The impact of cathelicidin, the human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 in urinary tract infections.

Autor: Babikir IH; College of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Microbiology Department, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan. almakibrahim@hotmail.com.; College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Qassim, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. almakibrahim@hotmail.com., Abugroun EA; Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Omdurman, Sudan., Bilal NE; Khartoum University Central Research Laboratory, University of Khartoum, PO Box 321, Khartoum, Sudan., Alghasham AA; College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Qassim, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia., Abdalla EE; College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Qassim, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia., Adam I; College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Qassim, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: BMC infectious diseases [BMC Infect Dis] 2018 Jan 08; Vol. 18 (1), pp. 17. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 Jan 08.
DOI: 10.1186/s12879-017-2901-z
Abstrakt: Background: The defense mechanisms of the urinary tract are attributed mainly to the innate immune system and the urinary tract urothelium which represent the first line of defense against invading pathogens and maintaining sterility of the urinary tract. There are only a few publications regarding cathelicidin (LL-37) and a urinary tract infection (UTI). This study was done to investigate the plasma and urine levels of human LL-37 in patients with UTI.
Methods: A case-control study was conducted at Omdurman Hospital, Sudan during the period from August 2014 to May 2017. The cases were patients with confirmed UTI and the controls were healthy volunteers without UTI. Sociodemographic and clinical data were obtained from each participant using questionnaires. Urine cultures and antimicrobial susceptibility were tested. Plasma and urine levels of LL-37 were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. SPSS (version 16.0) was used for analyses.
Results: Cases and controls (87 in each arm) were matched according to their basic characteristics. Compared with controls, the median (inter-quartile) LL-37 level in plasma [2.100 (1.700-2.700) vs. 1.800 (1.000-2.200) ng/ml, P = 0.002] and in urine [0.900 (0.300-1.600) vs. 0.000 (0.000-1.000) ng/mg creatinine, P < 0.001] was significantly higher in cases. There was no significant difference in the median plasma [2.1 (1.7-2.9) vs. 2.000 (1.700-2.400) ng/ml, P = 0.561] and urine [0.850 (0.275-2.025) vs. 0.900 (0.250-1.350) ng/mg creatinine, P = 0.124]. The uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) was the predominant isolate, n = 38 (43.7%). LL-37 levels between the E. coli isolates and the other isolated organisms. There was no significant correlation between plasma and urine LL-37 levels (r = 0.221), even when the data of the cases were analyzed separately.
Conclusion: LL-37 is notably increased among patients with UTI compared with normal control subjects. Severity of UTI increases the levels of LL-37. The increased level was not only in the patient's urine, but has also been observed in the patient's plasma. Detection of increased levels of LL-37 could help to differentiate subjects with suspected UTI. Accordingly, LL-37 could act as a good marker for diagnosing UTIs.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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