Publications by authors named "B R Ludviksson"

Background: Signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 (STAT6) is central to type 2 (T2) inflammation, and common noncoding variants at the STAT6 locus associate with various T2 inflammatory traits, including diseases, and its pathway is widely targeted in asthma treatment.

Objective: We sought to test the association of a rare missense variant in STAT6, p.L406P, with T2 inflammatory traits, including the risk of asthma and allergic diseases, and to characterize its functional consequences in cell culture.

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Article Synopsis
  • Immunoglobulin G (IgG) is the primary type of antibody in human blood and exists in four subclasses (IgG1 to IgG4), which are influenced by specific genes.
  • A genome-wide association study involving 4,334 adults and 4,571 children identified ten new variants and confirmed four known variants linked to IgG subclass levels, affecting conditions like asthma and autoimmune diseases.
  • Significant links were found between certain genetic allotypes and specific IgG subclasses, with notable findings showing that lower IgG4 levels can both protect against childhood asthma and increase the risk of inflammatory bowel disease.
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Rituximab has been used to treat MS patients in Iceland for over a decade. However, long-term effect of rituximab on leukocyte populations has not yet been elucidated. By retrospective analysis of flow cytometric data from 349 patients visiting the neurological ward at The National University Hospital of Iceland from 2012 to 2023 for rituximab treatment, the long-term effect of rituximab and whether the effect was dose dependent (1000mg vs 500mg) was evaluated.

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Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is a common autoimmune disease. In a GWAS meta-analysis of 110,945 cases and 1,084,290 controls, 290 sequence variants at 225 loci are associated with AITD. Of these variants, 115 are previously unreported.

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Aim: The survival rate after treatment for childhood leukaemia has greatly improved, but could result in protracted immune deficiency. This study examined the immune status of children after chemotherapy and evaluated their responses to immunisation.

Methods: Subjects who had completed their treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at The Children's Hospital Reykjavík, Iceland, during 2011-2020 had blood drawn and were then immunised for influenza in October 2021.

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