Matrix metalloproteinase-3 production by gut IgG plasma cells in chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

Background: In both ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) there is a marked increase in mucosal IgG plasma cells (PC), although their precise role is not well established. In this study we isolated gut PCs from patients with IBD and normal controls and analyzed cytokine production, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-3 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 production, and PC longevity ex vivo.

Methods: Lamina propria mononuclear cells (LPMCs) were isolated from patients with CD (n = 19), UC (n = 27), and normal controls (n = 42).

Functional modulation of Crohn's disease myofibroblasts by anti-tumor necrosis factor antibodies.

Background & Aims: Infliximab induces immune cell apoptosis by outside-to-inside signaling through transmembrane tumor necrosis factor-alpha (mTNF). However, in inflamed gut, myofibroblasts also produce TNF-alpha, and the affects of anti-TNF antibodies on these structural cells are unknown. We investigated the action of infliximab on apoptosis, the production of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-1, and migration of Crohn's disease (CD) myofibroblasts.

Aplasia cutis congenita, terminal limb defects and falciform retinal folds: confirmation of a distinct syndrome of vascular disruption.

We describe a son of consanguineous parents with congenital scalp defects, transverse limb abnormalities, hypoplasia of the corpus callosum and bilateral falciform retinal folds. Aplasia cutis congenita with transverse limb defects are features of Adams-Oliver syndrome, which is usually inherited as an autosomal dominant condition. The association of bilateral retinal folds and brain abnormalities with scalp defects and terminal limb defects has only once been previously described.