Biomedical subjects

C Bonifati

Publications and source records attributed to C Bonifati.

41 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Serum IL-10 levels in HIV-positive subjects: correlation with CDC stages.

HIV-1 infection and the HIV gp120 have been shown to induce an IL-10 increase in cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Furthermore, the expression of this cytokine has been reported to increase in lymphnodes of infected patients along the disease course, and a shift from the TH-1 towards the TH-0/TH-2 phenotypes (with subsequent IL-10 release) has been hypothesized to underly AIDS progression. In this study the serum IL-10 levels found in 30 HIV-negative controls and in 65 HIV-positive patients, untreated with AZT and negative for HBsAg and HCV-Ab have been compared, using a commercial, competitive ELISA method based on a polyclonal anti-IL-10 serum. With this test, HIV-positive sea showed IL-10 levels significantly higher than those found in the controls. In addition the IL-10 levels progressively increased in the subsequent CDC stages, without further changes from the stage III to the stage IV. Accordingly, patients evaluated two times in CDC stage II, with a time interval of at least one year, showed significant IL-10 increases, even more pronounced when the same patients passed from CDC stage II to stage III. Furthermore, a significant, negative correlation was observed between the circulating IL-10 levels and the patients' CD4/CD8 ratios. These data may be important from a clinical point of view since IL-10 monitoring could be considered as a surrogate marker for evaluating the disease progression. In addition, several immunological abnormalities present in HIV positive patients, such as the monocyte/macrophage impairment and the hypergammaglobulinemia could be related to the enhanced IL-10 expression.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Serum TNF-alpha levels correlate with disease severity and are reduced by effective therapy in plaque-type psoriasis.

UNLABELLED: TNF-alpha is a pleiotropic cytokine possibly involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. OBJECTIVE: to analyze the serum TNF-alpha levels in plaque-type psoriatic patients to evaluate the concentrations, correlation with the severity score and behaviour after therapy. The serum TNF-alpha levels of thirty-seven patients (25 females and 12 males; median age: 52.5 years, range 18-81: median PASI score: 11.4, range 3.5-42) and thirty healthy controls (21 females and 9 males, median age: 48.5 years, range 25-77) were compared after measurements obtained employing commercially available ELISA kits. The median serum TNF-alpha levels of the patients were significantly higher than those of controls (p = 0.004). 30/37 patients were followed over time at 2 and 4 weeks of treatment. Twenty one subjects were also observed after 6 weeks. After effective treatments, both the PASI scores and the cytokine levels were significantly and concomitantly reduced (p < 0.001). Significant correlations were found when the TNF-alpha values were plotted against the PASI scores both at the time of patient enrollment and at all the subsequent times (118 observations). A significant correlation was observed between circulating TNF-alpha and sE-selectin in agreement with a possible functional activity of the cytokine. However, no correlation was found between the cytokine levels and other 4 soluble membrane molecules. Our findings indicate that the molecule studied, although non specific for the disease considered, presents a behaviour paralleling that of the disease severity and therefore might have clinical usefulness, particularly in monitoring the therapeutic effects.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta and psoriasis: conflicting results in the literature. Opposite behaviour of the two cytokines in lesional or non-lesional extracts of whole skin.

A still debated question in the field of the cytokine network in psoriasis is represented by contrasting data reported on the local amount of IL-1 beta amounts, of IL-1 in this dermatosis. In fact previous studies have suggested that there were decreased Il-1 alpha amounts at the lesional level but increased nonfunctional IL-1 beta concentrations as compared to the non-lesional and normal epidermis. However, recent data suggest that IL-1 alpha and, to a lesser extent, IL-1 beta amounts, are both increased and biologically active in the epidermal cell suspension of lesional psoriatic skin as compared to those of normal skin. The data reported in the present paper show that IL-1 alpha levels are decreased in psoriatic lesional extracts of whole skin (mean 2.9 +/- 2 pg/mg) as compared to non-lesional (mean 6.7 +/- 6.2 mg/mg; p = 0.02) or normal skin (mean 13.8 +/- 9.4 pg/mg; p = 0.0002). IL-1 alpha concentrations were also significantly lower in the non-lesional skin than in normal skin (p = 0.02). In contrast, the IL-1 beta levels (mean 1.2 +/- 0.74 pg/mg were higher in the lesional samples than in the non-lesional ones (mean 0.5 +/- 0.4 pg/mg; p = 0.0004) or in normal skin (mean 0.4 +/- 0.2 pg/mg; p = 0.004). No differences in IL-1 beta levels were observed between non-lesional and normal skin (p = 0.3). In addition both IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta are directly correlated with the disease severity and each other. Our data, extending the Il-1 determination to the whole skin, seem to confirm the previously reported findings at the epidermis level and provide new light on possible interpretation of literature discrepancies.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Bullous pemphigoid and pemphigus vulgaris: correlated behaviour of serum VEGF, sE-selectin and TNF-alpha levels.

BACKGROUND: Recently, we reported that soluble E-selectin (sE-selectin), an isoform of the cell membrane E-selectin, an adhesion molecule synthesized only by endothelial cells, is significantly increased in sera of the patients with bullous pemphigoid (PB) or pemphigus vulgaris. A significant correlation was also found between the serum sE-selectin levels and the number of skin lesions, suggesting the possible use of this molecule to gauge disease intensity before therapy. One of the sE-selectin inducers is tumor nerosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), that is also able to enhance vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a strong endothelium activator. OBJECTIVE: On the basis of these observations, the present study was conducted to analyze the serum levels of VEGF, sE-selectin, and TNF-alpha in 8 patients with BP (age: 82, range 54-87, 7 males, 1 female) and in 6 patients affected affected with PV (age: 55, range 44-65; 5 males, 1 female) and to verify possible correlations between these variables and the disease activity, In addition, serum sE-selectin levels were measured over time and compared with the serum anti-epithelium antibodies titers. METHODS: The sE-selectin, VEGF and TNF-alpha levels were measured in the samples by means of commercially available ELISA kit. The same samples were also employed to measure the anti-epithelium antibody titers. RESULTS: Serum VEGF, sE-selectin and TNF-alpha levels were significantly correlated each other (p at least < 0.01). All three variables were also significantly correlated with the number of lesions (p at least < 0.01). Serum VEGF levels were found increased (median = 178 pg/ml, range 37-595) as compared to 28 healthy controls (median = 135 pg/ml, range 18/269, p < 0.05). Also serum TNF-alpha levels were found increased (median = 5.5 pg/ml, range < 0.1-41.0) as compared to 28 healthy controls (median < 0.1 pg/ml, range < 0.1-5.3), p < 0.01). When the patients were observed over time, serum sE-selectin levels highly correlated with the disease intensity in both dermatoses, although with different regression curves. CONCLUSIONS: These data further underline the endothelium involvement in these bullous dermatoses and stress the possibility of employing sE-selectin as a non-specific follow-up marker of both BP and PV.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Monitoring of sE-selectin serum levels in three different dermatoses].

PURPOSE: To determine the behaviour of serum levels of soluble E-selectin (sE-selectin), the soluble isoform of E-selectin, before/during/after therapy in patients with three. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Using commercially available ELISA kits, serum levels of sE-selectin have been determined in 15 patients with psoriasis, 15 with pemphigus vulgaris and 15 with bullous pemphigoid, and compared with those of 30 healthy subjects. RESULTS: The results showed increased serum levels of sE-selectin in the three groups of patients as compared with those of 30 healthy subjects (p < 0.01). In addition, serum levels were significantly correlated with the disease activity expressed as Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI score) (R = 0.56, p = 0.014) in psoriasis, and as number of the visible lesions (blisters/erosions), in the two bullous dermatoses (R = 0.81, p < 0.01). After therapy, the marker levels were significantly decreased (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these data suggest that serum determinations of sE-selectin could represent a clinically useful indicator to monitor therapy.

E-Selectin↗