Search results for "ANTIBODIES"
showing 10 items of 1885 documents
Early inflammatory players in cutanous fibrosis.
2017
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is one of the most complex systemic autoimmune diseases with multi-organ involvement and heterogeneous clinical manifestations. The exact etiology of SSc is still unknown. However, identified target structures are components of endothelial cells, the innate/adaptive immune systems and fibroblasts, resulting in the hallmarks of the disease in form of inflammation/autoimmunity, vasculopathy and fibrosis of the skin and internal organs. There has been a large body of evidence that the adaptive immune system with autoreactive T and B cells producing autoantibodies plays a central role in the pathogenesis of SSc but the role of earlier pathogenic processes involving the …
Antagonization of IL-17A Attenuates Skin Inflammation and Vascular Dysfunction in Mouse Models of Psoriasis
2019
Besides skin inflammation, patients with severe psoriasis suffer from an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. IL-17A plays a central role in the development of psoriasis and might connect skin and vascular disease. The aim of this study was to clarify whether anti-IL-17A therapy could also ameliorate the vascular dysfunction associated with severe psoriasis. We analyzed three murine models with varying severities of psoriasis-like skin disease concerning their vascular function and inflammation: (i) K14-IL-17A(ind/+) mice with keratinocyte-specific IL-17A overexpression and an early-onset severe psoriasis-like phenotype; (ii) homozygous CD11c-IL-17A(ind/ind) and heterozygous CD11c-IL…
Subcutaneous injection of exosomes reduces symptom severity and mortality induced by Echinostoma caproni infection in BALB/c mice.
2016
Recent studies have shown the importance of exosomes in the host-parasite relationship. These vesicles are an important part of the excretory/secretory pathway for proteins with the potential to alter immune responses. Therefore, in the present study, we examined the immunomodulatory role of exosomes in BALB/c mice using Echinostoma caproni as an experimental model of intestinal helminth infection. For this purpose, BALB/c mice were injected twice s.c. with purified exosomes of E. caproni, followed by experimental infection. We report a delay in the development of the parasite in mice immunised with exosomes, a concomitant reduced symptom severity and increased survival upon infection. Immu…
Allosteric Cross-Talk among Spike’s Receptor-Binding Domain Mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 South African Variant Triggers an Effective Hijacking of Huma…
2021
The rapid and relentless emergence of novel highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants, possibly decreasing vaccine efficacy, currently represents a formidable medical and societal challenge. These variants frequently hold mutations on the Spike protein's receptor-binding domain (RBD), which, binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, mediates viral entry into host cells. Here, all-atom molecular dynamics simulations and dynamical network theory of the wild-type and mutant RBD/ACE2 adducts disclose that while the N501Y mutation (UK variant) enhances the Spike's binding affinity toward ACE2, the concomitant N501Y, E484K, and K417N mutations (South African variant) aptly ad…
Decreasing role of HCV and HBV infections as aetiological factors of hepatocellular carcinoma in Italy
2019
Background: The epidemiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by a dynamical temporal trend of well-established and emerging risk factors. Methods: We evaluated the temporal trend of aetiological factors of HCC over the last two decades in Italy. HCC cases were recruited from two previously published national studies in 1996 and in 2008 and HCC cases were also enlisted from two national surveys in 2001 and in 2014 enrolling consecutive subjects with chronic liver disease (CLD) referring to more than 80 liver units scattered all over the country for a 6-monthperiod. Results: Out of the 9997 subjects with CLD recruited in 2001 and the 2408 recruited in 2014, 3.3% and 5.7% (P…
Targeting Angiogenesis in Biliary Tract Cancers: An Open Option
2017
Abstract: Biliary tract cancers (BTCs) are characterized by a bad prognosis and the armamentarium of drugs for their treatment is very poor. Although the inflammatory status of biliary tract represents the first step in the cancerogenesis, the microenvironment also plays a key role in the pathogenesis of BTCs, promoting tumor angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis. Several molecules, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF), are involved in the angiogenesis process and their expression on tumor samples has been explored as prognostic marker in both cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder cancer. Recent studies evaluated the genomic landscape of BTCs and…
Decreased proportions of CD4 + IL17+/CD4 + CD25 + CD127- and CD4 + IL17+/CD4 + CD25 + CD127 - FoxP3+ T cells in children with autoimmune thyroid dise…
2016
Until now, altered balance of Th1 and Th2 immune cells has been postulated to play an important role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD). However, recent studies on thyroid diseases have suggested a new role for Th17 cells that have been classified as a new lineage, distinct from Th1, Th2 and Treg cells. Despite wide interest, the role of Th17 cells in the pathogenesis of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases is still debated. The aim of the study was to estimate the proportions of Th17/Treg T cells in peripheral blood from patients with Graves' disease (GD; n = 29, mean age 15.4 ± 5.1 years), Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT; n = 39, mean age 15.2 ± 4.1 years) and in health…
Initial serum thyroid peroxidase antibodies and long-term outcomes in SREAT.
2015
Objective To quantify clinical outcome in patients with steroid-responsive encephalopathy and associated autoimmune thyroiditis (SREAT) after the acute phase and explore potential associations of initial serum thyroid peroxidase antibody titers (TPO-Abs) with outcome. Materials and methods Retrospective chart review of patients diagnosed with SREAT between 01/2005 and 05/2014 in a tertiary care center and followed in an affiliated autoimmune outpatient clinic. Outcome was quantified using the extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS-E). We calculated Pearson's correlation coefficients to quantify associations with clinical outcome at follow-up. Results Among 134 patients with encephalopathy of u…
Sclerostin and antisclerostin antibody serum levels predict the presence of axial spondyloarthritis in patients with inflammatory bowel disease
2018
Objective.The early diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-associated spondyloarthritis (SpA/IBD) in patients affected by IBD represents a major topic in clinical practice; in particular, to date there are no available serum biomarkers revealing the presence of joint inflammation in these patients. Sclerostin (SOST), an antagonist of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, and antisclerostin-immunoglobulin G (anti-SOST–IgG) have been recently studied in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) as a putative marker of disease activity.Methods.SOST and anti-SOST-IgG serum levels were assayed in 125 patients with IBD, 85 with axial or peripheral SpA, and in control groups (patients with AS and rheu…
SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, serum inflammatory biomarkers and clinical severity of hospitalized COVID-19 patients
2020
Background The involvement of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in mediating immunopathogenetic events in COVID-19 patients has been suggested. By using several experimental approaches, we investigated the potential association between SARS-CoV-2 IgGs recognizing the spike (S) protein receptor-binding domain (RBD), neutralizing antibodies (NtAb) targeting S, and COVID-19 severity. Patients and methods This unicenter, retrospective, observational study included 51 hospitalized patients (24 at the intensive care unit; ICU). A total of 93 sera from these patients collected at different time points from the onset of symptoms were analyzed. SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgGs were quantitated by ELISA and NtAb50 titers wer…