Articles

Rituximab in refractory sarcoidosis: a single centre experience

Sarcoidosis is a granulomatous disease whose outcome varies from spontaneous remission to chronic refractory disease. Provided that steroids represent the gold standard as a first line treatment, many immune s...

Authors: Francesco Cinetto, Nicolò Compagno, Riccardo Scarpa, Giacomo Malipiero and Carlo Agostini

Escaping the trap of allergic rhinitis

Rhinitis is often the first symptom of allergy but is frequently ignored and classified as a nuisance condition. Ironically it has the greatest socioeconomic burden worldwide caused by its impact on work and o...

Authors: Oliviero Rossi, Ilaria Massaro, Marco Caminati, Cristina Quecchia, Filippo Fassio, Enrico Heffler and Giorgio Walter Canonica

TL1A/DR3 axis involvement in the inflammatory cytokine network during pulmonary sarcoidosis

TNF-like ligand 1A (TL1A), a recently recognized member of the TNF superfamily, and its death domain receptor 3 (DR3), firstly identified for their relevant role in T lymphocyte homeostasis, are now well-known...

Authors: M. Facco, A. Cabrelle, F. Calabrese, A. Teramo, F. Cinetto, S. Carraro, V. Martini, F. Calzetti, N. Tamassia, M. A. Cassatella, G. Semenzato and C. Agostini

The perception of allergen-specific immunotherapy among pediatricians in the primary care setting

Allergic respiratory diseases are constantly increasing in prevalence. Allergen Immunotherapy (AIT) represent a valuable therapeutic tool as symptomatic and preventative approach, expecially in children. In It...

Authors: Massimo Landi, Paolo Meglio, Ermanno Praitano, Carlo Lombardi, Giovanni Passalacqua and Giorgio Walter Canonica

Perianal Crohn’s disease and hidradenitis suppurativa: a possible common immunological scenario

Crohn’s disease (CD) and Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) are both chronic inflammatory diseases. The pathogenesis of these diseases is multifactorial, due to the interaction of genetic and environmental factors ...

Authors: Francesco Giudici, Laura Maggi, Raffaella Santi, Lorenzo Cosmi, Cristina Scaletti, Francesco Annunziato, Gabriella Nesi, Giusi Barra, Gabrio Bassotti, Raffaele De Palma and Francesco Tonelli

Engineered metal based nanoparticles and innate immunity

Almost all people in developed countries are exposed to metal nanoparticles (MeNPs) that are used in a large number of applications including medical (for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes). Once inside the ...

Authors: Claudia Petrarca, Emanuela Clemente, Valentina Amato, Paola Pedata, Enrico Sabbioni, Giovanni Bernardini, Ivo Iavicoli, Sara Cortese, Qiao Niu, Takemi Otsuki, Roberto Paganelli and Mario Di Gioacchino

Erratum: Prevalence of positive atopy patch test in an unselected pediatric population

Authors: Nicola Fuiano, Giuliana Diddi, Maurizio Delvecchio and Cristoforo Incorvaia

Prevalence of perennial severe allergic asthma in Italy and effectiveness of omalizumab in its management: PROXIMA – an observational, 2 phase, patient reported outcomes study

We designed the PROXIMA study (Patient-Reported Outcomes and Xolair^® In the Management of Asthma) to determine the proportion of patients with severe asthma sensitive to perennial allergens, and to evaluate asthm...

Authors: Giorgio Walter Canonica, Marta Bartezaghi, Raffaele Marino and Laura Rigoni

Identification of risk factors of severe hypersensitivity reactions in general anaesthesia

Hypersensitivity reactions to anaesthetic agents are rare but often severe, with a mortality ranging from 4 to 9% in IgE-mediated events. Identification of the risk factors may contribute to limit the incidenc...

Authors: Corrado Mirone, Donatella Preziosi, Ambra Mascheri, Gianluigi Micarelli, Laura Farioli, Luca G Balossi, Joseph Scibilia, Jan Schroeder, Laura M Losappio, Maria G Aversano, Chrysi Stafylaraki, Michele Nichelatti and Elide A Pastorello

Choosing wisely: practical considerations on treatment efficacy and safety of asthma in the elderly

The prevalence of asthma in the most advanced ages is similar to that of younger ages. However, the concept that older individuals may suffer from allergic asthma has been largely denied in the past, and a com...

Authors: Nicola Scichilone, Maria T Ventura, Matteo Bonini, Fulvio Braido, Caterina Bucca, Marco Caminati, Stefano Del Giacco, Enrico Heffler, Carlo Lombardi, Andrea Matucci, Manlio Milanese, Roberto Paganelli, Giovanni Passalacqua, Vincenzo Patella, Erminia Ridolo, Giovanni Rolla…

T helper cell mediated-tolerance towards fetal allograft in successful pregnancy

Trophoblast HLA-C antigens from paternal origins, which liken the trophoblast to a semiallograft, could be presented by the maternal APCs to the specific maternal CD4+ T helper cells, which could release vario...

Authors: Marie-Pierre Piccinni, Letizia Lombardelli, Federica Logiodice, Ornela Kullolli, Sergio Romagnani and Philippe Le Bouteiller

Serum tryptase detected during acute coronary syndrome is significantly related to the development of major adverse cardiovascular events after 2 years

One of the greatest challenges in cardiovascular medicine is to define the best tools for performing an accurate risk stratification for the recurrence of ischemic events in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patie...

Authors: Elide Anna Pastorello, Laura Farioli, Laura Michelina Losappio, Nuccia Morici, Matteo Di Biase, Michele Nichelatti, Jan Walter Schroeder, Luca Balossi and Silvio Klugmann

Pidotimod: the state of art

Despite the use of antibiotics and vaccines, the frequency of respiratory tract infections is still high and these infections interest a wide range of patients, from children to aged people, including in parti...

Authors: Beatrice E Ferrario, Silvia Garuti, Fulvio Braido and Giorgio W Canonica

European medicines agency guideline for biological medicinal products: a further step for a safe use of biosimilars

Authors: Carlo Agostini, Giorgio Walter Canonica and Enrico Maggi

Prevalence of positive atopy patch test in an unselected pediatric population

In the latest decades, epidemiological studies on allergic disorders in children, including atopic dermatitis, rhinitis and asthma, demonstrated a continuous increase in prevalence. However, such studies are u...

Authors: Nicola Fuiano, Giuliana Diddi, Maurizio Delvecchio and Cristoforo Incorvaia C

Welcome to a new era for Clinical and Molecular Allergy

Authors: Enrico Maggi

Evaluation of basophil allergen threshold sensitivity (CD-sens) to peanut and Ara h 8 in children IgE-sensitized to Ara h 8

Diagnosing peanut allergy properly is important and can be achieved by combining clinical history with various diagnostic methods such as IgE-antibody (IgE-ab) measurements, skin-prick test, basophil allergen ...

Authors: Susanne Glaumann, Caroline Nilsson, S G O Johansson, Anna Asarnoj, Magnus Wickman, Magnus P Borres and Anna Nopp

The perception of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea/Hypopnoea Syndrome (OSAHS) among Italian general practitioners

Obstructive Sleep Apnoea/Hypopnoea Syndrome (OSAHS) is a common disorder in the general population but often underestimated and underdiagnosed.

Authors: Carlo Lombardi, Eleonora Musicco, Germano Bettoncelli, Manlio Milanese, Gianenrico Senna, Fulvio Braido and Giorgio Walter Canonica

Bilastine: new insight into antihistamine treatment

Bilastine is a new second generation H1-antihistamine recently approved for the symptomatic treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR) and chronic urticaria (CU). Bilastine epitomizes the evolution of research on ant...

Authors: Erminia Ridolo, Marcello Montagni, Laura Bonzano, Cristoforo Incorvaia and Giorgio Walter Canonica

Remission of severe aphthous stomatitis of celiac disease with etanercept

Celiac disease is a common autoimmune disease triggered by gluten-containing foods (wheat, barley and rye) in genetically predisposed individuals. We present a patient with celiac disease complicated by severe...

Authors: Adey Hasan, Hiren Patel, Hana Saleh, George Youngberg, John Litchfield and Guha Krishnaswamy

The silent sinus syndrome: protean manifestations of a rare upper respiratory disorder revisited

Silent Sinus Syndrome (SSS) is known to be a rare clinical condition, characterized by spontaneous and progressive enophthalmos and hypoglobus associated with atelectasis of the maxillary sinus and alteration ...

Authors: Denisse E Guillen, Paulette M Pinargote and Juan C Guarderas

The retinoic acid receptor-α modulators ATRA and Ro415253 reciprocally regulate human IL-5+ Th2 cell proliferation and cytokine expression

Th2 cytokine responses are enhanced by all trans retinoic acid (ATRA), the bioavailable form of vitamin A. Retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARα) is the high affinity receptor for ATRA that mediates these pro-Th2...

Authors: Daniel L Wansley, Yuzhi Yin and Calman Prussin

Association between a low IgE response to Phl p 5 and absence of asthma in patients with grass pollen allergy

The introduction of component-resolved diagnosis was a great advance in diagnosis of allergy. In particular, molecular allergy techniques allowed investigation of the association between given molecular profil...

Authors: Eleonora Savi, Silvia Peveri, Cristoforo Incorvaia, Ilaria Dell’Albani, Francesco Marcucci, Giuseppe Di Cara and Franco Frati

β-lactam allergy: clinical implications and costs

β-lactam allergy is the most commonly reported medication allergy and it remains a key issue in antibiotic prescribing. A detailed and accurate history taking play a key role in preventing potentially serious ...

Authors: Giovanni Satta, Victoria Hill, Marisa Lanzman and Indran Balakrishnan

Inhaled corticosteroid use is associated with increased circulating T regulatory cells in children with asthma

T regulatory (Treg) cells are important in balancing immune responses and dysregulation of Treg cells has been implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple disease states including asthma. In this study, our pri...

Authors: Anne Marie Singh, Paul Dahlberg, Kristjan Burmeister, Michael D Evans, Ronald Gangnon, Kathy A Roberg, Christopher Tisler, Douglas DaSilva, Tressa Pappas, Lisa Salazar, Robert F Lemanske Jr, James E Gern and Christine M Seroogy

IL-3 and TNFα increase Thymic Stromal Lymphopoietin Receptor (TSLPR) expression on eosinophils and enhance TSLP-stimulated degranulation

Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) and eosinophils are prominent components of allergic inflammation. Therefore, we sought to determine whether TSLP could activate eosinophils, focusing on measuring the regul...

Authors: Ellen B Cook, James L Stahl, Elizabeth A Schwantes, Kristen E Fox and Sameer K Mathur

Specific IgE response to different grass pollen allergen components in children undergoing sublingual immunotherapy

Grass pollen is a major cause of respiratory allergy worldwide and contain a number of allergens, some of theme (Phl p 1, Phl p 2, Phl p 5, and Phl 6 from Phleum pratense, and their homologous in other grasses) a...

Authors: Francesco Marcucci, Laura Sensi, Cristoforo Incorvaia, Ilaria Dell’Albani, Giuseppe Di Cara and Franco Frati

Oral HPV infection and MHC class II deficiency (A study of two cases with atypical outcome)

Major histocompatibility complex class II deficiency, also referred to as bare lymphocyte syndrome is a rare primary Immunodeficiency disorder characterized by a profondly deficient human leukocyte antigen cla...

Authors: Naouel Guirat-Dhouib, Yemen Baccar, Imène Ben Mustapha, Monia Ouederni, Sameh Chouaibi, Nadia El Fekih, Mohamed Ridha Barbouche, Bassima Fezaa, Ridha Kouki, Slama Hmida, Fethi Mellouli and Mohamed Bejaoui

Anaphylactic Reactions to Oligosaccharides in Red Meat: a Syndrome in Evolution

While most allergic responses to food are directed against protein epitopes and occur within 30 minutes of ingesting the allergen, recent studies suggest that delayed reactions may occur, sometimes mediated by...

Authors: Hana Saleh, Scott Embry, Andromeda Nauli, Seif Atyia and Guha Krishnaswamy

Clara cell protein in nasal lavage fluid and nasal nitric oxide - biomarkers with anti-inflammatory properties in allergic rhinitis

Clara cell protein (CC16) is ascribed a protective and anti-inflammatory role in airway inflammation. Lower levels have been observed in asthmatic subjects as well as in subjects with intermittent allergic rhi...

Authors: Kristina Irander, Jörgen P Palm, Magnus P Borres and Bijar Ghafouri

Enhanced effects of cigarette smoke extract on inflammatory cytokine expression in IL-1β-activated human mast cells were inhibited by Baicalein via regulation of the NF-κB pathway

Human mast cells are capable of a wide variety of inflammatory responses and play a vital role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases such as allergy, asthma, and atherosclerosis. We have reported that c...

Authors: David S Chi, Ta-Chang Lin, Kenton Hall, Tuanzhu Ha, Chuanfu Li, Zong Doa Wu, Thomas Soike and Guha Krishnaswamy

Defining the molecular role of gp91phox in the immune manifestation of acute allergic asthma using a preclinical murine model

The phenomena manifested during inflammation require interplay between circulating effector cells, local resident cells, soluble mediators and genetic host factors to establish, develop and maintain itself. Of...

Authors: Ena Ray Banerjee and William R Henderson Jr

The usefulness of casein-specific IgE and IgG4 antibodies in cow's milk allergic children

Cow's milk allergy is one of the most common food allergies among younger children. We investigated IgE antibodies to milk, and IgE and IgG4 antibodies to casein, α-lactalbumin and β-lactoglobulin in cow's mil...

Authors: Komei Ito, Masaki Futamura, Robert Movérare, Akira Tanaka, Tsutomu Kawabe, Tatsuo Sakamoto and Magnus P Borres

Case report of a young child with disseminated histoplasmosis and review of hyper immunoglobulin e syndrome (HIES)

Type 1 hyper IgE syndrome (HIES), also known as Job's Syndrome, is an autosomal dominant disorder due to defects in STAT3 signaling and Th17 differentiation. Symptoms may present during infancy but diagnosis i...

Authors: Wilson S Robinson, Sandra R Arnold, Christie F Michael, John D Vickery, Robert A Schoumacher, Eniko K Pivnick, Jewell C Ward, Vijaya Nagabhushanam and Dukhee B Lew

Chronic granulomatous disease, the McLeod phenotype and the contiguous gene deletion syndrome-a review

Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD), a disorder of the NADPH oxidase system, results in phagocyte functional defects and subsequent infections with bacterial and fungal pathogens (such as Aspergillus species and

Authors: Casey E Watkins, John Litchfield, Eunkyung Song, Gayatri B Jaishankar, Niva Misra, Nikhil Holla, Michelle Duffourc and Guha Krishnaswamy

Early gene expression changes with rush immunotherapy

To examine whether whole genome expression profiling could reveal changes in mRNA expression of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from allergic patients undergoing rush immunotherapy (RIT) that might b...

Authors: Laurie S Davis, Sumit Bhutani, Sherry Ridz Barnett and David A Khan

T cell activity in successful treatment of chronic urticaria with omalizumab

Omalizumab, a humanized monoclonal anti-IgE antibody has the potential to alter allergen processing. Recently, it has been postulated the assessment of PHA-stimulated adenosine triphosphate (ATP) activity as m...

Authors: Inmaculada Sánchez-Machín, Javier Iglesias-Souto, Andrés Franco, Yvelise Barrios, Ruperto Gonzalez and Víctor Matheu

Chronic granulomatous disease: a review of the infectious and inflammatory complications

Chronic Granulomatous Disease is the most commonly encountered immunodeficiency involving the phagocyte, and is characterized by repeated infections with bacterial and fungal pathogens, as well as the formatio...

Authors: EunKyung Song, Gayatri Bala Jaishankar, Hana Saleh, Warit Jithpratuck, Ryan Sahni and Guha Krishnaswamy

The clinical implications of adult-onset henoch-schonelin purpura

Henoch-Schonlein Purpura (HSP) is a small vessel vasculitis mediated by IgA-immune complex deposition. It is characterized by the clinical tetrad of non-thrombocytopenic palpable purpura, abdominal pain, arthr...

Authors: Warit Jithpratuck, Yasmin Elshenawy, Hana Saleh, George Youngberg, David S Chi and Guha Krishnaswamy

Exhaled nitric oxide and urinary EPX levels in infants: a pilot study

Objective markers of early airway inflammation in infants are not established but are of great interest in a scientific setting. Exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and urinary eosinophilic protein X (uEPX) are a two ...

Authors: Fredrik Carlstedt, Dagmara Lazowska, Carl-Gustaf Bornehag, Anna-Carin Olin and Mikael Hasselgren

Effect of anti-IgE therapy on food allergen specific T cell responses in eosinophil associated gastrointestinal disorders

Anti-IgE therapy inhibits mast cell and basophil activation, blocks IgE binding to both FcεRI and CD23 and down regulates FcεRI expression by antigen (Ag) presenting cells (APCs). In addition to its classical ...

Authors: Barbara Foster, Shabnam Foroughi, Yuzhi Yin and Calman Prussin

Relevance of laboratory testing for the diagnosis of primary immunodeficiencies: a review of case-based examples of selected immunodeficiencies

The field of primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs) is one of several in the area of clinical immunology that has not been static, but rather has shown exponential growth due to enhanced physician, scientist and pa...

Authors: Roshini S Abraham

Assessment of efficacy and impact on work productivity and attendance after a mandatory switch to generic second-generation antihistamines: results of a patient survey in Norway

In 2006, the Norwegian Medicines Agency mandated a switch from desloratadine, ebastine, or fexofenadine to cetirizine or loratadine in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) or chronic urticaria (CU). In an onli...

Authors: Fredrik Thorn, Halvor Celius, Tone Ødegård, Randeep Mandla and Erik Hexeberg

Anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory effects of butanol extract from Arctium Lappa L

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic, allergic inflammatory skin disease that is accompanied by markedly increased levels of inflammatory cells, including eosinophils, mast cells, and T cells. Arctium lappa L. is a tra...

Authors: Eun-Hwa Sohn, Seon-A Jang, Haemi Joo, Sulkyoung Park, Se-Chan Kang, Chul-Hoon Lee and Sun-Young Kim

Patients with allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma share the same pattern of eosinophil and neutrophil degranulation after allergen challenge

Patients with allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma demonstrate comparable local and systemic eosinophil inflammation, and yet they present with different clinical pictures. Less is even known about the contri...

Authors: Mary Kämpe, Ingrid Stolt, Maria Lampinen, Christer Janson, Gunnemar Stålenheim and Marie Carlson

Down regulation of the high-affinity IgE receptor associated with successful treatment of chronic idiopathic urticaria with omalizumab

Chronic idiopathic urticaria is a condition that is often controllable with antihistamine therapy. However, some patients have disease burden that is difficult to manage, non-responsive to antihistamines and o...

Authors: Michael C Saavedra and Sanjiv Sur

Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is associated with allergic rhinitis in children with asthma

Allergic rhinitis (AR) affects up to 80% of children with asthma and increases asthma severity. Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is a key mediator of allergic inflammation. The role of the TSLP gene (TSLP) in ...

Authors: Supinda Bunyavanich, Erik Melen, Jemma B Wilk, Mark Granada, Manuel E Soto-Quiros, Lydiana Avila, Jessica Lasky-Su, Gary M Hunninghake, Magnus Wickman, Göran Pershagen, George T O'Connor, Scott T Weiss and Juan C Celedόn

Skin prick testing does not reflect the presence of IgE against food allergens in adult eosinophilic esophagitis patients: a case study

Skin prick testing is widely used to predict the presence of allergen-specific IgE. In eosinophilic esophagitis patients, who frequently exhibit polysensitization and broad reactivity upon skin prick testing, ...

Authors: Toral A Kamdar, Anne M Ditto and Paul J Bryce

Aspergillus fumigatus allergen expression is coordinately regulated in response to hydrogen peroxide and cyclic AMP

A. fumigatus has been associated with a wide spectrum of allergic disorders such as ABPA or SAFS. It is poorly understood what allergens in particular are being expressed during fungal invasion and which are resp...

Authors: Marcin G Fraczek, Rifat Rashid, Marian Denson, David W Denning and Paul Bowyer

Polymorphisms of two histamine-metabolizing enzymes genes and childhood allergic asthma: a case control study

Histamine-metabolizing enzymes (N-methyltransferase and amiloride binding protein 1) are responsible for histamine degradation, a biogenic amine involved in allergic inflammation. Genetic variants of HNMT and ABP...

Authors: Aleksandra Szczepankiewicz, Anna Bręborowicz, Paulina Sobkowiak and Anna Popiel