The acute-phase protein response to infection in edematous And non-edemateous protein-energy malnutrition

Malnutrition constitutes a public health problem throughout the world and particularly in developing countries. The characteristic response to an infective stress includes increased plasma concentrations of the positive acute phase proteins (APPs), which play important roles in host defense. The extent and quality of the APPs response are dependent on the host nutritional state and the severity of the infection. Children with kwashiorkor, however, differ from those with marasmus in having slower rates of whole body protein breakdown, which may reduce the availability of endogenous amino acids for APPs synthesis. Acute phase reactants are proteoglycans that are mostly synthesized by the hepatocytes in response to any acute insult as infection, surgery, trauma and others. They include CRP, alpha-1-antitrypsin, haptoglobin, alpha-1-acid glycoprotein, fibrinogen, ceruloplasmin, transferring.Objective: This study was performed to assess whether children with edematous PEM can mount a general APPs response and compared the kinetic mechanisms of the response in children with edematous PEM with those in children with non edematous.Patients and Methods: This work was carried out on 57 patients (46 of them were patients with non edematous PEM and 11 of them with edematous PEM and 15 healthy age and sex matched children as control group. -Age: up to 6-24 month - Sex: both sexes are included- The eligibility criteria for recruitment into the study were a deficit in weight for age > 20% and clinical evidence of infection-This study carried on children with edematous PEM < 2nd & 3rd degree marsmus and edematous malnutrition included kwashiorkor and marasmusc kwashiorkor which diagnosed according to Welcome classification- .