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Objective(s): Pneumococcal cell wall (PCW) is an inflammatory component in Streptococcus pneumoniae. The cell surface proteins and the toll-like receptors (TLR) signaling response were investigated in the human lung epithelial (A549) cells inoculated with PCW of different serotypes.Materials and Methods: The presence of genes encoding these proteins was determined using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The structure of the cell walls was analyzed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR). The A549 cell line was challenged with PCW extracts of different serotypes. RNA from the infected host cells was extracted and tested against a total of 84 genes associated with TLR signaling pathways (TLR 1-6 and 10) using RT2 Profiler PCR Array.Results: Cell surface proteins; ply, lytA, nanA, nanB, and cbpD genes were present in all serotypes. The distribution and structure of surface protein genes suggest behavioral changes in the molecules, contributing to the resilience of the strains to antibiotic treatment.Conclusion: TLR2 showed the highest expression, while serotypes 1, 3, and 5 induced higher TNFα and IL-1α, suggesting to be more immunogenic than the other strains tested.

Helicobacter pylori infection causes various gastrointestinal diseases including gastritis, peptic ulcer and gastric carcinoma. The aim of this study was to isolate and determine the genotype of H. pylori from gastric biopsies and cockroaches around eateries in Sungai Buloh. From September 2016 to June 2017, gastric biopsy samples were collected from 40 patients that undergoing endoscopy at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Sungai Buloh, Selangor. Forty cockroaches were collected from the eateries area in Sungai Buloh. Both of the gastric biopsies and cockroaches were homogenised separately and cultured on H. pylori selective media. Detection of the H. pylori isolates were done by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with two pairs of primer targeting cagA and vacA genes. A total of 12.5% isolates from the gastric biopsies and 25% from the cockroaches were found H. pylori positive. Most of the isolates can be classified into two classes, which were cagA positive, vacA s1/m1; s2/m2 and cagA negative, vacA s1/m1. Moreover, approximately 80% of the isolates were cagA positive as an important virulence factor in the pathogenesis of H. pylori. These results demonstrated that cockroaches can be a potential carrier of H. pylori and eventually source of H. pylori transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]