Autoimmune Encephalitis Induced by SARS-CoV-2 Infection Treated with Thymectomy.

Thymomas have been associated with the generation of paraneoplastic autoantibodies to neurogenic epitopes, collapsin-response-mediator protein-5 receptor (CRMP-5) and alpha-amino-3-hydroxyl-5methyl-4isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR), in patients with acute viral infection. We report a patient with thymoma and myasthenia gravis, with SARS-CoV-2 infection, who became comatose secondary to autoimmune encephalitis. Plasmapheresis, high-dose steroids, pyridostigmine, eculizumab, and rituximab did not restore neurologic function.

Delta-like ligand 4 inhibitor drug treatment induces pulmonary hypertension in cancer clinical trials.

Delta-like ligand 4 (DLL-4) inhibitor drugs are an emerging cancer treatment. In clinical trials for solid organ malignancies, intravenous administration of monoclonal antibodies that inhibit DLL-4 is associated with development of pulmonary hypertension, in the absence of left ventricular dysfunction. Analysis of 13 clinical trials showed that pulmonary hypertension is a complication of DLL-4 inhibition.

Long-Term Risks of Benign and Malign Complications after Endoscopic Sphincterotomy in the Management of Benign Biliopancreatic Pathology: A Cohort Study.

Background:  Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is the preferred technique for treating pathologies of the bile duct. It has been suggested that this procedure, combined with sphincterotomy, may influence the subsequent development of long-term complications. The main objective of this study was to determine the long-term complications of biliopancreatic disease after ERCP and their potential association with the development of biliopancreatic neoplasms.

NOTCH3 and Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.

NOTCH3 receptor signaling has been linked to the regulation of smooth muscle cell proliferation and the maintenance of smooth muscle cells in an undifferentiated state. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (World Health Organization Group 1 idiopathic disease: PAH) is a fatal disease characterized clinically by elevated pulmonary vascular resistance caused by extensive vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation, perivascular inflammation, and asymmetric neointimal hyperplasia in precapillary pulmonary arteries. In this review, a detailed overview of the specific role of NOTCH3 signaling in PAH, including its mechanisms of activation by a select ligand, downstream signaling effectors, and physiologic effects within the pulmonary vascular tree, is provided.