Browsing by Author "Dimitrijević, M.V. (25642808400)"

INTRODUCTION: Malignant tumors of the head and neck represent 5% of all malignancies, of which the most common are tumors of the larynx and oral cavity. In the blood serum of patients with malignant tumors increased levels of immunoglobulins and circulating immune complexes have been detected, with a diverse relevance to the clinical course and prognosis of the disease. AIM: Due to contradictory findings of the correlation between the humoral immune response and the clinical course of the disease, we examined 42 male patients with laryngeal carcinoma. All patients underwent surgery, of which 15 patients were treated postoperatively with radiotherapy. The changes in the levels of immunoglobulins and circulating immune complexes in the blood serum were recorded and evaluated. RESULTS: Analysis of the results showed an immunological disorder of an abnormal level of circulating immune complexes in the blood serum that normalized after the surgical removal of the tumor. The levels of immunoglobulins G and A were abnormal during the whole postoperative period of examination. CONCLUSION: The normalizing of the levels of circulating immune complexes in the blood serum, after surgical removal of the tumor, shows a strong association between the two, and this could consequently mean that it could be used as a prognostic tool, particularly in correlation with other immunological parameters.

Otomycosis is a fungal infection of the ear predominantly caused by Candida and Aspergillus spp. The possible virulence factors of Candida spp. are enzymes, such as proteases, phospholipases, phosphatases and esterase. According to our knowledge, protease production in Candida strains isolated from patients with otomycosis has not been investigated. The present study was aimed at determining in vitro protease activity in 8 strains of Candida spp. (C. parapsilosis, C. famata, C. guilliermondii and C. albicans) isolated from children with otomycosis. A majority of isolated strains 7/8 (87.5%) were protease positive. The protease activity ranged from Pz 0.61 to 0.78. Further investigation is necessary to clarify the contribution of protease production to Candida virulence associated with otomycosis.