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Currently, cystic echinococcosis (CE) follow-up is a serious concern among surgeons. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, endogenous, non-coding RNAs which are present in human body fluids in a highly stable form. Recently, it is observed that Echinococcus granulosus expresses a large number of miRNAs in its developmental stages. The current study aimed at evaluating the capacity of parasitic miRNAs to serve as plasma biomarkers for hydatid cysts before and after CE surgery. Hydatidosis patients were identified using radiological and histopathological examinations. Following RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, the expression levels of parasite-derived miRNAs including egr-miR-71 and egr-let-7 were quantitatively evaluated using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in 30 hydatid cyst-infected individuals before surgery and an equal number of healthy controls. Then, three- and six-month follow-ups were performed after cystectomy. To analyze parasite-derived miRNAs, the relative fold change between uninfected and infected samples was determined and normalized to hsa-miR-16-5p as the housekeeping internal control. RT-PCR demonstrated that egr-miR-71 and egr-let-7 were specifically amplified in all the plasma samples from the infected individuals with hydatid cyst; yet they were significantly down-regulated at three and six months' post-surgery (P < 0.05). The egr-miR-71 had a higher level of expression in larval stage compared with egr-let-7. The results of the current study indicated that hydatid cyst-derived miRNAs including egr-miR-71 and egr-let-7 can be detected in human plasma. Considering the changes in the expression levels of these miRNAs after three and six months, it seems that these miRNAs, especially egr-miR-71, could serve as novel promising biomarkers for the early diagnosis and monitoring of hydatidosis., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a neglected zoonotic disease with a worldwide distribution and is a major public health problem in some areas. Diagnosis of CE is mainly based on clinical symptoms, imaging and serological testing, however, improvement in serodiagnosis is still needed. This study was aimed at detecting circulating Echinococcus antigen in CE patients using a lateral flow dipstick (LFD) assay. Three types of hydatid antigens i.e. hydatid cyst fluid (HCF), native antigen B (nAgB) and recombinant antigen B (rAgB) were prepared and polyclonal rabbit antiserum was raised against each antigen. Purified IgG fractions were prepared and a portion was conjugated to gold nanoparticles. After a series of optimizations, a final antigen detection LFD assay was developed using a combination of anti-nAgB-IgG and gold-conjugated anti-HCF-IgG. Evaluation of the assay showed that 27 out of 35 (77%) serum samples from CE patients gave positive results. Meanwhile, the test showed a diagnostic specificity of 82% when tested with sera from 38 healthy individuals and 13 patients with other parasitic diseases. In conclusion, the antigen detection LFD assay seemed to be useful for diagnosis of CE and possibly for post-treatment follow-up, and merit further evaluation studies. We foresee that it may improve serodiagnosis of CE when used in tandem with an antibody detection test., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Echinococcus granulosus is the causative pathogen of cystic echinococcosis, a serious disease endangering human and animal health. In this study, an immunochromatographic strip was developed based on the recombinant protein Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) for the serological detection of E. granulosus. The protocol completes within 20min requiring no specialized equipment or chemical reagents, while specificity tests confirmed no cross-reactivity with positive serum of Fasciola hepatica, Haemonchus contortus, Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) and Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). The strips remained stable after storage at 4°C for up to 8 months. Both immunochromatographic strip and ELISA tests were applied to detect E. granulosus antibody in a total of 728 serum samples obtained from slaughter houses in Zhejiang Province. Our data revealed positive rates of 2.61 and 1.65% by immunochromatographic strip and ELISA methods, respectively. The immunochromatographic strip test developed in this study provides a simple, specific and rapid method of E. granulosus antibody detection and infected sheep monitoring., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Alveolar echinococcosis is caused by infection with the larval stage of Echinococcus multilocularis. We recently identified a cDNA clone, designated as emy162, that encodes a putative secreted protein. EMY162 shares structural features with the EM95 antigen, which is a host-protective antigen. The amino acid sequence of EMY162 shows 31.4% identity to EM95 whereas these antigens are distinguishable with respect to their predicted secondary structure and antigenicity on Western blot analysis. RT-PCR analysis revealed that the gene expression of emy162 was significantly higher than that of em95 at each life-cycle stage. Recombinant EMY162 antigen induced a significant level of host-protection (74.3%) in experimental infection with E. multilocularis eggs in mice. Notably, recombinant EMY162 antigen showed significant reactivity to the sera from alveolar echinococcosis patients. These results may help in the development of a practical vaccine to reduce the level of alveolar echinococcosis in humans.

Objective: Hydatid disease occurs throughout the world and is treated with both surgery and medical administration of albendazole. Some adverse effects of albendazole are known. However, its genotoxic effect on humans has not been reported yet. In this study, we aimed to investigate the genotoxic effect of albendazole on human lymphocytes in vivo., Methods: The study involved 14 children (eight males and six females) who had undergone operations for hepatic hydatid disease. The ages of the patients ranged from 6 to 13 years. Genotoxicity of albendazole was evaluated as the frequency of sister chromatid exchange (SCE) and micronucleated cells in the patient's lymphocytes. Prior to and after albendazole treatment, blood samples were obtained from these patients for SCE and micronucleus (MN) studies. SCE and MN frequencies of the patients were measured separately before and after albendazole treatment., Results: All patient SCE values increased significantly after albendazole administration (p<0.001). Similarly, MN frequencies in all the patients increased significantly following albendazole treatment (p<0.001)., Conclusion: This study revealed that both SCE and MN frequencies are higher after albendazole treatment. The results suggest that albendazole may be genotoxic to human lymphocytes in vivo.

Serum, saliva and urine samples of 25 clinically and radiologically diagnosed cystic echinoccosis (CE) patients, 25 clinically suspected cases of CE, 15 other parasitic disease controls and 25 healthy controls were evaluated for anti-hydatid antibody response by ELISA. The sensitivity of serum, saliva and urine was found to be 72, 56 and 84%, respectively, while specificity was 76% in all the samples. Urine showed significantly higher (p<0.05) sensitivity than that of saliva samples but not significantly higher (p>0.05) than that of serum samples. There was no significant difference in the immune response of patients with hepatic versus extrahepatic cysts and single versus multiple cysts. Thus, biological fluid like urine may be used as an alternative or as an adjunct to serum samples by virtue of its non-invasive, easy collection and similar sensitivity and specificity.

Immunodiagnostic confirmation of cystic human hydatidosis is frequently required before surgical intervention or of chemotherapy. However, it remains inadequate to detect specific antibodies or antigens in some confirmed cases of echinococcosis. This study was carried out to investigate the accuracy of three different immunodiagnostic tests for detection of specific circulating antigens or antibodies in the serum and urine of 13 experimentally infected sheep. For this purpose, Echinococcus granulosus were collected from small intestine of experimentally infected dogs, and 2000 taenid eggs were orally administered to each of the 13 sheep. There were six other sheep, which were kept as the control group. Biweekly serum and urine samples were collected from all the sheep for 4 months after infection. The sera were subjected to indirect hemagglutination test and the concentrated urine samples were subjected to coagglutination and counter immunoelectrophoresis tests. The results revealed that the sensitivity of these tests in detecting the hydatid antigens in the urine or antihydatid antibodies in the serum of the infected sheep reached their maximum in 12th and 13th week after infection; then it decreased in the following weeks. Examination of the non-infected sheep samples throughout the experiment showed that the aforesaid findings were specific only to the infected sheep. It seems that the appearance of specific hydatid antigen in urine and its antibodies in the serum were simultaneous. Although these tests are highly specific, false negative outcomes were encountered in their detection of cystic echinococcosis. In general, it seems rational to establish some series of diagnostic procedures in order to reveal antibodies and antigen of metacestode in serum and urine of the patients.

A large sheep-dog population from the province of Alava (northern Spain) has been investigated in order to determine the prevalence of the cestode parasite Echinococcus granulosus. Worms were detected in 14.0% of 721 dog faecal supernatants by coproantigen ELISA, and in 9.1% of 754 dog serum samples by serum antibody ELISA. A weak but statistically significant correlation (Spearman's rho=0.103, 95% CI: 0.023-0.178) between the two immunoassay results was found. In addition, eggs of the family Taeniidae were detected in 10.3% of 726 faecal samples examined by coproparasitological (flotation and sedimentation) tests. The overall E. granulosus infection rate, based on a Bayesian latent class model that accounts for the imperfect sensitivities and specificities of all diagnostic tests used, was estimated to be 8.0% (95% credible interval: 5.4-11.4%), corroborating that sheep-dog is the dog class most vulnerable to acquiring the infection. Dog sex did not influence the prevalence of E. granulosus, independently of the diagnostic test used or the dog region of origin. No significant linear correlation was found between the coproantigen ELISA OD values and the dog age (Spearman's rho=-0.049, 95% CI: -0.234 to 0.135), suggesting that there were no differences in prevalence of E. granulosus between old and young dogs. The obtained results highlight the importance of initiating a control program based on regular treatment of the sheep-dogs with praziquantel in the province of Alava.

Background: Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are polypeptide hormones that play anabolic roles in cellular growth and metabolism. Their activity is regulated by binding proteins (IGFBPs) and degradation mechanisms. The liver is regarded as the main source of circulating forms and the levels change in various disease states. The aim of the study was to explore the effects of parasitic infections on the circulating IGFs and IGFBPs., Methods: Peptide concentrations in sera of patients with echinococcosis, trichinellosis and toxoplasmosis were measured by radioimmunoassay, while IGFBP patterns were characterised by ligand-affinity blotting and gel chromatography., Results: IGF-I levels were reduced in trichinellosis (p=0.016), with the increased relative amounts of IGFBP-1, -2 and -4. The significantly reduced levels of IGF-I (p<0.001), IGF-II (p=0.017) and IGFBP-3 and the increased presence of IGFBP-2 were found in patients with echinococcosis., Conclusions: In subjects with trichinellosis probably the combined effects of inadequate nutrition and the immunological response occurred. A possible explanation for the changes found in patients with echinococcosis is that the liver is a frequent target organ for Echinococcus granulosus. Since liver cysts were present in these patients, it can be expected that hepatic injury may affect liver metabolism leading to altered IGF/IGFBP profiles.

Hydatid patients were investigated for the presence of specific serum antibodies against a recombinant Echinococcus granulosus antigen, designated myophilin. The clinical history of each patient was examined to determine any correlation between factors such as cyst location and medical treatment on the presence or absence of antibodies to myophilin. Specific antibodies against recombinant myophilin were detected by Western blot analysis in 38.8% (7 of 18) of the hydatid patients examined. These patients also had the highest titres in ELISA against sheep hydatid cyst fluid antigen. There was an association between the presence of antibodies to myophilin and the patients having undergone recent treatment by chemotherapy and/or surgery, suggesting that the destruction of hydatid cysts may lead to an immune response against myophilin.

A case of hydatid cyst affecting the right ventricle is described and role of tomographic scanning highlighted as it demonstrated a typical multilocular cyst arising from the right ventricle in the patient discussed here.