African Journal of Immunology Research

African Journal of Immunology Research ISSN 2756-3375 Vol. 10 (5), pp. 001-006, May, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

The Role of Apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) Gene as a Prognostic Indicator for Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease

Nelofar Sultana¹*, Masood .A. Qureshi², Rukhshan Khurshid³ and Fatima Shad .K.⁴

¹Department of Physiology, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan.
²Department of Physiology, Dow University of Health Sciences Karachi.
³Department of Biochemistry, Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Lahore.
⁴Department of Physiology, University of Darussalam, Brunei.

Accepted 20 April, 2024

Abstract

The present study aimed to determine the relationship of APOE4 with socio demographic variables as well as with co-morbidities including hypertension and diabetes mellitus. In this study, 200 subjects with dementia were recruited, out of these 200 patients APOE4 was present in 130 cases, 85 (65.4%) were male and 45 (34.6%) females. However, in 70 cases APOE4 was missing, 41 (58.6%) males and 29 (41.4%) were females. Subjects who showed absence of APOE4 were considered as control. Educational level and socioeconomic status were categorized as low, middle and high. BMI was considered as low or normal according to the standard criteria. 10 ml venous blood was obtained for genomic DNA extraction and genotyping for the Apo lipoprotein E (APOE) alleles using standard methods. A high percentage of patients with cognitive disorder showed the presence of APOE4. Among these patients males were more suffered than females. Quantitative characteristics showed that with increasing age the percentage of APOE4 was increased, however, no effect on BMI was observed compared with the presence or absence of APOE4. A direct relationship of APOE4 with diabetes was observed. In conclusion, presence of APOE4 in male patients with cognitive disorder may increase the risk of dementia/Alzheimer’s disease with middle socioeconomic status and education as well as diabetes. However no effect of BMI and blood pressure was observed.

Key words: Apo lipoprotein E4 Gene (APOE4), cognition, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease.

African Journal of Immunology Research ISSN 2756-3375 Vol. 10 (5), pp. 001-007, May, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Development and Prokaryotic Expression of a Fusion Protein Combining PRRSV GP5 with Mycobacterium bovis HSP70

Huan-Rong Zhang¹*, Qi-Gui Yan^2,3, Rui Song², Ting Feng², Ya Liu², Lei Zhou² And Tao Lin²

¹College of Life Science and Technology, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu 61004, P. R. China.
²College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya’an 625014, P. R. China.
³Key Laboratory of Animal Disease and Human Health of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya’an

625014, P. R. China.

Accepted 22 April, 2024

Abstract

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is an economically important swine disease that has devastated the swine industry worldwide. Vaccination with live attenuated vaccine or inactivated vaccine is the main treatment to control PRRS. However, the disadvantages such as virulence resumption of the attenuated vaccine and low immunogenicity of the inactivated vaccine call for a more efficient and safer genetically engineered vaccine. In this study, the structural protein GP5 of the PRRS virus (PRRSV), one of the major protective antigens which stimulates a protective immune response was selected to develop a genetically engineered subunit vaccine. In order to promote the immune reaction of the host to GP5, heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) was selected as immuno-adjuvant to enhance PRRSV GP5 immunogenicity. The Hsp70 gene was amplified by PCR from attenuated Mycobacterium bovis, and the PRRSV GP5 gene was amplified by RT-PCR from the total RNA of PRRSV SCQ strain which was isolated, identified and maintained by the Animal Biotechnological Center, Sichuan Agricultural University, China. The fusion expressing plasmid pET32-GP5-Hsp70 was constructed and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21. Ni2+-chelating resin was used to purify the His-tagged fusion protein expressed under optimized expressing conditions. The rabbit anti-GP5-Hsp70 fusion protein antibody was made, and Western blot assay verified the successful expression of the fusion protein, making it possible for further investigation whether Hsp70 could improve the immunogenicity of the PRRSV GP5 subunit vaccine, or evaluating the immunogenicity of the GP5-Hsp70 subunit vaccine.

Key words: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) GP5 gene, Mycobacterium bovis Hsp70 gene, cloning, prokaryotic expression, identification.
 

African Journal of Immunology Research ISSN 2756-3375 Vol. 10 (5), pp. 001-015, May, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Formulation of Basic Compounds as Arginase Inhibitors with Assessment Against Leishmania amazonensis

Núbia Boechat¹*, Adriana S. Lages¹, Osvaldo A. Santos-Filho¹, Marcelo Genestra†², Mônica M. Bastos¹ and Warner B. Kover³

¹Departamento de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento de Fármacos, Instituto de Tecnologia em Fármacos (Farmanguinhos), FIOCRUZ, Rua Sizenando Nabuco, 100, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 21041-250, Brazil.

²Departamento de Imunologia, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC), Laboratório de Bioquímica de Tripanosomatídeos, FIOCRUZ, Av. Brasil, 4365, Manguinhos, Pavilhão Leônidas Deane, 4º andar, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 21045-900, Brazil.

³Instituto de Química, Centro de Tecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Bloco A, Lab A-613, Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 21949-900, Brazil. †in memory

Accepted 11 March, 2024

Abstract

In this work, we synthesized substances and evaluated the potential leishmanicidal activity. Thirty-four (34)    compounds from different chemical classes were selected for a simple synthesis in overall good yields, eight of which are not described in the literature. From the 34 compounds evaluated for preliminary leishmanicidal activity, three can be considered as prototypes for the development of leishmanicidal agents. Computational chemistry calculations, including comparative modeling of the enzyme arginase from Leishmania amazonensis and a molecular docking simulation of the synthesized molecules into the active site of the model were carried out.

Key words: Leishmaniasis, arginase, molecular docking, thiourea, bisguanidine, amidine, biological evaluation, comparative modeling.
 

African Journal of Immunology Research ISSN 2756-3375 Vol. 10 (4), pp. 001-011, April, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Development of a High-Throughput Screening Database for Identifying Ligands that Modulate HIV-1 Protease Activity

C. Micallef*, C. Shoemake and L. M. Azzopardi

Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, Msida-Malta.

Accepted 15 March, 2024

Abstract

This is a report of a de novo design study that aimed to identify novel structures capable of inhibiting the human immune deficiency virus (HIV-1) protease ligand binding pocket (HIV-1 PR_LBP). Baseline information regarding ligand binding modality and affinity was obtained through analysis of the pdb crystallographic depositions describing the HIV-1 PR enzyme complexed with small molecule inhibitors currently available on the Protein Data Bank (PDB). Molecular visualisation and modelling was carried out using SYBYL® 1.1, and in silico predicted ligand binding affinity (LBA) was quantified using XSCORE_V1.3. The de novo design phase of the study was based on the utilisation of the bound co-ordinates of Lopinavir. This particular HIV-1 protease (HIV-1 PR) inhibitor was selected as a template owing to its superior in vivo activity and unique binding modality. Based on literature derived data, the cyclic urea moiety of Lopinavir was retained as a seed fragment, overlaid onto its counterpart moiety and planted into the HIV-1 PR_LBP with growth being allowed according to defined parameters utilising the genetic algorithm embedded in the GROW module of LIGBUILDER®V1.2. The result was the identification of 200 de novo designed structures with a predicted in silico ligand binding affinity (LBA) (pKd) ranging between 9.63 and 10.00. A smaller cohort (n = 35) was also Lipinski rule of 5 complaint. The implication of this study consequently is that this series of novel structures may be compiled into a library that may be of utility in high throughput screening (HTS) processes and future iterative optimisation.

Key words: High-throughput screening (HTS), protein data bank (PDB) depositions, ligand binding pocket (LBP), ligand binding affinity (LBA), human immune deficiency virus (HIV)-1 protease (HIV-1 PR), acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
 

African Journal of Immunology Research ISSN 2756-3375 Vol. 10 (4), pp. 001-005, April, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Exploring Geriatric HIV Infection in Nigeria: Insights from a Case Series Study

Afe Abayomi Joseph¹*, A. K. Salami² and L. O. Odeigah¹

¹Institute of Human Virology Nigeria, P. O. Box 10047, GPO, Marina, Lagos, Nigeria.
²University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria.

Accepted 11 February, 2024

Abstract

This study involves a case‐series of 3 elderly male patients with human immune deficiency virus (HIV) infection managed between 2009 and 2010 at the antiretroviral clinic (ART) University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. They were all within the age range of 73 to 100 years and had multiple sexual partners. They were also co‐managed for hypertension, diabetes mellitus and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Baseline CD4 count was < 350 cell/mm3 for all of them and their chemistry and haematology results were within normal ranges. Sputum acid fast bacilli (AFB) was also negative. They all had first-line anti retroviral (ARV) therapy and cotrimoxazole prophylaxis. Initially, adherence was perfect in all of them (≥ 95%) especially as their relatives who double as the treatment‐partners ensured their regular intake of ARV and clinic attendance but later adherence became poor (< 80%) which was reflected in the fallen CD4 counts. Reasons for this include dementia and polypharmacy. One developed severe anaemia due to zidovudine (ZDV)‐induced bone marrow suppression and was appropriately managed. Two of the three cases died < 2 years post‐HIV diagnosis. Conclusively, geriatric HIV infection management entails multidisciplinary approach and a sound working knowledge of antiretroviral therapy with all the peculiar charateristics in the elderly.

Key words: Human immune deficiency virus (HIV), geriatric, adherence, highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), people living with HIV (PLHIV).

African Journal of Immunology Research ISSN 2756-3375 Vol. 10 (3), pp. 001-006, March, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Identifying Barriers to Effective Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) and HIV Exposure Among Infants in a Nigerian Urban Area: Implications for Enhancing Health System Resilience

Oladokun R. E.¹, Ige O.²* and Osinusi Kikelomo¹

¹Department of Paediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.
²Department of Community Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Accepted 23 November, 2023

Abstract

In many countries, paediatric human immune deficiency virus (HIV) has been virtually eliminated. Nigeria however still records an unacceptably high number of HIV positive births. This study aims to identify HIV exposure rates among infants and to quantify gaps in preventing mother to child transmission (PMTCT) services in a major Nigerian city. A cross-sectional design was used to assess the prevalence of HIV sero-positivity in infants and use of PMTCT services among mothers in routine immunization clinics across the city. A total of 2,125 mother-infant pairs from 53 Primary Health Care Facilities were studied. More mothers who had received Ante natal care (ANC) services from orthodox health facilities were screened for HIV; 77.5% compared to 42.5% of those who used non-orthodox care providers (p < 0.001). In all, 0.6% of mothers were people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Overall, 0.9% of infants tested positive for HIV, only one infant was confirmed by DNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to be HIV infected. Only one of the 18 mothers of the HIV exposed infants had been previously diagnosed as having HIV infection. Among the newly diagnosed HIV positive mothers, 58.8% had received antenatal care from an orthodox health facility and 35.3% had been screened for HIV in pregnancy. Most mothers had practiced mixed feeding of their babies. The low HIV exposure rates among infants indicate progress in limiting mother-to-child transmission of HIV infections in Nigeria. However, the achievement of National PMTCT targets will need joint action of all stakeholders to reach those women without access to orthodox health facilities.

Key words: Human immune deficiency virus (HIV), polymerase chain reaction, preventing mother to child transmission.