We report here an ectopic case of Fasciola hepatica infection confirmed by recovery of an adult worm in the mesocolon. A 56-year-old female was admitted to our hospital with discomfort and pain in the left lower quadrant of the abdomen. Abdominal CT showed 3 abscesses in the left upper quadrant, mesentery, and pelvic cavity. On surgical exploration, abscess pockets were found in the mesocolon of the sigmoid colon and transverse colon. A leaf-like worm found in the abscess pocket of the mesocolon of the left colon was diagnosed as an adult fluke of F. hepatica. Histologically, numerous eggs of F. hepatica were noted with acute and chronic granulomatous inflammations in the subserosa and pericolic adipose tissues. Conclusively, a rare case of ectopic fascioliasis has been confirmed in this study by the adult worm recovery of F. hepatica in the mesocolon.
Animals ; Fasciola hepatica/genetics/*isolation & purification ; Fascioliasis/diagnosis/*parasitology ; Female ; Humans ; Mesocolon/*parasitology ; Middle Aged

Fascioliasis, a food-borne trematode zoonosis, is a disease primarily in cattle and sheep and occasionally in humans. Water dropwort (Oenanthe javanica), an aquatic perennial herb, is a common second intermediate host of Fasciola, and the fresh stems and leaves are widely used as a seasoning in the Korean diet. However, no information regarding Fasciola species contamination in water dropwort is available. Here, we collected 500 samples of water dropwort in 3 areas in Korea during February and March 2015, and the water dropwort contamination of Fasciola species was monitored by DNA sequencing analysis of the Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica specific mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2). Among the 500 samples assessed, the presence of F. hepatica cox1 and 1TS-2 markers were detected in 2 samples, and F. hepatica contamination was confirmed by sequencing analysis. The nucleotide sequences of cox1 PCR products from the 2 F. hepatica-contaminated samples were 96.5% identical to the F. hepatica cox1 sequences in GenBank, whereas F. gigantica cox1 sequences were 46.8% similar with the sequence detected from the cox1 positive samples. However, F. gigantica cox1 and ITS-2 markers were not detected by PCR in the 500 samples of water dropwort. Collectively, in this survey of the water dropwort contamination with Fasciola species, very low prevalence of F. hepatica contamination was detected in the samples.
Animals ; Base Sequence ; Cluster Analysis ; DNA, Helminth/chemistry/genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer/chemistry/*genetics ; Electron Transport Complex IV/*genetics ; Fasciola hepatica/*genetics/*isolation & purification ; Korea ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Oenanthe/*parasitology ; Phylogeny ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid

Fascioliasis is a zoonotic infection caused by Fasciola hepatica or Fasciola gigantica. We report an 87-year-old Korean male patient with postprandial abdominal pain and discomfort due to F. hepatica infection who was diagnosed and managed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) with extraction of 2 worms. At his first visit to the hospital, a gallbladder stone was suspected. CT and magnetic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) showed an intraductal mass in the common bile duct (CBD) without proximal duct dilatation. Based on radiological findings, the presumed diagnosis was intraductal cholangiocarcinoma. However, in ERCP which was performed for biliary decompression and tissue diagnosis, movable materials were detected in the CBD. Using a basket, 2 living leaf-like parasites were removed. The worms were morphologically compatible with F. hepatica. To rule out the possibility of the worms to be another morphologically close species, in particular F. gigantica, 1 specimen was processed for genetic analysis of its ITS-1 region. The results showed that the present worms were genetically identical (100%) with F. hepatica but different from F. gigantica.
Aged, 80 and over ; Animals ; Base Sequence ; Cholangiocarcinoma/diagnosis ; Cholangiopancreatography, Magnetic Resonance ; Common Bile Duct/*pathology ; DNA, Helminth/*genetics ; DNA, Intergenic/genetics ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Fasciola hepatica/*genetics ; Fascioliasis/*diagnosis/parasitology ; Humans ; Male ; Neglected Diseases/diagnosis/parasitology ; Republic of Korea ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

Fasciola hepatica is a trematode that causes zoonosis mainly in cattle and sheep and occasionally in humans. Fascioliasis has been reported in Korea; however, determining F. hepatica infection in snails has not been done recently. Thus, using PCR, we evaluated the prevalence of F. hepatica infection in snails at 4 large water-dropwort fields. Among 349 examined snails, F. hepatica-specific internal transcribed space 1 (ITS-1) and/or ITS-2 markers were detected in 12 snails and confirmed using sequence analysis. Morphologically, 213 of 349 collected snails were dextral shelled, which is the same aperture as the lymnaeid snail, the vectorial host for F. hepatica. Among the 12 F. hepatica-infected snails, 6 were known first intermediate hosts in Korea (Lymnaea viridis and L. ollula) and the remaining 6 (Lymnaea sp.) were potentially a new first intermediate host in Korea. It has been shown that the overall prevalence of the snails contaminated with F. hepatica in water-dropwort fields was 3.4%; however, the prevalence varied among the fields. This is the first study to estimate the prevalence of F. hepatica infection using the vectorial capacity of the snails in Korea.
Animals ; Base Sequence ; DNA, Helminth/chemistry/genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer/chemistry/genetics ; Fasciola hepatica/anatomy & histology/genetics/*isolation & purification ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Oenanthe/growth & development ; *Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Republic of Korea ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Snails/growth & development/*parasitology

PURPOSE: Intrahepatic cholangiocellular carcinoma (ICC) is the second most common malignant tumor in the liver, and it arises from epithelial cells in the intrahepatic bile duct. While the reported risk factors include liver fluke infection, hepatolithiasis and sclerosing cholangitis, the genetic mechanisms involved in the development of ICC are not well understood, and only a few cytogenetic studies of ICC have been published. We recently found genetic imbalance on chromosome 20q in ICC with using Comparative Genomic Hybridization. So, we tried to find gene loci on chromosome 20q. (ED note: what kind of loci were you looking for) METHODS: We used 16 fresh frozen ICC tumor tissues and the paired normal liver tissues for DNA extraction. A set of primers for 10 microsatellite loci on chromosome 20q13-qter, based on an updated GeneMap99 and Ensemble, was purchased from Research Genetics. The markers selected for testing exhibited high levels of heterozygosity and relatively uniform distributions. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) was analyzed by an automatic DNA analyzer. Using the Ensemble Web site, mining of putative tumor suppressor genes were developed between microsatellite markers that showed LOH. RESULTS: In one case, microsatellite instability (MSI) was found in all the markers except D20S196, and MSI was found in only one marker, d20S196, in another case. (Ed note: check this and it wasn't clear.) The most frequent region which have LOH on chromosome 20q13-qter was on D20S109 and D20S196, and their invidence was 12.5%. (ED note: the last part of the sentence makes no sense at all. You have to rewrite it.) D20S174, D20S107, D20S170, D20S96 and D20S119 were 6.3% and D20S836, D20S886 and D20S were 0%. (ED note: this sentence also makes no sense. They were 6% and 0% of what?) We found eight genes between D20S109 and D20S196: PTPN1, QSNf41 HUMAN, CT175 HUMAN, PARD6B, BCAS4, TMSL6, ADNP and DPM1. Among these, PTPN1, PARD6B and BCAS4 are well known oncogenes, so the other five genes are thought to be putative tumor suppressor genes. CONCLUSION: Using this approach, we identified two distinctive allelic losses defined by microsatellite markers as follows; D20S109 and D20S196. We identified five genes which can make contribution to the development or progression of intrahepatic cholangiocellular carcinoma. Further study will be carried out to confirm these genes have a critical role in the development or progression of intrahepatic cholangiocellular carcinoma using immunohistochemical study or other molecular biology work.
Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic ; Cholangiocarcinoma* ; Cholangitis, Sclerosing ; Comparative Genomic Hybridization ; Cytogenetics ; DNA ; Epithelial Cells ; Fasciola hepatica ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor* ; Genetics ; Humans ; Liver ; Loss of Heterozygosity ; Microsatellite Instability ; Microsatellite Repeats* ; Mining ; Molecular Biology ; Oncogenes ; Risk Factors

In fascioliasis, T-helper 2 (Th2) responses predominate, while little is known regarding early immune phenomenon. We herein analyzed early immunophenotype changes of BALB/c, C57BL/6, and C3H/He mice experimentally infected with 5 Fasciola hepatica metacercariae. A remarkable expansion of CD19+ B cells was observed as early as week 1 post-infection while CD4+/CD8+ T cells were down-regulated. Accumulation of Mac1+ cells with time after infection correlated well with splenomegaly of all mice strains tested. The expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha mRNA in splenocytes significantly decreased while that of IL-4 up-regulated. IL-1beta expression was down-modulated in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice, but not in C3H/He. Serum levels of transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta were considerably elevated in all mice during 3 weeks of infection period. These collective results suggest that experimental murine fascioliasis might derive immune suppression with elevated levels of TGF-beta and IL-4 during the early stages of infection.
Animals ; B-Lymphocytes/immunology ; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes/immunology ; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/immunology ; Down-Regulation ; Fasciola hepatica/*immunology ; Fascioliasis/*immunology ; Immunophenotyping ; Immunosuppression ; Interleukin-4/blood/genetics/*immunology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Inbred C3H ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Spleen/immunology ; Transforming Growth Factor beta/blood/genetics/*immunology