Clostridium butyricum in combination with specific immunotherapy converts antigen-specific B cells to regulatory B cells in asthmatic patients.

The effect of antigen specific immunotherapy (SIT) on asthma is supposed to be improved. Published data indicate that administration of probiotics alleviates allergic diseases. B cells play important roles in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases. This study aims to modulate antigen specific B cell property by the administration of Clostridium butyrate (CB) in combination with SIT. The results showed that after a 3-month treatment, the total asthma clinical score and serum specific IgE were improved in the patients treated with SIT, which was further improved in those treated with both SIT and CB, but not in those treated with CB alone. Treatment with SIT and CB increased p300 and STAT3 activation, up regulated the IL-10 gene transcription and increased the frequency of peripheral antigen specific B cells. In conclusion, administration with SIT in combination with CB converts Der p 1 specific B cells to regulatory B cells in asthma patients allergic to Der p 1. The data suggest a potential therapeutic remedy in the treatment of allergic diseases.

Increased vascular permeability after cardiopulmonary bypass in patients with diabetes is associated with increased expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and hepatocyte growth factor.

BACKGROUND: Several inflammatory mediators such as vascular endothelial growth factor and hepatocyte growth factor are known to play a critical role in the regulation of vascular permeability and angiogenesis. We studied the serum levels of growth factors and gene expression profiles of genes involved in growth factor signaling in the peripheral blood of patients with and patients without diabetes following cardiopulmonary bypass and cardioplegic arrest. METHODS: Serum and total RNA were obtained from the blood samples collected from patients with diabetes and matched patients without diabetes (n = 7 patients each) who had coronary artery bypass graft before and 6 hours and 4 days after cardiopulmonary bypass/cardioplegic arrest. The cytokine panel, consisting of growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor, hepatocyte growth factor, fibroblast growth factor, and epidermal growth factor, was quantified in patients with diabetes and patients without diabetes before and 6 hours and 4 days post-cardiopulmonary bypass/cardioplegic arrest using multiplex cytokine quantification system. cDNA microarray analysis was performed and fold-change was calculated. RESULTS: Length of hospitalization (10 vs 6 days; P = .04) and weight gain (5 vs 2.5 kg; P = .001) were significantly greater for patients with diabetes compared with patients without diabetes. The serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and hepatocyte growth factor were significantly elevated in patients with diabetes when compared with patients without diabetes before versus 6 hours post-cardiopulmonary bypass/cardioplegic arrest. In addition, significantly elevated mRNA expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha, cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding protein, and E1A binding protein p300 (more than twofold) was observed 4 days post-cardiopulmonary bypass/cardioplegic arrest exclusively in patients with diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: The differential profile of gene and protein expression of growth factors and their related genes in patients with diabetes and patients without diabetes could be associated with increased edema and weight gain in patients with diabetes after cardiopulmonary bypass/cardioplegic arrest.