141,530 research outputs found
The autoimmune side of heart and lung diseases
No full textThe elevated cardiovascular morbidity in rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and the antiphospholipid syndrome is well known, as well as the pulmonary involvement observed in these conditions and to a major extent in systemic sclerosis. These manifestations constitute a major challenge for clinicians involved in patient management. Moreover, several issues regarding the link between autoimmune rheumatic diseases and cardio pulmonary morbidity remain largely enigmatic. The mechanistic role of certain autoantibodies frequently observed in association with heart and lung diseases or the pathogenetic link between chronic inflammation and the pathways leading to atherosclerosis or pulmonary vascular changes are yet to be elucidated. As such, these questions as well as treatment strategies are of common interest to rheumatologists, immunologist, pulmonologists, and cardiologists and thus call for an interdisciplinary approach. This paradigm has been well established for rare conditions such as the Churg-Strauss syndrome. Nowadays, it seems that this approach should be expanded to encompass more common conditions such as coronary heart disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension or dilated cardiomyopathy. The present issue of Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology addresses the new knowledge and concepts of autoimmune-related cardiopulmonary diseases. The issue derives from the 2010 International Autoimmunity Meeting held in Ljubljana, Slovenia and is thus timely and dedicated to the latest developments in this new multidisciplinary field
Unraveling the soul of autoimmune diseases: pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment adding dowels to the puzzle
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BCG and Autoimmunity
No full textThe bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a live, attenuated vaccine from Mycobacterium bovis obtained by Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin through 230 in vitro passages between 1908 and 1921. This chapter presents clinical applications of BCG such as tuberculosis, leprosy, asthma and other hypersensitivity diseases, Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. BCG can be described as a “double-acting tool” because its own immunogenicity produces a preventive effect in a variety of diseases and may trigger a number of autoimmune phenomena. An acute inflammatory polyarthritis with skin maculopapular rash was reported in a healthy woman following intradermal BCG. Side effects such as granulomatous pneumonia and hepatitis are reported without sufficient data to support the possible link with intravesical BCG and the autoimmune mechanism. Even the kidney may be the target of hypersensitivity reaction to intravesical BCG, which can induce an interstitial nephritis with non-necrotizing, sterile granulomas responsive to steroid therapy
Smell and autoimmunity: a comprehensive review
No full textThe sense of smell is an ancient sensory modality vital for sampling and perceiving the chemical composition of surrounding environments. Olfaction involves a pathway of biochemical and electrophysiological processes, which allows the conversion of molecular information into sensations. Disturbances in the olfactory function have been investigated mainly in neurological/neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases; impaired sense of smell has been associated with depressed mood. Only recently, smell capability was tested in other diseases, particularly autoimmune diseases. Shoenfeld and colleagues opened this chapter showing that patients affected with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have disturbances in their olfactory functions and revealed its association with neuropsychiatric manifestations of the disease. This evidence was confirmed in experimental models and replicated in other SLE populations. The connection between autoimmunity and the sense of smell was lately emphasized by studies on patients with Sjögren's syndrome and in patients with other autoimmune/immune-mediated diseases, such as polydermatomyositis, recurrent spontaneous abortion, and hereditary angioedema. Genetic susceptibility and hormonal and environmental factors may play a role in these conditions. Olfactory receptor gene clusters are located in proximity to key locus of susceptibility for autoimmune diseases such as the major histocompatibility complex, suggesting not only a physic linkage, but a functional association. Nonetheless, gender- and hormone-mediated effects are fundamental in the development of autoimmune diseases. The different connections between smell and autoimmunity, genes and hormones may suggest that this is another tessera of a mosaic which is waiting the answer of Oedipus
Erratum: Corrigendum to “Autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA) 2013: Unveiling the pathogenic, clinical and diagnostic aspects” (Journal of Autoimmunity (2013) 47 (1–16) (S0896841113001364) (10.1016/j.jaut.2013.10.004))
No full textThe authors would like to inform the readers that the following error was made in the original article: The paper incorrectly described an elevated risk of fetal death following maternal influenza vaccination. However, Håberg SE et al. (Håberg SE, Trogstad L, Gunnes N, Wilcox AJ, Gjessing HK, Samuelsen SO et al. Risk of fetal death after pandemic influenza virus infection or vaccination. N Engl J Med 2013;368:333e40) found that the fetal death risk decreased after vaccination. They found among pregnant women with a clinical diagnosis of influenza that the risk of fetal death was increased (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.07 to 3.41) but the risk of fetal death was reduced with vaccination during pregnancy, although this reduction was not significant (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.66 to 1.17). Thus, influenza vaccination should be considered an effective preventive strategy during pregnancy. The authors wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused
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