Antonietta Rizzo

Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli · Sezione di Microbiologia e Microbiologia Clinica

Patients affected by Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) usually show orofacial dysfunction, poor oral hygiene, severe tooth wear, generalized caries and thick sticky saliva. The aim of this study was to evaluate molecular/ionic changings in PWS patients compared to controls, as well as unstimulated salivary flow rate (SFR); 7 patients with a mean age of 2...

Background: It has been demonstrated that vitamin D exerts several functions other than those implied in the bone homeostasis. It has been published the vitamin D can act on many cells and tissues behaving also as a modulatory factor in the immune responses. Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of active vitamin D3 (VD) on...

Direct laser metal forming (DLMF) and mildly acid-etching (MA) are currently used to produce roughened titanium implant surfaces with the aim to promote osseointegration. However, their effect on bacterial colonization and peri-implant disease occurrence has been poorly investigated. Aim of the work is to study the influence of DLMF and MA surfaces...

Chlamydia trachomatis is the most prevalent infection of the genital tract in women worldwide. C. trachomatis has a tendency to cause persistent infection and induce a state of chronic inflammation, which has been reported to play a role in carcinogenesis. We report that persistent C. trachomatis infection increases the expression of inflammatory t...

Periodontitis is a multifactorial polymicrobial infection characterized by a destructive inflammatory process. Porphyromonas gingivalis, a Gram-negative black-pigmented anaerobe, is a major pathogen in the initiation and progression of periodontitis; it produces several virulence factors that stimulate human gingival epithelium (HGE) cells and huma...

Malassezia pachydermatis is a yeast belonging to the microbiota of the skin and mucous membranes of dog and cat, but it can also act as pathogen, causing dermatitis. The aim of this work was to evaluate the genetic variability of M. pachydermatis strains isolated from symptomatic dogs and cats and determine a correlation between genotype and phenot...

Knowledge in viral oncology has made considerable progress in the field of cancer fight. However, the role of bacteria as mediators of oncogenesis has not yet been elucidated. As cancer still is the leading cause of death in developed countries, understanding the long-term effects of bacteria has become of great importance as a possible means of ca...

Chlamydia trachomatis, a human pathogen, is a Gram-negative bacillus and a compulsory intracellular parasite. It is the most common cause of bacterial sexually transmitted infections in both industrialized and developing countries. In women, untreated genital infections can result in devastating consequences such as pelvic inflammatory disease, ect...

Lymph node tuberculosis (TB) represents the most common form of extrapulmonary TB that affects most often laterocervical lymph nodes. The disease, favored by states of immunosuppression, manifests itself by usually unilateral swelling, which may be associated with skin changes (hyperaemia, infiltration or fistula) and poor systemic symptoms. Our st...

Chlamydia pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacterium that causes persistent infections with a tendency to chronicize, which might motivate the resistance of chlamydiae to some commonly used antibiotics. The bisphosphonates are an emerging class of drugs mostly used in the palliative care of cancer patients to inhibit proliferat...

Interaction of pathogenic bacteria with human cells is usually an essential step in the infection process. The bacterial invasion is stimulated by microbial binding to mammalian extracellular matrix proteins such as vitronectin, fibronectin or integrins. We have recently shown that some strains isolated from a clinical environment are able to grow...

Lactobacilli are members of the normal mucosal microflora of most animals. Probiotic bacteria, such as Lactobacilli, play a major role in the maintenance of a healthy urogenital tract by preventing the colonization of pathogenic bacteria. The potentially probiotic strain Lactobacillus crispatus (ATCC 33820) was investigated for its capacity to infl...

Chlamydia pneumoniae is a human pathogen that causes multiple diseases worldwide. Despite appropriate therapy with antichlamydial antibiotics, chronic exacerbated diseases often occur and lead to serious sequelae. The use of the macrolide clarithromycin and the fluoroquinolone ofloxacin has improved the treatment of chlamydial infection, but therap...

Streptococcus pyogenes is a common colonizer of the mucosal layers in the mouth, nose, and pharynx but it is also a major Gram-positive human pathogen that causes infections ranging from pharyngitis to severe systemic diseases. The lactobacilli colonize the oral tracts and are known to protect against colonization by many pathogens. Epithelial cell...

Brugada Syndrome (BS) is a polygenic inherited cardiac disease characterized by life-threatening arrhythmias and high incidence of sudden death. In this study, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to investigate specific changes in the plasma proteome of BS patients and family members sharin...

Several mutations in distinct genes, all coding for sarcomeric proteins, have been reported in unrelated kindreds with familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (FHC). We have identified nine individuals from three families harboring two distinct mutations in one copy of the β-myosin heavy chain (β-MHC) gene. In this study, the expression of the mutant...

Chlamydia pneumoniae, an intracellular bacterium, is associated with respiratory diseases, reinfectivity and chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke. The risk of infection is higher and infections are a serious clinical problem in patients with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Although diabetes m...

Periodontitis is a multifactorial polymicrobial infection characterized by a destructive inflammatory process. Porphyromonas gingivalis, a Gram-negative anaerobic black-pigmented rod, which produces several virulence factors that stimulate human periodontal ligament cells (HPLCs) to produce various inflammatory mediators, has been implicated as a c...

Multiple myeloma (MM) represents a suitable disease to be treated with Molecularly targeted drugs (MTDs). MM clone aberrations affect signal transduction pathways controlling both proliferation and/or cell survival. Research findings on small drugs or monoclonal antibodies (mAb) against the components of these pathways are now available and related...

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are a family of host-derived enzymes involved in the turnover of extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules, and, in particular, it is demonstrated that the 92 KDa gelatinase MMP-9 is often expressed in atherosclerotic plaques by macrophages and smooth muscle cells. Recent evidence supports a role of Toll-like receptor (TL...

Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydophila pneumoniae are human pathogens; the former being the etiologic agent for trachoma as well as a prevalent sexually transmitted bacterium, while C. pneumoniae is a respiratory pathogen responsible for community-acquired pneumonia. Patients with reactive arthritis show evidence of present or past Chlamydial infe...

This study was conducted to evaluate the diagnostic role of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) measured in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), serum and tissue samples of patients with indeterminate lung lesions and its correlation with F-18-2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose-positron emission tomography ((18)FDG-PET) findings in diagnostic work. MMP9 levels (ng/ml)...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative, aerobic bacillus causing infections of the respiratory and other organ systems in susceptible hosts. Although it does not cause pulmonary infections in immunocompetent individuals, P. aeruginosa causes chronic lung infection in individuals with cystic fibrosis and nosocomial pneumonia resulting in signific...

Titanium nitride (TiN) coating has been proposed as an adjunctive surface treatment aimed to increase the physico-mechanical and aesthetic properties of dental implants. In this study we investigated the surface characteristics of TiN-coated titanium plasma sprayed (TiN-TPS) and uncoated titanium plasma sprayed (TPS) surfaces and their biological f...

Chlamydia pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacterium that causes recurrent pharyngitis, pneumonia and chronic inflammation induced by cycles of persistence and productive infection that might also explain the association with chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to determine whether C. pneumoniae can invade and survive w...

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a fatal malignancy linked to asbestos exposure. The main challenge for mesothelioma treatment is to go beyond the drug resistance, in particular against cisplatin (CDDP), one of the most used chemotherapeutic drug. 3-O-methylfunicone (OMF) is a metabolite produced by the fungus Penicillium pinophilum; its antiproli...

Flavonoids are phenolic compounds widely distributed in almost every plant and act as pharmacologically active constituents in many herbal medicines. They have multiple biological, pharmacological, and medicinal properties including anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective effects. In the present study, the experiments were performed to evaluate the ef...

Periodontitis is a multifactorial polymicrobial infection characterized by a destructive inflammatory process affecting tooth-supporting tissues and resulting in periodontal pocket formation, alveolar bone resorption and, eventually, tooth loss. The continuous challenge of host immune and resident cells by periodontopathogens and their virulence fa...

Probiotics, defined as live microbial food supplements which improve the health of the host, have obtained increasing medical importance. In the intestine they may prevent the overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria, increase the resistance of the gut to invasion by pathogens and ameliorate disease processes by inducting the secretion of soluble factors...

Monocytes are pivotal effector cells of the innate immune system that are vital for recognizing and eliminating invasive microbial pathogens. When microbial products bind to pathogen-recognition receptors, monocytes are activated and release a broad array of cytokines and defensins that orchestrate the host innate and adaptive immune responses. The...

Chlamydia pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacterium with a unique biphasic developmental cycle that can cause persistent infections. In humans, Chlamydia causes airway infection and has been implicated in chronic inflammatory diseases, such as asthma and atherosclerosis. In addition, recent studies demonstrated that patients w...

Human beta-defensin 2 is an antimicrobial peptide that is produced by several epithelial cells after stimulation with micro-organisms and inflammatory mediators. Gram-negative bacteria, which are typically detected in periodontal pockets in periodontitis, elicit a stronger antibacterial peptide response of human beta-defensin 2 by epithelial cells....

Chlamydia pneumoniae, a gram-negative bacterium, is an important human intracellular pathogen; studies of C. pneumoniae pathogenesis have shown that the organism can infect many cell types associated with both respiratory and vascular sites, including arterial smooth muscle cells, macrophages and vascular endothelium. Recently, the recognition of a...

Chlamydia pneumoniae is an intracellular pathogen and an important cause of respiratory tract infections in humans and more recently it has been associated with chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis. Numerous studies have been performed to show the "infectious" hypothesis of atherosclerosis by direct detection of the organisms within atheromatou...

Chlamydophila pneumoniae is an important human intracellular pathogen; however, the pathogenesis of C. pneumoniae infection is poorly understood and the immune control mechanism versus host cells is not completely known. The role of the nitric oxide (NO) synthase pathway in inhibiting the ability of C. pneumoniae to infect macrophage J774 cells and...

Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are abundant molecular chaperones participating in the cytoprotection. The kinetics of synthesis of Hsps closely correlates with the kinetics of development of resistance to cell death. In this study, we analysed the probable involvement of Hsp 27 and Hsp 60 in the protection of cells undergoing apoptosis. Human lymphocyt...

Chlamydia pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular bacterium which frequently causes airway infection in humans and has been implicated in chronic inflammatory disease and atherosclerosis. Here we show that infection with C. pneumoniae protects THP-1 cells against the apoptosis which spontaneously occurs in macrophages in the absence of an activatio...

We have investigated the effect that lipopolysaccharide extracted from Chlamydia trachomatis has on human spermatozoa. A lipopolysaccharide of 0.1 microgram ml-1 caused a spermatozoa mortality rate of 65 +/- 4% evaluated by eosin exclusion test. The toxic activity occurred rapidly even after brief incubation times, reaching the maximum (100% mortal...

In this study we provide evidence that structural and soluble components of periodontopathogenic bacteria, such asPrevotella melaninogenica andFusobacterium nucleatum, induce the release of cytokines in vitro known to cause in vivo necrotic inflammatory phenomena and bone resorption (tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1α and interleukin-6). Human...

Some antiviral properties of amniotic fluid (AF) were studied. A close relationship between maternal blood and AF antiviral antibodies was seen. Substances other than antibodies which could have an effect on viruses were assumed to be present in AF. Using HSV2 as a model, we found a virus-neutralizing activity in 6 out of 7 specimens studied which...