Survival following investigational treatment of amanita mushroom poisoning: thistle or shamrock?

We report the first case, to our knowledge, of amatoxin hepatotoxicity in Iowa and explore the ethical and decisional challenges of offering an investigational treatment of a rare disease. Acute liver failure due to ingestion of amatoxin-containing mushrooms is a relatively rare entity. Once amatoxin poisoning is identified, there is no clearly effective treatment, leading to a broad range of theoretically beneficial, anecdotally successful, or investigational options.

Plasma angiopoietin 2 concentrations are related to impaired lung function and organ failure in a clinical cohort receiving high-dose interleukin 2 therapy.

Introduction: The pathophysiology and therapeutic options in sepsis-induced lung injury remain elusive. High-dose interleukin 2 therapy (HDIL-2) is an important protocol for advanced malignancies but is limited by systemic inflammation and pulmonary edema that is indistinguishable from sepsis. In preclinical models, IL-2 stimulates angiopoietin 2 (AngP-2) secretion, which increases endothelial permeability and causes pulmonary edema.