Investigating the link between Helicobacter pylori infection and psoriatic disease: an immunological study.

Helicobacter pylori (Hp) has been postulated as an infectious trigger of psoriatic disease, namely psoriasis (Ps) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), but meticulous antibody (ab) reactivity against all dominant and subdominant Hp antigens in demographically matched PsA and Ps patients and healthy controls has not been performed so far. IgG anti-Hp ab testing was performed by combining immunoblotting and line assays in 263 serum samples from 89 patients with PsA, 114 patients with Ps, and 60 demographically matched healthy controls (HCs). Anti-Hp positivity did not differ between PsA, Ps, and HCs (P > 0.

Relationship between Contingent Negative Variation and afterimage duration in migraine patients.

Background: Abnormalities in electrocortical parameters and persistence of afterimage after visual stimulation are known to occur in migraine patients. The results of studies on Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) and afterimage persistence in migraine patients suggest a link between these two phenomena and a connection to the pathomechanism of migraine.

Objectives: To date, no studies have investigated both afterimage duration and CNV parameters in the same subjects.

Anti-Ro52 antibody is highly prevalent and a marker of better prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer.

Background And Aims: Anti-Ro52 antibody (Ab) reactivity is highly prevalent in autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs), mainly Sjögren's syndrome (SjS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but also in other inflammatory disorders. Thorough assessment of the prevalence, clinical significance and epitope specificity of Ro52-autoAbs in cancerous diseases is still lacking.

Material And Methods: Anti-Ro52 Ab reactivity was tested in a large cohort of 490 patients with various malignant diseases.

Autoantibodies against specific nuclear antigens are present in psoriatic disease and are diminished by secukinumab.

Anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) are frequently detected in patients with psoriasis (Ps) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), but their target autoantigens remain unknown. We assessed antibody (ab) reactivity against 23 known nuclear antigens in patients with Ps and PsA and assess the effects of secukinumab (anti-IL17A) treatment on ANA levels. A total of 201 patients, 101 with Ps and 100 with PsA, and 50 ANA-negative healthy controls (HCs) were tested for ANAs by a line immunoassay testing reactivity to 23 nuclear antigens.

A study of antigen-specific anti-cytomegalovirus antibody reactivity in patients with systemic sclerosis and concomitant anti-Ro52 antibodies.

Anti-Ro52 autoantibody (autoAb), highly prevalent in Sjogren's syndrome (SjS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is also frequent in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Viral agents, such as human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), have been considered as a trigger for SSc and SSc-associated autoAbs. To seek for antigen-specific anti-HCMV associations with anti-Ro52, we assessed the dominant anti-HCMV ab responses in anti-Ro52 antibody (ab)-positive and -negative patients with SSc and compared them with those in SLE and SjS.

A comprehensive analysis of antigen-specific autoimmune liver disease related autoantibodies in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Introduction: Abnormal liver function tests are frequently seen in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and their origin at times is attributed to the possible co-occurrence or the de novo induction of autoimmune liver diseases (AILD), namely autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), but comprehensive analysis of AILD-related autoantibody has not been carried out.

Aim: To assess the presence of AILD-related autoantibodies in a well-defined cohort of MS patients, and to assess their clinical significance.

Materials And Methods: 133 MS (93 female) patients (102 RRMS, 27 SPMS, and 5 PPMS), mean age 42.

Antigen-specific humoral responses against Helicobacter pylori in patients with systemic sclerosis.

Helicobacter pylori (Hp) is a likely trigger of systemic sclerosis (SSc), but systemic antigen-specific antibody (Ab) responses in a well-defined cohort of SSc patients have not been thoroughly assessed. Line immunoassay and immunoblotting testing Abs against 15 Hp antigens were performed in 91 SSc patients and 59 demographically matched healthy controls (HCs). Results were validated in an independent cohort of 35 SSc patients.

Autoantibodies in Myositis. How to Achieve a Comprehensive Strategy for Serological Testing.

Myopathies are a rare type of acquired, chronic autoimmune diseases of the skeletal muscles and affect both children and adults. The hallmark symptoms of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are muscle inflammation, proximal muscle weakness and disability, arthritis, cutaneous rashes, calcinosis, ulceration, malignancy and interstitial lung disease (ILD). Subforms of IIM include polymyositis, dermatomyositis, cancer-related myositis and sporadic inclusion body myositis.

Effects of IVIg treatment on autoantibody testing in neurological patients: marked reduction in sensitivity but reliable specificity.

Background: Therapy of autoimmune diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system with intravenous IgG immunoglobulin (IVIg) is well established. Since IVIg is produced from pooled human plasma, autoantibodies can be found in IVIg products and, accordingly, in patient sera after transfusion. The de novo evidence or disappearance of anti-neural autoantibodies after IVIg treatment has so far not been systematically examined.

A comprehensive analysis of antigen-specific antibody responses against human cytomegalovirus in patients with systemic sclerosis.

Anti-human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) antibodies are considered triggers of systemic sclerosis (SSc), but such a hypothesis has been assessed in limited sub-dominant epitopes. Our aim was to systematically assess the potential association of HCMV antibodies targeting most immunodominant and subdominant viral antigens, as this would reveal immunopathogenic associations. Our study included 110 SSc patients, 60 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, and 51 healthy controls (HC).

Anti-Ro60 Seropositivity Determines Anti-Ro52 Epitope Mapping in Patients With Systemic Sclerosis.

Epitope mapping of anti-Ro52 antibodies (Abs) has been extensively studied in patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SjS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Comprehensive epitope mapping in systemic sclerosis (SSc), where anti-Ro52 antibodies are also frequently detected, has not been performed. The aim of the present study was to fully characterize Ro52 epitopes in anti-Ro52-positive SSc using Ro52 fragments spanning the full antigen.

A Community Study of Antibodies among Individuals with Prior Lyme Disease in Endemic Areas.

The objective was to examine the prevalence of antibodies among symptomatic individuals with recent and past Lyme disease in endemic communities using standard assays and novel assays employing next-generation antigenic substrates. Single- and two-tiered algorithms included different anti- ELISAs and immunoblots. Antibody prevalence was examined in sera from 32 individuals with recent erythema migrans (EM), 335 individuals with persistent symptoms following treatment for Lyme disease (PTLS), and 41 community controls without a history of Lyme disease.

An update on behavioral treatments in migraine - current knowledge and future options.

Besides pharmacological and interventional treatments a variety of non-medical therapeutic options exist for migraine, which has largely been derived from behavioral therapy. Areas covered: For our update we collected available studies via PubMed searches. This review highlights that already consulting of the patient is able to reduce the frequency of migraine attacks.

Immune responses against Helicobacter pylori-specific antigens differentiate relapsing remitting from secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.

To assess whether Helicobacter pylori (Hp) antibody (ab) reactivity against individual Hp antigens is pathogenetically relevant to multiple sclerosis (MS), we systematically investigated prevalence and clinical significance of abs against 14 immunodominant and subdominant Hp antigens by ELISA and immunoblotting in 139 consecutive MS patients with relapsing-remitting (RRMS, n = 102) or secondary progressive (SPMS, n = 37). Sera from 39 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), 21 with Alzheimer's disease (ALZ) and 68 healthy controls (HCs), were also tested. Anti-flagellin (18.

Multiparametric Detection of Antibodies against Different EBV Antigens to Predict Risk for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in a High-Risk Population of China.

In this study, we aimed to use the combined detection of multiple antibodies against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antigens to develop a model for screening and diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Samples of 300 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients and 494 controls, including 294 healthy subjects (HC), 99 non-nasopharyngeal carcinoma cancer patients (NNPC), and 101 patients with benign nasopharyngeal lesions (BNL), were incubated with the EUROLINE Anti-EBV Profile 2, and band intensities were used to establish a risk prediction model. The nasopharyngeal carcinoma risk probability analysis based on the panel of VCAgp125 IgA, EBNA-1 IgA, EA-D IgA, EBNA-1 IgG, EAD IgG, and VCAp19 IgG displayed the best performance.

Disease-related autoantibody profile in patients with systemic sclerosis.

Background: Autoantibodies (autoAbs) help in diagnosis and predicting clinical phenotypes in systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Aim Of The Study: To determine the clinical utility of 13 SSc-related autoAbs in SSc patients.

Material And Methods: A total of 131 consecutive patients with SSc (111 female, mean age 58.

Increased immunoreactivity against human cytomegalovirus UL83 in systemic sclerosis.

Objectives: To study immunoreactivity against human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in systemic sclerosis (SSc), since HCMV has been put forward as a candidate infectious cause.

Methods: Eighty four patients with SSc (67 females; median age 60 years, range 25-81), 30 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) (23 females; median age 44, range 20-69 years) and 28 healthy controls (NCs), all pre-tested positive for IgG anti-HCMV antibodies, were studied. IgG anti-UL83 HCMV antibodies were tested by western immunoblotting and expressed in arbitrary units (AUs).

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) UL44 and UL57 specific antibody responses in anti-HCMV-positive patients with systemic sclerosis.

The role of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has been postulated as a trigger of systemic sclerosis (SSc). The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of antibodies against HCMV UL44 and UL57 antigens not tested in the past. Sixty SSc patients, 40 multiple sclerosis and 17 normal controls (NCs), all anti-HCMV positive, were tested by immunoblotting.

Anti-hsp60 antibody responses based on Helicobacter pylori in patients with multiple sclerosis: (ir)Relevance to disease pathogenesis.

In view of published data suggesting that Helicobacter pylori (Hp) is a trigger of multiple sclerosis (MS), we assessed anti-heat shock protein 60 (hsp60)Hp antibody reactivity in 129 MS patients and 48 demograpically-matched healthy controls (HCs). Anti-Hp antibodies by ELISA were more elevated in MS than HCs but did not differ between different MS phenotypes. All anti-Hp-positive MS sera, irrespectively of their clinical phenotype, were anti-anti-hsp60 positive.

Serological epitope profile of anti-Ro52-positive patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases.

Background: Ro52 is an interferon-inducible protein of the tripartite motif family. Antibodies against Ro52 have been described in patients with different autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren's syndrome, that are often associated with anti-Ro60 antibodies. The Ro52 autoantigen is extraordinarily immunogenic, and its autoantibodies are directed against both linear and conformational epitopes.

Disease duration of episodic migraine correlates with modified amplitudes and habituation of contingent negative variation.

Cortical habituation in episodic migraine patients without medication overuse headache (MOH), recorded by contingent negative variation (CNV), is often reduced compared with healthy controls. There is evidence that with longer duration of migraine disease (DOD) amplitudes and habituation of CNV become progressively abnormal. The aim of the study was to examine habituation characteristics of contingent negative variation in episodic migraine patients suffering from short- and long-lasting migraine compared to matched healthy controls.

Sexuality and affection among elderly German men and women in long-term relationships: results of a prospective population-based study.

Satisfaction with sexual activity i.e. sexual satisfaction and the importance of sexuality and affection were analysed using data from the German "Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development" (ILSE).