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Objectives new-onset relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) has rarely been communicated as a side effect of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination (SC2V). Here we report a patient with new-onset RRMS shortly after the second BNT162b2 vaccine dose, which was diagnosed only after a relapse after the third vaccine dose. Case report the patient is a 31 year-old male who developed eye problems 48 days after the second dose of BNT162b2. The symptoms were attributed to eye strain and gradually disappeared without treatment. Further workup was negative. Three months after the third BNT162b2 dose, urinary urgency developed. Eleven months after the third BNT162b2 dose, he developed sensory and visual disturbances that were noticeable post-exercise and progressed and worsened with alcohol and heat. MRI showed typical lesions that met the Barkhof/Tintore criteria for RRMS. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) studies revealed elevated kappa free light chains and positive oligoclonal bands. Because the revised McDonalds criteria were met, RRMS was diagnosed and ocrelizumab was started. Conclusions this case shows that SARS-CoV-2 vaccination can trigger new-onset RRMS, the clinical presentation of SC2V-induced multiple sclerosis is similar to multiple sclerosis due to other triggers, and the severity of the relapses may increase with the number of boosters given. Although, rare, a neurologist should be aware of the presumably rare event in which SC2V triggers new-onset multiple sclerosis.

Introduction: Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease of oral mucosa with unknown etiology. Many studies have suggested that increased oxidative stress, an imbalance in the antioxidant defense system may be involved in pathogenesis of Lichen planus. Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the tissue levels of antioxidant Super oxide dismutase (SOD) and lipid peroxidation marker Malondialdehyde (MDA) in established cases of OLP and healthy individuals. Methodology: Ten patients with OLP and 10 control subjects matched for age and sex were enrolled in this case control study. The tissue levels of SOD and MDA were measured both in case and control groups. Results: The tissue levels of SOD were increased that was statistically significant in OLP patients compared to healthy controls (p<0.01). The lipid peroxidation product MDA were relatively higher in OLP patients compared to healthy controls. Conclusion: The current study suggests that oxidative damage is one of the major causes for the pathogenesis of OLP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: HIV infection is a global public health problem that can lead to the progression of AIDS. Nutritional status and biochemical markers can significantly contribute to the progression of AIDS in HIV/AIDS patients. The main objective of this study is to examine the association between nutritional and biochemical markers as well as BMI in HIV/AIDS patients in the kingdom of Bahrain. Methods: A retrospective cohort study, including 300 patients (248 males and 52 females) with HIV/AIDS in Bahrain, was carried out. Various biochemical markers were collected from patients’ medical records, including CD4+ T cell count, albumin, Hb, HCT, MCV, WBCs, and creatinine. A semi-structured questionnaire using a standardized food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used, from which total energy and total macronutrients were calculated. Results: The mean BMI of the participants was 27.20 kg/m2, and none of the participants had a BMI lower than 18.5 kg/m2 (underweight). The majority of patients’ dietary intake of macronutrients and total calorie intake were either within or above the recommended RDA levels. The results also showed that all of the mean values of the nutritional and biochemical markers (CD4+ T cell count, albumin, Hb, HCT, MCV, WBCs, and creatinine) were within the normal reference ranges. A significant positive correlation between CD4+ T cell count, Hb, HCT, and albumin at the 4+ T cell count and MCV, WBCs, and creatinine. A positive significant correlation was found between BMI, CD4+ T cell count, and WBCs at the Conclusion: The BMI values were significantly correlated with the biochemical markers of AIDS progression. The dietary patterns of the participants were undiversified, with a high prevalence of obesity and overweight. Malnutrition among this study population was not present.

Objectives To determine the effectiveness of Rituximab (RTX) therapy as the first therapeutic choice for the long-term prevention of secondary relapse in children with Autoimmue Neurological Disease (AIND) that had relapse after primary treatment with immunosuppressive agents other than RTX. Materials & Methods We conducted a single-center retrospective study of 9 consecutive pediatric patients (≤ 18 years old) registered on Autoimmune and Demyelinating Disorders Database (ADDD) of Mofid Children Hospital, from 2012 to 2016 and experienced relapse following therapeutic interventions with immunosuppressive agents other than RTX. Result A remarkable reduction of 94.13% (p=0.015) occurred in annualized relapse rate (ARR) as a clinical indicator of therapeutic efficacy comparing before and after initiating RTX therapy. Conclusion Rituximab is an effective drug in relapse prevention of AIND when administrated to patients for whom initial treatment with other immunosuppressive agents fail. POWER OF EVIDENCE: This study represents Class IV evidence that RTX therapy significantly reduces ARR in pediatric AIND including DDCNS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human hypofertility and infertility are two worldwide conditions experiencing nowadays an alarming increase due to a complex ensemble of events. The immune system has been suggested as one of the responsible for some of the etiopathogenic mechanisms involved in these conditions. To shed some light into the strong correlation between the reproductive and immune system, as can be inferred by the several and valuable manuscripts published to date, here we built a network using a useful bioinformatic tool (DisGeNET), in which the key genes involved in the sperm-oviduct interaction were linked. This constitutes an important event related with Human fertility since this interaction, and specially the spermatozoa, represents a not-self entity immunotolerated by the female. As a result, we discovered that some proteins involved in the sperm-oviduct interaction are implicated in several immune system diseases while, at the same time, some immune system diseases could interfere by using different pathways with the reproduction process. The data presented here could be of great importance to understand the involvement of the immune system in fertility reduction in Humans, setting the basis for potential immune therapeutic tools in the near future.

Human hypofertility and infertility are two worldwide conditions experiencing nowadays an alarming increase due to a complex ensemble of events. The immune system has been suggested as one of the responsible for some of the etiopathogenic mechanisms involved in these conditions. To shed some light into the strong correlation between the reproductive and immune system, as can be inferred by the several and valuable manuscripts published to date, here we built a network using a useful bioinformatic tool (DisGeNET), in which the key genes involved in the sperm-oviduct interaction were linked. This constitutes an important event related with Human fertility since this interaction, and specially the spermatozoa, represents a not-self entity immunotolerated by the female. As a result, we discovered that some proteins involved in the sperm-oviduct interaction are implicated in several immune system diseases while, at the same time, some immune system diseases could interfere by using different pathways with the reproduction process. The data presented here could be of great importance to understand the involvement of the immune system in fertility reduction in Humans, setting the basis for potential immune therapeutic tools in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional organoid culture systems show great promise as innovative physiological and pathophysiological models. Their applications in immunological research have been widely explored. For instance, immune organoids allow functional studies of immune system-related conditions, in a context that closely mimics the in vivo microenvironment, enabling an in-depth understanding of the immune tissue structures and functions. The newly developed coculture organoid and the air-liquid interface (ALI) systems also provided new insights for studying epithelia-immune cell interactions based on their endogenous distribution. Additionally, organoids have enabled the innovation of immunological disease models and exploration of the link between immunity and cancer, showing potential for personalized immunotherapy. This review is an overview of recent advances in the application of organoids in immunological research. Furthermore, the potential improvements for further utilization of organoids in personalized immunotherapy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a cytosolic enzyme involved in the purine salvage pathway metabolism, purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) plays an important role in a variety of cellular functions but also in immune system, including cell growth, apoptosis and cancer development and progression. Based on its T-cell targeting profile, PNP is a potential target for the treatment of some malignant T-cell proliferative cancers including lymphoma and leukemia, and some specific immunological diseases. Numerous small-molecule PNP inhibitors have been developed so far. However, only Peldesine, Forodesine and Ulodesine have entered clinical trials and exhibited some potential for the treatment of T-cell leukemia and gout. The most recent direction in PNP inhibitor development has been focused on PNP small-molecule inhibitors with better potency, selectivity, and pharmacokinetic property. In this perspective, considering the structure, biological functions, and disease relevance of PNP, we highlight the recent research progress in PNP small-molecule inhibitor development and discuss prospective strategies for designing additional PNP therapeutic agents. [Display omitted] • Summary of structure, function and the role of PNP in disease. • Inhibition of human PNP is a promising strategy for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and T-cell malignancies. • The current progress and structure-activity relationship of PNP inhibitors. • The development and future of PNP small molecule inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) can self-renew and differentiate along multiple cell lineages. ASCs are also potently anti-inflammatory due to their inherent ability to regulate the immune system by secreting anti-inflammatory cytokines and growth factors that play a crucial role in the pathology of many diseases, including multiple sclerosis, diabetes mellitus, Crohn's, SLE, and graft-versus-host disease. The immunomodulatory effects and mechanisms of action of ASCs on pathological conditions are reviewed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have suggested a role for immune dysregulation behind the etiology of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Here, we have investigated the prevalence of immunological diseases in FTLD (N = 196) with and without the C9orf72 repeat expansion, Alzheimer's disease (AD) (N = 193) and not cognitively impaired (NCI) subjects (N = 92). The prevalence was 16.3% in FTLD, 13.5% in AD and 15.2% in NCI. Although differences between the groups did not reach statistical significance, the frequency of immunological diseases was the highest in FTLD without the C9orf72 expansion (22/117, 18.8%) and the lowest in FTLD with the expansion (6/56, 10.7%), suggesting that the C9orf72 expansion possibly influences immunological pathways in FTLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hostile resentful contra repressive avoidant behaviors, widely associated with different health processes, are considered to arise from people’s specific contingent self-esteem strategies. The present study examines competence-based self-esteem (CBSE), referring to self-critical strivings, and relation-based self-esteem (RBSE), referring to rejection sensitivity and compliance, in three groups of outpatients (n = 85) and healthy controls (n = 37). Patients diagnosed with exhaustion syndromes displayed significantly higher CBSE and RBSE than all other groups. Patients diagnosed with cardiac type of disease showed significantly higher CBSE than those with immunological type of disease and healthy controls, whereas the immunological group reported significantly higher RBSE than the cardiac group and healthy controls. Further, cardiac patients displayed significantly higher CBSE than RBSE, whereas immunological patients reported significantly higher RBSE than CBSE. A discriminant analysis, incorporating the theoretical constituents of the contingent SE scales, showed that the four groups could be predicted by their SE profiles. The systematic patterns found in the present results shed light on the role of self-esteem contingency for differential psychosocial coping and health processes.

The built-in innate immunity in the human body combats various diseases and their causative agents. One of the components of this system is Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which recognize structurally conserved molecules derived from microbes and/or endogenous molecules. Nonetheless, under certain conditions, these TLRs become hypofunctional or hyperfunctional, thus leading to a disease-like condition because their normal activity is compromised. In this regard, various small-molecule drugs and recombinant therapeutic proteins have been developed to treat the relevant diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and allergy. Some drugs for these diseases have been clinically approved; however, their efficacy can be enhanced by conventional or targeted drug delivery systems. Certain delivery vehicles such as liposomes, hydrogels, nanoparticles, dendrimers, or cyclodextrins can be employed to enhance the targeted drug delivery. This review summarizes the TLR signaling pathway, associated diseases and their treatments, and the ways to efficiently deliver the drugs to a target site.

Background Some systemic diseases also affect the skeletal muscle to various degrees and with different manifestations. This review aimed at summarizing and discussing recent advances concerning the management of muscle disease in systemic diseases. Method Literature review by search of MEDLINE, and Current Contents with appropriate search terms. Results Secondary muscle disease occurs in infectious disease, endocrine disorders, metabolic disorders, immunological disease, vascular diseases, hematological disorders, and malignancies. Muscle manifestations in these categories include pathogen-caused myositis, muscle infarction, rhabdomyolysis, myasthenia, immune-mediated myositis, necrotising myopathy, or vasculitis-associated myopathy. Muscle affection may concern only a single muscle, a group of muscles, or the entire musculature. Severity of muscle affection may be transient or permanent, may be a minor part of or may dominate the clinical picture, or may be mild or severe, requiring invasive measures including artificial ventilation if the respiratory muscles are additionally involved. Diagnostic work-up is similar to that of primary myopathies by application of non-invasive and invasive techniques. Treatment of muscle involvement in systemic diseases is based on elimination of the underlying cause and supportive measures. The prognosis is usually fair if the causative disorder is effectively treatable but can be fatal in single cases if the entire musculature including the respiratory muscles is involved, in case of infection, or in case of severe rhabdomyolysis. Conclusion Secondary muscle manifestations of systemic diseases must be addressed and appropriately managed. Prognosis of secondary muscle disease in systemic diseases is usually fair if the underlying condition is accessible to treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phospholipase D2 (PLD2) is a lipid-signaling enzyme that produces the signaling molecule phosphatidic acid (PA) by catalyzing the hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine (PC). The molecular characteristics of PLD2, the mechanisms of regulation of its activity, its functions in the signaling pathway involving PA and binding partners, and its role in cellular physiology have been extensively studied over the past decades. Although several potential roles of PLD2 have been proposed based on the results of molecular and cell-based studies, the pathophysiological functions of PLD2 in vivo have not yet been fully investigated at the organismal level. Here, we address accumulated evidences that provide insight into the role of PLD2 in human disease. We summarize recent studies using animal models that provide direct evidence of the function of PLD2 in several pathological conditions such as vascular disease, immunological disease, and neurological disease. In light of the use of recently developed PLD2-specific inhibitors showing potential in alleviating pathological conditions, improving our understanding of the role of PLD2 in human disease would be necessary to target the regulation of PLD2 activity as a therapeutic strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), or vaping, is a relatively recent phenomenon, and there are various gaps in our current knowledge regarding the specific effects of e-cigarettes, such as their immunological effects. The importance of this question became even more relevant in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This literature review examines the relationship between the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and immunological effects to examine available information and identify gaps in the current knowledge. Our search strategy included studies focusing on the effects of ENDS on the immune response during infectious respiratory diseases such as COVID-19 and pneumonia. Peer-reviewed studies presenting quantitative data published from 2007, the year that e-cigarettes were introduced to the US market until 2022 have been included. All studies were indexed in PubMed. We excluded papers on THC and EVALI (E-cigarette, or Vaping Product, Use Associated Lung Injury) as we wanted to focus on the effects of nicotine devices. Among the 21 articles that assessed the relationship between ENDS and immunological health effects, we found eight studies based on cell models, two articles based on both cell and mouse models, five articles based on mouse models, and six studies of human populations. Most of the articles identified in our review demonstrated a potential association between vaping and adverse immunological health effects. Overall, the evidence from the cell and animal studies indicates that there is a positive, statistically significant association between vaping and adverse immune response during infectious respiratory diseases. The evidence from human studies is not conclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic mucocutaneous, immunological disease that occurs more frequently in the buccal mucosa of middle-aged female patients. OLP's standard treatment is topical or systemic corticosteroids. Due to corticosteroids' numerous potential side effects, there is an effort to find an alternative treatment. One alternative treatment is curcumin. Several studies have investigated the effectiveness and safety of curcumin in OLP patients. In this review, we summarized the literature focusing on the effectiveness and safety of curcumin in OLP patients. Our review of clinical trials revealed that either 6000 mg/day curcumin, 80 mg/day nano-curcumin, or 1% curcumin oral gel 6 times/day offered benefits in the treatment of OLP., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

The effects of probiotics on human health are positive and well defined in diarrhoea treatment. There are no clinical results regarding the relationship with dose or duration of treatment. The results from clinical studies have not been conclusive in that the effects of probiotic are dependent on strains, acute or chronic gastrointestinal infection and immunological or inflammatory disease and different dose and duration of treatment. The concentration of probiotics needed to obtain a clinical effect is often quoted as≥106 cfu/ml in the small bowel and≥108 cfu/g in the colon. The dose for treatment of an acute illness by a particular probiotic agent may be lower or higher, in the order of 10-fold or 100-fold or more in terms of colony forming units (cfu). In acute infectious diarrhoea it seems that higher doses of probiotics given for short courses are more effective than lower doses. In chronic or immunological diseases (allergic, inflammatory and/or immune diseases) the effects depend also on the interaction with gut immune system and duration of treatment. To evaluate the efficacy of probiotics it may be essential to identify specific target groups of individuals with more specific higher susceptibilities to the potential effects of probiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IL-19 is a type of anti-inflammatory cytokine. Since the receptor for IL-19 is common to IL-20 and IL-24, it is important to clarify the role of each of the three cytokines. If three different cytokines bind to the same receptor, these three may have been produced to complement the other two. However, perhaps it is unlikely. Recently, the existence of a novel receptor for IL-19 was suggested. The distinction between the roles of the three cytokines still makes sense. On the other hand, because T cells do not produce IL-19, their role in acquired immunity is limited or indirect. It has been reported that IL-19 causes inflammation in some diseases but does not have an anti-inflammatory effect. In this review, we introduce the current role of IL-19 in each disease. In addition, we will describe the molecular mechanism of IL-19 and its development for the prevention of diseases. IL-19 was previously considered an anti-inflammatory cytokine, but we would like to propose it as an immunoregulatory cytokine., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

The built-in innate immunity in the human body combats various diseases and their causative agents. One of the components of this system is Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which recognize structurally conserved molecules derived from microbes and/or endogenous molecules. Nonetheless, under certain conditions, these TLRs become hypofunctional or hyperfunctional, thus leading to a disease-like condition because their normal activity is compromised. In this regard, various small-molecule drugs and recombinant therapeutic proteins have been developed to treat the relevant diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn's disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and allergy. Some drugs for these diseases have been clinically approved; however, their efficacy can be enhanced by conventional or targeted drug delivery systems. Certain delivery vehicles such as liposomes, hydrogels, nanoparticles, dendrimers, or cyclodextrins can be employed to enhance the targeted drug delivery. This review summarizes the TLR signaling pathway, associated diseases and their treatments, and the ways to efficiently deliver the drugs to a target site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]