Search results for " allergy"

Enhancing the Activation and Releasing the Brakes: A Double Hit Strategy to Improve NK Cell Cytotoxicity Against Multiple Myeloma

2018

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes with a strong antitumor ability. In tumor patients, such as multiple myeloma (MM) patients, an elevated number of NK cells after stem cell transplantation (SCT) has been reported to be correlated with a higher overall survival rate. With the aim of improving NK cell use for adoptive cell therapy, we also addressed the cytotoxicity of patient-derived, cytokine-stimulated NK cells against MM cells at specific time points: at diagnosis and before and after autologous stem cell transplantation. Remarkably, after cytokine stimulation, the patients' NK cells did not significantly differ from those of healthy donors. In a small cohort of MM patients…

Targeting CD34+ cells of the inflamed synovial endothelium by guided nanoparticles for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

2019

Abstract Despite the advances in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) achieved in the last few years, several patients are diagnosed late, do not respond to or have to stop therapy because of inefficacy and/or toxicity, leaving still a huge unmet need. Tissue-specific strategies have the potential to address some of these issues. The aim of the study is the development of a safe nanotechnology approach for tissue-specific delivery of drugs and diagnostic probes. CD34 + endothelial precursors were addressed in inflamed synovium using targeted biodegradable nanoparticles (tBNPs). These nanostructures were made of poly-lactic acid, poly-caprolactone, and PEG and then coated with a synovi…

Role of Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) in Autoimmune Diseases

2018

Since the discovery of HLA 60 years ago, it has contributed to the understanding of the immune system as well as of the pathogenesis of several diseases. Aside from its essential role in determining donor-recipient immune compatibility in organ transplantation, HLA genotyping is meanwhile performed routinely as part of the diagnostic work-up of certain autoimmune diseases. Considering the ability of HLA to influence thymic selection as well as peripheral anergy of T cells, its role in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity is understandable. The aim of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the role and current clinical relevance of HLA-B27 in spondyloarthritis and HLA-B51 in Behçet's disea…

2016

Objectives Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27 (B27) is the strongest genetic factor associated with development of Ankylosing Spondylitis and other spondyloarthropathies (SpA), yet the role it plays in disease pathogenesis remains unclear. We investigated the expression of potentially pathogenic non-conventional heavy chain forms (NC) of B27 in synovial and intestinal tissues obtained from SpA patients. We also determined the presence of NC-B27 in joints, lymphoid and gastrointestinal tissue from B27 transgenic (TG1) rats with M.tuberculosis-induced SpA.

Comparison of the acute effects of anti-TNF-alpha drugs on a uveitis experimental model.

2010

To compare histopathological and biochemical effects of the anti-TNF-alpha drugs adalimumab and infliximab in a uveitis experimental model.Histopathological evaluation was performed 24 h after endotoxin (200 microg into the footpad) and drug administration, as well as biochemical analysis of oxidative stress-related markers in the aqueous humor.Severe inflammation was found in rat anterior chamber of the eye 24 h after endotoxin. Only infliximab administration partially prevented the endotoxin-induced disruption of the blood-aqueous barrier, as well as the increase in Rantes and MCP-1 concentration in aqueous humor. Both drugs ameliorated the histopathological score after endotoxin. Biochem…

HLA-B27-restricted T cells from patients with ankylosing spondylitis recognize peptides from B*2705 that are similar to bacteria-derived peptides

2003

SUMMARY Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an inflammatory systemic disease affecting the spine, sacroiliacal and peripheral joints. Although the aetiology of AS remains unknown, the strong association with the HLA-B27 allele might reflect directly a detrimental effect of the HLA-B27 molecule itself, resulting from its potential capability to present ‘arthritogenic’ peptides to CD8+ T cells. Because some forms of SpA are triggered by enterobacterial infection, such arthritogenic peptides might originate from autologous and/or bacterial proteins triggering cross-reactive CD8+ T cell clones. Intriguingly, two peptides from the second extracellular domain of HLA-B*2705 share sequence homologies wi…

Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis with Bone Marrow-Derived Mononuclear Cell Injection: 12-Month Follow-up.

2018

Objectives To evaluate the main symptoms of knee osteoarthritis (OA) and tissue structure changes after a single dose bone marrow–derived mononuclear cell (BM MNC) intra articular injection. Case series study. Patients with knee OA Kellgren Lawrence (K-L) grade II and III received 1 injection of BM MNC. The clinical results were analyzed with the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and Knee Society Score (KSS) before, 3, 6, and 12 months after injection. Radiological evaluation was performed with a calibrated x-ray and the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging before and 6 to 7 months postinjection. Results A total of 34 knees were treated with BM MNC injections. Mean (±SD) age of…

Analysis of the impact of sex and age on the variation in the prevalence of antinuclear autoantibodies in Polish population: a nationwide observation…

2022

AbstractThe detection of antinuclear autoantibody (ANA) is dependent on many factors and varies between the populations. The aim of the study was first to assess the prevalence of ANA in the Polish adult population depending on age, sex and the cutoff threshold used for the results obtained. Second, we estimated the occurrence of individual types of ANA-staining patterns. We tested 1731 patient samples using commercially available IIFA using two cutoff thresholds of 1:100 and 1:160. We found ANA in 260 participants (15.0%), but the percentage of positive results strongly depended on the cutoff level. For a cutoff threshold 1:100, the positive population was 19.5% and for the 1:160 cutoff th…

Muscle strength characteristics and central bone mineral density in women with recent onset rheumatoid arthritis compared with healthy controls.

1999

Muscle strength and bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine (BMDspine) and femoral neck (BMDfem) were determined in 20 healthy women and in 20 women with recent onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The mean duration of articular symptoms of the patients was eleven months and none of them had used glucocorticoids or disease modifying antirheumatic drugs. BMDs were measured by dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Knee extension, trunk extension, and flexion as well as grip strength were measured with David 200 and Digitest dynamometers. BMDspine (1.17 g/cm2 and 1.20 g/cm2) and BMDfem (0.98 g/cm2 and 0.96 g/cm2) between the women with early RA and healthy women did not differ. However, knee ext…

Association of different tumor necrosis factor α promoter allele frequencies with ankylosing spondylitis in HLA-B27 positive individuals

1998

OBJECTIVE To investigate the potential association of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) promoter alleles with ankylosing spondylitis. METHODS DNA from 141 HLA-B27 positive Caucasian patients with ankylosing spondylitis and 46 B27-positive and 99 B27-negative healthy Caucasian controls was investigated by polymerase chain reaction amplification of the TNFalpha promoter region and subsequent dot-blot analysis with allele-specific oligonucleotides. RESULTS There was a significant decrease in the promoter alleles TNF-238.2 and TNF-308.2 in the ankylosing spondylitis group (266 wild-type alleles, 16 variant alleles) compared with the B27-positive (75 wildtype promoter alleles, 17 variant al…