A Survey on Apoptosis and Hydatid Cyst Infertility

Hydatidosis is an infection with global distribution caused by the genus of Echinococcus. Although surgery is regarded as the first choice of hydatid cyst treatment, it has not always been successful. Apoptosis has recently been studied as an important part of host innate immunity in suppressing parasites and probably, it can be an ideal mechanism for killing protoscolices of parasites. This study was designed to compare the outcomes of apoptosis in the germinal layer in infertile and fertile hydatid cysts.

6 samples of fertile and infertile cysts were used from bovine liver infected with hydatidosis. To survey gene expression of Fas-L, the mRNA was extracted from laminated-germinal layer and normal tissue of each cyst as the control, and cDNA synthesis was done. Then, the mean of gene expression in each sample along with the glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene as the reference gene was measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Moreover, DNA fragmentation was evaluated by electrophoresis.

The mean expression of Fas-L gene in the laminated-germinal layer of infertile cysts was higher than fertile cysts and host normal tissue. DNA Fragmentation was seen in infertile cysts.

Increasing the expression of Fas-L gene and DNA Fragmentation in laminated-germinal layer of infertile cysts represents that apoptosis may be involved in hydatid cyst infertility.