Neurology and the histiocytoses: a case of Rosai-Dorfman-Destombes disease.

The histiocytoses are a group of rare disorders characterised by the accumulation of neoplastic or non-neoplastic activated histiocytes in various tissues. Phenotypes vary widely from cutaneous lesions or lymphadenopathy that regress spontaneously to disseminated disease with poor prognosis. Neurological symptoms can be a presenting feature or appear during the course of disease.

Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) - a novel clinico-pathological entity with heterogeneous clinical presentations.

Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) is a novel entity that emerged in March 2021 following reports of unusual thrombosis after ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, (AstraZeneca) vaccination. Following the recognition of this syndrome, multiple consensus guidelines have been released to risk stratify patients presenting with possible symptoms after ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination. All guidelines rapidly identify VITT in patients with the complete triad of thrombocytopenia, thrombosis and elevated D-dimers after ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination.

Development of novel methods for non-canonical myeloma protein analysis with an innovative adaptation of immunofixation electrophoresis, native top-down mass spectrometry, and middle-down sequencing.

Objectives: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant plasma cell neoplasm, requiring the integration of clinical examination, laboratory and radiological investigations for diagnosis. Detection and isotypic identification of the monoclonal protein(s) and measurement of other relevant biomarkers in serum and urine are pivotal analyses. However, occasionally this approach fails to characterize complex protein signatures.

Multiple myeloma and multiple plasmacytomas associated with free gamma heavy chain, free kappa light chain and IgGk paraproteins: an unusual triple gammopathy.

Multiple myeloma is a malignant plasma cell dyscrasia that is becoming more prevalent in an increasingly ageing population. It is a complex disease with clinical phases ranging from the premalignant monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance to asymptomatic (smouldering) myeloma and then symptomatic myeloma; the latter occasionally terminating in the clonal proliferation of plasma cells outside the bone marrow. We present a patient whose clonally evolved disease from monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance to multiple myeloma demonstrated the presence of an unusual combination of monoclonal immunoproteins.

Vaccination of human subjects expands both specific and bystander memory T cells but antibody production remains vaccine specific.

Human subjects maintain long-term immunologic memory against infective organisms but the mechanism is unclear. CD4+ T-helper memory (Thmem) cells are pivotal in controlling humoral and cellular responses, therefore their longevity and response to vaccination are critical for maintenance of protective immunity. To probe the dynamics of the Thmem-cell response to antigenic challenge, we investigated subjects following a booster injection with tetanus toxoid (TT).

DNA vaccines to attack cancer.

Delivery of antigens by injection of the encoding DNA allows access to multiple antigen-presenting pathways. Knowledge of immunological processes can therefore be used to modify construct design to induce selected effector functions. Expression can be directed to specific intracellular sites, and additional genes can be fused or codelivered to amplify responses.