zithromax and Behcet-Syndrome

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of azithromycin on mucocutaneous manifestations and ex vivo intracellular cytokine responses in patients with Behçet's disease (BD).. Ten BD patients with active manifestations and nine healthy controls (HCs) were included in the study. Patients were treated with azithromycin (1500 mg/week) for four weeks. Clinical and immunological responses were evaluated in the pre- and post-azithromycin treatment periods. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients and controls were stimulated by Streptococcus sanguinis, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), lipoteichoic acid (LTA), and heat shock protein-60 (HSP-60) for three hours. Ex vivo intracellular interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels were measured.. Follicular lesions and genital ulcers completely healed, and the number of oral ulcers decreased after treatment (P = 0.000). The stimulated intracellular IFN-γ response to S. sanguinis was higher in BD patients (5.75%) than in HCs (3.9%) before treatment (P = 0.05). Likewise, the pretreatment IFN-γ response was significantly higher than the post-treatment response (1.95%). In BD patients, pretreatment stimulated intracellular IFN-γ responses to LTA (5.8%) were also higher than post-treatment responses (3.15%), but the difference did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.07).. Azithromycin treatment decreased the mucocutaneous manifestations in BD patients and suppressed the intracellular IFN-γ responses of PBMCs to S. sanguinis ex vivo, which suggests this treatment has an immunomodulatory effect.

Topics: Adult; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Azithromycin; Behcet Syndrome; Cytokines; Drug Resistance; Erythema Nodosum; Female; Humans; Leukocytes, Mononuclear; Male; Middle Aged; Mucous Membrane; Oral Ulcer; Skin; Skin Ulcer; Treatment Outcome

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of azithromycin on mucocutaneous manifestations, oral health and immune response in Behçet's disease (BD).. Eight BD patients with active mucocutaneous symptoms were treated with azithromycin for 4 weeks. Oral health, clinical manifestations and in vitro interleukin (IL)-12, interferon (IFN)-gamma, IL-10 and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1 responses were evaluated before and after treatment.. The number of folliculitic lesions, healing time of oral ulcers and scores of plaque indexes (PLIs) were lower after azithromycin treatment (P<0.05). Scores of PLIs correlated positively with the healing time of oral ulcers (P=0.02). Although a trend towards increased stimulated IL-10 responses with azithromycin was observed, no statistically significant difference was found. Stimulated and unstimulated MCP-1, IFN-gamma and IL-12 responses were similar before and after treatment (P>0.05).. Azithromycin was observed to be effective in decreasing folliculitic lesions and fastening the healing time of oral ulcers in BD.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Azithromycin; Behcet Syndrome; Colchicine; Female; Humans; Immunosuppressive Agents; Male; Statistics, Nonparametric