The DETECTION project part 1: An international Delphi survey about diagnostics and treatment of anterior mediastinal cystic lesions.

Background: Differentiating benign anterior mediastinal cysts from malignancies is challenging in clinical practice. International guidelines on optimal diagnostics and treatment for anterior mediastinal cystic lesions are lacking. The first part of the DETECTION project focuses on possible heterogeneity in diagnostics and treatment of anterior mediastinal cystic lesions among international thoracic medical experts.

Low-dose cyclophosphamide depletes circulating naïve and activated regulatory T cells in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients synergistically treated with dendritic cell-based immunotherapy.

: Regulatory T cells (Treg) play a pivotal role in the immunosuppressive tumor micro-environment in cancer, including mesothelioma. Recently, the combination of autologous tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cells (DC) and metronomic cyclophosphamide (mCTX) was reported as a feasible and well-tolerated treatment in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients and further as a method to reduce circulating Tregs. : The aim of this study was to establish the immunological effects of mCTX alone and in combination with DC-based immunotherapy on circulating Treg and other T cell subsets in mesothelioma patients.

A Girl with Disseminated Thoracic Echinococcosis.

We present an unusual case of extensively disseminated pulmonary and thoracic echinococcosis in a 10-year-old girl. Thoracic echinococcosis should be considered in any child from an endemic country with cystic lesions on chest imaging. Confirmation of the diagnosis can be difficult and is important before surgery to reduce the risk of further dissemination and anaphylaxis.

Interleukin-17-producing CD4(+) cells home to the graft early after human heart transplantation.

Background: Interleukin-17 (IL-17) is regarded as a major effector cytokine with pro-inflammatory actions. It has pleiotropic and environment-specific functions by promoting adaptive cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses during inflammation. Therefore, it is tempting to speculate that IL-17 plays a major role in inflammatory responses in transplant recipients.

Susceptibility of human mesenchymal stem cells to tacrolimus, mycophenolic acid, and rapamycin.

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have multilineage differentiation and immunomodulatory capacities and are potentially useful for therapeutic applications, such as tissue regeneration and control of alloreactivity. MSC are present in most tissues including the transplantable organs. It is therefore unavoidable that MSC will be exposed to immunosuppressive drugs in a clinical transplantation setting.

Cardiac tamponade due to a ruptured aneurysm of the sinus of valsalva.

Background And Aim: A sinus of Valsalva aneurysm (SVA) is a rare cardiac anomaly. Rupture of a SVA often causes hemodynamic instability due to intracardiac shunting or cardiac tamponade, therefore immediate diagnosis and urgent treatment are required.

Methods: We report an 18-year-old female with cardiac tamponade due to rupture of a localized aneurysm of the right coronary sinus of Valsalva.

Angiosarcoma of the right atrium presenting as collapse.

Pericardial effusion may originate from a wide variety of underlying pathology. Primary cardiac malignancy should always be considered as a rare underlying cause. Angiosarcoma is the most common cardiac malignancy, which often arises as a mass in the right atrium.

Interleukin-21: an interleukin-2 dependent player in rejection processes.

Background: Interleukin (IL)-21 is the most recently described cytokine that signals via the common cytokine receptor (gammac), is produced by activated CD4+ T-cells, and regulates expansion and effector function of CD8+ T-cells.

Materials: To explore the actions of IL-21 with other gammac-dependent cytokines in alloreactivity, mRNA expression of IL-21, IL-21R alpha-chain, and IL-2 proliferation and cytotoxicity was measured after stimulation in mixed lymphocyte reactions. Additionally, IL-21 and IL-21R alpha-chain expression was studied in biopsies of heart transplant patients.

Functional heme oxygenase-1 promoter polymorphism in relation to heart failure and cardiac transplantation.

We investigated the functional promoter repeat polymorphism (GT)(n) in the oxidative stress-induced enzyme heme oxygenase-1 in relation to heart failure and complications after transplantation. No influence of the polymorphism on the development of heart failure, graft survival, acute rejection, or transplant atherosclerosis was found.