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Objectives. The aim of this study was to determine the level of five different pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines to study the inflammatory response of leptospirosis. Materials and methods. The serum cytokine levels of IL-10, IL-17A, IL-21, IL-23, and TNF-α were investigated in 57 patients with leptospirosis and 12 healthy controls using a commercially available ELISA kit (Mabtech, Sweden). Statistical analysis was done using Graphpad Prism. Results. Elevation of serum IL-10 and IL-17A levels and significant elevation of serum IL-21 (p=0.002), IL-23 (p=0.002), and TNF-α (p=0.039) were observed among leptospirosis patients compared to the healthy control group. The two major complications observed among these patients were renal failure and liver involvement. Renal failure was significantly associated with elevation of IL-21 and IL-23, while patients with liver involvement had a significant elevation of IL-21, IL-23, and TNF-α. Conclusion. Elevation of IL-17A together with the significant elevation of IL-21 and IL-23 suggests a possible involvement of Th17 cells in the immunopathogenesis of leptospirosis.

Background. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of most prevalent and serious complications of leptospirosis, a prevalent zoonotic disease in tropical countries. Prompt diagnosis of the leptospirosis-associated AKI is a challenge as there are no proper diagnostic tools that can identify patients in the early stage. Kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) are widely used novel AKI biomarkers that are studied in various disease conditions with AKI, but not in leptospirosis. Thus, this study is aimed at seeking the importance of KIM-1 and MCP-1 in determining the leptospirosis-associated AKI. Methods. Leptospirosis-suspected patients who were admitted to medical wards of two selected hospitals in the Western province of Sri Lanka were recruited. Leptospirosis was confirmed by three diagnostic tests: PCR, MAT, and culture, and the status of AKI was determined by Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria. Results. Of 170 leptospirosis-suspected patients, 79 were leptospirosis confirmed, and among them, 24.05% of patients were diagnosed to have AKI according to KDIGO criteria. Median serum KIM-1 (p<0.0001), urine KIM-1 (0.0053), serum MCP-1 (0.0080), and urine MCP-1 (0.0019) levels in those developing AKI were significantly higher than in patients not developing AKI. The biomarker levels associated with leptospirosis AKI had AUC-ROC of 0.8565, 0.7292, 0.7024, and 0.7282 for serum KIM-1, urine KIM-1, serum MCP-1, and urine MCP-1, respectively. Conclusion. This study revealed serum KIM-1 as a promising marker for leptospirosis-associated AKI among the tested biomarkers. Thus, further validation is recommended with a larger study group.

Background Leptospirosis is a globally emerging zoonotic disease and an important public health threat in developing countries. Diagnosis of leptospirosis is mainly based on clinical presentations in resource poor countries. World Health Organization (WHO) has introduced “Faine’s criteria” for diagnosis of leptospirosis. This study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of modified Faine’s criteria (with amendment) 2012 to detect leptospirosis in resource poor settings. Methods Blood samples of 168 patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria admitted between January 2013 to January 2014 were tested by a commercial immunochromatographic assay (Leptocheck WB, India), microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods. Leptospirosis was confirmed by a single MAT titre ≥1:400 and / or by a positive PCR. Diagnosis of leptospirosis was made using the clinical, epidemiological and laboratory data according to modified Faine’s criteria (with amendment) 2012. Results Leptospirosis was confirmed in 39 % ( n =  66) by MAT and/or PCR. When modified Faine’s criteria (MAT ≥ 1.400 &/ or PCR), was evaluated against LERG confirmed cases sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive values were 95.45 %, 56.86 %, 58.88 %, 95.08 % respectively. The modified Faine’s criteria with rapid immunochromatographic assay only had a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value 89.39 %, 58.82 %, 58.42 %, and 89.55 % respectively. Conclusion The modified Faine’s criteria which utilized only immunochromatographic assay (leptocheck IgM) in Part C was found to be useful tool for diagnosing leptospirosis in a resource poor setting.

The immune response is hypothesized as an important factor in the disease outcome of leptospirosis. Exaggerated immune response may promote tissue damage that lead to severe disease outcome. In this study TNF, IL-10, sTNFR1 levels were measured among sixty-two hospitalized leptospirosis confirmed patients in Sri Lanka. Thirty-one serum samples from healthy individuals were obtained as controls. PCR–RFLP method was used to identify TNF gene polymorphisms and to determine their association with TNF expression and disease severity in leptospirosis. TNF ( p  = 0.0022) and IL-10 ( p  < 0.0001) were found to be significantly elevated in leptospirosis patients, while sTNFR1 ( p  < 0.0001) was significantly suppressed. TNF was not significantly elevated in patients with complications while the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 was significantly elevated among patients with complications ( p  = 0.0011) and with mortality ( p  = 0.0088). The ratio of IL-10 to TNF was higher among patients with complications ( p  = 0.0008) and in fatal cases ( p  = 0.0179). No association between TNF gene polymorphisms and TNF expression was detected due to the low frequency of heterozygous and mutated genes present in this study population. Thus the findings of the study show that elevated levels of IL-10 in the acute phase of disease could lead to severe outcomes and a high IL-10/TNF ratio is observed in patients with complications due to leptospirosis.