A commercial Dengue Duo rapid test kit was evaluated for early dengue diagnosis by detection of dengue virus NS1 antigen and immunoglobulin M (IgM)/IgG antibodies. A total of 420 patient serum samples were subjected to real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), in-house IgM capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), hemagglutination inhibition assay, and the SD Dengue Duo rapid test. Of the 320 dengue acute and convalescent sera, dengue infection was detected by either serology or RT-PCR in 300 samples (93.75%), as compared with 289 samples (90.31%) in the combined SD Duo NS1/IgM. The NS1 detection rate is inversely proportional, whereas the IgM detection rate is directly proportional to the presence of IgG antibodies. The sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing acute dengue infection in the SD Duo NS1/IgM were 88.65% and 98.75%, respectively. The assay is sensitive and highly specific. Detection of both NS1 and IgM by SD Duo gave comparable detection rate by either serology or RT-PCR.

BackgroundDengue is an important medical problem, with symptoms ranging from mild dengue fever to severe forms of the disease, where vascular leakage leads to hypovolemic shock. Cytokines have been implicated to play a role in the progression of severe dengue disease; however, their profile in dengue patients and the synergy that leads to continued plasma leakage is not clearly understood. Herein, we investigated the cytokine kinetics and profiles of dengue patients at different phases of illness to further understand the role of cytokines in dengue disease.Methods and FindingsCirculating levels of 29 different types of cytokines were assessed by bead-based ELISA method in dengue patients at the 3 different phases of illness. The association between significant changes in the levels of cytokines and clinical parameters were analyzed. At the febrile phase, IP-10 was significant in dengue patients with and without warning signs. However, MIP-1β was found to be significant in only patients with warning signs at this phase. IP-10 was also significant in both with and without warning signs patients during defervescence. At this phase, MIP-1β and G-CSF were significant in patients without warning signs, whereas MCP-1 was noted to be elevated significantly in patients with warning signs. Significant correlations between the levels of VEGF, RANTES, IL-7, IL-12, PDGF and IL-5 with platelets; VEGF with lymphocytes and neutrophils; G-CSF and IP-10 with atypical lymphocytes and various other cytokines with the liver enzymes were observed in this study.ConclusionsThe cytokine profile patterns discovered between the different phases of illness indicate an essential role in dengue pathogenesis and with further studies may serve as predictive markers for progression to dengue with warning signs.

BackgroundCurrent chemotherapeutic drugs kill cancer cells mainly by inducing apoptosis. However, they become ineffective once cancer cell has the ability to metastasize, hence the poor prognosis and high mortality rate. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the antimetastatic potential of Phyllanthus (P. niruri, P. urinaria, P. watsonii, and P. amarus) on lung and breast carcinoma cells.Methodology/Principal FindingsCytotoxicity of Phyllanthus plant extracts were first screened using the MTS reduction assay. They were shown to inhibit MCF-7 (breast carcinoma) and A549 (lung carcinoma) cells growth with IC50 values ranging from 50–180 µg/ml and 65–470 µg/ml for methanolic and aqueous extracts respectively. In comparison, they have lower toxicity on normal cells with the cell viability percentage remaining above 50% when treated up to 1000 µg/ml for both extracts. After determining the non-toxic effective dose, several antimetastasis assays were carried out and Phyllanthus extracts were shown to effectively reduce invasion, migration, and adhesion of both MCF-7 and A549 cells in a dose-dependent manner, at concentrations ranging from 20–200 µg/ml for methanolic extracts and 50–500 µg/ml for aqueous extracts. This was followed by an evaluation of the possible modes of cell death that occurred along with the antimetastatic activity. Phyllanthus was shown to be capable of inducing apoptosis in conjunction with its antimetastastic action, with more than three fold increase of caspases-3 and -7, the presence of DNA-fragmentation and TUNEL-positive cells. The ability of Phyllanthus to exert antimetastatic activities is mostly associated to the presence of polyphenol compounds in its extracts.Conclusions/SignificanceThe presence of polyphenol compounds in the Phyllanthus plant is critically important in the inhibition of the invasion, migration, and adhesion of cancer cells, along with the involvement of apoptosis induction. Hence, Phyllanthus could be a valuable candidate in the treatment of metastatic cancers.

The blood brain barrier consisting of astrocytes, pericytes and brain microvascular endothelial cells plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of neurotropic viruses by controlling the access of circulating molecules, immune cells or viruses into the central nervous system (CNS). However, this barrier is not impenetrable and neuroviruses have evolved to disrupt and evade it. This review aims to describe the underlying entry mechanisms of several neuroviruses such as (Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), West Nile virus (WNV), Zika virus (ZIKV), Nipah virus (NiV), Rabies virus (RABV), Herpes simplex virus (HSV) and Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)) into the CNS through BBB disruption. The mechanisms, through which neurotropic viruses enter the BBB, are being studied and are becoming clearer, however, some aspects still remain unknown. Some of these viruses are able to invade the brain parenchyma by a 'Trojan horse' mechanism, through diapedesis of infected immune cells that either cross the BBB paracellularly or transcellularly. Important mechanisms of BBB disruption associated with paracellular entry of viruses include alterations in expression or phosphorylation of tight junction proteins, disruption of the basal lamina and disruption of the actin cytoskeleton. In the absence of such mechanisms, indirect effects of viruses on the immune system are likely causes of barrier disruption.