Brucellosis 2003 proceedings - PHIDIAS

Short Oral Communications
Human brucellosis
HO1- SIGNIFICANT REDUCED NUMBER OF Brucella-SPECIFIC IFN-g-
PRODUCING CD3 T CELLS IN HUMAN CHRONIC BRUCELLOSIS.
Alireza Rafiei 1 , Amina Kariminia 2 , Sussan K. Ardestani 3 , Abdolhosein Keyhani 1 , Mino Mohraz 4 , Ali
Amirkhani 2 . (1) Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical
Sciences, Tehran, Iran. (2) Department of Immunology, Pasture Institute, Tehran, Iran. (3) Section of
Immunology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran. (4) Department
of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Human brucellosis is a worldwide zoonotic infection caused by intracellular
bacteria belong to the genus of Brucella. Based on the murine studies it has been
shown that host resistance to Brucella depends on Th1 response, whereas Th2
response is involved in the severity of disease. Since the immune responses during
human brucellosis have not been profoundly studied thus we tried to evaluate
cytokines production in patients suffering from brucellosis. Two clinical forms, chronic
and acute, were included in the study and sex and age-matched healthy individuals
were also appraised as controls. Diluted whole blood samples were cultured in the
presence of either mitogen; heat inactivated bacteria or medium alone. IL-12, IFN-γ
and IL-10 were measured by specific sandwich ELISA. In addition, intracellular
cytokine production was used in order to evaluate IL-13- and IFN-γ producing CD3
cells. It was found that not only IFN-γ production but also the number of IFN-γ
producing CD3 cells were significantly decreased in response to antigen in the
chronic group of patients. In contrast, IL-12 production in whole blood culture of
chronic patients was higher than the acute patients. Although the percentage of IL-
13-producing CD3 cells was dramatically high in the chronic group of patients no
correlation was found between the number of IFN-γ producing and IL-13-producing
CD3 cells. IL-10 production was also augmented in chronic patients but without any
correlation to IFN-γ production. In conclusion, the correlation of Th2 cytokines
production and progression of chronic human brucellosis was not demonstrated.
Nevertheless, the number of IFN-γ-producing CD3 cells were found to be
dramatically decreased in chronic group suggesting the induction of apoptosis to
eliminate the Th1 cells which helps prolongation of brucellosis in chronic patients.
HO2- Brucella IgM AND IgG FLOW ASSAYS FOR THE RAPID SERODIAGNOSIS
OF HUMAN BRUCELLOSIS.
H. L. Smits 1 , T. H. Abdoel 1 , J. Solera 2 , E. Clavijo 3 , and R. Diaz 4 . (1) KIT Biomedical Research, Royal
Tropical Institute / Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (KIT), Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (2) Unit of
Infectious Diseases, General Hospital of Albacete, Albacete, Spain. (3) Microbiology Unit, HCU Virgen
de la Victoria, Málaga, Spain. (4) Servicio de Microbiología Clínica, Universidad de Navarra,
Pamplona, Spain.
Laboratory testing is essential for the serodiagnosis of human brucellosis.
Diagnostic testing for human brucellosis often is not available in remote areas that
are endemic for brucellosis. As a consequence the illness may be overlooked or
misdiagnosed. To fulfil in the need for a simple and rapid diagnostic test we have
developed the Brucella IgM and IgG flow assays. The test can be performed and
read without the need for formal training or special and expensive equipment. The
assays are simply performed by the addition of a drop of serum and some running
fluid to the sample well of a plastic assay device. The assay result is read after 10 to
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