RESUMO
The INNO-LiPA Mycobacteria kit has been developed for detecting mycobacteria in liquid and solid cultures through amplification of the 16S-23S rRNA mycobacterial spacer region and the use of species-specific probes. The aim of this study was to verify the possible direct use of the kit on clinical samples. The study was performed retrospectively on a total of 129 specimens (104 pulmonary and 25 extrapulmonary) and the results were compared to those obtained from culture. For pulmonary specimens, the overall clinical sensitivity of INNO-LiPA Mycobacteria kit was 79.5% and its specificity 84.6%. For extrapulmonary samples, the kit had an overall clinical sensitivity of 71.4%. In both cases no false positive results were found.
Assuntos
Pulmão/microbiologia , Infecções por Mycobacterium/microbiologia , Mycobacterium/isolamento & purificação , Humanos , Mycobacterium/genética , RNA Ribossômico 16S/genética , RNA Ribossômico 23S/genética , Fitas Reagentes , Estudos Retrospectivos , Análise de Sequência de DNA/métodosRESUMO
Mycobacterium szulgai, described for the first time in 1972, is a rare human pathogen that mainly causes pulmonary non-tubercular mycobacteriosis. We report its isolation and identification from a bronchoalveolar lavage specimen by hsp65 gene sequencing analysis in an HIV-positive patient with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Assuntos
Infecções Oportunistas Relacionadas com a AIDS/microbiologia , Proteínas de Bactérias/genética , Chaperoninas/genética , Infecções por HIV/complicações , Linfoma não Hodgkin/complicações , Infecções por Mycobacterium não Tuberculosas/microbiologia , Micobactérias não Tuberculosas/isolamento & purificação , Infecções Oportunistas Relacionadas com a AIDS/diagnóstico , Proteínas de Bactérias/classificação , Chaperonina 60 , Chaperoninas/classificação , Infecções por HIV/diagnóstico , Soropositividade para HIV , Humanos , Linfoma não Hodgkin/diagnóstico , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Infecções por Mycobacterium não Tuberculosas/diagnóstico , Micobactérias não Tuberculosas/genética , FilogeniaRESUMO
Purified recombinant HIV-1 p17 matrix protein significantly increased HIV-1 replication in preactivated peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures obtained from healthy donors. Because HIV-1 infection and replication is related to cell activation and differentiation status, in the present study, we investigated the role played by p17 during the process of T cell stimulation. Using freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells, we demonstrate that p17 was able to enhance levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha and IFN-gamma released from cells stimulated by IL-2. IL-4 was found to down-regulate IFN-gamma and tumor necrosis factor alpha, and p17 restored the ability of cells to produce both cytokines. The property of p17 to increase production of proinflammatory cytokines could be a mechanism exploited by the virus to create a more suitable environment for HIV-1 infection and replication. Our data show that p17 exerts its biological activity after binding to a specific cellular receptor expressed on activated T lymphocytes. The functional p17 epitope involved in receptor binding was found to be located at the NH(2)-terminal region of viral protein. Immunization of BALB/c mice with a 14-aa synthetic peptide representative of the HIV-1 p17 functional region (SGGELDRWEKIRLR) resulted in the development of p17 neutralizing antibodies capable of blocking the interaction between p17 and its cellular receptor. Our results define a role for p17 in HIV-1 pathogenesis and contribute to our understanding of the molecular mechanism of HIV-1 infection and the development of additional antiviral therapeutic strategies.