Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.2.1.17 (lysozyme)
 21,489 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Middle ear infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae is important in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic otitis media, and lysozyme in middle ear fluid (MEF) is an important inflammatory mediator in this disease. To determine the source of lysozyme during the early period of acute pneumococcal otitis media, chinchillas were irradiated to induce neutropenia, and their middle ears were inoculated with heat-killed, encapsulated pneumococci. The number of inflammatory cells and concentration of lysozyme were measured in MEF between 6 and 72 hours after inoculation. In pneumococcus-inoculated ears, the mean number of inflammatory cells but not lysozyme was significantly lower in MEF from irradiated animals than that from nonirradiated animals at 6 hours. Since lysozyme accumulated in MEF before the influx of inflammatory cells in irradiated animals, the initial release of this inflammatory mediator is most likely not from inflammatory cells; and mucosal epithelial cells, the only other known source of lysozyme in the middle ear environment, were the probable source induced by the direct stimulation of pneumococci. Inflammatory cells may contribute lysozyme later in the inflammatory response, since cellular and lysozyme concentrations in irradiated and nonirradiated animals were similar between 24 and 72 hours. These results suggest that future therapeutic interventions to limit middle ear inflammation in acute otitis media may need to recognize the direct action of pneumococcal cells or their envelope components on middle ear epithelium.
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PMID:Middle ear fluid lysozyme source in experimental pneumococcal otitis media. 206 74

Endotoxin levels and lysosomal protease (collagenase, cathepsin B, and lysozyme) activity were measured in 104 middle ear effusions (MEEs) from patients with otitis media with effusion (OME). The MEE samples were classified into four groups: pediatric serous, mucoid, and acute, and adult serous. Endotoxin levels and lysosomal protease activity in MEEs were significantly different in the following order: adult less than serous less than mucoid less than acute groups, indicating that both endotoxin and lysosomal proteases are more closely related to the pathogenesis of pediatric chronic OME than to adult OME. In pediatric serous and mucoid effusions, endotoxin level had a significant correlation with activity of the lysosomal proteases. In conclusion, endotoxin enhances leukocyte infiltration into the middle ear, and lysosomal proteases released from leukocytes damage the middle ear mucosa and thereby prolong mucosal inflammation, which may be responsible for delayed recovery from acute OME.
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PMID:Endotoxin and lysosomal protease activity in acute and chronic otitis media with effusion. 215 54

Primary carcinoid tumours of the middle ear are extremely rare, only nine cases having been reported. However, their true incidence is probably greater, since they are very difficult or impossible to distinguish from adenomas and adenocarcinomas with conventional histological stains. We describe the clinical, histological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural findings in a carcinoid tumour of the middle ear in a 50-year-old woman. Immunohistochemical studies on non-neoplastic middle ear mucosa undertaken to investigate the histogenesis of such tumours are also reported. Histologically, the tumour consisted of both solid areas and areas of tubular structures containing intraluminal mucus. All the tumour cells reacted with the anti-keratin antibody KL 1; some were argyrophil and reacted with antibodies against neuron-specific enolase, chromogranin A, Leu-7, serotonin, pancreatic polypeptide, glucagon and lysozyme. Electron microscopy revealed dense core granules in the tumour cells. Endocrine cells could not be detected in non-neoplastic middle ear mucosa. Pancreatic-polypeptide-like immunoreactivity was demonstrated immunohistochemically in all three other published cases of carcinoid tumour of the middle ear investigated for this peptide, and glucagon-like immunoreactivity was also exhibited by one of these. Since carcinoid tumours of the middle ear often, as in this case, exhibit some degree of glandular differentiation, immunohistochemical or electron-microscopic investigation to detect neuroendocrine differentiation is of particular importance in adenomatous middle ear neoplasms.
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PMID:Carcinoid tumour of the middle ear. A morphological and immunohistochemical study with comments on histogenesis and differential diagnosis. 248 Dec 99

The concentration of lysozyme and immunoglobulins was measured in serum and middle ear secretion of young children suffering from acute suppurative otitis. It was found that the local synthesis of lysozyme increased. The high concentration of lysozyme and low concentration of immunoglobulins of all classes in the middle ear secretion of children aged up to three years can be associated with an immature local humoral immune response.
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PMID:[Status of humoral defense mechanisms of the middle ear in young children with acute suppurative otitis media]. 272 80

We studied the contribution of pneumococcal cell wall to the pathogenesis of otitis media in chinchillas after middle ear inoculation of killed, encapsulated type 7F Streptococcus pneumoniae; killed, unencapsulated R6 S. pneumoniae; and isolated R6 pneumococcal cell wall. Ears inoculated with encapsulated and unencapsulated pneumococci had significantly higher concentrations of polymorphonuclear and mononuclear leukocytes and lysozyme in middle ear fluid and developed more epithelial metaplasia and granulation tissue than did saline-inoculated ears. The mean concentration of lysozyme in middle ear fluid was higher in ears inoculated with killed, unencapsulated than encapsulated pneumococci. The middle ear mucoperiosteum of ears inoculated with pneumococcal cell wall showed significantly more polymorphonuclear leukocytes, epithelial metaplasia, subepithelial congestion, and granulation tissue than did control ears. Because nonviable, unencapsulated pneumococci and pneumococcal cell wall caused middle ear inflammation in the chinchilla model of otitis media, it is possible that cell envelope and cell wall components released during bacterial lysis may contribute to chronic otitis media with effusion in humans.
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PMID:The contribution of pneumococcal cell wall to the pathogenesis of experimental otitis media. 333 9

The distribution of the antibacterial enzyme lysozyme- and lactoferrin-secreting cells in the tubotympanum of normal chinchillas was studied using an immunohistochemical technique. The middle ear mucosa contained lysozyme-secreting cells and lactoferrin-secreting cells. The former were localized primarily in the columnar epithelium area and the latter primarily in the cuboidal epithelium area (that contains serous cells) of the transitional zone. In the eustachian tube, the lysozyme was localized in goblet cells of the mucosal epithelium and mucous cells of the glands, while lactoferrin was localized in serous cells of the glands. Our results indicate that secretory lysozyme and lactoferrin are secreted by different cell types (mucous or serous), supporting the notion of heterogeneity of the secretory cells of the tubotympanum. This finding is consistent with the concept that antibacterial enzyme secretion is an integral part of the normal mucosal defense system in the tubotympanum.
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PMID:Normal distribution of lysozyme- and lactoferrin-secreting cells in the chinchilla tubotympanum. 354 59

Carcinoid tumors of the middle ear are rare, with only three previously reported cases. The authors report the light and electron microscopic and immunohistochemical features of two carcinoid tumors that occurred in a 34-year-old female and a 21-year-old male. Both presented with unilateral hearing loss. By light microscopic examination, both were characterized by trabecula of tall columnar cells with basal nuclei and no mitotic activity. Electron microscopic examination demonstrated large numbers of pleomorphic neurosecretory granules, perinuclear aggregates of intermediate filaments, cell junctions, and surface microvillous processes. Some cells contained intermediate filaments forming tonofilaments and lacked secretory granules. These cells stained for cytokeratin by immunoperoxidase and separated the neuroendocrine cells from the underlying basal lamina. The cells in this tumor stained for the molluscan cardioexcitatory peptide. Cells in both tumors also stained for pancreatic polypeptide. Neither case stained for lysozyme, insulin, glucagon, somatastatin, gastrin, substance P, thyroid-stimulating hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, Met-enkephalin, Leu-enkephalin, neuropeptide Y, peptide YY, neurotensin, Bombesin, serotonin, neuron-specific enolose, glial and neural filaments, S-100 protein, cholecystokinin, beta-endorphin, beta-human chorionic gonadotropin, luteinizing hormone/follicle-stimulating hormone, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, prolactin or calcitonin. Carcinoid tumor of the middle ear can be distinguished from paraganglioma and middle ear adenoma.
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PMID:Carcinoid tumors of the middle ear. 357 33

Major outer membrane antigens, proteins, and lipopolysaccharides (LPSs), from nontypable Haemophilus influenzae were characterized and examined as targets for complement-dependent human bactericidal antibodies. Outer membranes from two nontypable H. influenzae isolates that caused otitis media and pneumonia (middle ear and transtracheal aspirates) were prepared by shearing organisms in EDTA. These membranes were compared with membranes prepared independently by spheroplasting and lysozyme treatment of whole cells and found to have: similar sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) patterns of the proteins; identical densities (rho = 1.22 g/cm3); and minimal d-lactose dehydrogenase activity indicating purity from cytoplasmic membranes. Outer membranes were solubilized in an LPS-disaggregating buffer and proteins were separated from LPS by molecular sieve chromatography. The SDS-PAGE patterns of outer membrane proteins (OMPs) from the two strains differed in the major band although other prominent bands appeared similar in molecular weight. LPS prepared by hot phenol water extraction of each of the strains contained 45% (pneumonia isolate) and 60% (otitis isolate) lipid (wt/wt), 49% and 50% carbohydrate (wt/wt), respectively, and less than 1%, 3-deoxy-manno octulosonic acid. Immunoglobulin M (IgM) purified from normal human serum (NHS) plus complement was bactericidal for both strains. Purified immunoglobulin G (IgG) from NHS killed the middle ear isolate and immune convalescent IgM from the serum of the patient with pneumonia killed his isolate. NHS or convalescent serum were absorbed with OMPs and LPS (0.6-110 micrograms) from each of the strains and immune specific inhibition of bactericidal antibody activity by each antigen was determined. OMPs from the pulmonary isolate inhibited bactericidal antibody activity directed against the isolate in both NHS (1.5 microgram of antigen) and immune serum (0.75 microgram of antigen). OMPs (60 micrograms) from the ear isolate also inhibited bactericidal activity in the respective immune serum. LPSs exhibited minimal inhibition (greater than 110 micrograms). Three human sera (two normal, one immune) were selectively depleted of 80% of antibody activity against OMPs (measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) by affinity chromatography using OMPs from the pulmonary isolate coupled to a solid phase. These OMP antibody-depleted sera also showed an 88% reduction of bactericidal activity against this strain. Immunopurified antibody against OMPs eluted from the solid phase was bactericidal.
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PMID:Characterization of antigens from nontypable Haemophilus influenzae recognized by human bactericidal antibodies. Role of Haemophilus outer membrane proteins. 387 75

Bacteria can be cultured from approximately one third of chronic middle ear effusions, yet the contribution of these bacteria to the pathogenesis of chronic otitis media with effusion (OME) is not clear due to the absence of signs and symptoms of acute infection in most children with this disease. To explore the role of bacteria in chronic OME, lysozyme, lactoferrin, serum complement factors C3 and C5a, and polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMNL) chemotaxin content was measured in 21 chronic middle ear effusion samples. Concentrations of lysozyme, lactoferrin, and chemotaxin were significantly higher in culture-positive than in sterile effusions. Lysozyme appeared to be contributed by both PMNL and non-PMNL sources in the middle ear space. These non-PMNL sources, presumably middle ear epithelial cells, accounted for 50% to 80% of the lysozyme variation in middle ear effusion. Although C3 and C5a were present in effusion, chemotaxin content correlated poorly with the C3 and C5a content, suggesting that chemotaxins were derived from bacterial peptides rather than from complement activation products. These results suggest that bacteria contribute to chronic middle ear inflammation with effusion. The eradication of bacteria from chronic middle ear effusion might disrupt the host responses which maintain chronic OME.
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PMID:Bacterial and polymorphonuclear leukocyte contribution to middle ear inflammation in chronic otitis media with effusion. 404 Jul 27

Mononuclear phagocytes are cells common in the subepithelial space of the mucosa of the middle ear and in middle ear effusion during an attack of otitis media. Here we review studies to date on biological potentials of aural macrophages in the pathogenesis of otitis media. The origin of aural macrophages may be in the circulating pool of monocytes in the blood, in the pre-existing population of macrophages in the mucosa of the middle ear, in proliferation of macrophages in the middle ear, or in nasopharyngeal and tonsillar tissues. Macrophages demonstrate great phagocytic activity in eliminating tissue-debris, bacteria, and viruses. It seems likely that the secretory products of macrophages--such as lysozyme, components of complement, prostaglandins, collagenase, and other biologically active agents--play an important part in the pathogenesis of otitis media. There is also evidence available that aural macrophages play an important role in the regulation of lymphocytic response to antigens in active otitis media.
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PMID:Aspects of biological potentials of mononuclear cells in middle ear effusions. 639 5


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