May 16, 2013

Investigating highly replicated asthma genes as candidate genes for allergic rhinitis

Research article

Investigating highly replicated asthma genes as candidate genes for allergic rhinitis

Anand Kumar Andiappan^1,²^*^†, Daniel Nilsson^3,⁴^*^†, Christer Halldén⁴, Wang De Yun⁵, Torbjörn Säll⁶, Lars Olaf Cardell³ and Chew Fook Tim¹^*

*Corresponding authors: Anand Kumar Andiappan anand_andiappan@immunol.a-star.edu.sg - Daniel NilssonDaniel.Nilsson.2@ki.se - Chew Fook Tim dbscft@nus.edu.sg
† Equal contributors

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BMC Medical Genetics 2013, 14:51 doi:10.1186/1471-2350-14-51

Published: 10 May 2013

Abstract

Background

Asthma genetics has been extensively studied and many genes have been associated with the development or severity of this disease. In contrast, the genetic basis of allergic rhinitis (AR) has not been evaluated as extensively. It is well known that asthma is closely related with AR since a large proportion of individuals with asthma also present symptoms of AR, and patients with AR have a 5–6 fold increased risk of developing asthma. Thus, the relevance of asthma candidate genes as predisposing factors for AR is worth investigating. The present study was designed to investigate if SNPs in highly replicated asthma genes are associated with the occurrence of AR.

Methods

A total of 192 SNPs from 21 asthma candidate genes reported to be associated with asthma in 6 or more unrelated studies were genotyped in a Swedish population with 246 AR patients and 431 controls. Genotypes for 429 SNPs from the same set of genes were also extracted from a Singapore Chinese genome-wide dataset which consisted of 456 AR cases and 486 controls. All SNPs were subsequently analyzed for association with AR and their influence on allergic sensitization to common allergens.

Results

A limited number of potential associations were observed and the overall pattern of P-values corresponds well to the expectations in the absence of an effect. However, in the tests of allele effects in the Chinese population the number of significant P-values exceeds the expectations. The strongest signals were found for SNPs in NPSR1 and CTLA4. In these genes, a total of nine SNPs showed P-values 0.001 with corresponding Q-values 0.05. In the NPSR1 gene some P-values were lower than the Bonferroni correction level. Reanalysis after elimination of all patients with asthmatic symptoms excluded asthma as a confounding factor in our results. Weaker indications were found for IL13 and GSTP1 with respect to sensitization to birch pollen in the Swedish population.

Conclusions

Genetic variation in the majority of the highly replicated asthma genes were not associated to AR in our populations which suggest that asthma and AR could have less in common than previously anticipated. However, NPSR1 and CTLA4 can be genetic links between AR and asthma and associations of polymorphisms in NPSR1 with AR have not been reported previously.

Keywords:

Allergic rhinitis; Association; Asthma; Case–control; Replication

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The Coexistence of Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

RESEARCH ARTICLE

The Coexistence of Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): Prevalence and Risk Factors in Young, Middle-aged and Elderly People from the General Population

Roberto de Marco mail,
Giancarlo Pesce,
Alessandro Marcon,
Simone Accordini,
Leonardo Antonicelli,
Massimiliano Bugiani,
Lucio Casali,
Marcello Ferrari,
Gabriele Nicolini,
Maria Grazia Panico,
Pietro Pirina,
Maria Elisabetta Zanolin,
Isa Cerveri,
Giuseppe Verlato

Citation: de Marco R, Pesce G, Marcon A, Accordini S, Antonicelli L, et al. (2013) The Coexistence of Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): Prevalence and Risk Factors in Young, Middle-aged and Elderly People from the General Population. PLoS ONE 8(5): e62985. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0062985

Editor: Antony Bayer, Cardiff University, United Kingdom

Received: January 15, 2013; Accepted: March 26, 2013; Published: May 10, 2013

Copyright: © 2013 de Marco et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: The GEIRD project was funded by: the Cariverona Foundation, the Italian Ministry of Health, Chiesi Farmaceutici, and the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors confirm that Gabriele Nicolini is an employe of the “Chiesi Farmaceutici, Parma, Italy,” one of the commercial funders of this research. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Abstract

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgments

Author Contributions

References

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A case of type I variant Kounis syndrome with Samter-Beer triad

World J Cardiol. 2013 April 26; 5(4): 112-114.

Published online 2013 April 26. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v5.i4.112.

A case of type I variant Kounis syndrome with Samter-Beer triad

Jayesh S Prajapati, Kapil M Virpariya, Ashok S Thakkar and Atul D Abhyankar.

Jayesh S Prajapati, Kapil M Virpariya, Department of Cardiology, UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Center, Ahmedabad 380016, Gujarat, India

Ashok S Thakkar, Department of Clinical Trials, Sahajanand Medical Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Surat 395004, India

Atul D Abhyankar, Department of Cardiology, Shree BD Mehta Mahavir Heart Institute, Athwagate, Surat 395001, India

Author contributions: Prajapati JS, Virpariya KM, Thakkar AS and Abhyankar AD designed the research and wrote the paper; Prajapati JS and Virpariya KM performed the research.

Correspondence to: Jayesh S Prajapati, MD, DM, Associate Professor of Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Center, BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital Campus, Asarwa, Ahmedabad 380016, Gujarat, India. drjsprajapati@yahoo.co.in

Telephone: +91-79-26464343 Fax: +91-79-22682092

Received January 27, 2013; Revised March 4, 2013; Accepted March 15, 2013;

Abstract

Kounis syndrome is defined as the coexistence of acute coronary syndromes with situations associated with allergy or hypersensitivity, as well as anaphylactic or anaphylactoid reactions, to a variety of medical conditions, environmental and medication exposures. We report a case of Kounis-Zavras syndrome type I variant in the setting of aspirin-induced asthma, or the Samter-Beer triad of asthma, nasal polyps and aspirin allergy. When there is a young individual with no predisposing factors of atherosclerosis and apparent coronary lesion, with or without electrocardiography and biochemical markers of infarction, the possibility of Kounis syndrome should be kept in mind.

Keywords: Kounis syndrome, Samter-Beer triad, Nasal polyps, Coronary spasm, Aspirin allergy

Abstract

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Cysts of the maxillary sinus: a literature review

Original Article

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Cysts of the maxillary sinus: a literature review

Evangelos I. Giotakis MD, PhD^1,*,
Rainer K. Weber MD²

Article first published online: 15 MAY 2013

DOI: 10.1002/alr.21177

Issue

International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology

Early View (Online Version of Record published before inclusion in an issue)

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Potential conflict of interest: None provided.Share on connoteaAbstract

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Keywords:

maxillary sinus cyst;
review;
FESS;
epidemiology;
natural course

Background

Patients with isolated mucosal cysts of the maxillary sinus (MMC) often undergo surgical treatment despite the absence of relevant symptoms. Some physicians believe that MMC might increase in size and cause complications in the future. The anticipated value of this study is to consolidate and improve the understanding of MMC based on published data and to contribute to avoiding unnecessary interventions.

Methods

We performed a comprehensive review of the literature regarding definition, etiology, epidemiology, natural course, and best treatment of MMC.

Results

Among the 988 papers found in the literature search, 33 studies were selected to be relevant. Among those studies, there are only a few prospective controlled studies. Their prevalence rates range broadly from 3.6% to 35.6% according to different diagnostic methods as well as different indications for imaging. Recent prospective studies showed no correlation of MMC with sinonasal complaints or Lund-Mackay computed tomography (CT) score. The natural course is characterized by a decrease in size of MMC in 30% of the cases, an unchanged status in 50% to 60%, and an increase in 8% to 20% of the cases.

Conclusion

MMC are harmless, mostly asymptomatic lesions that usually do not need surgical treatment. If surgery is indicated, endonasal endoscopic techniques should be the gold-standard approach.

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Dendritic Cells: Cellular Mediators for Immunological Tolerance

Clinical and Developmental Immunology
Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 972865, 8 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/972865

Review Article

Dendritic Cells: Cellular Mediators for Immunological Tolerance

Chun Yuen J. Chung,^1,2 Dirk Ysebaert,² Zwi N. Berneman,^1,3 and Nathalie Cools¹

¹Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute (Vaxinfectio), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), Wilrijkstraat 10, 2650 Edegem, Belgium
²Department of Hepatobiliary, Transplantation, and Endocrine Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), Wilrijkstraat 10, 2650 Edegem, Belgium
³Center for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), Wilrijkstraat 10, 2650 Edegem, Belgium

Received 1 February 2013; Accepted 7 April 2013

Academic Editor: Mohamad Mohty

Copyright © 2013 Chun Yuen J. Chung et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

In general, immunological tolerance is acquired upon treatment with non-specific immunosuppressive drugs. This indiscriminate immunosuppression of the patient often causes serious side-effects, such as opportunistic infectious diseases. Therefore, the need for antigen-specific modulation of pathogenic immune responses is of crucial importance in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. In this perspective, dendritic cells (DCs) can have an important immune-regulatory function, besides their notorious antigen-presenting capacity. DCs appear to be essential for both central and peripheral tolerance. In the thymus, DCs are involved in clonal deletion of autoreactive immature T cells by presenting self-antigens. Additionally, tolerance is achieved by their interactions with T cells in the periphery and subsequent induction of T cell anergy, T cell deletion, and induction of regulatory T cells (Treg). Various studies have described, modulation of DC characteristics with the purpose to induce antigen-specific tolerance in autoimmune diseases, graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), and transplantations. Promising results in animal models have prompted researchers to initiate first-in-men clinical trials. The purpose of current review is to provide an overview of the role of DCs in the immunopathogenesis of autoimmunity, as well as recent concepts of dendritic cell-based therapeutic opportunities in autoimmune diseases.

Allergy, Asthma and Immunology

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May 16, 2013