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Immune response regulation by cytokines is a key to understanding AGR. The influence of the functional polymorphisms in genes coding for TNF-alpha (-308G > A), IL-10 (-819C > T, and -1082A > G), IFN-gamma [(CA)n], TGF-beta1 (+869T > C), and iCAM-1 (R241G and E469K), in addition to HLA and gender matching on the presentation of AGR in 51 pediatric renal recipients during a 36-month post-transplantation follow-up were analyzed. Also, donors and a control group were genotyped. All groups were within Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for all polymorphisms except IL-10-819C > T and TNF-alpha (p < 0.005 and p < 0.01, respectively) in recipients. Transplants with gender mismatch showed a higher risk for AGR than those between individuals with gender match (OR, 4.227; p = 0.010). Recipients with a high-production compared with low-production TNF-alpha allele experienced earlier AGR (p = 0.030), and those with high-production alleles of both TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma showed a further increased risk (OR = 11.129, p = 0.024). These findings support the notion that a single genotype cannot by itself explain an event as complex as AGR. The sum or combination of different specific alleles of these genes could better account for the immune response to an allograft.

Five polymorphic index markers were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to ascertain the parental origin of the extra X chromosomes in seven polysomic cases (one 49,XXXXX, three 49,XXXXY, two 48,XXXY, and one 48,XXYY). All four X chromosomes in 49, X polysomies were maternal in origin and the extra X chromosomes in 48 X polysomies were paternal. In each case the multiple X chromosomes were contributed by a single parent. Taken together with previously reported cases, these data support a single mechanism of sequential nondisjunction during either maternal or paternal gametogenesis as the cause of higher order sex chromosome polysomy.

Capsaicin is an agonist of the transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) channel, which has been related to the pathophysiology of kidney disease secondary to diabetes. This study aimed to evaluate the chronic effect of capsaicin administration on biomarkers of kidney injury in an experimental rat model of diabetes. Male Wistar rats were assigned to four groups: (1) healthy controls without diabetes (CON), (2) healthy controls plus capsaicin at 1 mg/kg/day (CON + CAPS), (3) experimental diabetes without capsaicin (DM), and (4) experimental diabetes plus capsaicin at 1 mg/kg/day (DM + CAPS). For each group, 24-h urine samples were collected to determine diuresis, albumin, cystatin C, β2 microglobulin, epidermal growth factor (EGF), alpha (1)-acid glycoprotein, and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NAG-L). Blood samples were drawn to measure fasting glucose. After 8 weeks, the CON + CAPS and DM + CAPS groups showed increased diuresis compared to the CON and DM groups, but the difference was significant only in the DM + CAPS group. The two-way ANOVA only showed a statistically significant effect of CAPS on the urinary EGF levels, as well as a tendency to have a significant effect in the urinary NAG-L levels. The EGF levels decreased in both CAPS-treated groups, but the change was only significant in the CON + CAPS group vs. CON group; and the NAG-L levels were lower in both CAPS-treated groups. These results show that capsaicin had a diuretic effect in healthy and diabetic rats; additionally, it increased the urinary EGF levels and tended to decrease the urinary NAG-L levels.

In humans, it is thought that the X-inactivation phenomenon occurs no matter how many X chromosomes are present, and that only one of them remains active. Nevertheless, individuals who have an abnormal number of X chromosomes show a wide spectrum of abnormalities, which increase with the number of X chromosomes present in a given individual. It has been shown that the inactive X chromosome in female mammals is distinguished by a lack of histone H4 acetylation, and that this could be used as an accessible marker for distinguishing between Xi and Xa in spreads of metaphase chromosomes. We studied three X-polysomic patients for the presence of active chromatin by analysis of histone H4 acetylation on unfixed metaphase spreads. Using antisera to H4 acetylated at lysines 16, 8 and 5, respectively, we observed frequencies different from those expected from cells with only one underacetylated X chromosome. In particular, when antiserum to H4 acetylated at lysine 16 was used about 90% of the cells showed acetylation of all X chromosomes. This suggests a possible disturbance in the deacetylation process, probably due to the presence of multiple Xs.

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HLA-A and HLA-B genes were typed by DNA sequencing in a mestizo population from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Thirty-seven HLA-A and 51 HLA-B alleles were observed in 103 samples. The common typical Amerindian alleles (>5%) and haplotypes (>or=2.0%) found were A*02010101, *24020101, *310102, B*350101, and *4002, and A*310102-B*4002, A*240201-B*350101, and the typical European alleles were A*010101, *29010101, B*1402, B*180101, and A*020101-B*1402, A*020101-B*510101, and A*3002-B*180101. This reflects the blending of the two main parental populations of mestizos: Amerindian and Iberian. Mexicans were found to be relatively closer to the Portuguese than to Spaniards. This proximity may indicate a larger Portuguese influence in Mexicans than previously considered. Present data contribute to the understanding of the genetic structure in Mexico.