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Infection in the Hematopoeitic Stem Cell Transplant Recipient with Autoimmune Disease
Published in Richard K. Burt, Alberto M. Marmont, Stem Cell Therapy for Autoimmune Disease, 2019
Valentina Stosor, Teresa R. Zembower
Polymyositis and dermatomyositis are idiopathic inflammatory myopathies characterized by proximal limb and neck weakness, sometimes associated with muscle pain.52 Malignancy, cardiac and pulmonary dysfunction, and infections are the most common causes of death.53,54 The most common infectious complication is aspiration pneumonia due to respiratory muscle weakness. A case series of four patients with fulminant PCP is described in patients receiving corticosteroids. Three of the patients died in the first month of steroid therapy of overwhelming PCP.55 Herpes zoster is reported to occur with high frequency in these patients. Interestingly, it occurs more commonly in the inactive stages of disease and is not associated with steroid therapy.56 Two cases of nosocomial pneumonia with Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and one case of disseminated N. brasiliensis infection have been described.57,58
Clinical Applications of Immunoassays
Published in Richard O’Kennedy, Caroline Murphy, Immunoassays, 2017
Dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis (PM) are idiopathic inflammatory disorders of skeletal muscle. Although both inflammatory conditions share the same clinical feature of muscle weakness, dermatomyositis is also associated with cutaneous lesions. A muscle biopsy is the definitive test for establishing a diagnosis of inflammatory myositis. A variety of autoantibodies detected by immunoassay in patient sera are associated with the disease. Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) are present in over 80% of patients with DM and PM [62]. The detection of anti-Ro, anti-La, anti-Sm, anti-ribonucleoprotein (RNP) and anti-TIF1 antibodies are highly suggestive of an inflammatory muscle condition; however, these antibodies also overlap with other connective tissue diseases and an associated diagnosis of cancer [63, 64]. Cytoplasmic RNA synthetases and other cytoplasmic proteins, including ribonucleoproteins are known as myositis-specific autoantibodies and are found in 30% of patients with DM and PM. Anti-Jo-1 antibodies are the most common type of myositis-specific autoantibody and are associated with interstitial lung disease, Raynaud’s phenomenon and arthritis [65]. Anti-SRP antibodies, primarily found in PM, are associated with a more severe myopathy with aggressive disease. In addition to autoantibodies, muscle enzyme analysis is important in diagnosing myopathy. Creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, aldolase and the liver enzymes, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase are routinely measured with immunoassay. Muscle weakness with normal enzyme levels is more commonly seen in DM when compared to PM.
Human Epithelial Type-2 Cell Image Classification Using an Artificial Neural Network with Hybrid Descriptors
Published in IETE Journal of Research, 2020
B. S. Divya, Kamalraj Subramaniam, H.R. Nanjundaswamy
The immune system detects a wide range of pathogens, which cause diseases. Each pathogen has a unique antigen on its surface. Antigen induces immune response to produce antibodies in the host to fight against pathogens. The immune system malfunctions by confusing the normal healthy tissues for the pathogens and fights against the normal healthy tissues by generating antibodies, thus causing damages. This condition is known as autoimmune disease. Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) are autoantibodies generated against own healthy cell nucleus causing autoimmune disease [1]. The likely developing autoimmune diseases are lupus, scleroderma, Sjögren’s syndrome, polymyositis/dermatomyositis, mixed connective tissue disease, drug-induced lupus, and autoimmune hepatitis [2].