KEYWORDS Epidermolysis bullosa acquisita; Autoimmune subepidermal bullous disease Abstract Background: Epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA) is an autoimmune subepidermal blistering disease caused by autoantibodies to type VII collagen. The clinical presentation is variable, with skin and mucosal lesions that can cause significant dysfunction. Different treatment options exist, but the results ...

UNLABELLED A contributing factor to the loss of muscle mass and strength with adult aging is the reduction in the number of functioning motor units (MUs). Recently, we reported that lifelong competitive runners (master runners = ~66 yr) had greater numbers of MUs in a leg muscle (tibialis anterior) than age-matched recreationally active controls. This suggested that long-term exposure to high l...

In Greek mythology, the Chimera was an awesome fire-breathing monster with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a serpent, but in medicine, a chimera is a person composed of two genetically distinct types of cells. I learned from a fascinating ar ticle on immunity (Holloway, 2007) that human chimeras were first discovered when it was found that some people had more than one b...

Previous studies have shown that melanoma patients develop an im mune response to cell surface melanoma-associated antigens. The pres ence of this antibody response to cell surface antigens has been correlated with a better clinical outcome when melanoma patients are treated with an allogeneic melanoma cell vaccine (MCV) as an active immunotherapy protocol. It was hypothesized that the inabilit...

Morphea is a rare fibrosing disorder affecting the skin and underlying tissue. Also called localized scleroderma, morphea is characterized by lesions, which are initially erythematous or dusky violaceous patches eventually turning into hypopigmented sclerotic plaques with a typical lilac-coloured border. Generalized morphea is a rare subtype of morphea characterized by more than four le-sions o...

The field of neuroimmunology is providing growing evidence of active crosstalk between the immune system and the nervous system in health and during diverse pathological conditions. Experimental and clinical research now suggests that signaling from periphery to brain is important for maintaining homeostasis, but also has the potential to impact brain disease initiation or progression. Knowledg...

In an approach to antitumor agents with improved tumor specificity, the ricin toxic subunit A chain was covalently cou pled with a monoclonal lgG2b antibody directed against MM antigen, a tumor-specific antigen on syngeneic mouse mam mary tumor MM46 cells (anti-MM46 IgG), using N-succinimidyl 3-(2-pyridyldithio)propionate as cross-linking agent. The con jugate thus prepared (anti-MM46 conjugate...

drome, IgA paraproteinemia, and bron− chiectasis presented with a 3−month his− tory of worsening odynophagia and weight loss. Initial endoscopy revealed er− ythema in the mid− to distal esophagus and a small mucosal tear. Barium swallow, esophageal manometry, and 24−hour pH studies were all normal. Her symptoms worsened despite proton−pump inhibitor therapy. Repeat endoscopy showed denuded muco...

The critical early events in HIV-1 infection of the genital Oxford, OX3 9DS tract must be identified in order to develop effective United Kingdom measures to interrupt transmission. The chemokine re-Introduction ceptor CCR5 is the principal coreceptor used by HIV-1 In the four decades that human immunodeficiency virus for entry into cells in primary infection. Although in vitro type 1 (HIV-1) h...

fetal alloimmune thrombocytopenia-a less invasive option? J Obstet study of the antenatal management of feto-maternal alloimmune thrombocytopenia. Antenatal noninvasive treatment of patients at risk for alloimmune thrombocytopenia without a history of intracranial hemorrhage. Am Hung C, et al. Antepartum treatment without early cordocentesis for standard-risk alloimmune thrombocytopenia: a rand...