Immunochemistry & Immunopathology

Background: Leptin is secreted by adipocytes, transported into the brain and binds to its receptor in the hypothalamus, and activates JAK-STAT3, leading to increase in “anorexigenic peptides” which normally inhibit food consumption and reduce weight.
Objectives: In the current study, a hybrid approach of molecular docking and virtual screening was performed, for the identification of active alternative compounds to manage obesity disorders.
Methods: Screening was performed using structure-based drug design against approved FDA drugs; molecular modeling was done using AutoDockVina; only top 10 conformers’ ligands with highest and best scores were selected. In order to increase the likelihood of successful docking, in silico Virtual Screening (VS) of selected compounds were filtered according to their molecular weight and partition coefficient; a molecular weight of less than 500 and a partitioning coefficient (log P) of less than 5 filtering is applied.
Result: Here, we report the screening of four compounds that have showed maximum binding affinity against Leptin receptor, obtained through the ZINC database. A VS approach coupled with docking energies illustrated that Pranlukast could be potential stimulator compounds for targeting Leptin receptor.
Conclusion: We proposed that Pranlukast may be more potent Leptin receptor stimulator analogue based on the binding energy values. Further work can be extended to study the receptor ligand interactions experimentally and evaluation of their biological activity would help in designing novel therapeutic lead for the management of obesity disorders.

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome is commonest endocrine disorder of female at reproductive age with estimation of its prevalence in general population was 20-33%
Objective: To estimate the levels of Anti-FSH Ab, Anti-LH Ab in polycystic women and comparing it with healthy control group.
Patients and methods: This case controls study was carried out in Basrah. In this study blood sample from 29 women with PCOS and 29 healthy control women were collected from outpatient and private gynecological clinics and primary health care centers from different area of Basra from August 2016 to March 2018 for estimation of their serum levels of Anti-FSH Ab, Anti-LH Ab by using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay technique.
Results: Serum levels of anti-FSH Ab, anti-LH Ab were elevated in PCOS women.
Conclusion: Serum levels of anti-FSH Ab, anti-LH Ab is highly statistically significance in PCOS women than in healthy control group.

Trichinellosis is an important public health problem in Lithuania. According to the data from the Centre for Communicable Diseases and AIDS, 391 cases of human trichinellosis were reported in Lithuania over the period of 2008-2017, including 13 sporadic cases and 33 outbreaks. The highest incidence rate of infection was recorded among adults. Epidemiological investigation showed that human trichinellosis in Lithuania is transmitted through consumption of infected pork and wild boar meat. 50.4% of cases of human trichinellosis during the period occurred due to consumption of infected wild boar meat that had not been examined for trichinellosis.

Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) includes a wide range of diseases from simple fatty liver to steatohepatitis, fibrosis and cirrhosis. Alcoholic fatty liver disease and its more serious form, NAFLD, are related mostly to obesity and insulin resistance. Adipokines, secreted form fatty tissues, increases with weight gain and body-mass index (BMI). Previous studies showed that most adipokines increased with liver steatosis but changes of visfatin and IL-6 levels are still controversial. We applied a high dose fructose diet to mice via adding 30% w/v fructose to the drinking water for 4-6 weeks. High levels of liver damage and NAFLD were observed within the experiment group. Visfatin and IL-6 levels were also evaluated using immunohistochemistry. We found high levels of liver damage in fructose group along with increased levels of biochemical liver damage markers. Both IL-6 and visfatin staining were observed higher in the fructose group.

Our study suggests that the IL-6 and visfatin levels were increased with obesity and liver damage. We aimed that this study will create an opportunity for new research with IL-6 and visfatin.