In an increasing number of central nervous system (CNS) diseases a pathogenic contribution of the immune system is proposed. However, the exact underlying mechanisms are often poorly understood. The collection of articles in this special issue presents a state-of-the-art review of adaptive and innate immune mechanisms and their main players ...

Interleukins are critical immune modulators and since their first description in 1977, there has been a steady increase in the recognition of their roles in many paediatric respiratory diseases. This basic and clinical knowledge is now maturing into both approved and investigational therapies aimed at blocking or modifying the interleukin ...

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a common hematologic disorder characterized by isolated thrombocytopenia. ITP presents as a primary or a secondary form. ITP may affect individuals of all ages, with peaks during childhood and in the elderly, in whom the age-specific incidence of ITP is greatest. Bleeding is the most common ...

Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystem inflammatory disorder of uncertain origin, although it remains defined within the spectrum of systemic immune-mediated vasculitic disorders and also represents a spectrum of putative autoimmune disease. Major symptoms include oral aphthous ulcers, genital ulcerations, skin lesions, and ocular lesions. Despite afflicting many systems, ocular ...

Peripheral neuropathy can be the first and only manifestation of necrotising primary immune-mediated vasculitis which, carries a high mortality. A clear idea of how to both recognise and treat peripheral nervous system vasculitis is important. We provide a practical approach to immediate and longer term treatment protocols.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a heterogenous multi-systemic autoimmune disease that is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Rituximab is one of the earliest biologic therapies used in SLE. It performed well in off-label studies but failed to demonstrate efficacy in randomised controlled trials. Abatacept is a biologic developed for ...

Dendritic cells with tolerogenic function (tolDC) have become a promising immunotherapeutic tool for reinstating immune tolerance in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune diseases. The concept underpinning tolDC therapy is that it specifically targets the pathogenic autoimmune response while leaving protective immunity intact. Findings from human in-vitro and mouse in-vivo ...

It is widely accepted that the main common pathogenetic pathway in multiple sclerosis (MS) involves an immune-mediated cascade initiated in the peripheral immune system and targeting CNS myelin. Logically, therefore, therapeutic approaches to the disease include modalities aiming at downregulation of the various immune elements that are involved in this ...

The mammalian intestine is colonized by trillions of microorganisms, most of which are bacteria that have co-evolved with the host in a symbiotic relationship. The collection of microbial populations that reside on and in the host is commonly referred to as the microbiota. A principal function of the microbiota is ...

Psoriasis is one of the most prevalent immune-mediated illness worldwide. The disease can still only be managed rather than cured, so treatments are aimed at clearing skin lesions and preventing their recurrence. Several treatments are available depending on the extent of the psoriatic lesion. Among the topical treatments corticostereoids, vitamin ...

Asthma is an inflammatory disorder of the conducting airways that has traditionally been classified according to severity. While this has been helpful in guiding treatment with drugs that are currently available such as β2-adrenoceptor agonists and corticosteroids, it takes little account of disease heterogeneity and causal pathways. This review draws ...

Significant advances have been achieved in the understanding of the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A number of susceptibility genes have been detected by large genome wide screening-approaches. New therapeutic concepts emerge from these insights. The most important progress in recent years certainly is the introduction of biologics in ...

: Crohn's disease (CD) is characterized by inflammation that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract. It is a chronic destructive condition that follows a relapsing-remitting course and can lead to disability and a poor quality of life. Lifelong pharmacotherapy with systemic immunomodulator therapies remains the cornerstone of CD ...

With the awareness that immune-inflammatory cross-talk is at the heart of many disorders, the desire for novel immunomodulatory strategies in the therapy of such diseases has grown dramatically. As a prime initiator and important modulator of immunological and inflammatory processes, the complement system has emerged as an attractive target for ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The current guidelines for asthma diagnosis and management do not recognize that different phenotypes of asthma exist, with significant variations in the manifestation of airway inflammation, symptoms, severity, and response to treatment. This article will critically review new approaches to classify asthma together with the emerging endotype-driven ...

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a dominant role in the regulation of immune responses. Quantitative and/or qualitative abnormalities of Tregs were observed in patients with autoimmune diseases and therapeutic interventions focusing Tregs are an attractive new target with the potential to cure these disorders. Biological agents approved for treatment of ...

Chemokines may contribute to the systemic inflammation that is linked to the increased risk of co-morbidities in patients with psoriasis. The aim of this study was to investigate circulating chemokines in patients with psoriasis and their relationship to disease severity. Analysis of plasma levels of chemokines in patients with psoriasis ...

Immunotherapy against amyloid-beta (Aβ) may improve rodent cognitive function by reducing amyloid neuropathology and is being validated in clinical trials with positive preliminary results. However, for a complete understanding of the direct and long-term immunization responses in the aged patient, and also to avoid significant side effects, several key aspects ...

New treatment options are needed for osteoarthritis (OA) to slow down the structural progression of the disease; current therapies mostly target pain and function with minimal effectiveness. OA results from an imbalance between catabolic and anabolic factors, and biologic agents either target specific catabolic proinflammatory mediators, such as cytokines, nitric ...

Immunomodulatory biologics, which render their therapeutic effects by modulating or harnessing immune responses, have proven their therapeutic utility in several complex conditions including cancer and autoimmune diseases. However, unwanted adverse reactions - including serious infections, malignancy, cytokine release syndrome, anaphylaxis and hypersensitivity as well as immunogenicity - pose a challenge ...

The pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis (MS) involves several components: redox, inflammatory/autoimmune, vascular and neurodegenerative. All of them are supported by the intertwined lines of evidence and none of them should be written off. However, the exact mechanisms of MS initiation, its development and progression, are still elusive, despite the impressive ...

Interest in magnetic field (MF) therapy has increased rapidly in recent years as research shows that this noninvasive, cost-effective modality might be safer than drugs and surgical procedures for reduction of inflammation. Inflammation is a signal-mediated response to tissue invasion by pathogens or toxins or to injury or physical stresses. ...

After many efforts to improve and standardize assays for detecting immune biomarkers in type 1 diabetes (T1D), methods to identify and monitor such correlates of insulitis are coming of age. The ultimate goal is to use these correlates to predict disease progression before onset and regression following therapeutic intervention, which ...

The gastrointestinal tract harbors a complex population of microbes that play a fundamental role in the development of the immune system and human health. Besides an important local contribution in the host defense against infections, it has become increasingly clear that intestinal bacteria also modulate immune responses at systemic sites. ...

Metabolic syndrome, obesity, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis are associated with a state of chronic inflammation. The immune system and the inflammatory cascade can be involved in the development of any of the above common conditions. This association raises the question of whether immune therapy can be used for the treatment of ...

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) is an immune disorder of the peripheral nervous system. This article highlights our current understanding of the condition along with its phenotypic variants that are encountered in clinical practice. The diagnostic evaluation of CIDP includes laboratory studies to detect associated medical conditions and electrodiagnostic studies ...

IL-2 facilitates immunity or tolerance depending on its availability. In model systems, it is well established that low dose IL-2 promotes selective expansion of regulatory T cells (Treg), an IL-2 responsive cell type known to control autoimmunity. Moreover, many autoimmune diseases are marked by defects in Treg and/or IL-2/IL-2 receptor ...

ABSTRACT: A recent randomized controlled clinical trial of the immunostimulatory agent thymosin alpha-1 was conducted and showed a trend toward improved survival in patients receiving the drug (P = 0.06). Although this was a relatively small study and the exact mechanism of action of thymosin alpha-1 is not known, the ...

It is widely accepted that the main common pathogenetic pathway in multiple sclerosis (MS) involves an immune-mediated cascade initiated in the peripheral immune system and targeting CNS myelin. Logically, therefore, the therapeutic approaches to the disease include modalities aiming at downregulation of the various immune elements that are involved in ...

Veterans of infection, Leishmania parasites have been plaguing mammals for centuries, causing a morbidity toll second only to that of malaria as the most devastating protozoan parasitic disease in the world. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is, by far, the most prevalent form of the disease, with symptoms ranging from a single ...

Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM), which include dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis (PM), are chronic systemic diseases associated with high morbidity and functional disability. Current treatment is based on the use of glucocorticoids and immunosuppressive drugs, but a considerable number of patients is refractory to traditional therapy. That has led to the ...

To review the major progress in mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR). Contents about the treatment mechanism of TCM in the therapy of AR in this article were obtained from 22 original articles and reviews published in Chinese- and English-language journals. All of ...

Although judicious use of intravenous iron preparations is an indispensable part of anemia treatment in hemodialysis patients, their excessive and indiscriminate use can have insidious but serious adverse consequences. With recent implementation of the bundling reimbursement policy, use of intravenous iron preparations in the hemodialysis population has markedly increased. Excessive ...

Hemophilias A and B are heritable bleeding disorders characterized by deficient baseline levels of factor VIII (fVIII) and factor IX (fIX), respectively. Standard treatment for acute bleeding events and for prophylaxis in patients with severe disease consists of recombinant fVIII and fIX infusions. The development of alloantibodies, or inhibitors, is ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Therapy of malignant melanoma recently experienced remarkable advances with the introduction of two treatment regimens, gene mutation-based therapies with signaling pathway inhibitors (kinase inhibitors) and treatments with immune modulators. Both strategies prolong patients' survival but still have specific limitations, demanding the identification of additional genetic and immunological ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Recently there has been growing interest in non-IgE-mediated and irritant-induced occupational rhinitis due to old and new low-molecular-weight and irritant agents. The purpose of this review is to summarize the scientific evidence on agents and work activities responsible for non-IgE-mediated and irritant-induced occupational rhinitis and work-exacerbated rhinitis ...

The use of live helminth infections is currently in clinical trials as a novel approach for the treatment of a range of allergic and autoimmune diseases. This rapid progression from observational studies some 20 years ago to helminth clinical trials can be attributed to huge advances in not just pre-clinical ...

COPD is a complex syndrome that poses a serious health threat to >1.1 billion smokers worldwide. The stable disease is punctuated by episodes of acute exacerbation, which are predominantly the result of viral and bacterial infections. Despite their devastating health impact, mechanisms underlying disease exacerbations remain poorly understood. Mounting evidence ...

The aim of the present review article is to summarize the available information related to the availability, production, chemical composition, pharmacological activity, and traditional uses of Avena sativa to highlight its potential to contribute to human health. Oats are now cultivated worldwide and form an important dietary staple for the ...

The recent development of biologic therapies capable of selectively targeting components of the immune system has revolutionized the treatment of inflammatory arthritides. The increase in the use of biologic agents coupled with expansion in the knowledge of the pathogenesis of vascular inflammation has led to their application in the treatment ...

Psoriasis is a complex, multifactorial disease that appears to be influenced by immune-mediated components. For many years the pathogenesis of psoriasis has been discordant; the clinical picture suggested that the psoriasis was secondary to abnormal keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation, but later the role of the T cell was revealed. A ...

Crohn's disease is often considered an autoimmune condition, based on the observations of a histopathological inflammatory process in the absence of identifiable causal microorganism(s) and that immune-modulating therapeutics result in diminished host-directed inflammatory pathology. However, the evidence for a self-targeted immune response is unproven; thus, the instigating and perpetuating forces ...

Arteriopathy is the leading cause of childhood arterial ischemic stroke, but its mechanisms are poorly understood. This review explores the possible role of inflammatory mechanisms and evidence for inflammatory pathophysiology in specific pediatric cerebral arteriopathies. Pathologically proven small-vessel central nervous system vasculitis provides a definitive inflammatory model where available treatments ...

Following the influenza epidemics, it has become clear that severity of illness is not uniform. Comorbidities and immunocompromise account for only a fraction of severe cases and do not explain the differential severity among the otherwise healthy during pandemics. During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, a focus has been placed on ...

In multiple sclerosis (MS), neurodegeneration contributes to axon loss and irreversible disability, but the degree to which neurodegeneration is a consequence of inflammatory mechanisms is unknown. Urgent need exists in all forms of MS, but especially in progressive MS, for therapies that preserve the integrity and function of CNS tissue ...

ABSTRACT Immunology has been studied and understood in the context of the compelling problems of infectious disease. But our rapidly growing knowledge of immune interactions with our healthy microbiota, and the many benefits it confers, suggests there may be value to an alternative view: that mechanisms of defense against pathogens ...

Inflammation plays a central role in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD related inflammation is less responsive to inhaled steroids compared to asthma. There are three major novel anti-inflammatory approaches to the management of COPD. The first approach is phosphodiesterase inhibitors, such as roflumilast which provides additional clinical benefit either ...

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory CNS disease, which affects about 1 in 1000 individuals in the western world. During the last couple of decades, epidemiological data has accumulated, pointing towards increases in incidence. This has been suggested to be linked to the relatively high hygiene standards that exist in ...

In inflammatory dilated cardiomyopathy and myocarditis, there is apart from heart failure and antiarrhythmic therapies no alternative to an etiologically driven specific treatment. Their prerequisites are noninvasive and invasive biomarkers including endomyocardial biopsy and PCR on cardiotropic agents. This review deals with the different etiologies of myocarditis and inflammatory cardiomyopathy ...

In the developed world, declining prevalence of parasitic infections correlates with increased incidence of allergic and autoimmune disorders. Current treatments for these chronic inflammatory conditions have little to no effect on their prevalence and are referred to as "controllers" rather than cures. There has been limited success in therapeutically targeting ...