Effect of concurrent infection of Helicobacter pylori with Toxoplasma gondii infection on gastric pathology.

BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) are among the most prevalent foodborne parasitic and bacterial infections worldwide. However, the concurrent impact of coinfection on gastric pathology has yet to be studied in depth. The effect of coinfection generally either adds a synergetic or antagonistic impact; we aimed in the current work to assess the impact of T. gondii coinfection on the progression of H. pylori-associated gastric pathology and reporting H. pylori virulent strains. The study was conducted on 82 patients complaining of persistent gastrointestinal symptoms with failed treatment response and prone to endoscopy. They were subjected to stool examination to detect H. pylori antigen, serological screening for latent toxoplasmosis, endoscopy, histopathological examination, and molecular detection of H. pylori virulence strains in gastric biopsies. Out of the 82 patients, 62 patients were positive for H. pylori antigen in stool and 55 patients confirmed positivity by histopathology; out of them, 37 patients had isolated Vac As1 variants, 11 patients had combined Vac As1 and Cag A variants, and 7 patients had combined Vac As1, Cag A and VacAs2 variants. Patients with the combined two or three variances showed significantly deteriorated histopathological features than patients with a single Vac As1 variant (P < 0.05). Latent toxoplasmosis was positive among 35/82 patients. Combined H. pylori and Toxoplasma gondii infection had significantly marked inflammation than patients with isolated infection (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Screening for toxoplasmosis among H. pylori-infected patients is recommended as it is considered a potential risk factor for gastric inflammation severity. H. pylori gastric inflammation may be heightened by Toxoplasma coinfection.

Appraisal of Chitosan-Coated Lipid Nano-Combination with Miltefosine and Albendazole in the Treatment of Murine Trichinellosis: Experimental Study with Evaluation of Immunological and Immunohistochemical Parameters.

PURPOSE: Resistance and adverse consequences of albendazole (ABZ) in treating trichinellosis urged demand for secure and effective new drugs. The current study aimed to assess the effect of chitosan-coated lipid nano-combination with albendazole and miltefosine (MFS) in treating experimental murine trichinellosis and evaluating pathological and immunological changes of trichinellosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred twenty Swiss albino mice were divided into six groups. Each group was subdivided into a and b subgroups based on the scarification time, which was 7- and 40-days post-infection (PI), respectively. The treatment efficacy was evaluated using parasitological, histopathological, serological (interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-4 serum levels), immunohistochemical (GATA3, glutathione peroxidase1 (GPX1) and caspase-3), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods. RESULTS: The most effective drug was nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) loaded with ABZ (G5), which showed the most significant reduction in adults and larval count (100% and 92.39%, respectively). The greatest amelioration in histopathological changes was reported in G4 treated with MFS. GATA3 and caspase-3 were significantly reduced in all treated groups. GPX1 was significantly increased in G6 treated with MFS + NLCs. The highest degenerative effects on adults and larvae by SEM were documented in G6. CONCLUSION: Loading ABZ or MFS on chitosan-coated NLCs enhanced their efficacy against trichinellosis. Although ABZ was better than MFS, their combination should be considered as MFS caused a significant reduction in the intensity of infection. Furthermore, MFS showed anti-inflammatory (↓GATA3) and antiapoptotic effects (↓caspase-3), especially in the muscular phase. Also, when loaded with NLCS, it showed an antioxidant effect (↑GPX1).

Does the expression of granzyme B participate in inflammation, fibrosis, and fertility of hydatid cysts?

Echinococcus granulosus (sensu lato), a cestode that is endemic in Egypt, causes cystic echinococcosis (CE), a significant but neglected zoonotic disease that is prevalent throughout the world. Infected hydatid cysts are classified as fertile or non-fertile based on the presence of protoscoleces; nevertheless, the mechanism of non-fertile CE cysts remains unknown. The study aimed to assess whether granzyme B (GrB) expression and CD4 + /CD8 + could be related to the induction of non-fertile CE cysts. A total of fifty-eight individuals diagnosed with visceral hydatid cysts were selected, and they were further divided according to cyst fertility into fertile and non-fertile. Immunohistochemistry for CD4, CD8, and GrB was done. According to the results, hydatid cysts are common in adults and have no gender preference. The same clinical and laboratory data were shared by patients with fertile and non-fertile cysts (p = 0.186). GrB expression was not impacted by the fibrous deposition inside the hydatid cyst wall (p = 0.85); however, GrB was significantly correlated with the inflammatory density (p = 0.005). GrB expression was also found to be significantly higher in non-fertile cysts (p = 0.04). GrB expression is positively correlated with CD4 and CD8 expression. In conclusion, the expression of GrB in hydatid cysts may exacerbate the inflammatory response and impede cyst fertility while not affecting the fibrous deposition in the cyst wall.

Association between breakthrough infection with COVID-19 and Toxoplasma gondii: a cross-sectional study.

The breakthrough infection following COVID-19 vaccination has been a subject of concern recently. Evidence suggests that COVID-19 vaccine efficacy diminishes over time due to multiple factors related to the host, and vaccine. Coinfection with other pathogens was claimed earlier as a contributing cause for this phenomenon. Hence, we aimed to stratify the association of post-COVID-19 vaccination breakthrough coinfection with Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) and its impact on disease severity. This cross-sectional study included 330 COVID-19-vaccinated patients confirmed by RT-PCR. They were also screened for anti- T. gondii antibodies using ELISA. Toxoplasma seropositive cases' whole blood was screened for DNA using PCR to correlate results with COVID-19 severity. Out of 330 COVID-19 vaccinated patients with breakthrough infection, 34.5% (114 patients) showed positivity for Toxoplasma IgG by ELISA, and none of the cases was IgM positive. Eleven patients (9.6%) of the IgG-positive cases were positive by PCR. Positive PCR cases correlated positively with the Toxoplasma IgG titer (P < 0.001), and the Cutoff point was 191.5. Molecular analysis of Toxoplasma and COVID-19 severity showed that 8 (72.7%), 1 (9.1%), and 2 cases (18.2%) had mild, moderate, and severe courses of the disease, respectively, with no significant correlation. Our study reported a heightened prevalence of latent toxoplasmosis among mild cases of COVID-19 breakthrough infection. Nevertheless, a discernible correlation between latent toxoplasmosis and COVID-19 severity is lacking. Hence, implementing studies on a larger scale could provide a more comprehensive comprehension of this association.

Evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy of albendazole-loaded silver nanoparticles against Echinococcus granulosus infection in experimental mice.

The drug of choice for treatment of hydatid disease, albendazole (ABZ) is a poorly water-soluble drug; thus, enhancing its solubility is required. Among metal nanoparticles (NPs), silver (Ag) NPs showed antimicrobial efficacies. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate nanosilver particles (Ag NPs) free or combined with albendazole against Echinococcus granulosus infection in vivo. In this study, besides the normal control group (GI) (n = 5), 80 mice were infected with 2000 viable protoscoleces intraperitoneally then divided equally (n = 20) into the infected control (GII), ABZ-treated (GIII), nanosilver-treated (GIV) and ABZ-loaded-Ag NPs-treated (GV) groups. On the 90th post-infection day, treatment was started and continued for 8 weeks then the experiment was terminated. Each mouse was subjected to measurement of hydatid cysts' sizes and weights, serum IFN-γ, liver enzymes; histopathological and transmission electron microscopy studies. In all treated groups, there were significant reductions of hydatid cysts' sizes and weights; however, the highest efficacy rate (63.9%) was detected in group V associated with obvious ultrastructure alterations of the cysts. The liver tissues of group II showed intense granulomatous reactions, congestion, fibrosis, necrosis and steatosis associated with significant increases in serum IFN-γ and liver enzymes. Interestingly, the best antiparasitic effect and the most significant reduction of IFN-γ towards the normal values were found in GV. Moreover, Ag NPs had reduced the toxic effects of ABZ such as necrosis, steatosis and the elevated serum liver enzymes. Therefore, loading ABZ on Ag NPs could be a potential method to improve ABZ efficacy against hydatid disease.