SI - Serviço de Imunologia
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- Chronic granulomatous disease as a risk factor for cutaneous lupus in childhoodPublication . Carvalho, S.; Machado, S.; Sampaio, R.; Guedes, M.; Vasconcelos, J.; Semedo, D.; Selores, M.Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a primaryimmunodeficiency disorder that affects the phagocyticcells of the innate immune system. It is characterizedby recurrent or persistent infections with granulomaformation. Lupus-like lesions have been reported incarriers of CGD and less frequently, in patients withCGD. Immunological study in these patients areusually negative. We describe the case of an 8-yearoldboy with CGD who developed chronic and acutecutaneous lupus erythematous with angular cheilitis,oral ulcers, Raynaud phenomenon, and positiveserologies for antinuclear, anticentromere, and anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies.
- Effects of Acupuncture on Leucopenia, Neutropenia, NK, and B Cells in Cancer Patients: A Randomized Pilot StudyPublication . Pais, I.; Correia, N.; Pimentel, I.; Teles, M.; Neves, E.; Vasconcelos, J.; Guimarães, J.; Azevedo, N.; Moreira-Pinto, A.; Machado, J.; Efferth, T.; Greten, H.Chemotherapy is one of most significant therapeutic approaches to cancer. Immune system functional state is considered a major prognostic and predictive impact on the success of chemotherapy and it has an important role on patients' psychoemotional state and quality of life. In Chinese medicine, chemotherapy is understood as "toxic cold" that may induce a progressive hypofunctional state of immune system, thus compromising the fast recovery of immunity during chemotherapy. In this study, we performed a standardized acupuncture and moxibustion protocol to enhance immunity in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and to assess if the improvement of immunity status correlates with a better psychoemotional state and quality of life.
- Importance of immunogenicity testing for cost-effective management of psoriasis patients treated with adalimumabPublication . Mota, F.; Neves, E.; Oliveira, J.; Selores, M.; Torres, T.INTRODUCTION: Up to 30% of patients treated with anti-tumor necrosis factor drugs do not respond adequately, and up to 50% lose response over time. Immunogenicity is now known to be one of the main causes of this loss of response. METHODS: Serum levels of adalimumab and anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) were measured in 19 patients with psoriasis. RESULTS: Eighty-nine percent of the patients were responders (Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) > 75) and 11% were partial responders (PASI 50-75). The serum levels of adalimumab were lower than the cutoff in both of the partial responders and the ADAs were high, whereas the other 17 patients had adalimumab levels above the cutoff and low ADA levels. Both partial responders were obese and none of them were taking methotrexate. Both patients switched to ustekinumab, and a PASI 90 response was observed after 16 weeks. CONCLUSION: Immunogenicity is a risk of biological drugs. In this work, the detection of low levels of adalimumab and high levels of ADAs using a sandwich ELISA correlated with loss of clinical response. Testing immunogenicity and the drug pharmacokinetics of biological drugs in psoriasis patients will probably be part of the daily management of these patients in the future.
- International Consensus on Antinuclear Antibody em PortugalPublication . Sousa, Maria José; Neves, Esmeralda; Figueiras, Otília; Cruz, Ana Paula; Fernandes, Isabel; Mendes, Alexandra; Santos, Maria do Céu; Cunha, Rosário; Magueijo, Lídia; Pratas, Cláudia; Miranda, Ana; Ribeiro, RitaIntroduction: Screening for autoantibodies in HEp-2 cells by indirect immunofluorescence is currently accepted as the gold-standard test for the diagnosis of systemic autoimmune diseases. The main objective of the International Consensus on ANA Patterns is to achieve a consensus on the nomenclature and description of antinuclear antibody morphological patterns. This work aims to build on the International Consensus on ANA Patterns project to establish a nomenclature consensus in Portugal, thus contributing to harmonization in autoimmune diagnosis and promoting diagnostic quality in autoimmune systemic rheumatic diseases. Material and methods: Participating laboratories identified all the nuclear and cytoplasmic pattern designations in the International Consensus on ANA Patterns (including the anti-cell pattern code), and matched them with the corresponding Portuguese nomenclature in use. The results were aggregated and used as a foundation for nomenclature harmonization work. Consensus meetings followed an iterative process, until a final consensual proposal was drafted. Results: Prior agreement between laboratories was over 75% for 23 of the total 29 anti-cell patterns. The degree to which each laboratory is aligned with the International Consensus on ANA Patterns international reference ranges from 22.1% to 100%. It was possible to write a consensual version of the International Consensus on ANA Patterns nomenclature for Portugal. Discussion: There was a good consensus basis for the nomenclature in the International Consensus on ANA Patterns, despite relevant differences with some translations. The study highlights the need for collaboration among laboratories towards an unambiguous description of laboratory results. Conclusion: This study shows that there is good potential for collaboration between laboratories in order to produce the consensus needed to improve diagnosis and patient follow-up.
- Orbitofrontal syndrome and “goosebumps”—A new manifestation of autoimmune epilepsy in anti-LGI1 encephalitisPublication . Dias, Leonor; Caldeiras, Catarina; Branco, Lidia; Pinto, Madalena
- Systemic mastocytosis with KIT V560G mutation presenting as recurrent episodes of vascular collapse: response to disodium cromoglycate and disease outcomePublication . Fernandes, I.; Sampaio, R.; Moreno, F.; Palla-Garcia, J.; Teixeira, M.; Freitas, I.; Neves, E.; Jara-Acevedo, M.; Escribano, L.; Lima, M.BACKGROUND: Mastocytosis are rare diseases characterized by an accumulation of clonal mast cells (MCs) in one or multiple organs or tissues. Patients with systemic mastocytosis (SM), whose MCs frequently arbor the activating D816V KIT mutation, may have indolent to aggressive diseases, and they may experience MC mediator related symptoms. Indolent SM with recurrent anaphylaxis or vascular collapse in the absence of skin lesions, ISMs(-), is a specific subtype indolent SM (ISM), and this clonal MC activation disorder represents a significant fraction of all MC activation syndromes. The V560G KIT mutation is extremely rare in patients with SM and its biological and prognostic impact remains unknown. CASE PRESENTATION: A 15-year old boy was referred to our hospital because of repeated episodes of flushing, hypotension and syncope since the age of 3-years, preceded by skin lesions compatible with mastocytosis on histopathology that had disappeared in the late-early childhood. Diagnosis of ISM, more precisely the ISMs(-) variant, was confirmed based on the clinical manifestations together with increased baseline serum tryptase levels and the presence of morphologically atypical, mature appearing (CD117+high, FcεRI+) phenotypically aberrant (CD2+, CD25+) MCs, expressing activation-associated markers (CD63, CD69), in the bone marrow. Molecular genetic studies revealed the presence of the KIT V560G mutation in bone marrow MCs, but not in other bone marrow cells, whereas the screening for mutations in codon 816 of KIT was negative. The patient was treated with oral disodium cromoglycate and the disease had a favorable outcome after an eleven-year follow-up period, during which progressively lower serum tryptase levels together with the fully disappearance of all clinical manifestations was observed. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge this first report of a patient with ISM, whose bone marrow MCs carry the KIT V560G activating mutation, manifesting as recurrent spontaneous episodes of flushing and vascular collapse in the absence of skin lesions at the time of diagnosis, in whom disodium cromoglycate had led to long term clinical remission.