Biomedical subjects

M C Gutierrez

Publications and source records attributed to M C Gutierrez.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Intestinal microsporidiosis in HIV-positive patients with chronic unexplained diarrhea in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: diagnosis, clinical presentation and follow-up.

After the diagnosis of two cases of microsporidial intestinal infection in 1992, in Rio de Janeiro, we have started looking for this parasite in HIV-infected patients with chronic unexplained diarrhea. We have studied 13 patients from Hospital Evandro Chagas, IOC-FIOCRUZ. Fecal specimens from these patients were examined for the presence of Cryptosporidia and Microsporidia, in addition to routine examination. Spores of Microsporidia were found in the stools of 6 (46.1%) of the 13 patients studied, with 2 histological jejunal confirmations. The Microsporidia-infected patients presented chronic diarrhea with about 6 loose to watery bowel movements a day. Five infected patients were treated with Metronidazole (1.5 g/day). They initially showed a good clinical response, but they never stopped eliminating spores. After about the 4th week of therapy, their diarrhea returned. Two patients utilized Albendazole (400 mg/day-4 weeks) with a similar initial improvement and recurrence of the diarrhea. Intestinal Microsporidiosis seems to be a marker of advanced stages of AIDS, since 5 of our 6 infected patients were dead after a 6 month period of follow-up. The present study indicates that intestinal microsporidiosis may be a burgeoning problem in HIV-infected patients with chronic diarrhea in Brazil, which deserves further investigation.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Spoligotype database of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: biogeographic distribution of shared types and epidemiologic and phylogenetic perspectives.

We give an update on the worldwide spoligotype database, which now contains 3,319 spoligotype patterns of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in 47 countries, with 259 shared types, i.e., identical spoligotypes shared by two or more patient isolates. The 259 shared types contained a total of 2,779 (84%) of all the isolates. Seven major genetic groups represented 37% of all clustered isolates. Two types (119 and 137) were found almost exclusively in the USA and accounted for 9% of clustered isolates. The remaining 1,517 isolates were scattered into 252 different spoligotypes. This database constitutes a tool for pattern comparison of M. tuberculosis clinical isolates for global epidemiologic studies and phylogenetic purposes.

Databases as Topic↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Increased surface expression and shedding of tumor associated antigens by human breast carcinoma cells treated with recombinant human interferons or phorbol ester tumor promoters.

In the present study we have evaluated the effect of recombinant interferons, including leukocyte (IFN-alpha A), fibroblast (IFN-beta) and immune (IFN-gamma), and the tumor promoting agent 12-0-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) on the expression of tumor associated antigens (TAA) and class II HLA-DR antigens on human breast carcinoma cell lines. The effect of these agents on the shedding of a high molecular weight tumor associated glycoprotein, BCA-225, was also determined. All three interferons and TPA enhanced the expression of the Mr 180,000 carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and CEA-related TAA recognized by monoclonal antibody B1.1 in both T47D and MCF-7 human breast carcinoma cell lines. The three types of interferons and TPA differed in their absolute TAA-augmenting ability, even in single-cell subclones derived from MCF-7 cells and previously shown to display a differential susceptibility to IFN-alpha augmentation of B1.1 expression. In general, IFN-gamma was more effective than IFN-alpha, IFN-beta or TPA in augmenting the expression of TAA, CEA and BCA-225, and HLA-DR expression in T47D and MCF-7 cells. Differences were also apparent in the ability of the three interferon preparations and TPA to induce shedding of BCA-225 in T47D and MCF-7 cells and their subclones. As observed with TAA expression, IFN-gamma was the most effective preparation in inducing TAA shedding. IFN-gamma also induced the expression and the shedding of BCA-225 by a subclone of T47D cells, T47D cl 17, which normally displays a reduced expression of BCA-225 and does not spontaneously shed this TAA without exposure to IFN-gamma. Recombinant leukocyte interferon (IFN-alpha A) also enhanced BCA-225 expression on T47D cells grown as xenografts in nude mice in vivo. The results of the present study emphasize the complexity of potential antigenic responses which can be induced in human breast carcinoma cells when they are exposed to biological response modulators, including different types of interferon, and tumor promoting agents, such as TPA. This investigation also indicates that both classes of agents can differentially augment expression and/or shedding of TAA by specific breast carcinoma cell lines as well as subclones derived from the same breast carcinoma cell line.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗