{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,14]],"date-time":"2026-02-14T07:35:33Z","timestamp":1771054533650,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,20]],"date-time":"2021-08-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1629417600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003196","name":"Ministero della Salute","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Line one-Ricerca Corrente \u2018Infezioni Emergenti e Riemergenti\u2019"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Line one-Ricerca Corrente \u2018Infezioni Emergenti e Riemergenti\u2019"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003196","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003196","name":"Ministero della Salute","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["GR-2016-02361497"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GR-2016-02361497"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003196","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosntds.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Negl Trop Dis"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\"><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a complex disease for which clear understanding of clinical manifestations is needed to avoid misdiagnosis, inappropriate treatment, and severe complications. We evaluated the accuracy of a whole-blood stimulation test based on Interleukin (IL)-4 detection in response to Antigen B (AgB) of<jats:italic>Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato<\/jats:italic>to discriminate cyst viability and detect cyst reactivation in patients with hepatic CE.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"sec002\"><jats:title>Methodology\/Principal findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>Thirty patients with CE3b cysts and 37 patients with spontaneously-inactivated CE4-CE5 cysts were recruited (T0). After enrollment, 5 patients with CE3b cysts received albendazole, resulting in cyst solidification (CE4) in 4\/5. Within a two-year follow-up, the whole-blood test was repeated at two time-points, in \u226514 (T1) and in \u22654 (T2) patients per group. IL-4 and a panel of other soluble factors were measured in the stimulated plasma.<\/jats:p><jats:p>Baseline IL-4 levels were significantly higher in patients with CE3b compared to those with CE4 cysts (p = 0.006). Test accuracy for CE3b diagnosis had a sensitivity of 33\u201360% and a specificity of 76\u201395%, depending on the cut-off applied. Overall, IL-4 levels did not change significantly over time in either group; however, patients within the CE3b group showed a significant decrease of IL-1ra, IL-6, IL-8, G-CSF, IFN-\u03b3, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1\u03b1, FGF at T1 compared to T0 (p\u22640.042).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"sec003\"><jats:title>Conclusions\/Significance<\/jats:title><jats:p>Whole-blood IL-4-response to AgB is significantly higher in patients with active compared to inactive CE but apparently not modulated over time after treatment. On the contrary, the levels of IL-1ra, IL-6, IL-8, G-CSF, IFN-\u03b3, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1\u03b1, FGF significantly decreased in active CE during follow-up. Additional studies are needed to understand whether these findings might have a clinical significance for patients\u2019 follow-up.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0009648","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,20]],"date-time":"2021-08-20T17:27:41Z","timestamp":1629480461000},"page":"e0009648","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Accuracy of an experimental whole-blood test for detecting reactivation of echinococcal cysts"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Linda","family":"Petrone","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0478-3914","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Francesca","family":"Tamarozzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9657-5084","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ambra","family":"Vola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9116-4948","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Maria Angeles","family":"Gomez Morales","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3105-1471","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Alessandra","family":"Ludovisi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Saeid","family":"Najafi Fard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4154-930X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Mara","family":"Mariconti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8437-6627","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Enrico","family":"Brunetti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8360-4376","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Delia","family":"Goletti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"pntd.0009648.ref001","first-page":"978146","article-title":"Cystic echinococcosis in a single tertiary care center in Rome","volume":"2013","author":"L Petrone","year":"2013","journal-title":"Italy. 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