Evaluation of Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses to the SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine in Patients With Common Variable Immunodeficiency Phenotype and Patient Receiving B-Cell Depletion Therapy.

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 vaccines' effectiveness is not yet clearly known in immunocompromised patients. This study aims to assess the humoral and cellular specific immune response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and the predictors of poor response in patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) phenotype and in patients treated with B-cell depletion therapies (BCDT), as well as the safety of these vaccines.

Methods: From March to September 2021, we performed a prospective study of all adult patients who would receive the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and were previously diagnosed with (i) a CVID syndrome (CVID phenotype group; n=28) or (ii) multiple sclerosis (MS) treated with B-cell depleting therapies three to six months before vaccination (BCD group; n=24).

Methylprednisolone Pulses Plus Tacrolimus in Addition to Standard of Care vs. Standard of Care Alone in Patients With Severe COVID-19. A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Severe lung injury is triggered by both the SARS-CoV-2 infection and the subsequent host-immune response in some COVID-19 patients. We conducted a randomized, single-center, open-label, phase II trial with the aim to evaluate the efficacy and safety of methylprednisolone pulses and tacrolimus plus standard of care (SoC) vs. SoC alone, in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19.

Detection of anti-mitochondrial 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase complex subunit's antibodies for the diagnosis of Primary Biliary Cholangitis.

Anti-mitochondrial antibodies (AMA), directed against the E2 subunits of the 2-oxo acid dehydrogenase complexes, are markers of Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC), a chronic autoimmune liver disease. However, it has not been stablished the clinical significance of subunits-specific AMA type PDC-E2 subunit of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex-, BCOADC-E2 subunit of the branched-chain 2-oxo acid dehydrogenase complex-, OGDC-E2 subunit of the 2-oxo-glutarate dehydrogenase complex- and nPDC -native pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (M2-AMA), and not all AMA specificities are associated with PBC. The aim of the present study was to show the usefulness of the number and combination of subunits-specific AMA positive for the diagnosis of PBC.

Predictors of Infliximab Trough Concentrations in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients Using a Repeated-Measures Design.

Background And Aims: Treating patients based on a treat-to-trough approach has been shown to be a cost-effective strategy for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients who have become unresponsive to infliximab (IFX). However, the documented evidence for this is limited, and some controversy remains regarding the use of routine proactive therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). To support routine TDM of IFX and regimen optimization in IBD patients, more in-depth knowledge of the covariates that affect the pharmacokinetic (PK) variability of IFX is needed.

Double deficiency of Trex2 and DNase1L2 nucleases leads to accumulation of DNA in lingual cornifying keratinocytes without activating inflammatory responses.

The cornification of keratinocytes on the surface of skin and oral epithelia is associated with the degradation of nuclear DNA. The endonuclease DNase1L2 and the exonuclease Trex2 are expressed specifically in cornifying keratinocytes. Deletion of DNase1L2 causes retention of nuclear DNA in the tongue epithelium but not in the skin.

Clinical correlates of the "rods and rings" antinuclear antibody pattern.

The "rods and rings" (RR) antinuclear antibody (ANA) pattern is believed to be restricted to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and related to the treatment. This is a 4-year retrospective study of all patients with RR pattern from the 20,000 serum samples received at the Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge for ANA testing. Two control groups with HCV patients without RR pattern: ANA-positive (n = 74) and ANA negative (n = 75) were included.

Pretransplant low CD3+CD25high cell counts or a low CD3+CD25high/CD3+HLA-DR+ ratio are associated with an increased risk to acute renal allograft rejection.

Background: Detection of markers predicting allograft rejection is important for risk assessment before kidney transplantation, as well as to minimize posttransplantation immunosuppression.

Methods: We studied the expression of CD25, HLA-DR, CD134, CD62L, and CD44 by flow cytometry in CD4, CD8, and CD3 cells, from pretransplant blood samples from 91 transplanted patients accounting for 16 episodes of acute renal rejection in the first month after transplantation.

Results: None of the activation markers showed a significant association to acute rejection.

Apoptosis of peripheral blood lymphocytes in Parkinson patients.

Neuronal cell death by apoptosis is a mechanism involved in Parkinson's disease and indirect signs of apoptosis have been found in brain neurons and blood lymphocytes. The present study was aimed to directly assess the presence of enhanced apoptosis in lymphocytes from 89 idiopathic Parkinson's disease patients, 33 untreated and 56 treated, compared with 33 healthy individuals. The study of both spontaneous and activation-induced apoptosis of T-lymphocyte subsets by annexin-V binding and flow cytometry showed that Parkinson patients increased the expression of Fas in circulating CD4(+) T cells, mainly "naive," that correlated with the decrease of these cells in blood.

Usefulness of magnetic resonance imaging of the hand versus anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibody testing to confirm the diagnosis of clinically suspected early rheumatoid arthritis in the absence of rheumatoid factor and radiographic erosions.

Objective: The diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is sometimes difficult to establish early in the disease process, particularly in the absence of its classic hallmarks. Our aim was to compare the practical usefulness of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the hand versus anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibody testing to confirm the diagnosis of clinically suspected RA in the absence of rheumatoid factor (RF) and radiographic erosions.

Methods: We prospectively included patients with early inflammatory arthritis and strong clinical suspicion of RA, in whom initial complementary tests (RF and radiographs of hands, wrists, and feet) did not provide unequivocal confirmation of the diagnosis.

Achieving donor-specific hyporesponsiveness is associated with FOXP3+ regulatory T cell recruitment in human renal allograft infiltrates.

Exploring new immunosuppressive strategies inducing donor-specific hyporesponsiveness is an important challenge in transplantation. For this purpose, a careful immune monitoring and graft histology assessment is mandatory. Here, we report the results of a pilot study conducted in twenty renal transplant recipients, analyzing the immunomodulatory effects of a protocol based on induction therapy with rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin low doses, sirolimus, and mofetil mycophenolate.

Tau protein in cerebrospinal fluid: a possible marker of poor outcome in patients with early relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

We analyzed the prognostic value of Tau protein, a marker of axonal damage, detected in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). We sampled the CSF from 32 patients with probable or definite RRMS, having had the disease for less than 5 years. We studied the relationship between Tau protein concentration in the CSF (CSF-TAU) and disability, time to next relapse and time to experience a one point increase on the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS).

Modulation of the pathology of late xenograft rejection by PAF-antagonist UR-12670 in the hamster-to-rat liver xenotransplant model.

PAF antagonists have been used in xenotransplantation to alleviate the pathogenesis of hyperacute rejection. This study evaluated the ability of the PAF antagonist UR-12670 to improve graft function in late xenograft rejection (LXR) in an orthotopic liver xenotransplantation model, and the involvement of PAF (platelet activating factor) in this type of rejection. The recipients of a hamster xenograft received standard immunosuppression (tacrolimus 0.

Goodpasture syndrome during the course of a Schönlein-Henoch purpura.

Two months after surgical resection of a bronchogenic carcinoma, a 69-year-old patient presented with Schönlein-Henoch purpura with kidney involvement followed by pulmonary hemorrhage. The presence of an IgA linear pattern on the kidney biopsy specimen and circulating anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) IgA antibodies led to the diagnosis of Goodpasture syndrome, which implies the possibility that the well-known pulmonary involvement during the course of Schönlein-Henoch purpura could be caused by Goodpasture syndrome in certain cases. In cases of glomerulonephropathy with lung involvement, clinicians should not limit their investigations to anti-GBM IgG.