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Background There are limited data on cervical HPV prevalence in Cameroon and none from its Anglophone region. selleck chemicals We investigated cervical HPV prevalence in HIV-uninfected (HIV[-]) and HIV-infected (WLWH) women living in the region. Methods A convenience sample of consecutively recruited HIV[-] women (n = 295) and women living with HIV (WLWH) (n = 560) attending the Limbé Regional Hospital were enrolled into a cervical screening study. Women underwent screening that included HPV testing of self-collected and provider-collected specimens. We calculated the HPV prevalence by HIV status, overall and stratified by age, and among WLWH, stratified by CD4 counts. We compared the concordance for the detection of HPV between self- and provider-collected specimens. Results Crude HPV prevalence was 21.69 % (95 % confidence interval [95 %CI] = 17.21-26.48 %) for HIV[-] women and 46.43 % (95 %CI = 42.24-50.66 %) for WLWH (p less then 0.001). Among WLWH, older age (ptrend = 0.01) and higher CD4 counts (ptrend = 0.007) were associated with lower HPV prevalence. There was a good-to-excellent agreement for HPV detection between specimens, and self-collected were more likely than provider-collected specimens to test HPV positive, for all women and stratified by HIV status. Conclusions HIV-related immunosuppression was a risk factor for HPV prevalence in this population. HPV testing of self-collected specimens appeared to be less specific than HPV testing of provider-collected specimens.The activation of proinflammatory cellular processes and signals such as those linked to NF-kB in macrophages are involved in the control of infection by Leishmania ssp. However, little is known about the influence of the drugs used in the treatment on the host cellular inflammatory signaling pathways. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different drugs used in the treatment of leishmaniasis on inflammatory profile related to Toll-like receptors (TLRs) from L. amazonensis-infected macrophages. J774 macrophage-like cells were infected with the promastigote forms (51) and 24 hs incubated with Amphotericin B (AmB), Glucantime® (GLU) or Pentamidine (Pent). The following inflammatory pathways were evaluated NF-κB p65, NF-κB p65 phosphorylated (Ser536), stress-activated protein kinase/c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase (SAPK/JNK) phosphorylated (Thr183/Tyr185), p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK p38) phosphorylated (Thr180/Tyr182), signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (Stat3) phosphorylated (Tyr705) and inhibitor kappa B-α (IκB-α) phosphorylated (Ser32). In silico tests were performed to evaluate the molecular affinity between TLRs and antileishmanial drugs. Molecular docking showed that affinities varied significantly among the binders evaluated. The lowest affinity (-8.6 Kcal/Mol) was calculated for AmB in complex with TLR4. Pent showed higher values for TLR1, TLR2 and TLR3, while for TLR4 the affinity value was lower (5.5 Kcal/Mol). The values obtained for GLU were the highest for the set of binders tested. From the infected macrophages, treatments inhibited NF-kB p65 for GLU (65.44%), for Pent (46.43%) and for AmB (54.07%) compared to untreated infected macrophages. The activation of the signaling pathway of NF-kB, SAPK/JNK and IκB-α caused by AmB and Pent may potentiate the microbicidal mechanisms of the infected macrophages.Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder, in which imbalance in synthesis and production of inflammatory cytokines promotes cartilage and bone destruction. Out of the numerous factors contributing to RA prognosis, the transcription factor NF-kBp65 and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) signaling module has been well implicated as a key regulator of inflammation and downstream signaling events in RA. Stigmasterol (STG) is a natural plant based product exhibiting anti-inflammatory activity, however, the mechanism through which it exhibits anti-inflammatory activity has not been completely understood. The current study aimed to understand the mechanisms underlying the anti-inflammatory effect of STG in the treatment of RA in collagen-induced arthritic (CIA) model of arthritis. Our results showed that STG improved the clinical severity in CIA rats compared to control. The therapeutic effects were related with reduced joint destruction and improved histological alterations. Furthermore, treatment of STG also significantly suppresses the expression of proinflammatory mediators (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, iNOS and COX-2) and increases the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10) through down-regulating the expression of NF-kBp65 (inhibiting p-IKB-α activation) and p38MAPK in joints. In agreement with our results, we can suggest that high therapeutic efficacy of STG against CIA induced inflammation in rats are attributed through the suppressing proinflammatory cytokines.The immune microenvironment in bladder cancer (BC) and its significance still remain poorly understood. The present work aims to investigate tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) and prognostic genes associated with the tumor microenvironment (TME) of BC. The immune and stromal scores of BC samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas database were downloaded from the ESTIMATE website. Based on these scores, BC samples were assigned to the high and low score groups and 429 intersecting differentially expressed genes were identified. Functional enrichment analysis further revealed that these genes dramatically participated in the immune-related biological processes and signaling pathways. Two TME-related genes, angiotensin II receptor type 2 (AGTR2) and sclerostin domain containing 1 (SOSTDC1), were identified to establish an immune-related risk model using Cox regression analyses. Intriguingly, patients with high-risk scores had poor outcomes (p less then 0.001). The areas under the curve for the risk model in predicting 3- and 5-year survival rates were 0.692 and 0.707, respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the expression of AGTR2 and SOSTDC1 significantly correlated with the overall survival of BC patients. Additionally, 22 TIICs in the BC microenvironment were analyzed with the CIBERSORT algorithm. This study indicated that the effective components of TME affected the clinical outcomes of BC patients and might provide a basis for the development of new immunotherapies for BC patients.