A validation study of the Japanese version of the Angioedema Activity Score (AAS) and the Angioedema Quality of Life Questionnaire (AE-QoL).

Background: Recurrent angioedema (RecAE) has a substantial impact on patients' daily lives. However, there have been no disease-specific patient-reported outcomes (PROs) available in Japan to measure disease activity and health-related QoL impairment in such patients.

Methods: Japanese versions of the Angioedema Activity Score (AAS) and the Angioedema Quality of Life Questionnaire (AE-QoL) were examined for their validity and reliability.

Fucoidan suppresses IgE production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with atopic dermatitis.

We previously reported that fucoidan, a dietary fiber purified from seaweed, inhibited IgE production in B cells from mice spleen in vitro and ovalbumin-sensitized mice in vivo. In this study, we examined the effect of fucoidan on IgE production in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in vitro. PBMC, obtained from healthy donors or patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) with high levels of serum IgE, were cultured with IL-4 and anti-CD40 antibody in the presence or absence of fucoidan.

Pressure challenge test and histopathological inspections for 17 Japanese cases with clinically diagnosed delayed pressure urticaria.

Delayed pressure urticaria (DPU) is characterized by deep dermal wheals that appear in response to a local continuous pressure. Although it has been reported to complicate as many as 40% of cases of Caucasian patients with chronic urticaria, no definitive cases of Asian/Japanese patients have been reported in English literature. Here, we identified 17 cases of DPU, among 540 Japanese patients with urticaria (3.

Hydrolyzed Konjac glucomannan suppresses IgE production in mice B cells.

Background: Oral administration of pulverized Konjac glucomannan (KGM) reduces increased plasma IgE and the amount of epsilon-germline transcript (epsilonGT) in the spleen, as well as preventing the development of dermatitis in mice. To elucidate the mechanism of action of pulverized KGM, we solubilized KGM and studied its effect on IgE in vitro and in vivo.

Methods: Solubilized KGM was prepared by acid hydrolysis, and we analyzed the effective molecular size for the suppression of IgE production and epsilonGT in vitro and the level of plasma IgE induced by immunization with ovalbumin in BALB/c mice.

Coagulation/fibrinolysis and inflammation markers are associated with disease activity in patients with chronic urticaria.

Background: The evaluation of disease severity and activity of chronic urticaria (CU) is essential for the adequate treatment of patients. However, there is no reliable biomarker for such evaluations. Recently, markers of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis have been revealed to be elevated in severe cases of CU.

Peritoneal injection of fucoidan suppresses the increase of plasma IgE induced by OVA-sensitization.

We previously reported that fucoidan, a dietary fiber purified from seaweed, inhibited IgE production by B cells in vitro. In this study, we examined the effect of fucoidan on IgE production in vivo. The OVA-induced increase of plasma IgE was significantly suppressed when fucoidan was intraperitoneally, but not orally, administered prior to the first immunization with OVA.

Sweat antigen induces histamine release from basophils of patients with cholinergic urticaria associated with atopic diathesis.

Background: We previously demonstrated that the semipurified human sweat antigen causes skin reactions and histamine release from basophils via specific IgE in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). Patients with cholinergic urticaria (ChU) also develop skin reactions and histamine release of basophils in response to autologous sweat.

Objectives: To study whether or not patients with ChU share sensitivity for the sweat antigen with patients with AD and to study the clinical characteristics among patients with ChU and the relationship with histamine-release activity of basophils.

[Taking showers at school is beneficial for children with severer atopic dermatitis].

Background: Sweat(ing) is a common aggravating factor of atopic dermatitis (AD), and many school children with AD experience the exacerbation of their disease in summer.

Objective: We evaluated the usefulness of taking shower at the school for the management of AD in summer.

Methods: Fifty-eight school children with moderate or severer atopic dermatitis were enrolled in the study.

[Cholinergic urticaria successfully treated by immunotherapy with partially purified sweat antigen].

A 24-years-old man was referred to our University Hospital because of one and a half-year history of disabling symptoms related to physical exertion. Multiple small round-shaped wheals with severe itch were induced by exercise, warmth and psychological stress. These symptoms were resistant to histamine H1-receptor antagonists.

Fucoidan prevents C epsilon germline transcription and NFkappaB p52 translocation for IgE production in B cells.

Fucoidan, a dietary fiber contained in seaweed, reduces the increase of antigen-specific IgE in mice exposed to ovalbumin. In this study, we investigated the effect of fucoidan on IgE production and intracellular events in B cells in vitro. Fucoidan inhibited the production of IgE and C epsilon germline transcription in murine B cells induced by IL-4 (100 ng/ml) and anti-CD40 antibodies (10 microg/ml), whereas it stimulated cell proliferation.

[Analysis of the prevalence of subtypes of urticaria and angioedema].

Background: The prevalence of various subtypes of urticaria in Japan has not been analyzed.

Methods: We have classified 260 (105 males and 155 females) out patients with urticaria based on the classification in Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of urticaria and angioedema" prepared by the Japanese Dermatological Association with slight modification.

Results: The urticaria in 200 out of 260 (76.

The SPR signal in living cells reflects changes other than the area of adhesion and the formation of cell constructions.

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors detected large angle of resonance (AR) changes, when RBL-2H3 rat mast cells were cultured and activated on a sensor chip. Here, we demonstrated that PAM212 mouse keratinocytes also showed a large change in AR, when EGF-stimulated. We explored these changes due to intracellular reactions, through the relationship between the AR and the area of cell adhesion, using confocal microscopy for RBL-2H3 cells and PAM212 cells.

Semi-purification of the immunoglobulin E-sweat antigen acting on mast cells and basophils in atopic dermatitis.

Background: Sweating aggravates the symptoms of atopic dermatitis (AD). We have recently reported positive skin reactions and histamine release from basophils in response to autologous sweat in patients with AD.

Objective: To characterize the biochemical and immunological properties of the substance in sweat that evokes histamine release and to study the usability of the basophil-histamine release test with the sweat antigen for AD.

Oral administration of pulverized Konjac glucomannan prevents the increase of plasma immunoglobulin E and immunoglobulin G levels induced by the injection of syngeneic keratinocyte extracts in BALB/c mice.

Background: Immunoglobulin (Ig) E plays a key role in the pathogenesis of atopic diseases, such as asthma, atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinitis. Oral administration of pulverized Konjac glucomannan (PKGM) has recently been demonstrated to prevent both plasma IgE elevation and developing dermatitis in NC/Nga mice, a model of atopic dermatitis.

Objective: To clarify the direct effect of PKGM on the increase of plasma IgE, we employed the system of BALB/c mouse that increases IgE level without developing dermatitis in response to continuous injection of the extract of syngeneic keratinocytes, PAM 212 cells (PAM extract).

IL-4 modulates the histamine content of mast cells in a mast cell/fibroblast co-culture through a Stat6 signaling pathway in fibroblasts.

IL-4 plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases, such as the induction of IgE synthesis and the development of mast cells. To further understand the effect of IL-4 on mast cells in skin, we utilized a mast cell/fibroblast co-culture system as an in vitro model of dermal mast cells. IL-4 induced mast cell growth in the culture with fibroblasts.

The effectiveness of montelukast for the treatment of anti-histamine-resistant chronic urticaria.

Many patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria are not sufficiently controlled with histamine H(1)-receptor antagonists. Leukotriene receptor antagonists have been reported to be effective for certain cases of urticaria, although their proper application remains to be established. To study the effectiveness of montelukast, a leukotriene receptor antagonist, for the treatment of chronic urticaria that was not controlled by histamine H(1)-receptor antagonists.

The IL-6 family cytokines, interleukin-6, interleukin-11, oncostatin M, and leukemia inhibitory factor, enhance mast cell growth through fibroblast-dependent pathway in mice.

Mast cell hyperplasia is observed in various inflammatory skin diseases. Although the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of these conditions remains largely uninvestigated, it is speculated that mediators produced in the lesional skin provide a favorable microenvironment for mast cell growth. Among the proinflammatory mediators, leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), which shares a receptor component (gp130 subunit) with interleukin-6 (IL-6), has been identified as a mast cell growth-enhancing factor produced by cells of the keratinocyte-derived cell line (KCMH-1).

Leukemia inhibitory factor enhances mast cell growth in a mast cell/fibroblast co-culture system through stat3 signaling pathway of fibroblasts.

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) enhanced mast cell growth in a mast cell/3T3 fibroblast co-culture system, however the precise mechanisms have not been defined. Western blot analysis showed that bone marrow-derived mast cells failed to express both LIF receptor (LIFR) and gp130, whereas 3T3 fibroblasts expressed both LIFR and gp130. This result indicates that the activity of LIF for mast cell growth is mediated by 3T3 fibroblasts.

Food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis: a report of two cases and determination of wheat-gamma-gliadin as the presumptive allergen.

Water/salt-insoluble wheat proteins have been identified as the most frequent allergenic foodstuffs in patients with food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis (FDEIA) in Japan. However, the specific allergenic proteins in wheat-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis have not been well defined. Challenge testing, skin testing and a fluoroenzyme immunoassay were used for diagnosis in two patients suspected by history of having wheat-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis.