Day 1 :
Biography:
Arije Ghannam, MD PhD is Doctor of Medicine, Immunologist. She obtained her doctorate in immunology at Université Claude Bernard Lyon1, and trained in innate immunity. her scientific career in immunology was developed on complement and kinins, with special emphasis on inflammation associated diseases. She is expert for kinin system, with innovative activity and licensed patents, and was awarded for OSEO innovation prize 2012. She manages the scientific team in KininX, defines and implements R&D programs
Abstract:
The emergence of clinical Angioedema (AE) is subsequent to Bradykinin (BK) production, with AE attacks resulting from a local endothelial permeability in the affected tissue. Kallikrein-Kinin System (KKS) and BK generation mediate this process. AE with normal C1Inhibitor (C1Inh) is difficult to diagnose. It is known to be unresponsive to treatment with antihistamines, corticosteroids, and epinephrine. AE with normal C1Inh is divided between patients with a known F12 mutation and recently with plasminogen or angiopoietin mutations and those with unknown origin. However, when the patient presents with an acute crisis, the biological profile is of great support for the decision of treatment and follow-up. Here we describe four patients admitted at the acute phase of angioedema in emergency department: abdominal cramps, respiratory distress, AE of the eyelids, tongue and lips. The diagnosis was often delayed. Despite the fact that one of the patients needed tracheal intubation in the past, he suffered from recurrent AE, without diagnosis, for the last 25 years. We believe that KKS biological workup is helpful. Three samples were harvested at different times during the attack and investigated. C1 Inhibitor (C1Inh) function, spontaneous amidase activity, kinin measurement and kininogen cleavage were analyzed as described previously. The results demonstrate that KKS activation and subsequently BK production are the key actors of these attacks, without decrease of C1Inh function. They also demonstrated a very important increased kinin forming process with increased spontaneous amidase activity in line with kininogen (HK) cleavage. In addition, the administration C1Inh concentrate results in clinical improvement. The symptomatology of angioedema is subsequent to the enzymatic activity responsible for kinin production. Kinetics of biological events demonstrates KKS activation and BK production. Laboratory confirmation using KKS biological parameters seems to be helpful for diagnosis and patients management
Keynote Forum
Soma Mondal Ghorai
Hindu College-University of Delhi, India
Keynote: An insight into the evolutionary consequences of reptilian TLRs and their role in host-specific pathogenicity
Biography:
Soma Mondal Ghorai has completed her PhD from University of Delhi and currently working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology, Hindu College, University of Delhi, India. She has published more than 10 papers in reputed journals and has been actively involved in research in Comparative Immunology
Abstract:
Tollâ€Like Receptors (TLRs) are most studied class of Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs) which recognize exogenous Pathogenâ€Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs) and endogenous Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns (DAMPs) and are prime sentinels of innate immunity. Reptiles being the non-conventional model organisms remain a under deprived class in the study of structure, function and ligand specificity of TLRs except few studies published very recently. Among them, TLR5 is the only protein sensing receptor playing an inevitable role in the signaling cascade involved in innate immunity by recognizing bacterial flagellin. The unavailability of structural and ligand binding information of this receptor till date; directed us to model its ligand binding domain and docking with flagellin. Presence of several homologous proteins having considerable identity and coverage enabled us to construct a reliable 3D model of TLR5 ligand binding domain of Indo-Asian wall lizard Hemidactylus flaviviridis (hfTLR5). Experimentally, solved crystal structure of Zebrafish TLR5-N14VLR in complex with Bacillus subtilis flagellin (bsflagellin) was used as template to carry out template based molecular docking studies. Comparative analysis of docking energies and protein–ligand interactions of all the ligands revealed that bsflagellin residues interact with hfTLR5 ligand binding domain through hydrogen-bonds and hydrophobic interactions positionally segregated at two interfaces which lie in previously reported potential interacting region of TLR5. The described side chain of hot spot residue bsflagellin ‘R89’ was found to make maximum contacts and is shown inserted within the cavity formed by hfTLR5 interacting residues. Out of six, three residues of hfTLR5 (H264, G267 and N274) were found to be conserved in almost all the vertebrate classes and four out of six residues of flagellin were found to be identical in flagellins of TLR5 activating bacteria. The complex thus obtained may help us to better understand the functioning of hfTLR5, thereby bridging the gap in the evolution of species-specific host-microbe interactions
- Vaccine | Pathology | Anesthesiology | Dermatology | Viral Immunology | Synthetic Conjugate Vaccines | Veterinary Vaccine
Location: Meeting Room 805 | MENA Plaza Hotel Albarsha | Dubai, UAE
Chair
Arije Ghannam
KininX, Grenoble, France
Session Introduction
Yalda Hassanpour
Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Title: Evaluation the etiology of anaphylaxis according to age: A survey of anaphylaxis in Iran
Biography:
Yalda Hassanpour has completed her Medical degree from Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Iran.
Abstract:
Since avoidance of triggering agents is the most important step in the management and prevention of allergic reactions, identifying the causes of anaphylaxis which is an acute, potentially fatal systemic reaction is very important in every community. In this cross-sectional survey we evaluated all patients with a history of anaphylactic reaction, being referred to allergy clinics of two tertiary university hospitals of Iran between 15 April 2010 and 5 January 2017. We used a combination of the patient’s clinical history and allergy diagnostic testing including SPT and RAST to determine the etiology of anaphylaxis. We identified 172 anaphylactic reactions in 70 patients. Of the patients, 44.3% were adults and 55.7% were male. Median age was 15 years; range was from 6 months to 48 years. The triggers included: foods, 61.4%; drugs, 15.7%; hymenoptera venom, 8.6%; idiopathic, 5.7%; immunotherapy, 4.3%; other, 5.7%. Atopy was present in 2/3rds of the patients and a positive family history of anaphylaxis in 2.9%. Nuts and seeds were the most important triggers of food induced anaphylaxis, especially in schoolchildren, adolescents and young adults, followed by fruits. However, cow's milk and hen's egg were the only triggers of anaphylaxis in children under 2 years of age. The most common symptoms were cutaneous (85.7%) and cardiovascular (77.1%). Corticosteroids (94.3%) and/or antihistamines (85.7%) were used most frequently for treatment followed by intravenous fluids (54.3%), whereas Epinephrine was only used in 17.1% of the cases. Based on our findings in this study, food-related anaphylaxis and other typical triggers of anaphylaxis are age-dependent and the risks and triggers change with age.
Amal F Al Dawi
Ibn Sina University, Sudan
Title: Modulation of the expression of innate immunity markers by human macrophage THP1 cells following infection with leishmania donovani isolates
Biography:
Amal Aldawi Assistant professor in Immunology Ibn Sina University. Certified Immunologist American Board Bioanaylysis (ABB). She earned her master and ph.D degrees in immunology from Khartoum university institute of endemic disease . She is an expert in histocompatibility analysis and the analysis of cellular immuntiy to infectious diseases.she is a leader in tissue culture of leishmania parasite and invitro stimulation of periheral blood and cytokines analysis. She works on several research projects at Bioscience Research Institute Ibn Sina University and supervised several junior scientists and postgraduate students.She has built after years of experience in research evaluation,teaching and administration in education institutions.
Abstract:
Protozoa of the genus Leishmania cause a wide variety of pathologies ranging from self-healing skin lesions to visceral pathology. The outcome of infection depends on the species of the infecting Leishmania parasite. A significant role of the adaptive immune response was described for the development of clinical disease and cure. While TH2 was associated with development of clinical disease, TH1 response was associated with cure. This study aimed to determine the profile of innate immune markers using Leishmania infected human THP1 macrophage cell lines. The parasite isolates were collected from patients suffering from cutaneous, visceral, post kala-azar dermal and mucosal leishmaniasis. Human THP1 cells were infected by live promastiote of Leishmania donovani isolates from Cutaneous (CL), Visceral (VL) and Post Kala-Azar Dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL) and Mucosal Leishmaniasis (ML) patients. The expression of toll like receptor TL22, TL4 and TL9 and expression of IFN-γ and IL-10 cytokine was measured using Real Time PCR. The production of IL-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-α cytokines was measured using captured ELISA. A significant increase in the expression of TLR 2, TLR4 and TLR9 by L. donovani infected THP-1 from ML patients was detected. A higher concentration IL-6 and IL-1β was detected in supernatants of L. donovani infected human macrophage cell lines from CL patients compared with VL and ML patients whereas IL-1β concentration was higher in L. donovani infected human macrophage cell lines from ML patients. Our data measured a significant increase in the expression of TLR 2 and TNF-α by THP-1 cell line infected with L. donovani isolate from mucosal patient. Leishmania isolates from mucosal and PKDL patients induced significant gene expression of TLR 4 and TLR9. These results could contribute to better understanding of the dynamics of gene expression and production of coinflammatory cytokines in host cells during leishmaniasis.
Lang Bao
Sichuan University, China
Title: The Study on immunogenicity and protective efficacy of recombinant BCG against tuberculosis
Biography:
Lang Bao is currently working as a Professor in Microbiology and Immunology. He has completed his PhD from West China University of Medical Sciences in 1999 and then moved to WHO Collaborative Research Centre of Infectious Disease, Royal Tropical Institute, Netherlands for his Post-doctoral training. He has published around 100 research papers.
Abstract:
Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious infectious disease caused by M. tuberculosis. BCG had been considered to be the only available and effective vaccine in prevention of TB. However, the protective efficacy of BCG on TB was still controversial in different populations and age. Thus, improved TB vaccines are urgently needed to develop as an alternative to BCG which was able to activate immune response and protect against severe forms of TB effectively. Method: Two BCG strains (Pasteur and Shanghai) were used parental strain and specific antigens of M. tuberculosis Ag85A, CFP10, ESAT-6 and immune regulation cytokines GM-CSF, IL-12p70 were integrated into BCGs respectively. BALB/c female mice were immunized subcutaneously with single-gene rBCGs and multiple-gene rBCGs. The specific antibody levels of lgG, lgG1 and lgG2a in immunized mice were detected by ELISA assay. Detection of proliferation of splenic lymphocytes and splenocytes subsets by flow cytometry were conducted. Nine rBCG strains were chosen for protective efficacy test. After eight weeks of immunization with rBCGs, mice were challenged intravenously by M. tuberculosis H37Rv. Histopathological examination and bacterial load was performed on the lung, spleen tissues of immune mice. Results: Both single-gene rBCGs and multiple-gene rBCGs could induce strong humoral and Th1 cellular immune reaction. Significantly higher levels of Th1 cytokines IFN-γ was revealed in both multiple and singlegene rBCGs, while Th2 cytokines IL-4 was not detected in all rBCGs. After 18 weeks, the survival rate was 100% in rBCG- Pasteur: A, rBCG- Pasteur: AE and 80% in rBCG-SHanghai: IE, rBCG-Pasteur: GC only 60% in rBCG- Pasteur: GCE. Conclusion: rBCG had excellent immunogenicity and immune protective efficacy. It could regulate the level of TNF- alpha by p38 MAPK and NF-kB signaling pathway and induce the apoptosis of macrophages. BCGPasteur is more suitable for parental BCG than the BCG-SHanghai. These findings can provide ideas and experimental basis for the development of anti-tuberculosis recombinant vaccines.
Nnaji Christiancia
National Biotechnology Development Agency, Nigeria
Title: Helminthic and malaria coinfections in HIV infected pregnant women on antiretroviral therapy in selected district hospitals in F.C.T. Abuja Nigeria
Biography:
Nnaji Christiancia is a Master degree holder in Applied Entomology and Parasitology, Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger State and currently working with National Biotechnology Development Agency Abuja, Nigeria as a scientific officer (Senior).
Abstract:
Despite aggressive campaign and prolong research efforts for life sustainability of HIV patients in our environments, malaria and helminthiasis co-infection in HIV/AIDS infected pregnant women remain major factors contributing to morbidity and mortality of HIV positive pregnant woman, increases the risk of developing anemia, delivering a low birth weight infant and premature delivery. This study was therefore designed to investigate the level of co-infection of helminth and malaria parasite in HIV/AIDS infected pregnant women on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in selected Hospital in Abuja Metropolis. A total of 250 blood and stool sample were collected aseptically from HIV positive pregnant women on ART. The blood and stool sample were analyzed for the presence and prevalence of malaria parasite and helminths. There were no significant difference (p>0.05) in the prevalence malaria and helminthiasis in HIV positive and HIV negative subjects. This study revealed that 180 (72%) of the study population (250) had malaria alone, 100 (40%) had helminths and 50 (17.85%) were co-infected with both parasites. The prevalence of malaria, helminths and co-infection in the study population varies insignificantly (p>0.05) among the age group. Age group between 25-29 years and 30-34 years recorded the highest prevalence. Similarly, with increase in CD4 count from 1-200 and 801-1000, the study also recorded an insignificant decrease in malaria, helminths and co-infection prevalence. Findings from this study can serve as a guide for HIV public health managers and as well used in designing a novel program to prolong the life span of an HIV patients.
- Pediatric Vaccination
Location: Meeting Room 805 | MENA Plaza Hotel Albarsha | Dubai, UAE
Chair
Arije Ghannam
KininX, Grenoble, France
Session Introduction
Daifulah Alzahrani
National Guard Hospitals, Saudi Arabia
Title: BCG vaccine and immunodeficiency
Biography:
Daifulah Alzahrani has completed his Bachelor of degree of Medicine and Surgery from King Saud University and Pediatric Residency training Program from University of B.C. Vancouver, Canada. He is currently working as a Consultant in Allergy, Immunology and BMT at King Saud Bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Sciences, Saudi Arabia.
Abstract:
Tuberculosis (TB) is considered by WHO as global health emergency in 1993. In 2011 one third of the world’s population was thought to be infected with TB and 8.7 million cases of active TB annually. BCG vaccine is one of the effective control measures to prevent TB. It is in practice since 1960s where TB is highly prevalent and 120 million BCG vaccines are given annually that is effective in preventing severe disease of extrapulmonary TB. However, BCG vaccine is live attenuated vaccine that potentially could cause infection, with an incidence between 1:10,000 to 1:1,000,000 and significantly higher when given to immunodeficient infants. Immunodeficient infants who receive BCG vaccine at birth could develop disseminated BCGitis, which is associated with high morbidity and mortality. However, those who develop disseminated BCGitis usually require hospital admissions and multiple medications with high cost and low survival rate ranging between 0% to 65% worldwide. Our center; KAMC-WR, Jeddah Saudi Arabia, has 83% survival rate of treating patients with disseminated BCGitis, but with using cytokine therapy and aminoglycoside drug in addition to common anti-TB drugs. There is high rate of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases (PID) in the Middle East and Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia recently succeeded in moving the BGC vaccine to 6-month of age, instead of giving it at birth, in order to have time for diagnosing PID. WHO considers the development of new TB vaccines a major public health priority. BCG vaccine is one of the effective preventive measures of TB; however, it could cause serious complications with low revival rate. Moving the BGC vaccine to 6-month of age will give time for diagnosing PID. Using cytokine therapy and aminoglycoside drug in addition to common anti-TB drugs will significantly reduce mortality and morbidity. There are potentials for development of new BCG vaccine.