High-dose melphalan (HDM) plus stem cell transplantation is an effective treatment for light-chain amyloidosis (AL), but is associated with high treatment-related mortality in patients with cardiac involvement. We studied 187 patients with cardiac involvement with AL who underwent HDM between 1996 and 2008. The median age was 57 years and the median time from diagnosis to HDM was 3.6 months. Ha...

Background Skin prick tests (SPTs) has relatively a good correlation with allergen-specific IgE against house dust mites (HDM) and pollens, whereas their correlation to fungi remains low. We aimed to investigate the correlation between results of serum specific IgE and SPTs for HDM or fungi in patients with chronic lower respiratory symptoms. The clinical difference between serum fungus or HDM-...

Abstract Background House dust mite (HDM) inhalation can cause airway epithelial damage which is implicated in the process of inflammation asthma. High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) critically required for cellular and apoptosis as an important endogenous danger signal. Recently, Clara cell 16KDa protein (CC16) has been identified to exert anti-inflammatory immunomodulatory influence various inj...

The GTPase-accelerating protein, regulator of G-protein signalling 2 (RGS2) reduces signalling from G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that signal via Gαq. In humans, RGS2 expression is up-regulated by inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) and long-acting β2-adrenoceptor agonists (LABAs) such that synergy is produced in combination. This may contribute to the superior clinical efficacy of ICS/LABA th...

Blocking the bioactivity of allergens is conceptually attractive as a small-molecule therapy for allergic diseases but has not been attempted previously. Group 1 allergens of house dust mites (HDM) are meaningful targets in this quest because they are globally prevalent and clinically important triggers of allergic asthma. Group 1 HDM allergens are cysteine peptidases whose proteolytic activity...

Impaired airway epithelial barrier function has emerged as a key factor in the pathogenesis of allergic asthma. We aimed to discern the involvement of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in allergen-induced epithelial barrier impairment, as we previously observed that house dust mite (HDM) signals through EGFR. We investigated the junctional integrity of human bronchial epithelial cells...

BACKGROUND The immunological mechanism in aetiology of atopic dermatitis (AD) shows significant differences from other allergic diseases. Allergen inhalation exacerbates AD lesions and AD patients' complaints decrease in house dust mite (HDM) low level environments, which reveals the importance of inhalant allergens. OBJECTIVE We evaluated the skin prick test (SPT) and atopy patch test (APT) ...

BACKGROUND House dust mite (HDM) allergens have been reported to increase airway epithelial permeability, thereby facilitating access of allergens and allergic sensitisation. OBJECTIVES The authors aimed to understand which biochemical properties of HDM are critical for epithelial immune and barrier responses as well as T helper 2-driven experimental asthma in vivo. METHODS Three commercial...

BACKGROUND Few data are available on the cost, safety, and long-term efficacy of single-agent high-dose melphalan (HDM) followed by autologous bone marrow (ABMT) or blood stem cell (ABSCT) transplantation in the salvage therapy of Hodgkin's disease (HD). PATIENTS AND METHODS From February 1981 to September 1996, 23 patients with relapsed (n = 15) or refractory (n = 8) HD received salvage ther...

BACKGROUND Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a common skin disorder with etiology that is not well understood. METHODS In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of autologous serum skin test (ASST) and skin prick testing (SPT) to house dust mite (HDM) in 862 CSU cases in China. Clinical features, courses and treatment responses were also recorded. RESULTS The prevalence of positive AS...