Article

Association between human-Pneumocystis infection and small-cell lung carcinoma.

Virgen del Rocio University Hospital, Seville, Spain.
European Journal of Clinical Investigation (impact factor: 3.02). 04/2004; 34(3):229-35. DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2362.2004.01317.x pp.229-35
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Tobacco smoking is the most important but not the only risk factor in lung carcinoma. There is evidence that certain infections, which cause chronic inflammatory reactions, can also induce tumour development. It has recently been shown that patients with chronic pulmonary diseases present a high rate of subclinical Pneumocystis infection, and that the latter is able to induce inflammatory responses and alveolar cell alterations. The possible role of Pneumocystis infection in the development of lung neoplasms thus deserves consideration.
Polymerase chain reaction has been used to analyze the presence of DNA of two independent loci of the Pneumocystis genome: the mitochondrial region (mtLSU rRNA) and the gene encoding for the dihydropteroate synthase enzyme, in paraffin-embedded tissue blocks of 10 cases of small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and 10 cases of nonsmall cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) with similar demographic and clinical characteristics. Five cases without lung pathology, and two cases of Pneumocystis pneumonia were also analyzed as controls.
DNA of the microorganism was found in all the cases of SCLC but in only two of the NSCLC, and in none of the controls without pulmonary disease - thus implying a statistically significant association (P < 0.0001) between subclinical Pneumocystis infection and SCLC.
While the nature of this association is not clear, it nevertheless constitutes an important finding - either the infection is specifically facilitated by this tumour or induces the development of this type of neoplasm in combination with other factors. Eur J Clin Invest 2004; 34 (3): 229-335

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    Article: Pneumocystis jirovecii in general population.
    Francisco J Medrano, Marco Montes-Cano, Manuel Conde, Carmen de la Horra, Nieves Respaldiza, Antonia Gasch, Maria J Perez-Lozano, Jose M Varela, Enrique J Calderon
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: The possible presence of Pneumocystis among healthy adults was examined by detecting Pneumocystis jirovecii-specific DNA in prospectively obtained oropharyngeal wash samples from 50 persons without underlying lung disease or immunosuppression. Pneumocystis carriage, defined by detecting Pneumocystis DNA by nested polymerase chain reaction in 2 independent analyses plus successful mitochondrial large subunit ribosomal RNA typing by direct sequencing, was found in 20% of cases. All carriers were asymptomatic, anti-HIV negative, and had normal total lymphocyte and CD4+ cell counts. A second sample obtained in the 6-month follow-up was positive in 2 of 9 available carriers. Genotype analysis showed different polymorphisms; 85A/248C (40%) and 85C/248C (30%) were most frequently observed. This study provides the first evidence that P. jirovecii DNA can be frequently detected in the respiratory tract of immunocompetent adults, which agrees with the hypothesis that the general population could be a reservoir and source of this infection.
    Emerging infectious diseases 03/2005; 11(2):245-50. · 6.17 Impact Factor
Data provided are for informational purposes only. Although carefully collected, accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The impact factor represents a rough estimation of the journal's impact factor and does not reflect the actual current impact factor. Publisher conditions are provided by RoMEO. Differing provisions from the publisher's actual policy or licence agreement may be applicable.

Keywords

alveolar cell alterations
 
cause chronic inflammatory reactions
 
certain infections
 
chronic pulmonary diseases present
 
clinical characteristics
 
dihydropteroate synthase enzyme
 
Eur J Clin Invest 2004
 
gene encoding
 
induce inflammatory responses
 
induce tumour development
 
mitochondrial region
 
nonsmall cell lung carcinoma
 
NSCLC
 
paraffin-embedded tissue blocks
 
pulmonary disease
 
similar demographic
 
small cell lung carcinoma
 
statistically significant association
 
subclinical Pneumocystis infection
 
Tobacco smoking