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ID PMID Title PublicationDate abstract
11438879 [Characteristics of scleritis in patients older than 60 years]. 2001 Jul PURPOSE: This study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of scleritis presented de novo in patients older than 60 years of age. DESIGN: Type of scleritis, ocular manifestations, previous ocular surgery, and disease association were evaluated in patients older than 60 years with scleritis. Comparisons were made between patients with scleritis older and younger than 60 years. RESULTS: Patients with scleritis older than 60 years (61 of 195 patients, 31.3%) had more necrotizing scleritis (47.5%, p=0.0001), decrease in vision (57.4%, p=0.0001), peripheral ulcerative keratitis (29.5%, p=0.0001), previous ocular surgery (39.3%, p=0.0001), and disease association (73.8%, p=0.0001) than did patients with scleritis younger than 60 years. Rheumatoid arthritis (p=0.03) and Wegener granulomatosis (p=0.01) were the most common associated diseases. CONCLUSIONS: The detection of scleritis presented for the first time in the elderly, indicates a poor ocular prognosis because it is often associated with necrotizing scleritis, decrease in vision, and peripheral ulcerative keratitis. It has also an ominous systemic prognosis because it is often associated with potentially lethal systemic diseases.
11360932 Androgens indirectly accelerate thymocyte apoptosis. 2001 Feb Apoptotic processes, or the disturbance of the natural regulation of these processes, may be involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases (AID). Women are, in general, more susceptible than men to develop AID like rheumatoid arthritis. Androgens and glucocorticoids, in contrast to oestrogens, have favourable effects in AID models as well as in human AID. It is known that glucocorticoids (GC), used for treatment of AID, increase apoptosis in the thymus resulting in decreased numbers of CD4+ CD8+ thymocytes. It was asked whether androgens, in contrast to oestrogens, exert their favourable effects in the treatment of AID by a mechanism comparable to that described for GC by eliminating the apoptosis prone CD4+ CD8+ population in the thymus. Although both androgens and oestrogens proved thymolytic, a significantly decreased percentage of CD4+ CD8+ thymocytes was observed by flow cytometry after treatment of mice with the androgen methyltestosterone, but not with the oestrogen ethinylestradiol. To investigate whether the observed thymolytic effects were due to the presence of hormone receptors on thymocytes, cells were isolated from the thymus and incubated with androgens or oestrogens to measure apoptosis. Several techniques were used to determine thymocyte apoptosis in vitro, but no enhanced apoptotic signal was observed. Using the very sensitive TUNEL assay, no direct effect of androgens on thymocytes in vitro could be observed. This is in sharp contrast to the high signal observed with GC. Therefore, upon in vivo androgen treatment, other cells containing androgen receptors than thymocytes are probably involved in inducing the increase in thymic apoptosis. To study the role of the androgen receptor on thymocyte apoptosis, androgen receptor mutant (Tfm/Y) mice were treated with androgens. No alterations of thymocyte subpopulations were seen, suggesting that changes in the percentage of CD4+ CD8+ thymocytes after administration of androgens depend on the presence of functional androgen receptors. Thus, it is concluded that androgens indirectly accelerate thymocyte apoptosis in vivo.
11316156 The prevalence of celiac disease autoantibodies in patients with systemic lupus erythemato 2001 Apr OBJECTIVE: [corrected] Systemic lupus erythematosus has been associated with false positive autoantibodies for primary biliary cirrhosis, chronic active hepatitis, Sjogren's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid disorders, syphilis, and scleroderma. An increased prevalence of autoantibodies are found in celiac disease and systemic lupus erythematosus, which share the human lymphocyte HLA-B8 and HLA-DR3 histocompatibility antigens. This study examines the prevalence of celiac disease autoantibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus patients. METHODS: Patients observed in the Department of Rheumatology at our institutions in San Antonio, Texas with known systemic lupus erythematosus were offered participation in the study. One hundred three of the 130 patients contacted agreed to participate. Patients were excluded if they were pregnant or medically unable to undergo endoscopy. All volunteers were tested for the serological presence of IgA and IgM antigliadin and IgA antiendomysial antibodies. Those with positive serology underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy with duodenal mucosal biopsy. RESULTS: Twenty-four of 103 (23.3%) systemic lupus erythematosus patients tested positive for either antigliadin antibody, whereas none of the 103 patients tested positive for antiendomysial antibody. None of the 24 antigliadin positive patients were found to have endoscopic or histological evidence of celiac disease, making the false positive rate of antigliadin antibody 23%. CONCLUSION: The presence of false positive antigliadin antibodies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus is common. Despite shared human lymphocyte antigen loci there does not seem to be an association between celiac disease and systemic lupus erythematosus.
11109774 [Immunology in the 20th century--progress made in research on infectious and immunological 2000 Oct The new era of the modern medicine was opened 100 years ago by Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur who demonstrated that various infectious diseases were caused by their respective microbes. Koch discovered Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. The first breakthrough in the modern medicine to combat against infectious diseases was the discovery of anti-diphtheria toxin antibody by E.A. von Behring and S. Kitasato. The concept of immunity--immune from disease--has thus been established. The immune response between antigen and antibody sometimes provides the host with a harmful effect. The concept of allergy was introduced by Richet and later by Prausnitz and Küstner. Why the same immune response leads to the different outcome, immunity or allergy had not been made clear until the discovery of IgE by Drs. Kimishige and Teruko Ishizaka in 1968: The IgG antibody plays a role in immunity whereas IgE antibody is involved in allergy. Tuberculin skin reaction which is well known as the diagnostic tool for mycobacterial infection was studied by M. Chase in 1945 demonstrating that it was able to be transferred to the healthy individual by immune cells but not by antibody. The immune response is now categorized into two; soluble immunity--immediate type allergy and cell-mediated immunity--delayed type allergy. The rapid progress in the molecular biology in the past decades has also accelerated the progress in immunology, several of which include discovery of two types of lymphocytes; T and B cells; concept of two T cells; Th1 and Th2 cells; and the discovery of cytokines which regulate immune cell responses. The mechanism of the immune response is now understood at the gene level. Several immunological diseases can now be successfully treated by controlling the levels of cytokines involved. For example, refractory rheumatoid arthritis is now under control by the administration of recombinant soluble TNF receptor molecules to the patients. The complete human genome sequence is currently under investigation. We can now envisage the advent of the days when every disease can be diagnosed and intervened at the gene level.
11052177 Complement activation by Proteus mirabilis negatively charged lipopolysaccharides. 2000 Proteus mirabilis strains are human pathogens responsible for urinary tract infections and bacteremias and may be involved in rheumatoid arthritis. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS, bacterial endotoxin), the major component of the cell wall, is one of the virulence factors of Proteus. In the presented studies, we have investigated complement activation by LPSs isolated from P. mirabilis O10, O23, O30, and O43 strains, which differ in the number of negative COO- groups on their polysaccharide components. Four P. mirabilis strains studied were sensitive to complement-mediated killing, despite complement binding by their LPSs. The optimal complement binding by LPSs was detected in serum with functional assays for both the classical and alternative pathways. Complement activation in 80% serum by the smooth, uronic acid, and hexosamine containing P. mirabilis LPSs was not critically determined by the structure of their O-chain polysaccharides. One of four LPSs used as a model, P. mirabilis O10 LPS, fragmented C3 in an LPS dose- and time-dependent manner. It was detected by crossed-immunoelectrophoresis and capture ELISA with anti-C3c antibodies. The lower complement activation by 023 LPS correlates with its reduced C3 fragmentation, compared with three other Proteus LPSs studied. Rabbit anti-O antibodies enhanced the complement binding and factor C3 fragmentation by O10, O23, O30, and O43 P. mirabilis LPSs.
10948768 Corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis: pathogenesis and prevention. 2000 Jul In spite of their adverse side effects, natural and synthetic glucocorticoids (GCs) occupy a unique role in several fields of medicine. They are potent regulators of bone cell growth and differentiation and the actions on the skeleton and related tissues depend on several factors including the dose, duration of the exposure, the steroid type and the species. In humans some of the effects are indirect, such as the regulation of intestinal calcium absorption and PTH secretion. Other effects are due to the cellular response that occurs within the bone microenvironment. It has been well established in in vitro studies that GCs can promote osteoblast differentiation from mesenchymal osteoprogenitors both in rat calvarial culture and in adherent marrow stromal cells. Moreover, GCs are able to enhance expression of the mature osteoblast phenotype, increasing mineralized nodules, osteocalcin secretion, and the bone morphogenetic protein-6 message level. However, the mechanisms by which GCs affect bone metabolism are still unclear. Recent studies with GCs on bone cells suggested that the production of cytokines and growth factors and the expression of their receptors may also be influenced by GCs. In fact, GCs are able to inhibit the synthesis of cytokines, such as interleukin-1 which stimulates bone remodeling by monocytes and macrophages. Moreover, osteoprotegerin, a recently cloned member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor family, is down-regulated by GCs, offering a possible interpretation for the induction of bone resorption by GCs. GC-induced inhibition of bone resorbing cytokines may contribute to explain the therapeutic actions of GCs in several diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and myeloma. Furthermore, GCs modulate osteoclast recruitment, even if there is no clear explanation for a direct effect of GCs on osteoclastic precursors. Sustained stimulation of matrix degradation by isolated avian osteoclasts incubated with GCs has been reported, as well as cytotoxic effects on osteoclastic cells from neonatal rat long bones.
10901283 Suppression of cytokine production and cell adhesion molecule expression in human monocyti 2000 Extracts of the vine-like plant Tripterygium wilfordii (TW) have been widely used in China as an immunosuppressant and anti-inflammatory drug for the treatments of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus and other inflammatory disorders. In this study the molecular mechanisms of action of three TW extracts (ethanol, aqueous, polysaccharide) on the expression of inflammatory cytokines and adhesion molecules were investigated by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence binding techniques. The lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated stimulatory effects of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) cytokine production and cell adhesion molecule (CD11c, CD18, CD14, CD54) expression in human monocytic THP-1 cells were modulated by treatments of the TW extracts or tacrolimus (FK506). The TW polysaccharide moiety exhibited more profound immunosuppressive properties than the aqueous and ethanol extracts. Biochemical characterization of the polysaccharide moiety revealed a major molecular weight of 22 kDa (viz. PSP22). The PSP22 was found to be a potential immunosuppressant that manifests the necessary immunomodulating properties.
10883955 Repair of mycotic paravisceral aneurysm with a fenestrated stent-graft. 2000 Jun PURPOSE: To report the successful endovascular repair of a mycotic paravisceral aneurysm using a fenestrated stent-graft. METHODS AND RESULTS: A 55-year-old white female with a history of rheumatoid arthritis presented with an 8-cm paravisceral aneurysm secondary to pneumonia complicated by empyema. Intravascular ultrasound identified a defect in the aortic wall at the level of the celiac axis. Repair was accomplished with a fenestrated stent-graft that excluded the aneurysm and maintained flow to the celiac axis and superior mesenteric artery. Recovery was uneventful and the patient was discharged in 2 days. Six-month follow-up computed tomographic scanning confirmed aneurysm exclusion and flow to the celiac and superior mesenteric arteries. There was no evidence of graft infection. The patient died from a clinically diagnosed myocardial infarction 10 months after the stent-graft repair. CONCLUSIONS: Fenestrated stent-graft repair may evolve into a useful technique for the treatment of mycotic paravisceral aneurysms.
10758596 [Factors related to functional outcomes and quality of life after knee arthroplasty]. 2000 Feb 26 BACKGROUND: The aim of this work was to describe the early evolution of functional capacity and health related quality of life (HRQL) in patients in rehabilitation after knee arthroplasty, and to identify predictive factors of better outcomes. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Prospective cohort of 141 patients with knee arthroplasty which immediately after the intervention were referred to the rehabilitation unit. The functional capacity (Knee Society Score, KSS) and the HRQL (Medical Outcomes Study Survey Form 36, MOS SF36) were administrated in the first visit and at 3 months of follow-up. Changes between the interval and factors associated to better outcomes were analysed with nonparametric test and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Patients with knee arthroplasty experienced an important improvement in the KSS score and in 6 dimensions of the MOS-SF36 (except emotional role and general health). Worst functional status and quality of life at the time of starting rehabilitation, rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis and gender (women) were associated with worse prognosis. Age, comorbidity, study level, work situation, social help, live alone and ambulatory treatment were not associated with outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Patients in rehabilitation after knee arthroplasty improve their functional status and quality of life. The identification of factors with worst prognosis could be useful to modify treatments in some patient's groups.
10637123 Nitric oxide production is increased in patients with inflammatory myositis. 1999 Dec Nitric oxide (NO) production is increased in several inflammatory disorders. We have previously demonstrated higher levels of NO production among patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. In this study we measured serum levels of nitrite and citrulline using calorimetric methods as surrogate markers of NO production among patients with inflammatory myositis (IM). Twenty patients with IM and 19 age- and sex-matched controls were studied. Serum nitrite levels were significantly higher among patients than among controls (986.6 +/- 880 and 204.3 +/- 113.9 nmol/ml, respectively; P = 0.001). Serum citrulline levels, too, were significantly higher among patients than among controls (3755.7 +/- 1905.5 and 189 +/- 177.2 nmol/ml, respectively; P < 0.0001). There was a positive correlation between steroid dosage and serum citrulline levels (r = 0.51, P = 0.036) and a negative correlation between steroid dosage and disease duration (r = -0.54, P = 0.025). It was concluded that NO production is increased in patients with IM and those with more active disease, as indicated by higher steroid dosage, have higher serum citrulline levels.
10632000 Three decades of corneal transplantation: indications and patient characteristics. 2000 Jan PURPOSE: To review the indications and patient characteristics for penetrating keratoplasty (PKP). METHODS: Retrospective review of records at the Pathology Service, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Toronto from 1964 to 1997. RESULTS: The 6,222 records were reviewed. The leading indications for PKP were regraft, keratoconus (KC), pseudophakic bullous keratopathy (PBK), Fuchs' dystrophy, viral infections, and trauma, in that order. During the second half of the 1980s, PBK replaced KC as the leading indication for transplantation. The average age of patients increased from 49 (+/-19) years during the second half of the 1960s to 63 (+/-20) years at the first half of the 1990s. Gender differences (M/F ratio) were significant for KC, viral keratopathy, trauma, PBK, aphakic bullous keratopathy (ABK), edema of unspecified etiology, interstitial keratitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Fuchs' dystrophy. Diagnostic category differences between all patients for PKPs and regrafts were significant for autoimmune keratolysis, congenital opacities, PBK, ABK, edema of unspecified etiology, scarring, Fuchs' dystrophy, and KC. CONCLUSION: Indications are in accordance with the literature with the exception of regraft, which was higher. An increase in the average age of patients corresponded with the PBK epidemic. The high male-to-female ratio among patients with KC was different from that previously reported for the prevalence of this condition. Sex distribution among patients with PBK and ABK showed a female predominance. Differences in the underlying disease distributions between regrafted patients and the rest of the series coincide with prognostic classifications for PKP.
10614714 Moderate alcohol consumption: the gentle face of Janus. 1999 Oct OBJECTIVES: The regular consumption of alcohol in moderate amounts (defined in North America as up to 2 drinks per day for men and 1 drink per day for females) has been recognized in the last decade as a negative risk factor for atherosclerosis and its clinical sequelae: coronary heart disease (CHD), ischemic stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. Mortality and morbidity attributable to CHD are 40-60% lower in moderate drinkers than among abstainers. Among the mechanisms accounting for these reductions, increased circulating concentrations of HDL-cholesterol and inhibition of blood coagulation appear to be paramount. Additional benefits are, in certain beverages, conferred by the presence of constituents other than alcohol (e.g., flavonoids and hydroxystilbenes), which prevent oxidative damage, free radical formation, and elements of the inflammatory response. CONCLUSIONS: A number of other diseases appear to be beneficially modulated by moderate alcohol consumption based on epidemiologic surveys and, in some instances, experimental evidence. These include duodenal ulcer, gallstones, enteric infections, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, and diabetes mellitus (type II). Compared with abstainers, moderate drinkers exhibit improved mental status characterized by decreased stress and depression, lower absenteeism from work, and decreased incidence of dementia (including Alzheimer's disease). Although limits of safe drinking have been conservatively defined, it is regrettable that political considerations are hampering the clinical application of this knowledge and its dissemination to the lay public.
10546507 [Chemokines, a new family of cytokines in inflammatory cell recruitment]. 1999 Jul Cell recruitment is a crucial event in the establishment of both acute and chronic inflammatory responses, including acute and delayed type hypersensitivity reactions. Among other significant factors like adhesion molecules, chemokines and its receptors are crucial elements that lead leukocyte migration to the tissues. Chemokines are a large group of peptidic cytokines which have a conserved motif of 4 cisteins. These cistein residues form pairs which permit to classify them in two groups, the alpha and beta subfamilies. In general terms, alpha subfamily has preferential chemotactic activity on granulocytes, and beta subfamily attracts mainly lymphocytes and macrophages. Besides their chemotactic activity, chemokines also participate in some other important biological processes like hematopoiesis, angiogenesis, and anti-tumoral activity. Chemokines also play an important role in certain pathological conditions, for instance in some allergic processes they have an essential role in the pathogenesis. In autoimmune and infectious diseases, this cytokine family is also important as is suggested by the presence of chemokine receptors in rheumatoid arthritis inflammed synovia or the HIV receptor activity that chemokine receptors display which apparently play a significant role in the natural resistance against this infectious agent. Preferential leukocyte recruitment mediated by chemokines is a potential target for pharmacological modulation, which in turn may lead to a novel and efficient types of therapeutic control of inflammatory diseases with diverse etiology.
10516889 Atrophy of the quadriceps muscle in children with a painful hip. 1999 Sep The objective of this study was to determine the degree of muscle wasting of various components of the quadriceps muscle in children with a painful hip. Between January 1994 and September 1997, 327 consecutive children with a unilateral painful hip and/or limping were evaluated prospectively with ultrasonography. Quadriceps thickness was measured on both sides. Moreover, muscle thickness was measured in 59 control subjects. The patients were divided into eight groups; transient synovitis (n = 134), Perthes' disease (n = 35), slipped capital femoral epiphysis (n = 5), osteomyelitis (n = 4), aspecific synovitis (n = 5), rheumatoid arthritis (n = 3) and miscellaneous (n = 16). In 125 patients, no sonographic and radiological abnormalities were found and during follow-up the symptoms disappeared ('no pathology' group). Ipsilateral muscle wasting was present in all patient groups, whereas the control subjects showed no significant difference in muscle thickness between legs. The degree of muscle wasting was compared between transient synovitis, the 'no pathology' group, Perthes' disease and control subjects. For both quadriceps and vastus intermedius muscles, there was a significant difference between these groups, except between control subjects and the 'no pathology' group. For the rectus femoris muscle, there was a significant difference between these groups, except between transient synovitis and 'no pathology'. Muscle wasting showed a positive correlation with duration of symptoms and pre-existing muscle mass. In conclusion, different diseases show different degrees of muscle wasting, and there are different patterns of muscle wasting of various components of the quadriceps femoris muscle.
10463816 Development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, using a monoclonal antibody against a 1999 Jun OBJECTIVES: To develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a monoclonal antibody (mab) directed against abnormally glycosylated serum alpha2-macroglobulin (alpha2-M) from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). DESIGN AND METHODS: Serum alpha2-M purified by HPLC from patients with SLE was injected in a Balb/c, CB6 F1 female mouse and hybrid cell lines were screened using alpha2-M Glu-C fragments derived from SLE and normal donors (NHS). A mab was selected and used to develop an ELISA by which sera from NHS (n = 14), SLE (n = 34), rheumatoid arthritis (n = 15), Sjögren's syndrome (n = 11), mixed connective tissue diseases (n = 12), and liver diseases (n = 11) were analyzed. RESULTS: The affinity of the mab for alpha2-M from SLE, but not from the other diseases, was higher compared to NHS, as demonstrated by immunoblotting and ELISA. CONCLUSIONS: The ELISA was capable of recognizing changes of glycosylation of alpha2-M in SLE and may be useful for its differential diagnosis.
10405950 A survey of outcome measurement procedures in routine rheumatology outpatient practice in 1999 Jul OBJECTIVE: To assess the extent to which quantitative clinical measurement is performed by rheumatologists in the longitudinal followup of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthritis (OA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and fibromyalgia (FM) in routine outpatient practice in Australia. METHODS: A cross sectional postal survey was conducted using an 18-item self-administered questionnaire sent to Australian Rheumatology Association (ARA) members. RESULTS: Rheumatologists (response rate = 76%, completion rate = 72%) were more likely to longitudinally follow patients with RA and AS than those with OA or FM. There was a high degree of variability in the methods used to monitor patients longitudinally. Many measures used in clinical research were used infrequently in routine clinical practice. In general, the major health status measures surveyed were not used in clinical monitoring. There was a high level of agreement (> 80%) that the characteristics required of an outcome measure for use in clinical practice should include simplicity, brevity, ease of scoring, reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change. CONCLUSION: The majority of Australian rheumatologists perform outcome measurement during the longitudinal followup of their outpatients with RA, AS, OA, and FM. However, the process lacks standardization. High performance health status measures developed for clinical research have not been widely adopted in rheumatology practices. There is agreement on the characteristics required by Australian rheumatologists for measurement procedures used in routine clinical care. Quantitative measurement in clinical practice using standardized procedures is an attainable, but as yet, unrealized opportunity.
10399234 [The significance of determining antibodies to viruses of the Herpesviridae family in rheu 1999 AIM: Assay of antibodies to cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus type 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in rheumatic patients. Specification of their correlations with clinical symptoms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 66 rheumatic patients were examined for the above antibodies. The admission diagnosis of rheumatic disease (RD) was confirmed in 42 of them. 24 were diagnosed to have active or chronic viral infection (A/CVI) simulating systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other RD. RESULTS: IgG-antibodies to CMV and VCA-IgG to EBV were detected in 79 and 70.3% of the examinees, respectively. In SLE more frequent were IgM-antibodies to CMV (78.9%), in RA-IgM-antibodies to CMV (85.7%) and IgG-antibodies to EBV (85.7%) while in A/CVI--to CMV (IgM--86.4%), EBV (IgG--80%; IgM--73.7%), HSV-1 (IgM--57.1%). Analysis of clinical correlations indicated that high titers to CMV and to EBV are related in RD patients. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to examine rheumatic patients for antibodies to Herpesviridae viruses and prescribe antiviral drugs.
10383481 Plant sterols and sterolins: a review of their immune-modulating properties. 1999 Jun Beta-sitosterol (BSS) and its glycoside (BSSG) are sterol molecules which are synthesized by plants. When humans eat plant foods phytosterols are ingested, and are found in the serum and tissues of healthy individuals, but at concentrations orders of magnitude lower than endogenous cholesterol. Epidemiological studies have correlated a reduced risk of numerous diseases with a diet high in fruits and vegetables, and have concluded that specific molecules, including b-carotene, tocopherols, vitamin C, and flavonoids, confer some of this protective benefit. However, these epidemiologic studies have not examined the potential effect that phytosterols ingested with fruits and vegetables might have on disease risk reduction. In animals, BSS and BSSG have been shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory, anti-neoplastic, anti-pyretic, and immune-modulating activity. A proprietary BSS:BSSG mixture has demonstrated promising results in a number of studies, including in vitro studies, animal models, and human clinical trials. This phytosterol complex seems to target specific T-helper lymphocytes, the Th1 and Th2 cells, helping normalize their functioning and resulting in improved T-lymphocyte and natural killer cell activity. A dampening effect on overactive antibody responses has also been seen, as well as normalization of the DHEA:cortisol ratio. The re-establishment of these immune parameters may be of help in numerous disease processes relating to chronic immune-mediated abnormalities, including chronic viral infections, tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis, allergies, cancer, and auto-immune diseases.
10231096 Recombinant antibodies with the antigen-specific, MHC restricted specificity of T cells: n 1999 Mar MHC class I and II molecules play a central role in the immune response against a variety of invading microorganisms and cells that have undergone malignant transformation by shaping the T cell repertoire in the thymus and by presenting peptide antigens from endogenous and exogenous antigens in the periphery to CD8+ cytotoxic T cells and CD4+ helper T cells. In certain situations MHC-peptide complexes may, however, also initiate and perpetuate an autoimmune attack mediated by autoaggressive T cells leading to diseases such as insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and multiple sclerosis (MS). Such MHC-peptide complexes are a desirable target for novel approaches in immunotherapy. Targeted delivery of toxins or other cytotoxic drugs to cells which express specific MHC-peptide complexes that are involved in the immune response against cancer or viral infections and specific masking of MHC-peptide complexes that are involved in autoimmune reactions would allow for a specific immunotherapeutic treatment of these diseases. We have recently demonstrated that antibodies with the antigen-specific, MHC restricted specificity of T cells can be readily generated by taking advantage of the selection power of phage display technology.
9990370 Serum concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor in collagen diseases. 1998 Dec Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an angiogenic cytokine which has been reported to be important in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this study, the serum level of VEGF was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 17 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, 49 patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM), 40 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, 49 patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM), 40 patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), 11 patients with RA and 20 control subjects. The VEGF level was 184 +/- 62 pg/mL (mean +/- SD) in the serum of normal individuals. The mean VEGF levels in the patients with PM/DM or RA were significantly higher than in the normal controls. In 21 of the 49 patients with PM/DM and nine of the 11 patients with RA, the serum VEGF level was considered to be elevated. In patients with SSc, those with diffuse cutaneous SSc showed elevated VEGF levels in comparison with normal controls. An elevated serum VEGF level was correlated with the frequency of lung fibrosis and reduced vital capacity in the patients with SSc.