Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0042109 (urticaria)
 6,569 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Chronic urticaria remains one of the major unsolved clinical problems in dermatology. My group has employed an integrated experimental approach in order to shed light on the pathophysiology and treatment of this group of disorders. Using delayed pressure urticaria as a model, evidence has emerged of the role of eosinophil major basic protein (MBP) and of interleukin-6 (IL-6) as important molecular mediators, possibly explaining the poor response to H1 antihistamines. Our recent work in chronic idiopathic urticaria has led to identification of a circulating greater than 100 kD factor which causes wealing following intradermal injection and which releases histamine from normal leukocytes in vitro. Further characterisation confirmed that this skin and histamine releasing reactivity is due mainly to an IgG anti-IgE autoantibody. That this autoantibody is functionally significant is supported not only by its ability to release histamine and cause local wealing, but also by the results of removal by plasmapheresis which we have shown to cause clinical improvement in seven out of eight patients with severe unremitting chronic urticaria. It is concluded that chronic 'idiopathic' urticaria is an autoimmune disease due, in most patients, to a functionally significant IgG anti-IgE autoantibody. Immunotherapy offers the best long-term prospects of relief in severe unremitting cases.
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PMID:Urticaria: new molecular insights and treatments. The Parkes Weber Lecture 1991. 137 92

The allergen extracts of wheat, rye, barley and oats flours were characterized by IgE-immunoblotting with serum samples from 40 adult patients; 35 patients with atopic dermatitis, one with rhinitis and four with urticaria. All these patients had been positive when skin-prick testing was carried out with one or more of the four flour extracts or displayed one or more positive cereal RAST results. Four non-atopic sera were used as negative controls. Acidic and neutral protein extracts of wheat, rye, barley and oats flours were processed for the immunoblotting experiments and 35 patients appeared positive in IgE immunoblotting with wheat and rye, 32 with barley and 33 with oats. The IgE immunoblots showed polyspecific binding patterns; wheat exhibited 36 IgE stained bands, rye 35, barley 33 and oats 10. Eighteen of the IgE stained bands could be classified as intermediate allergens for wheat, 23 for rye and 15 for barley. The 66 kDa protein in oats was visualized by 28 out of 33 sera (84%), however, there was evident non-specific binding to this region and thus it may also represent lectin-like binding. The most frequent staining with wheat extract was seen in the 26 kDa protein region (15/35, 43%), with rye in the 40 kDa (16/35, 46%) and with barley in the 26 and 46 kDa protein bands (14/32, 44%). Simultaneous staining with wheat, rye and barley extracts were observed with 16 bands suggesting crossreactivity between these cereals.
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PMID:IgE-binding components of wheat, rye, barley and oats recognized by immunoblotting analysis with sera from adult atopic dermatitis patients. 808 61

The levels of interleukin-6 and platelet-derived microparticles (PMPs) were measured in the blood of 137 patients with side effects from platelet concentrate (PC) transfusion with leukocyte removal filtration, P-selectin-expressing platelet and PMPs in stored PC before and after the filtration, and filtered leukocytes positive for P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1. The side effects, which were observed in 203 transfusions for 84 patients with hematologic disease and 53 patients with nonhematologic disease with no significant difference between the two groups, included urticaria (75.9%), erythema (18.7%), and fever (17.2%), but no anaphylactic reactions. The levels of interleukin-6 and PMP correlated in both groups, and were significantly higher in the hematologic disease group than in the nonhematologic disease group. The level of PMP, but not interleukin-6, was significantly higher for patients testing positive for allergic reaction than for those testing negative. In the stored PC prior to filtration, the level of interleukin-6 was normal. The level of P-selectin-expressing platelets and PMPs was elevated before filtration, but was significantly lower after filtration. Taken together, the results suggest that PMP is involved in the generation of transfusion reactions, and indicate that both platelets and PMP displaying P-selectin bind to P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 of leukocytes retained by the leukocyte filter.
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PMID:Platelets expressing P-selectin and platelet-derived microparticles in stored platelet concentrates bind to PSGL-1 on filtrated leukocytes. 1103 May 27

Histamine released from dermal mast cells plays a central role in the increased vascular permeability in acute urticaria, and administration of anti-histamines usually suppresses development of wheals. Acute idiopathic urticaria, particularly a severe case, occasionally presents with acute inflammatory reactions such as low-grade fever and leukocytosis and is resistant to anti-histamines. Considering the wide spectrum of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines that can be released from activated mast cells, some of them might be involved in the pathogenesis of urticaria. We measured plasma levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in 16 cases of severe acute urticaria. None of them showed elevated plasma levels of IL-8 or TNF-alpha. Nine out of 16 acute urticaria patients showed elevated circulating IL-6 with concomitant increases in serum CRP levels. All such patients were resistant to conventional anti-histamine treatment and required systemic steroids for complete suppression of wheal development. After subsidence of the urticaria, their elevated IL-6 and CRP levels dropped to their normal ranges. In contrast, all but one patient without elevated circulating IL-6 was successfully treated with a H1 receptor antagonist, cetirizine. The data suggest involvement of IL-6 in the pathogenesis of severe acute urticaria that is resistant to anti-histamines.
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PMID:Acute urticaria with elevated circulating interleukin-6 is resistant to anti-histamine treatment. 1143 61

Plasma concentrations of 8 proteins, including cytokines: interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), receptors: soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R), p55 soluble TNF receptor (p55 sTNF-R) and acute phase proteins: alpha-2 macroglobulin (alpha-2 MG), C-reactive protein (CRP) were examined in 33 patients with drug-induced urticaria. The activity of selected proteins was measured using the immunoenzymatic ELISA method: a) in the acute stage of disease before treatment was administered, and b) after clearing of skin lesions, after treatment. In the acute stage of disease elevated concentrations of the examined proteins (p<0.001) in comparison to the control were found. After clearing of clinical symptoms the concentrations of IL-2, IL-6, p55TNF-R and alpha-2 MG were not significantly different from the control values. But despite deep decrease, slL-2R, IL-10, TNF-alpha and CRP levels were still significantly elevated (p<0.001) when compared to the control. Results of this study indicate complex character of pathogenic phenomena in drug-induced urticaria in which elevated activity of mediators acting as promotors and modulators of cellular immune response can be found.
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PMID:Drug-induced urticaria--activity of selected cytokines and acute phase proteins in plasma. 1531 56

Several lines of evidence indicate that the immune system, inflammation, and coagulation are simultaneously activated in autoimmune and immune-mediated skin diseases. Pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha induce the expression of the main initiator of coagulation, i.e., tissue factor. The proteases of coagulation in turn act on protease-activated receptors inducing the expression of various pro-inflammatory cytokines triggering inflammation. The cross-talk among immune system, inflammation, and coagulation amplifies and maintains the activation of all three pathways. This review focuses on three skin disorders as chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), angioedema, and bullous pemphigoid (BP), in which the relationships among the three systems have been investigated or their clinical consequences are relevant. Markers of thrombin generation, fibrinolysis, and inflammation have been reported to be increased in the plasma during flares of CSU and angioedema, as well as in the active phase of BP, with the marker levels reverting to normal during remission. The coagulation activation seems to be important only at local level in CSU and angioedema while both at local and systemic levels in BP which is the only condition associated with an increased thrombotic risk. The prothrombotic state in autoimmune skin diseases raises the question of the indication of anticoagulant treatment, particularly in the presence of other cardiovascular risk factors.
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PMID:Coagulation and Skin Autoimmunity. 3128 19