An 11-year-old girl with a calpain-3 gene (CAPN-3) mutation and eosinophilic myositis on muscle biopsy had high serum CK levels and eosinophil counts which showed spontaneous fluctuations. After commencement of immunosuppressive therapy reciprocal changes occurred in response to alterations in doses of the medications. Subacutely evolving and spreading muscle weakness developed during tapering ...

Background: The pathogenesis of many diseases is correlated to irregularity in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression. Results from several association studies show that variation in the level of VEGF expression is related to polymorphic sequences within the VEGF gene. Additionally, there are many studies showing that some gene polymorphisms significantly influence the pharmacokin...

kidney transplantation in children is the treatment of choice to treat end stage renal disease. improvements in immunosuppressive management have dramatically reduced the risk of early acute rejection and graft loss, however the long term results in terms of graft survival and morbidity still require search for new immunosuppressive regimens. reducing of side effects are the challenges for impr...

recent scientific evidence indicates that distinct patterns of susceptibility in balb/c mice to leishmania major infection are attributable to the differential expansion of distinct cd4+ t-cell subsets and their cytokines production. production of the th1 cytokine ifn-g is associated with resistance, whereas production of the th2 cytokines il-4 and il-10 are associated with extreme susceptibili...

To achieve persistent infection of the host, viruses often subvert or suppress host immunity through mechanisms that are not entirely understood. The envelope glycoprotein of several retroviruses is thought to possess potent immunosuppressive activity, mapped to a 17-amino acid residue conserved domain. Synthetic peptides corresponding to this immunosuppressive domain can inhibit lymphocyte act...

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...