Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Medical Sciences, cilt.33, sa.3, ss.673-677, 2013 (SCI-Expanded)
Objective: Behcet's disease (BD) is a systemic inflammatory disorder, characterized by recurrent oral apthous ulcers, genital ulcers, skin lesions and uveitis as well as other manifestasions including vascular, gastrointestinal and neurological involvement. Epithelial cells in the mucosal immune system have a critical role in designating the immun homeostasis towards immune regulation or tolerance and determine the response type to a specific antigen according to the structure, dose ant the presentation mode of the antigen. The aim of the present study was to investigate the bactericidal effect of epithelial cells against Streptococcus pyogenes and Escherichia coli in patients with Behcet's disease and in healthy controls. Material and Methods: Urine epithelial cells (used for effector cell) and S. pyogenes ATCC 49619 and E. coli O75 (used for target cell) strains were prepared before the experiment and the cells were stimulated with bacteria in plates with an effector cell/target cell ratio of 1:1 and the bactericidal effects were calculated and were compared with microorganism controls. Results: The bactericidal effects against S. pyogenes and E. coli in Behcet's disease patients were 31.6%, and 23.3%, and 50.7% and 60% for healthy controls, respectively. Conclusion: The bactericidal effect of uroepithelial cell against E. coli was significantly lower in Behcet's disease patients compared to healthy controls (p<0.001). Although the bactericidal effect of uroepithelial cells in patients with Behcet's disease was lower compared to healthy controls, the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.001). The results of this study suggest that the bactericidal effect of uroepithelial cells in patients with Behçet's disase might be deficient. © 2013 by Türkiye Klinikleri.