Posttreatment Downregulation of Type III Interferons in Patients with Acute Brucellosis.

Mehran Shokri,Mousa Mohammadnia-Afrouzi,Oreinab Ghaffari Khonakdar,Amirhossein Hasanpour,Mahmoud Sadeghi-Haddad-Zavareh,Mohammad Barary,Soheil Ebrahimpour,Matilde Otero-Losada

doi:10.1155/2021/8601614

Mehran Shokri, Mousa Mohammadnia-Afrouzi + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/8601614

Copy DOI

Abstract

There is a limited number of clinical studies on interferon (IFN) levels in human brucellosis. The novel group of interferons, type III interferons, which consists of four IFN-λ (lambda) molecules called IFN-λ1 or interleukin-29 (IL-29), IFN-λ2 or IL-28A, IFN-λ3 or IL-28B, and IFN-λ4, is not fully known. This study is one of the first studies of IL-28A and IL-29 levels in brucellosis cases at the end of their treatment course. A total of 33 acute brucellosis patients were included in this study. We considered changes in the levels of IL-28A and IL-29 in cases with acute brucellosis before and after treatment with standard therapy that referred to the Ayatollah Rohani Hospital in Babol, northern Iran. Of 33 included patients, 22 (66.6%) were males, and 11 (33.4%) were females. The range of patients' age was 49.21 ± 17.70 years. Serum IL-29 and IL-28A (acute form: 56.4 ± 30.32 pg/mL and 48.73 ± 27.72 pg/mL, respectively, and posttreatment: 40.15 ± 20.30 pg/mL and 38.79 ± 22.66 pg/mL, respectively) levels were elevated significantly in acute brucellosis than after treatment (p < 0.05). These findings indicate that considering biomarker levels in brucellosis patients may indicate the chronicity of infection. In conclusion, we suggest that IL-29 and IL-28A levels may be valuable biomarkers for follow-up patients with brucellosis.

Highlights

Brucellosis is a zoonotic bacterial disease caused by one of the various species of the Brucella spp. [1,2,3]
Clinicians rely on other laboratory tests to evaluate patients with brucellosis, such as agglutination test, white blood cell (WBC) counts, platelet (PLT) counts, liver function tests, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP)
It is noteworthy that IL-29 levels both before and after treatment were more than IL-28A levels

Summary

Introduction

Brucellosis is a zoonotic bacterial disease caused by one of the various species of the Brucella spp. [1,2,3]. Brucellosis is a zoonotic bacterial disease caused by one of the various species of the Brucella spp. Approximately half-million new brucellosis cases are reported worldwide, the actual incidence rate has been much more significant [4, 5]. Even though the gold standard for diagnosing this disease is leukocyte culture, this test has a high falsenegative rate. Its cost and a 10-day delay before confirmation restrict its use as a standard diagnostic test in acute brucellosis [6]. Clinicians rely on other laboratory tests to evaluate patients with brucellosis, such as agglutination test, white blood cell (WBC) counts, platelet (PLT) counts, liver function tests, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP). The diagnosis of brucellosis remains a challenge in most cases [6]

Methods

Results

Conclusion