Immunoglobulin A response against Gardnerella vaginalis hemolysin and sialidase activity in bacterial vaginosis☆,☆☆,★,★★
Section snippets
Subjects and vaginal washings
Participants were recruited among women seeking care at the gynecologic care unit of Azienda per i Servizi Sanitari Medio Friuli, Udine, Italy. All patients were interviewed and examined by one clinician. On entry to the study oral informed consent was sought from all women, who were then interviewed for medical, obstetric, sexual, and contraceptive historic data. Women were excluded from the study for the use of oral or vaginal antibiotics in the past 2 weeks, pregnancy, menstruation or
Results
A total of 222 women were screened for evaluation of sialidase activity. Thirty-two were patients with bacterial vaginosis showing an IgA-specific response to G. vaginalis hemolysin (anti–G. vaginalis toxin IgA-positive subgroup), whereas 40 patients with bacterial vaginosis had anti–G. vaginalis toxin IgA below the cutoff value of 380 mOD (specific IgA-negative subgroup). Two control groups were used: one of 19 patients with candidiasis without bacterial vaginosis and one of 131 healthy
Comment
Our previous detection of a specific IgA response to the G. vaginalis hemolysin in only 55% of women with positive cultures for G. vaginalis14 raised the question of the mechanisms underlying the mucosal immune response in patients with bacterial vaginosis. We have looked for a virulence factor that differs from the G. vaginalis cytolysin to substantiate the existence of differences among patients with bacterial vaginosis. This study demonstrates that a high level of sialidase activity is
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Ms. Nunziata Verdolina, Azienda per i Servizi Sanitari Medio Friuli n. 4, Udine, for nursing, and to Dr. Maria Pia Francescato, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies, University of Udine, for biostatistical support. We acknowledge students Anna Knezevich and Giusi Zaina for their kind and invaluable assistance during the course of this project.
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Cited by (76)
Cervicovaginal Microbiota and Reproductive Health: The Virtue of Simplicity
2018, Cell Host and MicrobeSialidase activity in aerobic vaginitis is equal to levels during bacterial vaginosis
2013, European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive BiologyCitation Excerpt :TNF-α is normally found in low, even undetectable, levels in most of cervicovaginal samples with or without BV [7,28], as supported by the present study. We detected sialidase activity in almost 75% of women with BV, which is similar to previous studies [14,17] even though different methodologies for sialidase detection were used. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the level of sialidase in a condition like AV.
The role of sialidases in the pathogenesis of bacterial vaginosis and their use as a promising pharmacological target in bacterial vaginosis
2024, Frontiers in Cellular and Infection MicrobiologyMechanistic Insights into Immune Suppression and Evasion in Bacterial Vaginosis
2022, Current Microbiology
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From the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies, School of Medicine, University of Udine,a Azienda per i Servizi Sanitari Medio Friuli n. 4,b and the Microbiology Unit, Ospedale S. Maria della Misericordia.c
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Supported by grants from the University of Udine, Poly-Tech, Trieste, and Italian Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche.
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Received for publication June 23, 1997; revised September 2, 1997; accepted October 9, 1997. Reprint requests: Sabina Cauci, PhD, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Techologies, Via Gervasutta 48, 33100 Udine, Italy.
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