Immunochemistry & Immunopathology

Soluble endoglin is produced as a result of extracellular domain cleavage of full-length membrane molecules. Numerous studies of recent years have shown that its excessive production is associated with vascular pathology, tumor growth and preeclampsia development. In this study we developed and explored ten sandwich-ELISA systems, based on monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) produced in our laboratory, to detect soluble endoglin in blood plasma. Here we demonstrated that values of endoglin concentration determined in the same samples varied greatly depending on pairs of MAbs used. Some measurements were up to two orders of magnitude higher compared with widely used commercial kit. Western blot analysis revealed four fractions of the antigen precipitated from plasma. Our data suggest that this molecular heterogeneity of soluble endoglin may lead to the pronounced differences in estimates of its concentration made using different sandwich-ELISA systems. Nevertheless, all studied systems revealed increment of endoglin content in plasma of pregnant women compared with healthy donors as well as its substantial production in preeclampsia patients.

Background: The optimal local care of continuous-flow left ventricular-assisted device (CF-LVAD) exit site in unclear. We compared silver-coated wound dressing (Acticoat) with the conventional wound care method. Methods: A retrospective case-control study was conducted at Henry Ford Hospital, a tertiary teaching hospital in urban Detroit, between 11/1/2010 and 12/31/2011. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on Acticoatdressing use. Primary outcome was first CF-LVAD infection rate. Results: Forty-two patients were included in the study. Twenty patients used Acticoat-dressing, while 22 used the control dressing. Mean age was 60.3 ± 8.9 in the intervention group and 48.6 ± 4.8 in the control group (P: 0.004). Male patients were 15 (75%) in the intervention group and 15 (68.2%) in the control group (P: 0.74). Acticoat-dressing was used for a mean duration of 64.1 ± 122.9 days. The rate of first CF-LVAD infection was 15% (3) in the Acticoat group and 31.8% (7) in the control group (P: 0.25). Mortality at 200 days was 15% (3) in the intervention group; and 4.5% (1) in the control group (P: 0.25). Ten patients were infected in the whole study (23.8%); 9 of the infected patients (90%) required hospitalization after the first infection; while 3 patients (30%) required intensive-care unit admission. Mean time to the first infection was 276.3 ± 235.8 days in the intervention group and 276.3 ± 131.5 days in the control group (P: 0.99). Conclusion: There was no statistically significant difference in the infection rate or time to first infection between the Acticoat group and the control group.

The role in the control of pathogenic microorganisms is well known. Most of the population will survive the attack from the microorganisms. The patients that succumb from the disease have less armamentarium to fight the microorganism. Herpes virusses like Epstein Barr virus live livelong with the infected patient. The immune system and the virus are communicating vessels that keep each other into control.