Iranian Journal of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
Volume:12 Issue: 3, Jul 2013

Adverse effects following immunization to vaccines (AEFI) are considered extremely rare events, the occurrence of which could gain a major role in optimizing allergy diagnosis by cellular tests. The urgent need to eradicate infectious diseases from population, is the main goal of vaccination campaign, therefore its successful outcome should be almost undisputable. Basophil Activation Test (BAT) is commonly used to ascertain a type I hypersensitivity reaction, often replacing reasability tests. Therefore, flow cytometry assay of basophil, as performed in BATs, is employed to test if a particular antigen elicits some activatory response from cells. The allergic subject may undergo an AEFI to vaccine not necessarily by an atopic reaction with an allergen within vaccines but because of the existence of an asymptomatic or not diagnosed inflammatory chronic allergy or other immune-disregulating allergy disorder in the subject. BAT, also in its basilar fashion, might be used from a simple heparinized whole blood specimen, but its application in diagnosing allergy before mandatory of facultative vaccination, must be associated to improve other diagnostic tools, at least in its pivotal application. If the application of BAT can be suggested to improve allergy diagnosis by introducing a cellular test in routinely used tools, such as sIgE and SPT, its use, due to possible expertise-consuming and relatively expensive issues, can be included in a specialized allergy consultancy panel as an exploratory approach of allergy inflammation, for which a subject undergoing immunization by vaccines is suggested to undergo and advised to sign an informed consent for BAT performing. This may extend BAT use in many other forms of chronic allergy and immunity disorders related to AEFI with vaccines.

Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs) play an important role in gastric cancer (GC). Accumulated evidence suggests that functional MMP-1 and MMP-7 gene polymorphisms are associated with several tumors. The aim of this study was to investigate two single nucleotide polymorphisms, MMP-1 -1607 1G/2G and MMP-7 -181 A/G, and their potential relationship with GC.We examined 246 GC patients and 252 age-and sex-matched controls from Sichuan province in China. Genotypes were determined using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism strategy and DNA sequencing. We also performed a meta-analysis of relevant studies, involving 1084 cases and 1721 controls, to place our findings in a broader context.No significant relationship was observed between the MMP-1 -1607 1G/2G alleles and genotypes and the risk of GC. There were significant differences in the genotypes and allele distributions of the -181 A/G polymorphism of the MMP-7 gene between cases and controls. The -181 A allele carriers had a significantly increased risk of GC compared with -181 G allele carriers (OR=3.051, 95% CI, 1.475-6.310, P=0.002), and the AA genotype of -181 A/G was associated with an increased risk of GC compared with the AG genotype (OR=3.189, 95% CI, 1.523-6.676, P=0.001).A meta-analysis of six studies also showed a significant risk of GC associated with MMP-7 polymorphism.

Paraoxonase-1 (PON1) is a serum HDL-bound enzyme that hydrolyzes a number of aromatic carboxylic acid esters including lipid peroxides, preventing LDL oxidation. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients are at greater risk of oxidative stress, which is associated with abnormal plasma lipid metabolism. In this study, association of PON-55 polymorphism with serum arylesterase (ARE) activities, malondialdehyde (MDA), neopterin, lipids and lipoproteins levels in SLE patients and the development of hypertension was investigated.The present case–control study consisted of 109 SLE patients with and without high blood pressure (BP) and 103 healthy controls from the population in the west of Iran.PON-55 Met Keywords: Arylesterase activity, Blood pressure, Lipid profile, Malondialdehyde, Paraoxonase 55 genotype, Systemic lupus erythematosus