Role of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in the Th2 immune response to epicutaneous sensitization.

We examined the role of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in the generation of the Th2 response using MIF-deficient mice in a model of epicutaneous sensitization to ovalbumin. Lymph node cells from sensitized MIF-deficient mice produce lower levels of Th2 cytokines after antigen challenge when compared to their wild-type counterparts. Sensitized mice lacking MIF show less pulmonary inflammation after intranasal antigen exposure.

Fibrillar IgA deposition in dermatitis herpetiformis--an underreported pattern with potential clinical significance.

Dermatitis herpetiformis has characteristic clinical and histopathologic findings. A fibrillar pattern of IgA deposition on direct immunofluorescence in dermatitis herpetiformis is underreported. Here, we describe three patients with the fibrillar pattern of IgA deposition on direct immunofluorescence examination that initially misled diagnosis in one of the three.

The ShiA protein encoded by the Shigella flexneri SHI-2 pathogenicity island attenuates inflammation.

Shigella spp. are the aetiologic agents of dysentery, a severe diarrhoeal syndrome characterized by acute inflammation in the colon. The inflammatory response, which includes recruitment of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN), damages the colonic mucosa and exacerbates the infection.