Auto-immune neutropenia associated with metformin in a patient with splenic marginal zone lymphoma.

A 75-year-old man with splenic marginal zone lymphoma had been treated by fludarabine. The 3 first courses were very well tolerated, with no cytopenia. To treat diabetes mellitus, metformin was added at day 6 after the beginning of the fourth course of fludarabine treatment.

Prevalence of autoantibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptide in patients with rheumatic diseases other than rheumatoid arthritis: a French multicenter study.

Our objective was to evaluate the prevalence of autoantibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptides (anti-CCP aAbs) in a cohort of patients with a variety of inflammatory or non-inflammatory rheumatic diseases other than rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Six hundred and nine serum samples were tested for anti-CCP aAbs and for rheumatoid factor (RF) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and immunonephelometry. The prevalence of anti-CCP aAbs and RF reached 10% and 25%, respectively, using the positive cutoff value suggested by the manufacturers.

Rituximab therapy for mixed cryoglobulinemia in seven renal transplant patients.

Systemic B-cell depletion and clinical remission of the systemic effects of cryoglobulins have been achieved in hepatitis C virus-positive immunocompetent patients with rituximab, a human/mouse chimeric monoclonal antibody that specifically reacts with the CD20 antigen. Thus, this provides a rationale for the use of rituximab for type III cryoglobulin-related graft dysfunction in renal-transplant patients. Seven patients, of whom five were hepatitis C positive, developed renal function impairment long after transplantation, as well as de novo nephrotic syndrome (n = 5), severe hypertension (n = 5), nephritic syndrome (n = 1), and increased serum creatinine (n = 1).

Rituximab therapy for de novo mixed cryoglobulinemia in renal transplant patients.

Background: Type II or III cryoglobulins are fairly prevalent in renal-transplant (RT) patients, and are often related to chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. However, they rarely result in graft dysfunction. They are sustained by proliferation of oligoclonal B-cells.

Diagnostic value of anti-F-actin antibodies in a French multicenter study.

According to international criteria, autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) type 1 is characterized by the presence of antinuclear or anti-smooth muscle antibodies (SMA) with F-actin specificity. SMA have been found in 85% of AIH patients, but are not specific to this disease, and anti-F-actin specificity is not always verified when SMA are detected. The objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic value of anti-F-actin antibodies in a large population.

[Analysis of nine autoantibodies associated with systemic autoimmune diseases using the Luminex technology. Results of a multicenter study].

Unlabelled: Luminex technology allows simultaneous detection of several analytes in a single well. Applications have been recently developed for the detection of autoantibodies.

Purpose: To evaluate the performances and convenience of the Fidis analytical system (BioMedical Diagnostics, Marnes-la-Vallee, France) for the detection of nine autoantibodies associated with connective diseases: SS-A, SS-B, Sm, RNP, Scl-70, Jo-1, CENP-B, P ribosomal and double stranded DNA antibodies.

Combined search for anti-beta2-glycoprotein I and anticardiolipin antibodies in antiphospholipid syndrome: contribution to diagnosis.

In this study we sought to assess (1) the diagnostic value of a combined search for anti-beta(2)-glycoprotein (abeta(2)-GPIs) and anticardiolipin antibodies (aCLs) in primary (APS I) and secondary (APS II) antiphospholipid syndrome and (2) the influence of the beta(2)-GPI preparation in the ELISA's results. abeta(2)-GPI and aCL concentrations were assessed in 70 patients with APS and compared with those in 65 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) without clinical features of APS. In APS patients (38 with APS I, 32 with APS II), the diagnosis had to have been made at least 3 years earlier; in subjects with SLE, the diagnosis had to have been made at least 5 years earlier.

Autoantibodies and human immunodeficiency viruses infection: a case-control study.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of organ-specific and non-specific autoantibodies in HIV-infected patients.

Design: A multicentric collaborative case-control study including 105 HIV patients and 100 sex- and age-matched HIV-negative healthy volunteers.

Methods: Antinuclear, anti-ds DNA, anti-histone, anti-Sm, rheumatoid factor(IgM), anti-beta 2 glycoprotein 1, antineutrophil cytoplasmic, anti-LKM1, anti-LCA1, anti-gastric parietal cell, antiplatelet, anti-intermediate filament, anti-mitotic spindle apparatus, anti-Golgi, anti-ribosome and anti-thyroid autoantibodies were screened in six European laboratories.

[Clinical significance of antiribosomal antibodies. Study Group on Autoimmunity (GEAI)].

Purpose: Autoantibodies directed against the ribosomal P proteins, P0, P1 and P2 (anti-P), have been related to lupus-related psychosis and/or depression. The diagnostic value of antibodies directed against other ribosomal proteins or 28S RNA (anti-no-P) remains unknown. A multicenter study including ten centers belonging to the study group for autoimmune diseases (GEAI) was conducted in order to determine the diagnostic value of anti-P and anti-no-P antibodies in a large population of patients.

Paraneoplastic pemphigus associated with Castleman's tumour.

We present a case of paraneoplastic pemphigus associated with Castleman's disease. Our patient had stomatitis and vulvar erosions followed by a cutaneous polymorphous eruption. Investigations for neoplasia disclosed a Castleman's tumour suggesting the diagnosis of paraneoplastic pemphigus.

Antibodies against macaque monoclonal immunoglobulin G in rheumatoid arthritis.

The presence of rheumatoid factors (RF) in the serum of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients is commonly evidenced by agglutination tests: the Waaler-Rose assay, based on the use of human red blood cells (RBCs) coated with rabbit anti-RBC antibodies, and the latex test, which uses latex particles coated with denatured human immunoglobulin G (IgG). The aim of the present study was to characterize the RF able to agglutinate human RBCs coated with macaque antihuman RBC IgG antibodies secreted from macaque-mouse heterohybridomas (two from rhesus monkey and one from crab-eating macaque). Human RBCs coated with macaque monoclonal antibodies (MacMoAbs) were used for agglutination tests and these were carried out in parallel with standard tests (Waaler-Rose and latex agglutination tests) on sera from 82 RA patients, 86 patients with other forms of inflammatory chronic arthritis and 47 healthy human subjects.

Serological markers of autoimmunity in renal transplant patients with chronic hepatitis C.

The aims of this prospective study were to assess the frequency of serological markers of autoimmunity and cryoglobulins in renal transplant (RT) patients presenting with chronic hepatitis C, and to correlate them with serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes and viremia, and HLA-DR phenotypes. Three groups of patients were studied: group I comprised 74 HCV + ve RT patients; group II, 33 HCV-ve RT patients, and group III, 13 HCV-ve/hepatitis B virus (HBV)-positive RT patients. The three groups did not differ significantly according to their mean age, sex ratio and baseline immunosuppression.

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies in children with inflammatory bowel disease: prevalence and diagnostic value.

Background: Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA), particularly perinuclear ANCA (p-ANCA), have been found more frequently in sera from patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) than in sera from Crohn's disease (CD) or unclassified enterocolitis (UE) patients. This 2-center study examined sera from 102 pediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to evaluate their diagnostic value and assess their relationship with disease features, distribution, activity and treatment.

Methods: The serum ANCA of 102 children with IBD were measured: 33 UC, 64 CD and 5 UE with various disease locations and degrees of activity.

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) in chronic graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

We studied the usefulness of monitoring antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) in chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD), a major complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Antigen-specific ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) were used to search for ANCA in 47 allogeneic bone marrow graft recipients who developed cGVHD and in 43 who did not (controls). Eight patients exhibited ANCA IIF positivity in the cGVHD group, but none in the controls.

No link between avascular necrosis of the femoral head and antiphospholipid antibodies.

The rate of occurrence of antiphospholipid antibodies was compared in 47 patients with avascular necrosis of the femoral head and in 47 controls matched on age and sex. Antiphospholipid antibodies were looked for using three techniques in each patient, namely the VDRL test, an ELISA for anticardiolipin, and a circulating anticoagulant detection procedure involving three different tests. The VDRL and the tests for circulating anticoagulants were negative in all the patients and controls.

[Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia with antibasement membrane activity of monoclonal immunoglobulin].

Introduction: Waldenström macroglobulinemia is a rare hematologic disorder with characteristic malignant plasma cell proliferation associated with the secretion of a IgM monoclonal immunoglobulin which is the cause of most of the clinical manifestations. Skin involvement is exceptional. We report a new case of Waldenström macroglobulinemia discovered in a patient who developed specific skin lesions with monoclonal immunoglobulin deposits.

Outcome of patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-associated vasculitis following cadaveric kidney transplantation.

In this retrospective study, we report on the progress of eight patients with biopsy-proven systemic vasculitis following cadaveric renal transplantation. Extrarenal manifestations associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCAs) were present in all but one case. All the patients were on cyclosporine A-based immunosuppression, and none of them had active disease at transplantation.

Polyreactivity of human monoclonal antibodies: human IgM anti-rhesus monoclonal antibodies are frequently polyreactive.

The aim of this study was to characterize human anti-Rhesus monoclonal antibodies cross-reacting with tissue antigens. Of the 155 monoclonal alloantibodies tested, 49 also reacted with intracellular antigens, as demonstrated by immunofluorescence assay on cryostat sections of animal and human tissues. This cross-reactivity was mainly a property of monoclonal alloantibodies belonging to the IgM isotype (among the 49 cross-reacting Mabs, 37 were IgM).

Serological markers of autoimmunity in renal transplant patients before and after alpha-interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis C.

Chronic hepatitis C is the major cause of chronic liver disease after successful cadaveric renal transplantation. The aims of this prospective, open study were to assess in such a population, firstly the prevalence of different organ-specific and nonspecific antibodies and related disorders, and secondly their outcome after inteferon-alpha therapy as well as the incidence of new immunologic disorders under and after this therapy. In 15 cadaveric renal transplant patients (10 men, 5 women, ages 29-65 years) with chronic hepatitis C and histological features of chronic active hepatitis, undergoing chronic immunosuppression (ciclosporine A with or without steroid and azathioprine) and treated with recombinant alpha 2b-interferon (IFN alpha) (mean duration 142 +/- 35 days), we assessed before and after this therapy the serum levels of cryoglobulinemia, rheumatoid factors (RF), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (fT4), and antinuclear (ANA), antismooth muscle (ASMA), antimitochondrial (AMA), anti-LKM1, antimicrosomal thyroid (MCA), antithyroglobulin (TGA) autoantibodies.

[Ultrastructural localisation of pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus antigens by indirect immunoelectron microscopy. Apropos of 7 cases].

Introduction: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and pemphigus foliaceus (PF) are autoimmune blistering diseases characterized by loss of cell-cell adhesion and by autoantibodies directed against epidermal cadherins. The ultrastructural localization of PV antigen remains controversial, whereas the location of PF antigen seems to be established. The use of different techniques could explain these various data.

[Immunoglobulin G subclass distribution of anti-intercellular substance antibodies in pemphigus].

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to analyze the IgG subclass distribution of pemphigus anti-epithelial cell surface (ECS) antibodies and to determine whether it differs according to clinical features.

Materials And Methods: 25 skin biopsies and 16 serum samples, obtained from 27 cases of pemphigus, were analyzed by direct and indirect IF staining, with mice anti-human IgG subclasses monoclonal antibodies.

Results: IgG1 deposits were observed in 21 of 25, IgG2 in 2, IgG3 in 0, and IgG4 in the 25 biopsies.