Search results for "immune disease"
showing 10 items of 359 documents
Intrahepatic IgG/IgM plasma cells ratio helps in classifying autoimmune liver diseases.
2010
Abstract Background/Aim Plasma cells infiltrate in the liver is a prototype lesion of autoimmune liver diseases. The possible role of plasma cells isotyping (IgM and IgG) in the liver in the diagnostic definition of autoimmune liver disease, and particularly in variant syndromes such as autoimmune cholangitis and the primary biliary cirrhosis/autoimmune hepatitis overlap syndrome, is less defined. Methods We analysed the clinical, serological and histological features of 83 patients with autoimmune liver disease (40 primary biliary cirrhosis, 20 autoimmune hepatitis, 13 primary sclerosing cholangitis, 4 autoimmune cholangitis and 6 overlap syndrome) compared to 34 patients with chronic hepa…
Long-term management and prognosis of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH): a single center experience.
2001
Background Controlled trials have firmly established the need for immunosuppressive therapy in autoimmune hepatitis. However, reports about long-term management and prognosis of the disease are scarce. Patients and methods We reviewed the charts of 103 consecutive patients with a well-documented long-term course of autoimmune hepatitis who had been carefully managed over a mean observation period of 95 months (12-405 months). Results Under immunosuppressive therapy 94 patients (91.2%) reached complete remission after a mean treatment duration of 3 +/- 3 months. 28 of the 103 patients (27.2%) were eligible for a trial of treatment withdrawal after a mean treatment duration of 32.2 months (ra…
Periodontal disease and sjogren syndrome: a possible correlation?
2009
Sjögren syndrome (SS) is a chronic autoimmune rheumatic disease characterized by a progressive lymphocytic infiltration of exocrine glands, especially salivary and lachrymal ones, leading to xerostomia, parotid gland enlargement, and xerophthalmia. The aim of this study is to describe the capillaroscopic pattern of the interdental papilla in patients with SS and to evaluate a possible correlation with periodontal disease. Methods: A total of 25 patients affected by SS and 25 healthy controls were examined. The patients with conditions that compromise microcirculation, such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, or some pharmacological treatments, were not included in the study. All the…
The human hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor is a target antigen for liver-infiltrating T cells in autoimmune chronic active hepatitis and primary b…
1990
Autoantibodies to the human hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor have been found in nearly 50% of the sera of patients with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis and in 15% of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. In this study we demonstrate that the human hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor is also a target antigen for T cell-mediated immune responses. Peripheral blood lymphocytes of 37% (7 of 19) of patients with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis and 33% (2 of 6) of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis showed a proliferative response to highly purified human hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor, whereas no proliferation was found with peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients with chr…
Deficiency of the autoimmune regulator AIRE in thymomas is insufficient to elicit autoimmune polyendocrinopathy syndrome type 1 (APS‐1)
2007
Thymomas are thymic epithelial neoplasms, associated with a variety of autoimmune disorders (especially myasthenia gravis), that apparently result from aberrant intra-tumourous thymopoiesis and export of inefficiently tolerized T-cells to the periphery. The autoimmune regulator (AIRE) drives the expression of self-antigens in the thymic medulla and plays an essential role in ‘central’ tolerance in both humans and mice. However, while inactivating AIRE mutations result in the ‘autoimmune polyendocrinopathy syndrome type 1’ (APS-1), its major features are not well reproduced in AIRE-knock-out mice. Therefore, alternative human disease scenarios with concomitant AIRE deficiency may be valuable…
Serum thrombomodulin—a reliable marker of disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE): advantage over established serological parameters t…
1999
SUMMARYTo date no specific serological parameter is available to assess disease activity in SLE. Soluble serum thrombomodulin is a new marker of endothelial cell injury and vasculitis. The objective of this study was to compare in vivo soluble thrombomodulin as marker of disease activity in SLE with established and recent serological parameters. One hundred and twenty-four sera of 30 patients with proven SLE with different disease activities were tested for serum levels of thrombomodulin, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), E-selectin, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), IL-2R, IL-6, IL-10, dsDNA by ELISA and dsDNA additionally by radioimmunoassay (RIA). C-reactive protein (…
Hashimoto Thyroiditis Coexistent with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
2005
Several studies report a higher rate of papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC) in patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT), indicating a possible correlation between the two diseases. We studied a group of 89 subjects undergoing surgery for thyroid carcinomas compared with a control group of 89 subjects operated on for normofunctioning goiter, and a second group of 47 patients undergoing total thyroidectomy for HT. Association with HT was found in 19 of the 71 PTC subjects (26.7%) and in 8 goiter patients (8.9%), which was a significant difference ( P < 0.02). Thirteen of the HT patients, mostly with the nodular form, showed coexistent PTC (27.6%). HT and PTC coexisted in several morphologi…
Differential regulation of Fas-mediated apoptosis in both thyrocyte and lymphocyte cellular compartments correlates with opposite phenotypic manifest…
2001
Several mechanisms are probably involved in determining the evolution of autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) towards either hypothyroidism and the clinical syndrome known as Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) or toward hyperthyroidism and the symptoms of Graves' disease (GD). To gain further insight into such mechanisms we performed an exhaustive comparative analysis of the expression of key molecules regulating cell death (Fas, Fas ligand [FasL], Bcl-2) and apoptosis in both thyrocytes and thyroid infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from patients with either GD or HT. GD thyrocytes expressed less Fas/FasL than HT thyrocytes, whereas GD TILs had higher levels of Fas/FasL than HT TILs. GD thyrocytes exp…
Prospective study on thyroid autoimmunity and dysfunction related to chronic hepatitis C and interferon therapy.
1997
This study was designed to assess patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) for the presence of thyroid autoimmunity and dysfunction, to evaluate the risk of thyroid disorders associated with interferon (IFN) therapy, and to survey the outcome of possible treatment-related thyroid injury. Out of 104 consecutive untreated patients (30 women and 74 men; mean age, 52.7 years), 8 (7.7%) were found seropositive for thyroid autoantibodies (ThyAb), whereas seropositivity in healthy controls was 1/98 (1.3%). The relative increase in risk of developing thyroid autoimmunity associated with CHC was 760% (95% Cl, 220–1300%). No patients had abnormalities of thyroid function tests, but on IFN treatment, 3…
Relationship of eye muscle antibodies with HLA phenotypes and thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulins in endocrine orbitopathy.
1991
The relationship between endocrine orbitopathy and Graves' hyperthyroidism is still not clairified. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the incidence of eye muscle antibodies and the relationship with HLA phenotypes and thyroid antibodies in 65 patients with endocrine orbitopathy classes 1–5. Both bovine and abdominal muscles were used as antigens in ELISA systems in which IgG and IgM antibodies were assayed. Before starting the immunosuppressant therapy, 46/65 patients (71%) showed a positive result for eye muscle antibodies. Those patients with an active disease had such antibodies more frequently. Where the ophthalmopathy was of recent onset IgM antibodies were found, whereas pati…