependence and withdrawal. Chronic morphine administration induces neurochemical adaptations in the noradrenergic system. The nature of signal responsible for opiate-induced adaptations of noradrenergic neurons in LC is not well defined. Neurotrophins-signaling pathways such as brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) play a key role for regulating the noradrenergic response of LC neurons to opiates. The nucleus paragigantocellularis (PGi) is one of the two major afferents to LC. The present study was designed to evaluate the expression of BDNF and NT-3 in the context of opiate dependence and withdrawal in PGi. Such data are important because they could reveal the role of PGi as an additional source of BDNF and NT-3 in the neurochemical plasticity of LC neurons. Opiate dependence was induced by a progressive intraperitoneal treatment of morphine. In morphine dependent group PGi nucleus was extracted for gene expression assay 6h after the last injection of morphine. In spontaneous withdrawal, rats received the same chronic treatment as morphine group. PGi was extracted for gene expression assay 24, 48 and 72 h after the last injection of morphine. PGi nucleus was assayed for the expression of BDNF and NT-3 using semi-quantitative RT-PCR normalized to beta-actin gene expression. Results showed that chronic administration of morphine significantly increased BDNF and NT-3 gene expression in PGi. In spontaneous withdrawal, BDNF/NT-3 genes expression were high in comparison to control group. It seems that BDNF/NT-3 -signaling pathway originating from PGi is essential for opiate-induced adaptations of the LC neurons.