1. Translocation of bacterial DNA from Gram-positive microorganisms is associated with a species-specific inflammatory response in serum and ascitic fluid of patients with cirrhosis
- Author
-
José M. González-Navajas, Miguel Pérez-Mateo, F. Santana, Pedro Zapater, Rocío Caño, Carlos Muñoz, Sonia Pascual, D. Márquez, Rubén Francés, and José Such
- Subjects
DNA, Bacterial ,Liver Cirrhosis ,Male ,Cirrhosis ,Translational Studies ,Neutrophils ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Immunology ,Inflammation ,Chromosomal translocation ,Biology ,Gram-Positive Bacteria ,Proinflammatory cytokine ,Immune system ,Species Specificity ,In vivo ,Ascites ,medicine ,Ascitic Fluid ,Humans ,Immunology and Allergy ,Prospective Studies ,Aged ,NF-kappa B ,Middle Aged ,Th1 Cells ,medicine.disease ,Cytokine ,Bacterial Translocation ,Female ,medicine.symptom ,Signal Transduction - Abstract
Summary Translocation of bacterial-DNA in patients with cirrhosis and ascites triggers an innate immune response. Identification of characteristics to which this response is sensitive is relevant from a clinical standpoint. The aim of this study has been to determine if the proinflammatory immune response established in vivo in cirrhotic patients with ascites as a consequence of bacterial-DNA translocation is related to the identified bacterial species and their frequency of cytosine-guanosine content in serum and ascitic fluid. Patients with advanced cirrhosis and ascites were included in the study and distributed into groups I and II according to the absence or presence of bacterial-DNA translocation, respectively. Serum and ascitic fluid levels of proinflammatory cytokines after normalization of bacterial-DNA concentration and the activated form of nuclear factor-kappa B in ascitic fluid pellets were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay techniques. Translocation of bacterial-DNA with higher cytosine-guanosine content induced the highest cytokine response, which was higher than that in patients without bacterial-DNA translocation. The activated form of nuclear factor-kappa B in ascitic fluid pellets of patients with bacterial-DNA translocation was greater in patients with higher bacterial-DNA cytosine-guanosine content, whereas the amount of total nuclear factor-kappa B remained unaltered. Bacterial-DNA translocation induces a marked immune reaction in vivo in patients with advanced cirrhosis and ascites which is related, among other factors, to the bacterial-DNA cytosine-guanosine content. Therefore, the host's immune response to bacterial-DNA translocation constitutes a species-specific phenomenon.
- Published
- 2007