Japanese Journal of Clinical Immunology
Online ISSN : 1349-7413
Print ISSN : 0911-4300
ISSN-L : 0911-4300
Volume 36, Issue 2
Displaying 1-9 of 9 articles from this issue
Erratum
Feature Articles
Review Articles
  • Kotaro OTOMO, Tatsuya ATSUMI
    2013 Volume 36 Issue 2 Pages 63-70
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: April 28, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
      Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune disease defined by the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (APL) in plasma of patients with thrombosis and/or pregnancy morbidity. In the classification criteria of APS, the presence of lupus anticoagulant (LA), anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) or anti-β2-glycoprotein I antibodies (aβ2GPI) is necessary to diagnose APS. Recently, we defined “antiphospholipid score (aPL-S)” and evaluate the predictive value for thrombosis. In the study, aPL-S may be a predictive marker for developing thrombosis in patients with autoimmune diseases. In this article, we explain various APL assays for diagnosing APS in a clinical practice, introduce the study of “aPL-S”, and discuss the significance of APL tests not only for a diagnosis of APS but also for a predictive marker of thrombosis in patients with autoimmune diseases.
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  • Ran NAKASHIMA, Tsuneyo MIMORI
    2013 Volume 36 Issue 2 Pages 71-76
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: April 28, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
      Anti-MDA5 antibody is one of the dermatomyositis-specific autoantibodies and anti-MDA5-potsitive patients show characteristic clinical features, such as hypomyositis, high prevalence of acute/subacute interstitial pneumonia (A/SIP) with poor prognosis, hyperferritinemia and elevated hepatobiliary enzyme. We found that serum IL-6, IL-18, M-CSF and IL-10 were significantly higher and serum IL-12 and IL-22 were significantly lower in anti-MDA5-positive patients than in anti-MDA5-negative patients before treatment. Taking together these serological findings, we hypothesized that monocyte and macrophage activation may underlie in the pathophysiology of anti-MDA5-positive patients. They rarely survive after they become to need oxygenation, and so need to be treated as soon as possible once the diagnosis has been made. Intensive regimen of combined immunosuppressive therapy (high-dose corticosteroids, oral cyclosporin and intravenous cyclophosphamide (IVCY, 900-1000 mg/m2 in every other week)) improved the survival rate of anti-MDA5-positive patients. Especially, the serum ferritin levels tended to go down about 14 days after IVCY, suggesting that IVCY might be a key drug in the treatment of anti-MDA5-positive A/SIP patients.
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  • Hiroto TSUBOI, Mana IIZUKA, Hiromitsu ASASHIMA, Takayuki SUMIDA
    2013 Volume 36 Issue 2 Pages 77-85
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: April 28, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
      Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease that affects exocrine glands including salivary and lacrimal glands. It is characterized by lymphocytic infiltration into exocrine glands, leading to dry mouth and eyes. A number of auto-antibodies are detected in patients with SS. However, no SS-specific pathologic auto-antibodies have yet been found in this condition. M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (M3R) plays a crucial role in the secretion of saliva. It is reported that some patients with SS carried inhibitory auto-antibodies against M3R. To clarify the epitopes and function of anti-M3R antibodies in SS, we examined antibodies to the extracellular domains (N terminal region, the first, second, and third extracellular loop) of M3R by ELISA using synthesized peptide antigens encoding these domains in 42 SS and 42 healthy controls (HC). Titers and positivity of anti-M3R antibodies to every extracellular domain of M3R were significantly higher in SS than in HC. Our results indicated the presence of several B cell epitopes on M3R in SS. Moreover, we analyzed the functions of anti-M3R antibodies by Ca2+-influx assays using a human salivary gland (HSG) cell line. The functional analysis indicated that the influence of such anti-M3R antibodies on Ca2+-influx in HSG cells might differ based on the epitopes to which they bind. Interestingly, both IgG from anti-M3R antibodies to the second extracellular loop positive SS and anti-M3R monoclonal antibodies against the second extracellular loop of M3R, which we generated, suppressed Ca2+-influx in the HSG cells induced by cevimeline stimulation. These observations suggested that auto-antibodies against the second extracellular loop of M3R could be involved in salivary dysfunction in patients with SS. These results indicated the presence of several B cell epitopes on M3R in SS and the influence of anti-M3R antibodies on salivary secretion might differ based on these epitopes. Thus, anti-M3R antibodies could be not only potential pathologic auto-antibodies, but also new diagnostic makers and therapeutic targets for SS.
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  • Shigeaki SUZUKI, Morinobu SEKI, Norihiro SUZUKI
    2013 Volume 36 Issue 2 Pages 86-94
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: April 28, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
      Patients with limbic encephalitis usually present with rapidly progressive short-term memory deficits, psychiatric symptoms, and seizures. The recent concept of limbic encephalitis has been expanded. Especially, various types of autoimmune limbic encephalitis are associated with autoantibodies of intracellular or cell membrane antigens. Sine autoimmune limbic encephalitis is also associated with some types of tumors, it has also an aspect of paraneoplastic syndrome. Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor encephalitis is a new category of treatment-responsive limbic encephalitis associated with anti-NMDAR antibodies, which is the most frequent autoantibody to cell membrane antigen. The autoantibodies are detected in the CSF and serum of young women with ovarian teratoma, who typically develop schizophrenia-like psychiatric symptoms. There is a highly characteristics syndrome evolving in 5 stages; the prodromal, psychotic, unresponsive, hyperkinetic, and gradual recovery phases. The hyperkinetic phase is the most prolonged and crucial. This disorder is usually severe and can be fatal, but it is potentially reversible. Although the pathogenesis remains unclear, this disorder is considered to be the autoantibody-mediated encephalitis. This review focuses in the recent concept of limbic encephalitis and clinical characteristics of anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis.
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  • Masanori MATSUMOTO
    2013 Volume 36 Issue 2 Pages 95-103
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: April 28, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
      Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a disorder caused by excessive platelet aggregation in multiple organs. Unless the patients are treated with plasma exchange, this disorder leads to early death. Recent studies show that TTP is caused by deficiency of a plasma metalloprotease ADAMTS13, which specifically cleaves von Willebrand factor (VWF). In the absence of ADAMTS13, unusually large VWF multimers (UL-VWFMs) released from endothelial cells are not cleaved appropriately, and cause platelet-rich microvascular thrombosis under high shear stress. Deficiency of ADAMTS13 is caused by autoantibodies against ADAMTS13 in patients with acquired TTP and mutations of the ADAMTS13 gene in congenital TTP. ADAMTS13 antibodies may inhibit enzymatic function or clear ADAMTS13 from circulation. Anti-ADAMTS13 antibodies are comprised predominantly of immunoglobulin class G (IgG). Epitope mapping studies showed that antibodies direct towards the spacer domain of ADAMTS13 are present in most patients with acquired TTP. The Spacer domain contributes to the binding of ADAMTS13 to unfolded VWF. Plasma exchange therapy for acquired TTP is effective because of removing ADAMTS13 autoantibodies and UL-VWFMs, and supply of ADAMTS13. In addition to plasma exchange, corticostroids are usually used for reducing the production of anti-ADAMTS13 antibodies. Recent studies have shown benefit in using rituximab as a first line therapy of acute acquired TTP.
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Original Article
  • Nobuhide HAYASHI, Shunichi KUMAGAI, Kenichiro ONUMA, Kenichi UTO, Dais ...
    2013 Volume 36 Issue 2 Pages 104-114
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: April 28, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
      The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic and analytical performances of nine anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibody assays. Anti-CCP antibody titers were measured in sera from 89 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 121 with rheumatic diseases other than RA (non-RA), 47 with osteoarthritis (OA), 142 with chronic inflammatory diseases (CID) and 168 healthy subjects. Reproducibility, sensitivity, specificity, correlation and concordance rate of the nine assays were compared. Coefficients of variations of within-run and between-run reproducibility at two different concentrations for each assay ranged from 0.7 to 8.5% and from 0.6 to 8.3%, respectively. With our proposed optimal cut-off value for the third-generation assay, concordance rates were 96.8~99.6%. The range of sensitivity was 75.3~78.7% and the ranges of specificity for non-RA, OA, CID, and healthy subjects were 93.4~97.5%, 97.9%, 96.5~98.6% and 98.8~100%, respectively. However, several discrepant samples were detected and their titer levels were about 3 times higher than the normal upper limit in the 2010 RA classification criteria. Good positive correlations were observed for parts of the second-generation assay. Our study showed that each of the nine assays has good reproducibility and high diagnostic accuracy, and is thus equally useful for the diagnosis of RA.
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Case Report
  • Kazuhiro OTANI, Kentaro NODA, Taro UKICHI, Isamu KINGETSU, Daitaro KUR ...
    2013 Volume 36 Issue 2 Pages 115-121
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: April 28, 2013
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
      We report a 39-year-old female admitted for fever. She showed physical findings of bilateral granulomatous uveitis, swelling of the bilateral parotid glands, and paralysis of the left second branch of the trigeminal nerve. Her chest X-ray showed evidence of bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy. We performed biopsy of her parotid gland, and leading to a diagnosis of noncaseating epithelioid granuloma characterized by lymphocyte and multinucleated giant cell invasion. Therefore, she was diagnosed with the abortive type of Heerfordt syndrome which is a subtype of sarcoidosis. This is the only case associated with paralysis of the trigeminal nerve without paralysis of facial nerves to be reported in Japan.
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Case Report
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