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Studies on separation and properties of lumbrokinase in pheretima praepinguis

Tang Mei, Liu Cao, Liang Zi, Hu Die, Gong Mingfu

Sains Malaysiana, 2016;45:115-118.

In order to separate lumbrokinase in Pheretima praepinguis and to study the enzymatic properties, with Pheretima praepinguis as material, lumbrokinase was separated with the salting out method. Lumbrokinase activity was measured with casein medium plate method. The effect of pH and temperature on lumbrokinase activity was studied. The activity of lumbrokinase separated from Pheretima praepinguis was relatively high. Lumbrokinase activity in neutral or slightly alkaline environment was higher. Lumbrokinase had tolerance ability to high temperature, with highly enzymatic activity under 60° and wide range of temperature adaptation.
Fulltext Helminth colonization is associated with increased diversity of the gut microbiota

Lee SC, Tang MS, Lim YA, Choy SH, Kurtz ZD, Cox LM, et al.

PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2014 May;8(5):e2880.
PMID: 24851867 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002880

Soil-transmitted helminths colonize more than 1.5 billion people worldwide, yet little is known about how they interact with bacterial communities in the gut microbiota. Differences in the gut microbiota between individuals living in developed and developing countries may be partly due to the presence of helminths, since they predominantly infect individuals from developing countries, such as the indigenous communities in Malaysia we examine in this work. We compared the composition and diversity of bacterial communities from the fecal microbiota of 51 people from two villages in Malaysia, of which 36 (70.6%) were infected by helminths. The 16S rRNA V4 region was sequenced at an average of nineteen thousand sequences per samples. Helminth-colonized individuals had greater species richness and number of observed OTUs with enrichment of Paraprevotellaceae, especially with Trichuris infection. We developed a new approach of combining centered log-ratio (clr) transformation for OTU relative abundances with sparse Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (sPLS-DA) to enable more robust predictions of OTU interrelationships. These results suggest that helminths may have an impact on the diversity, bacterial community structure and function of the gut microbiota.
Fulltext Helminth infection promotes colonization resistance via type 2 immunity

Ramanan D, Bowcutt R, Lee SC, Tang MS, Kurtz ZD, Ding Y, et al.

Science, 2016 Apr 29;352(6285):608-12.
PMID: 27080105 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf3229

Increasing incidence of inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's disease, in developed nations is associated with changes to the microbial environment, such as decreased prevalence of helminth colonization and alterations to the gut microbiota. We find that helminth infection protects mice deficient in the Crohn's disease susceptibility gene Nod2 from intestinal abnormalities by inhibiting colonization by an inflammatory Bacteroides species. Resistance to Bacteroides colonization was dependent on type 2 immunity, which promoted the establishment of a protective microbiota enriched in Clostridiales. Additionally, we show that individuals from helminth-endemic regions harbor a similar protective microbiota and that deworming treatment reduced levels of Clostridiales and increased Bacteroidales. These results support a model of the hygiene hypothesis in which certain individuals are genetically susceptible to the consequences of a changing microbial environment.
Fulltext Reduced microbial diversity in adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and microbial associations with increased immune activation

Chua LL, Rajasuriar R, Azanan MS, Abdullah NK, Tang MS, Lee SC, et al.

Microbiome, 2017 03 20;5(1):35.
PMID: 28320465 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-017-0250-1

BACKGROUND: Adult survivors of childhood cancers such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have health problems that persist or develop years after cessation of therapy. These late effects include chronic inflammation-related comorbidities such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, but the underlying cause is poorly understood.
RESULTS: We compared the anal microbiota composition of adult survivors of childhood ALL (N = 73) with healthy control subjects (N = 61). We identified an altered community with reduced microbial diversity in cancer survivors, who also exhibit signs of immune dysregulation including increased T cell activation and chronic inflammation. The bacterial community among cancer survivors was enriched for Actinobacteria (e.g. genus Corynebacterium) and depleted of Faecalibacterium, correlating with plasma concentrations of IL-6 and CRP and HLA-DR+CD4+ and HLA-DR+CD8+ T cells, which are established markers of inflammation and immune activation.
CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated a relationship between microbial dysbiosis and immune dysregulation in adult ALL survivors. These observations suggest that interventions that could restore microbial diversity may ameliorate chronic inflammation and, consequently, development of late effects of childhood cancer survivors.
Adverse Drug Reactions Reported by Healthcare Professionals: Reaction Characteristics and Time to Reporting

Aung AK, Tang MJ, Adler NR, de Menezes SL, Goh MSY, Tee HW, et al.

J Clin Pharmacol, 2018 10;58(10):1332-1339.
PMID: 29733431 DOI: 10.1002/jcph.1148

We describe adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting characteristics and factors contributing to length of time to report by healthcare professionals. This is a retrospective study of voluntary reports to an Australian healthcare ADR Review Committee over a 2-year period (2015-2016). Descriptive and univariate models were used for outcomes, employing standardized ADR definitions. Hospital pharmacists reported 84.8% of the 555 ADRs: 70.3% were hospital onset reactions, and 71.7% were at least of moderate severity. Immunologically mediated reactions were most commonly reported (409, 73.7%). The median time to submit an ADR report was 3 (interquartile range 1-10) days. Longer median times to reporting were associated with multiple implicated agents and delayed hypersensitivity reactions, especially severe cutaneous adverse reactions. A total of 650 medications were implicated that involved multiple agents in 165/555 (29.7%) reports. Antimicrobials were the most commonly implicated agents. Immunologically mediated reactions were most commonly associated with antimicrobials and radiocontrast agents (P < .0001, odds ratio [OR] 3.6, 95%CI 2.4-5.5, and P = .04, OR 4.2, 95%CI 1.2-18.2, respectively). Opioids and psychoactive medications were more commonly implicated in nonimmunological reported ADRs (P = .0002, OR 3.9, 95%CI 1.9-7.9, and P < .0001, OR 11.4, 95%CI 4.6-27.8, respectively). Due to the predominant reporting of immunologically mediated reactions, a targeted education program is being planned to improve identification and accuracy of ADR reports, with the overall aim of improved management to ensure quality service provision and patient safety.
Fulltext Linking the effects of helminth infection, diet and the gut microbiota with human whole-blood signatures

Lee SC, Tang MS, Easton AV, Devlin JC, Chua LL, Cho I, et al.

PLoS Pathog, 2019 12;15(12):e1008066.
PMID: 31841569 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008066

Helminth infection and dietary intake can affect the intestinal microbiota, as well as the immune system. Here we analyzed the relationship between fecal microbiota and blood profiles of indigenous Malaysians, referred to locally as Orang Asli, in comparison to urban participants from the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. We found that helminth infections had a larger effect on gut microbial composition than did dietary intake or blood profiles. Trichuris trichiura infection intensity also had the strongest association with blood transcriptional profiles. By characterizing paired longitudinal samples collected before and after deworming treatment, we determined that changes in serum zinc and iron levels among the Orang Asli were driven by changes in helminth infection status, independent of dietary metal intake. Serum zinc and iron levels were associated with changes in the abundance of several microbial taxa. Hence, there is considerable interplay between helminths, micronutrients and the microbiota on the regulation of immune responses in humans.