muramidase and Opportunistic-Infections

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the local oral defense mechanisms during the course of leukemia, and to define the correlation between the activity of salivary antibacterial factors and the oral clinical findings.. A total of 44 children with newly diagnosed acute leukemia participated in the study. The control group consisted of 23 healthy children. The examination took place at the time of the diagnosis, and during and at the end of the chemotherapy treatment course. During the collection of resting mixed saliva samples the salivary flow rate was measured. In the saliva's supernatant the following parameters were determined: total protein, peroxidase, myeloperoxidase, lysozyme, lactoferrin, and secretory immunoglobulin A.. The introduction of chemotherapy caused a slight decrease of salivary secretion rate (P < .05), as well as the decrease of S-IgA concentration (P < .01), which remained at the same level after the end of chemotherapy (P < .001). Patients with aplasia had decreased levels of peroxidase (P = .014) and myeloperoxidase (P = .013). Patients with oral mucositis presented with lower myeloperoxidase (P = .026) and peroxidase (P = .003) activity levels as well as the drop of S-IgA (P = .000) concentration compared with subjects with no mucositis.. Antileukemic treatment contributes to the compromise of salivary defense mechanisms, therefore it is reasonable to support pharmacologically the saliva's antibacterial potential of leukemic patients to impede the development of local infection.

Topics: Adolescent; Anti-Infective Agents; Antineoplastic Agents; Antioxidants; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Humans; Immunoglobulin A, Secretory; Lactoferrin; Leukemia; Male; Mucositis; Muramidase; Opportunistic Infections; Peroxidase; Saliva; Salivary Proteins and Peptides; Secretory Rate; Stomatitis

The occurrence of opportunistic pathogens and the concentration of some antimicrobial factors in the oral cavity of both acute and chronic leukaemia patients were studied. Enterobacteria were isolated from both dental plaque and crevicular fluid of all the groups examined, with few differences between healthy volunteers and leukaemic subjects; yeasts were found in both the crevicular fluid and the dental plaque samples of chronic leukaemia patients, but only in the plaque of healthy volunteers. Acute leukaemia patients did not have yeasts, but they were the only group colonized by the pseudomonads. IgA and N-acetyl-D-glucosaminidase (NAGase) significantly increased in chronic leukaemia patients compared with controls, whilst lysozyme seemed to present no marked differences for all groups. A further increase in NAGase concentration and an elevation in lysozyme content of saliva was observed for chronic leukaemia patients with severe periodontal lesions.

Topics: Acetylglucosaminidase; Dental Plaque; Enterobacteriaceae; Gingival Crevicular Fluid; Humans; Immunoglobulin A; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; Mouth; Muramidase; Opportunistic Infections; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma; Pseudomonas; Saliva; Yeasts

Experimental materials on choosing antibiotics for etiotropic therapy of opportunistic infections with an account of the regulating effect of the drugs on the ++anti-lysozyme activity of pathogens (the factor of intracellular parasitism) are presented. The in vitro data were applied to the clinical trials in 30 patients with chronic and acute pyelonephritis of the Proteus etiology and to 25 patients with chronic inflammatory diseases of Staphylococcus etiology. It was shown that the use of the antibiotics which lowered the ++anti-lysozyme activity of microorganisms promoted a more rapid disappearance of the disease clinical signs, increased 2- to 3-fold the terms of the remission and resulted in an increase in the number of the persons with complete remission (54.5 to 63.6 per cent) as compared to the use of the drugs which stimulated the pathogen property or were indifferent to it.

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Enterobacteriaceae; Enterobacteriaceae Infections; Enzyme Reactivators; Enzyme Repression; Humans; In Vitro Techniques; Muramidase; Opportunistic Infections; Staphylococcal Infections; Staphylococcus aureus