BACKGROUND Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy may develop nail alterations resulting from infection, skin disorder, or drug regimen. OBJECTIVE This study aims to describe nail changes in PV female patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy and to report the frequency of associated fungal and bacterial growth in the patients' nails. METHODS Twenty-five fem...

INTRODUCTION Scleritis is a rare, progressive and serious disease, the signs of which are inflammation and edema of episcleral and scleral tissues and is greatly associated with systemic rheumatoid diseases. PURPOSE To perform a prospective and comparative study between ophthalmologic manifestations, serologic findings and therapeutic response of patients with isolated scleritis and scleritis...

A successful pregnancy following renal allotransplantation is reported. Until now azathioprine has been used as the standard immunosuppressive agent in such cases. Because of the potential teratogenicity of azathioprine, low doses of cyclosporin A, a new immunosuppressive drug, was used in our pregnant recipient. We present the management and the outcome of the pregnancy, as well as the hormona...

We described a novel tumor-associated immunosuppressive mechanism based on post-translational modifications of chemokines by reactive nitrogen species (RNS). To overcome tumor immunosuppressive hindrances, we designed and developed a new drug, AT38, that inhibits RNS generation at the tumor site. Combinatorial approaches with AT38 boost the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy protocols.

Survival after heart transplantation has improved considerably over the past 20 years. Half of all patients now live 9 years, and 25% live 17 years.1 Currently, 20 000 heart transplant recipients live in the United States.2 Improved longevity means prolonged immunosuppression and the concomitant use of drugs to prevent or treat the long-term complications of immunosuppressive agents, such as in...

The treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases is challenging because of their frequency and complexity. Treatment of these diseases is based on the suppression of the patient's immune system using corticosteroids, corticosteroid-sparing immunosuppressive agents, and biologic drugs, making an understanding of the management of immunosuppressive therapy essential. Before an immunosuppress...

Organ transplant recipients frequently suffer from toxicity or from lack of efficacy of immunosuppressive drugs, which can be attributed to individual variations in drug sensitivity. This problem can be resolved by applying pharmacodynamic monitoring that focuses on measuring the biological effects of drugs. Here we discuss the new technique called phospho-specific flow cytometry to monitor the...

Ischemic colitis is a serious drug-induced adverse event. There are only few cases of immunosuppression-associated ischemic colitis described in the literature, but none with a pancolitis-like manifestation. We report the case of a 72-year-old female patient who developed a pancolitis with ischemic injury on immunosuppressive treatment with steroids and azathioprine for autoimmune hepatitis. Th...