Ménière's disease (MD) is an idiopathic inner-ear disorder characterized by fluctuating hearing loss, episodic vertigo, and tinnitus. Though MD's etiology is unknown, growing evidence suggests that autoimmunity may be involved in its development. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the presence of anti-heat shock protein 70 (anti-HSP70) antibodies during the acute phase of MD a...

Autoimmune rheumatic diseases in childhood present major differences in both clinical and laboratory features compared with adult onset disease.' Although polyarthritis occurs in both adults and children, the specific features of seropositive erosive rheumatoid arthritis are only seen in about 100/o of patients with juvenile chronic arthritis beginning under the age of 16 years.' 2 Most have se...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The possibility that a disorder of immunity might have a role in the mechanism of local inflammatory alterations leading to spontaneous cervical artery dissection (sCAD) has been recently advocated. METHODS We explored this hypothesis in a case-control study, including patients with sCAD (n=29) and patients with non-CAD ischemic stroke (non-CAD; n=29). Serum levels of a...

INTRODUCTION Rosacea is a common inflammatory disorder, characterized by a spectrum of facial manifestations. The clinical similarity to other dermatoses, like lupus erythematosus, might lead to misdiagnosis, particularly in patients with elevated antinuclear antibody titers. AIM To assess the frequency, titer and specificity of antinuclear antibodies in rosacea patients and correlate these f...

Immunofluorescent imaging has been a powerful technique in helping to identify intracellular nuclear and cytoplasmic molecules which are target antigens of autoantibodies in systemic autoimmune disorders. Patterns of staining can be correlated with molecules engaged in specific cellular functions and distributed in distinct cellular domains. Different autoimmune disorders have different profile...

Antinuclear antibodies were detected by immunofluorescence in most sera from rabbits immunized with whole human serum emulsified in Freund's complete adjuvant. Four of 14 sera from rabbits immunized with Cohn fractions III, IV-1, or IV-4 also gave positive nuclear fluorescence with human leukocyte nuclei. Other human and animal nuclei gave negative results with these rabbit antisera. Three rabb...