RESUMO
BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2 infections rapidly spread along with Brazilian territory with heterogeneous transmission and mortality rates, mostly depending on region and period. Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies is an important tool to understand virus circulation. Given that blood donors are a representative casuistic of a healthy population, the authors evaluated the seroprevalence of IgG and IgM COVID-19 antibodies in 2,806 blood donors from a blood bank located in São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: Aiming to evaluate viral behavior over time, the authors selected samples from blood donors who donated in June and October 2020, and February 2021. To determine whether socio-demographic features affected the seroprevalence, the authors analyzed samples from three different regions from São Paulo (capital, metropolitan and countryside regions) and evaluated predictors as gender, age, educational level, race, and use of public transportation. RESULTS: As expected, the authors observed that seroprevalence increased over time. Seroprevalence was greater in São Paulo city compared to metropolitan and countryside regions, being smallest in the countryside. Characteristics associated with a lower percentage of antibodies were age above 50 years, higher educational level, self-declared Caucasian, and use of individual transportation. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, blood donors' samples proved to accurately reflect virus circulation in the healthy population.
Assuntos
Doadores de Sangue , COVID-19 , Brasil/epidemiologia , COVID-19/epidemiologia , Estudos Transversais , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , SARS-CoV-2 , Estudos SoroepidemiológicosRESUMO
Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological disorder defined as the presence of endometrial tissue within extra-uterine sites. The primary symptoms are infertility and chronic pain. The inflammatory environment and aberrant immune responses in women with endometriosis may be directly associated with the initiation and progression of endometriotic lesions. In the present study, the secretion of inflammatory cytokines was evaluated in cultures of primary endometrial cells (ECs) isolated from the endometrium of women with and without endometriosis. The presence of endometriotic cells leads to alterations in the secretory profile of healthy ECs. The expression of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)6 and IL8 was significantly increased in endometriotic and cocultured cells compared with healthy ECs. IL6 expression was strongly correlated with IL8 expression in endometriotic cells. IL1ß expression was increased on day 10 of coculture to 48.30 pg/ml and may be associated with the longterm coculture, rather than IL6 and IL8 expression. IL6 expression was strongly correlated with cell number, whereas IL8 expression was moderately correlated with cell number. Additionally, it was observed that cocultured cells exhibited a different population of cells, with expression of the mesenchymal stem cell marker cell surface glycoprotein MUC18, indicating a putative role of endometrial mesenchymal stem cells in the secretion of cytokines and disease development. These results indicate a predominant role of primary endometriotic cells in the secretion of cytokines, which contributes to the disrupted peritoneal and endometrial environment observed in the women with endometriosis.