Advances in Neuroimmune Biology - Volume 7, issue 1

Article Type: Obituary

DOI: 10.3233/NIB-180311

Citation: Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1-1, 2018

Authors: Romo-González, Tania | Martínez, Armando J. | Hernández-Pozo, María del Rocío | Gutiérrez-Ospina, Gabriel | Larralde, Carlos

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Breast cancer (BC) is one of the leading causes of death among women worldwide. Identification of susceptible women might help us reduce BC-related deaths. Traditionally women’s susceptibility to BC has been estimated based on family, reproductive and nutritional histories and/or genotyping. Unfortunately, predictions made based on all these factors remain imprecise. Research conducted over the past decades supports the premise that patients displaying some personality traits are prone to develop cancer. Nevertheless, conflicting results have been published. We then conducted a study aimed at evaluating relationships between specific personality traits and different types of breast pathology. This approach aimed at …evaluating whether personality profiling, in conjunction with other parameters might help us, in the near future, to identify more accurately Mexican women susceptible to develop BC. As a first step towards this goal, we asked whether healthy women and patients having signs of benign breast pathology or cancer shared or not specific personality traits. We used the Courtauld Emotional Control Total Score, the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory and the Symptoms of Stress Inventory to identify personality traits. Our results indicated that women diagnosed with benign or malign breast pathology share low restraint, low global stress symptoms, low physical stress symptoms, low restraint-defensiveness composite and high distress before diagnosis. This outcome was independent of the educational level, as well as of family, reproductive and nutritional histories, supporting that the weight of the psychological traits is greater than that of the latter variables, at least in our sample. Show more

Keywords: Breast cancer, psychological profile, distress, behavior, emotional suppression and repression

DOI: 10.3233/NIB-170123

Citation: Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 3-15, 2018

Authors: Escalante-Gaytán, Jorge | Reyes-Lagos, José Javier | Peña-Castillo, Miguel Ángel | Echeverría, Juan Carlos | García-González, María Teresa | Becerril-Villanueva, Enrique | Pavón, Lenin | Ledesma-Ramírez, Claudia Ivette | Ayala-Yáñez, Rodrigo | González-Camarena, Ramón | Pacheco-López, Gustavo

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the associations between immunological markers and anthropometric measures with linear/nonlinear parameters corresponding to the superficial electromyographic activity of uterus, or electrohysterogram (EHG), at parturition. METHODS: Ten minutes of EHG signals were recorded from twenty healthy volunteers in active labor at term (40±1 weeks). These signals were normalized and analyzed to estimate relevant linear and nonlinear parameters such as the average root mean square (RMS) value, the area under the curve (AUC) and the sample entropy (SampEn). Furthermore, serum levels of several maternal molecules associated with the inflammatory response in …active labor such as the interleukin (IL)-10 family, the B cell activating factor belonging to the TNF family (BAFF/TNFSF13B), and the soluble hemoglobin scavenger receptor CD163 (sCD163) were all analyzed using multiplex immunoassays. In addition, we obtained maternal anthropometric measures such as the body mass index (BMI), weight, abdominal and hip circumference. RESULTS: We found several moderate but significant positive correlations between the SampEn of the EHG signals with BMI: r  = 0.54, p  = 0.01; weight: r  = 0.41, p  = 0.03 and hip circumference: r  = 0.38, p  = 0.04. Also, the average RMS of EHG signals exhibited moderate positive significant correlations with IL-28A: r  = 0.48, p  = 0.01; sCD163: r  = 0.43, p  = 0.02 and BAFF/TNFSF13B: r  = 0.49, p  = 0.01. CONCLUSION: Our results show that larger anthropometric measures were associated with higher irregularity of uterine electrical activity, and that elevated serum concentrations of IL-28A, BAFF/TNFSF13B and sCD163 were related to increased uterine muscle activity. These findings suggest an interaction among anthropometric measures, uterine activity, and inflammatory parameters at active labor. Show more

Keywords: Electrohysterogram, BMI, cytokines, nonlinear analysis, uterine contractions

DOI: 10.3233/NIB-170127

Citation: Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 17-26, 2018

Authors: Torres-Castro, Israel | Martínez-Reyes, Camilo P. | Escobedo, Galileo

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Recent experimental and clinical evidence has suggested a synergistic causal role among adipose tissue hypertrophy, dyslipidemia, and systemic inflammation in the development and instability of the atherosclerotic plaque. Here, we summarize some of the most recent findings regarding the role of white adipose tissue hypertrophy in the development of dyslipidemia and chronic low-grade systemic inflammation. We also review the contribution of dyslipidemia in releasing free-fatty acids, cholesterol, and oxidized low-density lipoproteins as metabolic ligands able to trigger inflammatory signal pathways in macrophages via pattern recognition receptor (PRR) activation. Finally, we discuss the possible mechanisms through which dyslipidemia-related metabolic ligands and …chronic low-grade systemic inflammation are capable of inducing macrophage activation, which in turn is involved in mediating instability and rupture of the atherosclerotic plaque. A better understanding of the inflammatory mechanisms contributing to atherosclerosis may help to identify potential molecular targets to decrease the cardiovascular risk in patients by using anti-inflammatory therapies and PRR blockers. Show more

Keywords: Adipose tissue hypertrophy, chronic low-grade systemic inflammation, dyslipidemia, PAMP, DAMP, tumor necrosis factor alpha, macrophage, atherosclerosis

DOI: 10.3233/NIB-170128

Citation: Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 27-38, 2018

Authors: Dabiri, A. | Mansouri, R. | Kazemi, M. | Eskandari, N. | Shaygannejad, V. | Manian, M. | Jahanbani-Ardakani, H.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of human central nervous system (CNS). OX40 (CD134) is a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor family. Ligation of OX40 is crucial for clonal expansion of antigen-specific T-cells as well as survival and generation of T-cell memory. Soluble OX40 is the soluble form of OX40 and it has been demonstrated that it is correlated with some autoimmune disorders. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate serum levels and gene expression of OX40 as a paraclinical marker in MS patients compared to the healthy control group. …METHODS: In this research, 40 new cases of MS patients and 40 healthy people as control group were investigated. After extracting RNA from peripheral blood and cDNA synthesis, we examined gene expression using real-time PCR technique, and serum level of soluble OX40 was measured by commercially available ELISA kit. Additionally, Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the gene expression and serum levels between two groups. RESULTS: We did not find any significant correlation between OX40 gene expression and MS disease (p  = 0.715). Soluble OX40 serum levels of MS patients were not significantly different from the control group (P  = 0.409). CONCLUSIONS: According to the results of the current study, expression of OX40 gene as an inflammatory factor in peripheral blood and also serum levels of OX40 could not be considered paraclinical markers of this disease. Show more

Keywords: Multiple sclerosis, OX40, CD134, gene expression, serum level

DOI: 10.3233/NIB-170136

Citation: Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 39-42, 2018

Authors: Guerrero-García, José de Jesús | Godínez-Rubí, Marisol | Ortuño-Sahagún, Daniel

Article Type: Review Article

Abstract: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune-mediated disorder that affects the Central Nervous System (CNS). It is associated with several genetic and environmental risk factors and has a heterogeneous nature that affects the evolution of the disease, as well as its clinical manifestations, which renders difficult the follow-up of the patients with MS and their treatment. As in other autoimmune diseases, sex hormones play an important role in the evolution of MS. The prevalence of MS is in a proportion of 2-to-3 females per males, with females more affected and with pregnancy providing a protection state. Sex hormones modulate the immune …response and have neuroprotective effects; therefore, treatment with these hormones may ameliorate the clinical status of MS. Because it remains unclear whether sex hormones could modify the response to immunomodulatory treatment by inducing a gender-dependent effect, and whether there are gender-associated biomarkers, which that allow a more detailed and predictive follow-up in patients with MS. Here we review the existing evidence about the search for biomarkers for the clinical follow-up of patients with MS, considering gender as a factor that influences the progression of the disease and the response to treatment. We analyze and discuss the microarray approach, polymorphisms (such as Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, SNP) and soluble biomarker determinations, which revealed differences depending on the gender of the patients. We propose that further studies must always consider the gender of the patients as a variable in their analysis, which permits a better understanding of the pathogenesis of the disease and obtaining a much better and consistent profile of the biomarkers useful in the clinic of the MS. Show more

Keywords: Multiple sclerosis, biomarkers, sex, gender, microarrays, polymorphisms, estrogen, testosterone, cytokines, sexual hormones

DOI: 10.3233/NIB-170126

Citation: Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 43-54, 2018

Authors: Peón, Alberto N. | Terrazas, Luis I.

Article Type: Review Article

Abstract: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS), mainly in dependency upon a complex interplay between lymphocytes and innate cells. As such, the role for hematopoietic cells, their extravasation into the CNS and their mechanisms for neurodegeneration have been extensively studied and discussed elsewhere. On the other hand, neurons, oligodendrocytes, astrocytes and microglia also produce mediators that contribute to the local microenvironment and either regulate or potentiate neurodegeneration, but their contribution to the whole phenomenon has been largely neglected. In this review we will address the crosstalk between neurons, glial cells and the immune …system, discussing the neuroimmune interactions that may serve as important targets for future drug development. Show more

Keywords: Multiple sclerosis, neurons, glia, neuro-immune interactions, astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes

DOI: 10.3233/NIB-170130

Citation: Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 55-65, 2018

Authors: Muñoz-Guzmán, Marco Antonio | Alba-Hurtado, Fernando

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Traditionally, prolactin has been the only hormone associated with the reactivation of arrested Toxocara canis larvae in pregnant bitches. Nevertheless, recent findings have shown the effect of progesterone on the host immune response and on the physiology and behavior of the parasite, which probably causes the reactivation of arrested larvae in pregnant bitches. The initial presence of T. canis larvae in the organs of the host causes a non-specific inflammatory infiltrate to surround the larvae, after which a Th1-type response is induced, which is characterized by the recruitment of macrophages and leukocytes, and the production of Interferon-gamma (IFNγ) …and pro-inflammatory cytokines that participate in granuloma formation. In parallel, a Th2-type response is mounted, which regulates the severity of the granulomatous infiltrate that surrounds the larvae, helps in larvae survival and likely favors larval arrest. Larvae in pregnant bitches are reactivated in the second part of gestation, which is characterized by an initial increase in progesterone followed by an increase in prolactin. Progesterone modulates the immune response and induces an increase in anti-inflammatory cytokines, especially interleukin (IL)10, which decreases the severity of the granulomatous response, creating favorable conditions for larval arrest. Furthermore, progesterone and prolactin stimulate the growth and development of larvae in vitro through action on possible receptors for these hormones. In conclusion, there is wide evidence of a strong association between both hormones and T. canis larvae reactivation in the second part of gestation in bitches. Show more

Keywords: Progesterone, prolactin, hormones, Toxocara, parasites, larval reactivation

DOI: 10.3233/NIB-170134

Citation: Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 67-78, 2018

Authors: Bottasso, Oscar

Article Type: Review Article

Abstract: The immune system plays an essential role in distinguishing between self and non-self and hence protecting the host from infections. Upon the pathogen encounter, the host seeks to ensure an adequate inflammatory reaction to combat infection but at the same time tries to prevent collateral damage due to excessive immune activation. As such, limiting inflammation during an infection is an essential goal, for which several counterregulatory mechanisms are put into play, like the production of adrenal steroid hormones. This will assure a successful defense and adaptation of the organism to injury, highlighting the relevance of the relationship between adrenal hormones …and the immune response. Chronic infections with bacteria, or parasites were found to display several endocrine abnormalities, ranging from subtle disturbances to substantial alterations in the regulation of the HPA axis. Facts accounting for such disturbances encompass several non-mutually exclusive possibilities, inflammation in neuroendocrine tissues, partly due to the presence of pathogens and the ensuing structural and functional alterations; along with the exploitation of the host’s hormonal microenvironment by the infectious agent. Alterations in the steroid hormone axis may be also viewed as one of the consequences resulting from the re-directioning of energy to the immune system during chronic infections. Collectively, these alterations further contribute to a deficient control of infection and immunopathology, together with metabolic changes, which promote an unsuitable scenario for disease prognosis. Show more

Keywords: The HPA axis, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, chronic infections

DOI: 10.3233/NIB-170135

Citation: Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 79-89, 2018