The ileal mucosa of Crohn disease (CD) patients is abnormally colonized by adherent-invasive E. coli (AIEC) that are able to adhere to and invade intestinal epithelial cells. Here, we show that CD-associated AIEC strains adhere to the brush border of primary ileal enterocytes isolated from CD patients but not controls without inflammatory bowel disease. AIEC adhesion is dependent on type 1 pili...

We recently presented the case of a first century AD young woman, found in the archaeological site of Cosa, showing clinical signs of malnutrition, such as short height, osteoporosis, dental enamel hypoplasia and cribra orbitalia, indirect sign of anemia, all strongly suggestive for celiac disease (CD). However, whether these findings were actually associated to CD was not shown based on geneti...

Chagas disease (CD) - a tropical parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi - is a major health problem in Latin America. The immune response against the parasite is responsible for chronic CD lesions. Currently, there are no reports of an association between CD and membranous nephropathy (MN). The detection of the phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) as a target antigen in idiopa...

We recently presented the case of a first century AD young woman, found in the archaeological site of Cosa, showing clinical signs of malnutrition, such as short height, osteoporosis, dental enamel hypoplasia and cribra orbitalia, indirect sign of anemia, all strongly suggestive for celiac disease (CD). However, whether these findings were actually associated to CD was not shown based on geneti...

Hyperpolarization-activated cation (HCN) channels regulate pacemaking activity in cardiac cells and neurons. Our previous work using the specific HCN channel blocker ZD7288 provided evidence for an intracellular activation gate for these channels because it appears that ZD7288, applied from the intracellular side, can enter and leave HCN channels only at voltages where the activation gate is op...

In a group of 117 patients with multiple myeloma (MM) examined at the time of diagnosis, i.e. excluding previous chemotherapy, we analysed the levels of propidium-iodide (proliferative) - PC-PI/CD(138) and annexin-V (apoptotic) - PC-AI/CD(138) indices of myeloma plasmocytes using the method of flow-cytometry to determine their relationship to prognosis. It was revealed that patients with high v...

Tissue remodeling and mesenchymal cell accumulation accompanies chronic inflammatory disorders involving joints, lung, vasculature, and bowel. Chronic inflammation may alter DNA-mismatch repair (MMR) systems in mesenchymal cells, but is not defined in Crohn's disease (CD) and its associated intestinal remodeling and stricture formation. We determined whether DNA-MMR alteration plays a role in t...

Previously, we reported that adenoviral vectors carrying the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) promoter sequences to direct the Echerichia coli beta-galactosidase gene (AdCEA-lacZ) or cytosine deaminase (CD) gene (AdCEA-CD) confer selective gene expression on a CEA-positive gastric cancer cell line (MKN45) in vitro. Here, adenovirus-mediated tumor-specific gene therapy for CEA-positive gastric car...

Mice responses to immunization with Schistosoma mansoni antigens were investigated. Priming with cercarial antigen preparation (CAP) induced significant (P < 0.05) IgM, IgG, IgG2a, IgG2b, and IgA increases, while booster caused a significant IgG1 increase. A soluble worm antigen preparation (SWAP) caused significant IgG elevation. Priming with soluble egg antigen (SEA) caused significant IgM an...