Tri Wibawa

Association of a missense mutation of the laminin α2 gene with tuberculoid type of leprosy in Indonesian patients

Leprosy, an infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae, has a specific tropism for the myelinating Schwann cells of peripheral nerves. Recently, the G domain of laminin α2 has been shown to be a mediator for M. leprae to bind to α‐dystroglycan in Schwann cells. In order to analyse the association of leprosy with the mediator, three genetic polymorphisms encoding the G domain of the laminin α2 chain were analysed by direct sequencing in 53 leprosy patients and 58 healthy contact individuals from Indonesia. There was no significant difference in the incidence of the polymorphisms between patients and non‐patients. Remarkably, it was found that a missense mutation (T7809C) substituting valine with alanine (V2587A) was found to be more frequent in the tuberculoid type than in the lepromatous type leprosy. It is supposed that this missense mutation is one of the determinant factors in the early onset of peripheral nerve damage in Indonesian tuberculoid leprosy patients.

Magnitude of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Indonesia at Postmillennium Development Goals Era

The world will enter the postmillennium development goals 2015 era. The achievements of the millennium development goals (MDGs) as a global development target need to be evaluated. A sustainable new reasonable target is important for neglected tropical diseases (NTD) elimination in Indonesia. This review describes the NTD situation in Indonesia and highlights problems beneath the NTD transmission. Multidisciplinary approach is a promising strategy to help the marginalized people.

DC-SIGN (CD209) carbohydrate recognition domain is not polymorphic in dengue virus-infected Indonesian patients.

Dengue virus (DENV) infection is a significant burden in Indonesia and other tropical countries. DENV infection has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, i.e. asymptomatic, dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. The variety of clinical manifestations may be due to the diversity of genetic constitution of the host. The C-type lectin DC-SIGN (CD209) has been identified as the major dengue receptor on human dendritic cells. There are at least five polymorphisms in exon 5 and 6 of the DC-SIGN encoded gene which have been identified and recorded in dbSNP. The aim of this work is to measure the frequency of these polymorphisms among asymptomatic and hospitalized DENV-infected patients. We enrolled 23 hospitalized and 73 asymptomatic DENV-infected patients. Among the subjects, we performed PCR amplification and DNA direct seqencing for 23 hospitalized DENV-infected patients and 24 asymptomatic DENV-infected patients. The result showed that there were no polymorphic nucleotides in the CD209 encoded gene among the patients.

Genetic variation of Leptospira isolated from rats catched in Yogyakarta Indonesia

OBJECTIVE To detect genetic variations among pathogenic Leptospira isolated from rats using 16S rRNA gen as chronometer. METHODS This is an observational study with cross sectional design. Rats samples were taken in Yogyakarta Special Region of Indonesia. Leptospira in the rats was detected by two methods i.e. real time PCR (qPCR) by using primers correspond to16S rRNA gene of Leptospira, and standard PCR by using different set of primer correspond to the 16S rRNA gene of Leptospira. The standard PCR amplicon then subjected for DNA sequencing. Analysis genetic variation was performed using MEGA 6.2. Software. RESULTS There were 99 DNA samples from rats included in this study. Detection of Leptospira by using qPCR revealed 25 samples positive for pathogenic Leptospira, while only 6 samples were able to be detected using standard PCR. The new primer set correspond to 16S rRNA gene was able to detect specifically pathogenic Leptospira in the rats. Sequencing analysis of 6 PCR amplicons showed that the Leptospira which infect the rats catched in Yogyakarta genetically close related with pathogenic Leptospira which were isolated from human, animal, rodents, and environment. CONCLUSIONS It can be considered that rats are the most important vector and reservoir of Leptospira.