Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a steroid hormone secreted by the adrenal glands, gonads and brain. It is a precursor to sex hormones and also is known to have immune modulatory activity. However, little is known about the relationship between DHEA and neutrophils and thus our study evaluates the influence of DHEA in the effector functions of neutrophils. Human neutrophils were treated in vitro with DHEA and further infected with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. The treatment of neutrophils with 0.01 μM of DHEA increased the phagocytosis of Salmonella independent of TLR4 as the treatment did not modulate the TLR4 expression. Additionally, DHEA caused a decrease in ROS (reactive oxygen species) production and did not influence the formation of the neutrophil extracellular trap (NET). Steroid treated neutrophils, infected or stimulated with LPS (lipopolysaccharide), showed reduced production of IL-8, compared to untreated cells. Also, the protein levels of p-NFκB were decreased in neutrophils treated with DHEA, and this reduction could explain the reduced levels of IL-8. These results led us to conclude that the steroid hormone DHEA has important modulatory functions in neutrophils.

Periodontitis comprises a group of multifactorial diseases in which periodontopathogens accumulate in dental plaque and trigger host chronic inflammatory and immune responses against periodontal structures, which are determinant to the disease outcome. Although unusual cases of non-inflammatory destructive periodontal disease (NIDPD) are described, their pathogenesis remains unknown. A unique NIDPD case was investigated by clinical, microbiological, immunological and genetic tools. The patient, a non-smoking dental surgeon with excessive oral hygiene practice, presented a generalized bone resorption and tooth mobility, but not gingival inflammation or occlusion problems. No hematological, immunological or endocrine alterations were found. No periodontopathogens (A. actinomycetemcomitans, P. gingivalis, F. nucleatum and T. denticola) or viruses (HCMV, EBV-1 and HSV-1) were detected, along with levels of IL-1β and TNF-a in GCF compatible with healthy tissues. Conversely ALP, ACP and RANKL GCF levels were similar to diseased periodontal sites. Genetic investigation demonstrated that the patient carried some SNPs, as well HLA-DR4 (*0404) and HLA-B27 alleles, considered risk factors for bone loss. Then, a less vigorous and diminished frequency of toothbrushing was recommended to the patient, resulting in the arrest of alveolar bone loss, associated with the return of ALP, ACP and RANKL in GCF to normality levels. In conclusion, the unusual case presented here is compatible with the previous description of NIDPD, and the results that a possible combination of excessive force and frequency of mechanical stimulation with a potentially bone loss prone genotype could result in the alveolar bone loss seen in NIDPD.

No presente trabalho, foi purificada por cromatografia de afinidade em D-galactose imobilizada em agarose, uma lectina do latex de Synadenium carinatum (ScLL). Essa lectina é uma potente aglutinina para eritrócitos humanos, cuja atividade hemaglutinante foi inibida com 3,0 mM de N acetil-D-galactopiranosidio, 6,3 mM de metil-beta-D-galactopiranosidio ou 50 mM metil-alfa-D-pironosidio ou D-fucose, porém, nenhuma inibição foi evidenciada por L-fucose, revelando uma especificidade anomérica e conformacional da lectina. A análise por SDS-PAGE dessa lectina pareceu ser uma glicoproteína composta por duas cadeias polipeptídicas de aproximadamente 28 e 30 kDa, porém, em cromatografia de exclusão por tamanho sobre Sephadex G100 e em gel nativo apresentou um peso molecular aparente de 120-130 kDa, a qual mostrou ser composta de uma mistura de subunidades de peptídeos de 28 e 30 kDa. Essa lectina manteve-se estável em pH de 6 a 9 e temperatura de 4 a 56ºC. A seqüência N-terninal contem uma região conservada GPN a qual também é observada em outras lectinas de látex de outras Euphorbiaceas ligante de D-galactose.

A lectin from the latex of Synadenium carinatum was purified by affinity chromatography on immobilized-D-galactose-agarose and shown to be a potent agglutinin of human erythrocytes. The haemagglutination of human red cells was inhibited by 3.0 mM N-acetyl-D-galactopyranoside, 6.3 mM methyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside, 50 mM methyl-alpha-D-galactopyranoside and 50 mM D-fucose but not by L-fucose, demonstrating an anomeric and a conformational specificity. According to SDS-PAGE analysis, the lectin appeared to be a glycoprotein composed of two polypeptide chains of ca. 28 and 30 kDa, but size exclusion chromatography (Sephadex G-100) and native PAGE revealed a protein of apparent molecular weight 120 - 130 kDa made up of 28 and 30 kDa subunits. The lectin was stable in the range pH 6 - 9, and 4 - 56ºC. The N-terminal sequence of the 30 kDa subunit contained the conserved consensus sequence GPN observed in other D-galactose-binding lectins found in latex of members of the Euphorbiaceae.