Search results for "immunoglobulin"
showing 10 items of 841 documents
Surgery during etanercept therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: is it time to follow patient preferences?
2008
Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-a inhibitors, such as etanercept and infliximab, improve symptoms and function in patients affected by rheumatoid arthritis (RA) [1, 2] and, therefore, are playing an increasing role in the management of this disease. However, interference with endogenous TNF-a signalling has been reported to alter both normal inflammatory responses in tissue healing and infection surveillance [2, 3]. To our knowledge, the rates of surgery in RA are decreasing. However, with the duration of antiTNF therapy, the number of patients under these agents having surgery will be increasing. These data raise the question of whether TNF-inhibitors can be safely used in RA patients who shou…
Familial cases of boutonneuse fever
1987
Pairs of cases of Boutonneuse Fever (BF) occurred in three families. The illness appeared almost simultaneously in both members of each family, but was generally more serious in one as judged by clinical and laboratory parameters. The possibility of a "bed rickettsiosis", that is reactivation of rickettsiae by the blood meal obtained from the first individual by the same tick which fed upon the second individual, could be excluded in two of the three pairs of cases. In only one of the case pairs were the individuals sharing the same bed. The differences in severity of symptoms may be related to the different immunological pattern observed in these patients. Previous rickettsial infection ma…
Measurement of inflammatory mediators of eosinophils and lymphocytes in blood in acute asthma: serum levels of ECP influence the bronchodilator respo…
2002
The aim of this study was to assess the relevance of immunoinflammatory markers on the response to short acting β<sub>2</sub>-agonist in acute asthma exacerbation. Thus, we measured serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) levels and sIL-2R at acute exacerbation in 52 adult patients with atopic asthma, and assessed forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV<sub>1</sub>) before and after the administration of aerosolized salbutamol. After a cumulative dose of salbutamol causing a 10% improvement in FEV<sub>1</sub> from baseline [CD10, i.e. cumulative doses of salbutamol (800 µg) causing an improvement in FEV<sub>1</sub> from baseline to 10%] the patie…
Prospective, Single-Arm, Longitudinal Study of Biomarkers in Real-World Patients with Severe Asthma.
2019
ARIETTA was a prospective, single-arm, noninterventional, multicenter study in patients with severe asthma.To examine the predictive and prognostic abilities of type 2 biomarkers for severe asthma outcomes.Adult patients with severe asthma receiving daily inhaled corticosteroids (fluticasone propionate ≥500 μg or equivalent) and ≥1 second controller medication were enrolled. Biomarker, clinical, and safety data were collected over 52 weeks. The primary endpoint was the asthma exacerbation rate over 52 weeks in serum periostin-high (≥50 ng/mL at baseline) versus periostin-low subgroups (50 ng/mL). Correlations between biomarker levels (periostin, blood eosinophils, IgE, and fractional exhale…
Retrobulbar adipocytes and humoral immunity in Graves' ophthalmopathy
1993
As CT and MR-imaging revealed an enlargement of retrobulbar fat tissue in patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy, the role of the retrobulbar adipocytes in the pathogenesis of this disorder remains to be elucidated. To evaluate the in vitro influence of humoral immunity on retrobulbar adipose tissue, the effects of IgG and sera from 56 euthyroid ophthalmopathy patients and 53 controls on both porcine and human (patients' and controls') retrobulbar adipocytes were measured by means of several assays: An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was employed to reveal specific binding of antibodies to the adipocytes. Metabolic activity was determined by means of a colorimetric dimethyl thiazolium-diphe…
Immunosuppressive treatment in bilateral vestibulopathy with inner ear antibodies.
2005
Although vestibular recovery was observed after steroid treatment, it remains uncertain whether this improvement was spontaneous or due to medication. These data do not allow us to generally recommend corticosteroid treatment in patients with BVF and inner ear antibodies.A retrospective study was performed based on the observation of two patients with suspected autoimmune bilateral vestibular failure (BVF) with normal hearing and antilabyrinthine or nervous tissue-specific serum antibodies who showed vestibular recovery after corticosteroid treatment.Twelve patients with BVF and serum inner ear antibodies who had received imuunosuppressive treatment with corticosteroids were evaluated in te…
Helicobacter pylori infection in Burkina Faso: an enigma within an enigma.
2004
Background. In Burkina Faso, in contrast with high rates of Helicobacter pylori infection from an early age, the prevalence of H. pylori-associated diseases (ulcer and gastric cancer) is low. Aims. To look for the prevalence of H. pylori in healthy natives of Burkina Faso, both children and adults. Methods. We studied the prevalence of H. pylori infection in 258 healthy natives of Burkina Faso (70 children aged 6 months–15 years and 188 adults aged 16–65 years), using a serological screening (IgA and IgG H. pylori antibodies). All the studied subjects underwent a questionnaire regarding their life-style, socio-economic status, dietary habits and hygienic sanitary conditions. Data concerning…
A key role for abdominal ultrasound examination in "difficult" diagnoses of celiac disease.
2010
Purpose To evaluate the usefulness of abdominal ultrasound examination (US) for the diagnostic workup of cases of suspected CD involving negative serum antibodies and difficult diagnosis. Materials and methods 524 consecutive patients with symptoms of suspected CD underwent an extensive diagnostic workup. 76 (14 %) were excluded since they were positive for serum anti-tTG and/or EmA antibodies. 377 were excluded since they were diagnosed with something other than CD or did not have the alleles encoding for HLA DQ 2 or DQ 8. A diagnosis of CD with negative serum antibodies was probable in 71 patients who underwent abdominal US and duodenal biopsy for histology evaluation. Results Intestinal …
Asymptomatic immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis (AL) at the time of diagnostic bone marrow biopsy in newly diagnosed patients with multiple myelo…
2011
The rate of asymptomatic amyloidosis (AL) among patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) or smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) is unknown. We evaluated number and clinical significance of asymptomatic AL in consecutive MM and SMM patients, not having recognition of symptomatic AL at the time of their diagnostic bone marrow biopsy. Bone marrow biopsies were stained with Congo red and considered diagnostic for AL in case of positive Congo red staining with apple-green birefringence. Biopsies from 144 patients were evaluated: 77 had a diagnosis of MM and 67 of SMM. The median age was 59 (range 26–84) years; the median follow-up was 76 months (range 0–216). Immunoglobulin isotypes wer…
Anti-actin antibodies in celiac disease: correlation with intestinal mucosa damage and comparison of ELISA with the immunofluorescence assay.
2005
The presence in the sera of celiac disease (CD) patients of anti-actin autoantibodies (AAAs) has been suggested as a marker of severe intestinal villus atrophy (1). AAAs have been detected with an immunofluorescence (IF) technique and seem to contribute to villus cytoskeleton damage and to the pathogenesis of intestinal damage in CD (2). The aims of the present study were to evaluate the relationship between the presence of serum IgA AAAs and severity of intestinal mucosa damage in CD patients and to compare the IF assay with a new ELISA for IgA AAA determination. We enrolled 150 individuals in the study. IgA AAAs were assayed in 58 consecutive CD patients diagnosed between January and Dece…