Plasma infliximab monitoring contributes to optimize Takayasu arteritis treatment: a case report.

Background: Infliximab (IFX), a mouse-human chimeric monoclonal antibody against human tumor necrosis factor alpha, is used in refractory cases of Takayasu arteritis. Several factors influence the pharmacokinetics of therapeutic antibodies including IFX. Monitoring plasma levels of IFX could be a useful approach in optimizing treatment via individual dose adjustment.

Involvement of TRPM2 in a wide range of inflammatory and neuropathic pain mouse models.

Recent evidence suggests a role of transient receptor potential melastatin 2 (TRPM2) in immune and inflammatory responses. We previously reported that TRPM2 deficiency attenuated inflammatory and neuropathic pain in some pain mouse models, including formalin- or carrageenan-induced inflammatory pain, and peripheral nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain models, while it had no effect on the basal mechanical and thermal nociceptive sensitivities. In this study, we further explored the involvement of TRPM2 in various pain models using TRPM2-knockout mice.

[Roles of transient receptor potential melastatin 2 expressed on immune cells in neuropathic pain].

Neuropathic pain is a pathological pain condition that often results from peripheral nerve injury. Several lines of evidence suggest that neuroinflammation mediated by the interaction between immune cells and neurons plays an important role in the pathogenesis of neuropathic pain. Transient receptor potential melastatin 2 (TRPM2) is a nonselective Ca(2+)-permeable cation channel that acts as a sensor for reactive oxygen species.

Preventive and alleviative effect of tramadol on neuropathic pain in rats: roles of α₂-adrenoceptors and spinal astrocytes.

The acute analgesic effect of tramadol has been extensively investigated; however, its long-term effect on neuropathic pain has not been well clarified. In this study, we examined the effects of repeated administration of tramadol on partial sciatic nerve ligation-induced neuropathic pain in rats. Each drug was administered once daily from 0 - 6 days (preventive effect) or 7 - 14 days (alleviative effect) after the surgery.

Involvement of TRPM2 in peripheral nerve injury-induced infiltration of peripheral immune cells into the spinal cord in mouse neuropathic pain model.

Recent evidence suggests that transient receptor potential melastatin 2 (TRPM2) expressed in immune cells plays an important role in immune and inflammatory responses. We recently reported that TRPM2 expressed in macrophages and spinal microglia contributes to the pathogenesis of inflammatory and neuropathic pain aggravating peripheral and central pronociceptive inflammatory responses in mice. To further elucidate the contribution of TRPM2 expressed by peripheral immune cells to neuropathic pain, we examined the development of peripheral nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain and the infiltration of immune cells (particularly macrophages) into the injured nerve and spinal cord by using bone marrow (BM) chimeric mice by crossing wildtype (WT) and TRPM2-knockout (TRPM2-KO) mice.