Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibition reduces disease severity in a model of secondary progressive autoimmune demyelination.

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) is an emerging target in multiple sclerosis (MS). Alongside its role in B cell receptor signaling and B cell development, BTK regulates myeloid cell activation and inflammatory responses. Here we demonstrate efficacy of BTK inhibition in a model of secondary progressive autoimmune demyelination in Biozzi mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE).

Gender Difference in Distribution of Estrogen and Androgen Receptors in Intestinal-type Gastric Cancer.

Background: Gender difference in survival of patients with gastric cancer is not well investigated. The aim of this study was to analyze the gender-related distribution of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and androgen receptor (AR) in the epithelium and stroma of intestinal-type gastric cancer.

Materials And Methods: Immunohistochemical analysis was performed in 60 patients (42% females).

Successful Treatment of Autoimmune Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis in a Pediatric Patient.

BACKGROUND Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare condition characterized by the intra-alveolar accumulation of surfactant-derived material, which impairs gas exchange and results in respiratory insufficiency. Two major subtypes of PAP are autoimmune and non-autoimmune PAP. The diagnosis relies on clinical presentation, ground glass opacities on CT scan, bronchoscopy with PAS stain of BAL fluid (BALF), lung biopsy with PAS-positive material in the alveoli, and the presence of anti GM-CSF antibodies in serum or BALF for an autoimmune subtype.

Estrogen and androgen receptors in inflammatory fibroid polyp (Vanek's tumor): case report.

Background/aim: Vanek's tumor is an inflammatory fibroid polyp (IFP) of very low incidence, which originates in the submucosa of the stomach, duodenum, jejunum and ileum. The etiology of this tumor is still unknown. Histologically, IFP is characterized by submucosal spindle cell proliferation in fibromyxoid stroma with inflammatory infiltrate.

Relative potencies of three glucocorticoids to induce hypoplasia of the physis and concomitant biochemical alterations in the rat.

Although inhaled glucocorticoids are known to have systemic effects on bone metabolism, there is little comparative information on their relative potencies. The effects of three standard glucocorticoids in causing changes in bone metabolism and growth, therefore, were investigated in relation to other systemic effects in the rat. Given to male Sprague-Dawley rats, 4.

Cancer risk and the complexity of the interactions between environmental and host factors: HENVINET interactive diagrams as simple tools for exploring and understanding the scientific evidence.

Background: Development of graphical/visual presentations of cancer etiology caused by environmental stressors is a process that requires combining the complex biological interactions between xenobiotics in living and occupational environment with genes (gene-environment interaction) and genomic and non-genomic based disease specific mechanisms in living organisms. Traditionally, presentation of causal relationships includes the statistical association between exposure to one xenobiotic and the disease corrected for the effect of potential confounders.

Methods: Within the FP6 project HENVINET, we aimed at considering together all known agents and mechanisms involved in development of selected cancer types.

Environmental exposure to xenoestrogens and oestrogen related cancers: reproductive system, breast, lung, kidney, pancreas, and brain.

The role of steroids in carcinogenesis has become a major concern in environmental protection, biomonitoring, and clinical research. Although historically oestrogen has been related to development of reproductive system, research over the last decade has confirmed its crucial role in the development and homeostasis of other organ systems. As a number of anthropogenic agents are xenoestrogens, environmental health research has focused on oestrogen receptor level disturbances and of aromatase polymorphisms.

Claudin-3 and Clara cell 10 kDa protein as early signals of cigarette smoke-induced epithelial injury along alveolar ducts.

Smoking-associated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is characterized by inflammation, changes affecting small airways, and development of emphysema. Various short- and long-term models have been introduced to investigate these processes. The aim of the present study was to identify markers of early epithelial injury/adaptation in a short-term animal model of cigarette smoke exposure.

Lung cancer and environmental chemical exposure: a review of our current state of knowledge with reference to the role of hormones and hormone receptors as an increased risk factor for developing lung cancer in man.

Lung cancer is a dominant cause of cancer mortality. The etiology of lung cancer is mainly related to cigarette smoking, airborne genotoxic carcinogens, and arsenic, but its sex-specific incidence suggests that other mechanisms, such as hormones, may also be involved in the process of carcinogenesis. A number of agents commonly present in the living environment can have dual biological effects: not only are they genotoxic / carcinogenic, but they are also hormonally active as xenoestrogens.

[Apoptosis in toxicologic pathology].

Toxicologic pathology provides expertise to the interpretation of the toxicity and safety of pharmaceuticals, biological agents, human and animal food aditives, environmental and industrial chemicals, and medical devices in animal studies. The histopathology findings are integrated with other study data (clinical and biochemistry data, autopsy) providing a comprehensive report on efficacy and safety of a chemical, device or material and the relationship of toxicity to exposure. Since its discovery, apoptosis emerged as a molecular control point in the regulation of physiological processes, toxic insults and diseases by means of a programmed cell death.

Animal model for age- and sex-related genotoxicity of diethylstilbestrol.

Environmental xenoestrogens pose a significant health risk for all living organisms. There is growing evidence concerning the different susceptibility to xenoestrogens of developing and adult organisms, but little is known about their genotoxicity in pre-pubertal mammals. In the present study, we developed an animal model to test the sex- and age-specific genotoxicity of the synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) on the reticulocytes of 3-week-old pre-pubertal and 12-week-old adult BALB/CJ mice using the in vivo micronucleus (MN) assay.

Clarithromycin suppresses airway hyperresponsiveness and inflammation in mouse models of asthma.

Macrolide antibiotics, a class of potent antimicrobials, also possess immunomodulatory/anti-inflammatory properties. These properties are considered fundamental for the efficacy of macrolide antibiotics in the treatment of diffuse panbronchiolitis and cystic fibrosis. In patients with asthma, macrolide antibiotics have been reported to reduce airway hyperresponsiveness and improve pulmonary function.

Intranasal challenge with increasing ovalbumin doses differently affects airway hyperresponsiveness and inflammatory cell accumulation in mouse model of asthma.

Objective: To investigate whether challenge with increasing allergen doses could differently affect allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and inflammatory cell accumulation in mouse model of asthma, providing an experimental model to investigate their relationship.

Material And Methods: AHR and accumulation of inflammatory cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and into the lungs were compared in ovalbumin-sensitized mice that were challenged intranasally with 2.5, 10, 25 or 100 microg of ovalbumin/mouse.

Influence of Helicobacter pylori infection persistence on bcl-2 expression in gastric mucosa inflammatory cells.

Chronic Helicobacter (H.) pylori infection is an etiological factor related to gastric adenocarcinoma and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. The expression of bcl-2 protein significantly decreases as the grade of MALT lymphoma advances.

Developmental and transplacental genotoxicology: fluconazole.

Over the last 40 years mankind has been facing new types of radiochemical environmental settings with every decade. During the last decade, biomonitoring was additionally focused on assessing associations between environmental exposure(s) and both early and late biological effects in children. Despite efforts to control and avoid child exposure to genotoxic agents the incidence of childhood cancers is increasing.

Local IgE and inflammation in chronic rhinosinusitis of asthmatics and non-asthmatics.

The aim of the study was to show the difference in the pattern of inflammation, and Th1/Th2 polarization between asthmatic and non-asthmatic patients with CRS, specifically eosinophil activation, local IgE levels in the sinus fluid and tissue, and the severity of inflammation were measured. The maxillary sinus lavages, mucosal biopsies and bacteriological swabs were taken in 17 asthmatic and 36 non-asthmatic adult patients with CRS. The concentrations of IgE, eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), myeloperoxidase (MPO), and tryptase were analyzed and IgE+ cells, eosinophils, lymphocytes and plasma cells were counted.

Influence of H. pylori infection and eradication on p53, c-erbB-2 and Ki-67 in gastric mucosa.

Background/aims: To evaluate the expression of antigens c-erbB-2, p53, and Ki-67 in gastric biopsy, bacteria density and urease activity in two groups of patients with chronic gastritis separated on the basis of the success or failure of H. pylori eradication.

Methodology: Sixty-five patients with chronic gastritis were split in two groups (n=45/20) related to response to the therapy.

Anti-inflammatory activity of azithromycin attenuates the effects of lipopolysaccharide administration in mice.

Macrolide antibacterials inhibit the production of various cytokines and the migration of inflammatory cells. These anti-inflammatory actions of macrolides may be beneficial in attenuating inflammatory processes involved in bacterial sepsis. Therefore, we investigated the ability of azithromycin to attenuate the deleterious effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), in three different LPS-induced inflammatory models.

Comparison of genomic damage caused by 5-nitrofurantoin in young and adult mice using the in vivo micronucleus assay.

The antibiotic 5-nitrofurantoin (5-NF) has been used widely for the treatment of urosepsis in children during the last 20 years. Recent experimentation suggests the need for reevaluating its genotoxic potential. Because of possible differences in the metabolism and clearance of 5-NF in young and adult animals, we conducted a study to determine whether micronuclei caused by 5-NF were age-related.

Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus: a case report.

Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (BSCC) of the esophagus is an extremely rare tumor which should be differentiated from adenoid cystic and small cell undifferentiated carcinoma. We present the case of a 48-year-old male patient with esophageal BSCC. This tumor has specific histological features which may be difficult to recognize by small endoscopic biopsy examination.

Ochratoxin A-induced apoptosis in rat kidney tissue.

The aim of our study was to find whether ochratoxin A (OTA) induces the apoptosis and/or necrosis of kidney tissue in rats. In the first experiment, the highest number of apoptotic cells was found in rats sacrificed one day after OTA administration (1.00 mg/kg b.

Apoptosis and oxidative stress induced by ochratoxin A in rat kidney.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a widespread mycotoxin produced by several species of fungi. OTA induces a tubular-interstitial nephropathy in humans and in animals. It has been implicated as one of the aetiological agents involved in the development of endemic nephropathy.

[Dermatomyositis and malignant disease--case report].

The case of patients with dermatomyositis and malignant disease has been described. The diagnosis of malignant disease was made after death of the patient, when the malignant undifferentiated cells were found in the ascites. We think that dermatomyosistis was caused by malignant disease.

Azithromycin modulates neutrophil function and circulating inflammatory mediators in healthy human subjects.

Effects on human neutrophils and circulating inflammatory mediators were studied in 12 volunteers who received azithromycin (500 mg/day, p.o.) for 3 days.