RESUMO
BACKGROUND: It has been reported that vaccination against hepatitis B is less effective among people with Down syndrome than in the general population. We aimed to evaluate the rate of seroconversion to hepatitis B vaccine in children with Down syndrome from Brazil. METHODS: A total of 120 people with Down syndrome were included. All of them received the vaccine at intervals of 0, 30 and 180 days and serum samples were tested for the presence of antibodies to the hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) 30 days after the last dose. RESULTS: In the studied group, 58.3% (70/120) were male and 41.7% (50/120) female, with the median age of 5 years (range 2-15 years). Fifty-eight of 120 (48.3%) developed anti-HBs after vaccination. No association was found between gender and/or age and vaccine response. CONCLUSIONS: The low rate of seroconversion in response to hepatitis B vaccine suggests that all patients with Down syndrome immunized against hepatitis B should be followed and monitored by clinicians.
Assuntos
Síndrome de Down/imunologia , Vacinas contra Hepatite B/administração & dosagem , Hepatite B/prevenção & controle , Adolescente , Brasil/epidemiologia , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Relação Dose-Resposta Imunológica , Síndrome de Down/epidemiologia , Feminino , Humanos , Esquemas de Imunização , MasculinoRESUMO
The hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection may change the outcome of patients undergoing stem cell transplantation. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of the HCV antibody in patients who were alive 10 or more years after BMT, defining the annual progression rate of hepatic fibrosis in those patients, and identifying cases of cirrhosis among those who were positive for HCV antibody. Between 1979 and 1990, 259 patients had a bone marrow transplant, and 91 were alive in March 2000. Of those, 80 were included in the study after having been scanned for serum HCV antibodies. A total of 39 were positive (48.8%), one was indeterminate and 40 were negative (50%). The patients who were HCV positive or undetermined were called for a medical appointment and 22 (55%) attended. A total of 16 patients (72.7%) were male, the mean age was 37.8+/-9.2 years and all of them had had an allogeneic transplant. Of the 22 patients studied, 12 (54.5%) agreed to have a liver biopsy. Hepatic fibrosis was diagnosed in 10 patients. The hepatic fibrosis annual progression rate was 0.156 UF/year. Among the anti-HCV-positive patients assessed, three (13.6%) already had cirrhosis.
Assuntos
Transplante de Medula Óssea/efeitos adversos , Hepatite C/etiologia , Sobreviventes , Adulto , Progressão da Doença , Feminino , Hepacivirus/imunologia , Anticorpos Anti-Hepatite/sangue , Hepatite C/complicações , Hepatite C/epidemiologia , Humanos , Cirrose Hepática/epidemiologia , Cirrose Hepática/etiologia , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , PrevalênciaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Literature data have shown high specificity of antiendomysial antibodies (EmA IgA) in celiac disease. The scarcity of Brazilian reports concerning this subject motivated the present study. OBJECTIVES: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of antiendomysial IgA antibodies in Brazilian celiac patients at diagnosis and after treatment, to confirm patient adherence to a gluten-free diet and to screen first-degree relatives. METHODS: An extensive clinical and serological study was performed by investigating the presence of these antibodies in 392 individuals from Southern Brazil. Indirect immunofluorescence using human umbilical cord as substrate was employed and the total levels of IgA were determined by turbidimetry in all groups. The study was conducted on 57 celiac patients (18 at diagnosis, 24 who adhered to a gluten-free diet and 15 with marked or slight transgression of the diet), 115 relatives of celiac patients (39 families), 94 patients with other gastrointestinal diseases, and 126 healthy individuals from the general population. RESULTS: The results demonstrated 100% positivity for the recently diagnosed patients and for those consuming gluten, in contrast to the patients who complied with the diet (0%). In the control group one individual was positive, but refused to undergo a biopsy. In the group of other gastrointestinal diseases, one positive patient presented ulcerative colitis, Down's syndrome and epilepsy, and the intestinal biopsy was diagnostic for celiac disease. These data showed 99.3% specificity for the test. Eighteen relatives were positive for antiendomysial antibodies IgA (15.65%), and comparison with the healthy population revealed a significant difference. An intestinal biopsy was obtained from seven subjects (one with total villous atrophy and six without alterations in the mucosal architecture, but all with a high number of intra-epithelial lymphocytes). CONCLUSIONS: The method revealed 100% sensitivity and 99.3% specificity. Because it is not an invasive method it can be used for the screening of atypical and latent forms of celiac disease to avoid serial biopsies and to control adherence to a gluten-free diet with implications in the prevention of malignancy in celiac disease.
Assuntos
Autoanticorpos/sangue , Doença Celíaca/imunologia , Imunoglobulina A/sangue , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Estudos de Casos e Controles , Doença Celíaca/diagnóstico , Doença Celíaca/genética , Distribuição de Qui-Quadrado , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Intervalos de Confiança , Família , Feminino , Técnica Indireta de Fluorescência para Anticorpo , Predisposição Genética para Doença , Humanos , Lactente , Recém-Nascido , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Sensibilidade e EspecificidadeRESUMO
Sensibility to gluten is a condition with high immunological reaction against gluten proteins from wheat, barley, rye and oats in individuals genetically susceptible. Celiac disease is its most frequent expression with various forms of clinical presentation. The treatment consists in gluten free diet. Although the biopsy of proximal small bowel is necessary, the importance of serological tests is increasing in the screening, diagnosis and monitoring of gluten free diet in celiac patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of antiendomysium (EmA-IgA) and anti-reticulin (ARA-IgA) antibodies in 56 celiac patients (17 at diagnosis, 24 adherent to the diet and 15 with transgression to the diet). The antibodies were detected by indirect immunofluorescence, using human umbilical cord as substrate for the EmA-IgA and rat liver and kidney for the ARA-IgA. In the patients at diagnosis and in the group with transgression to the diet the total positivity was 100% for EmA-IgA and 59.4% for ARA-IgA. Antibodies were not detected in gluten-free diet patients. Among the 32 positive patients, the concordance of both tests was of 59.4% (19/32), being 40.6% (13/32) negative to ARA-IgA and positive to EmA-IgA. No patient was positive for ARA-IgA and negative for EmA-IgA. Thus, the sensitivity for EmA-IgA was of 100% and 59.4% for ARA-IgA. The association of the two tests did not improve the positivity in the samples. In conclusion, EmA-IgA can be considered the best serological test for diagnosis and follow up of celiac patients, because it presents high predictive value, high specificity and sensibility and is not expensive if using human umbilical cord as substrate.