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

The coincidence of Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) and chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) is a commonly observed phenomenon in western New York. Previous literature suggested that there may be a direct relationship between them. We undertook these studies to determine whether humoral or cell-mediated mechanisms might link HT and CIU. Skin biopsies from patients with CIU, with or without HT, were indistinguishable by light microscopy. No immune complex deposition was observed, although only the skin from patients with CIU and HT contained perivascular fibrin deposits. Similarly, immunohistochemical studies evaluating cellular expression of CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20, and CD68 failed to differentiate between CIU with or without HT. Analysis of Vbeta restriction in thyroid tissue of patients with HT and the skin of patients with CIU and HT by in situ polymerase chain reaction failed to reveal any oligoclonal T-lymphocyte subpopulations. In contrast, only patients with CIU and HT had anti-FcepsilonRI antibodies in their sera that could induce degranulation of normal basophils. Some sera from patients with CIU and HT caused degranulation of normal basophils in the absence of anti-FceRI. The factor causing basophil degranulation in these sera was not determined. Patients with CIU and HT failed to improve clinically with thyroid replacement therapy. All CIU patients were equally well managed with symptomatic therapies. In conclusion, HT likely represents a marker of other autoimmunity, rather than being a direct causative agent in CIU. Management of CIU, with or without HT and with or without anti-FceRI antibodies, should be the same. Future studies will have to examine whether cell-mediated responses participate in CIU, especially in association with HT.
 ...
PMID:Evaluation of chronic urticaria in patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis. 1172 6

Chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) is diagnosed in patients when urticarial eruptions recur for more than 6 weeks, and no specific cause is determined. Given that urticaria resembles the lesions induced by injection of histamine or allergen into the skin, a role for mast cells or basophils has been proposed in the generation of localized urticarial lesions. However, currently, the exact mechanisms governing regional mast cell or basophil activation are unknown. In the past decade, there has been mounting interest in viewing CIU as an autoimmune disease, given the presence of circulating autoantibodies to IgE or the alpha subunit of the high-affinity IgE receptor (FceRI) in a subset of patients. In this review, we propose that in addition to autoantibodies, specific differences in the expression of FceRI-signaling molecules in the basophils or mast cells of CIU patients may contribute to the generation of urticarial eruptions.
 ...
PMID:Basophils and mast cells in chronic idiopathic urticaria. 1596 67

The skin is exposed to endogenous and environmental pro-oxidant agents, leading to the harmful generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The resulting oxidative stress damages proteins, lipids, and DNA. An imbalance between ROS and antioxidants can lead to an elevated oxidative stress level. Some evidence indicates that allergic and inflammatory skin diseases like atopic dermatitis, urticaria and psoriasis are mediated by oxidative stress. For example, monocytes from patients with atopic dermatitis are primed to generate ROS in response to zymosan, a Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) ligand, suggesting that Staphylococcus aureus may damage lesional skin of the disease by production of ROS. Mast cells generate mainly intracellular ROS following the aggregation of FceRI; these ROS may act as secondary messengers in the induction of several biological responses. The present review summarizes the involvement of ROS in the pathogenesis of allergic and inflammatory skin diseases.
 ...
PMID:Oxidative stress in allergic and inflammatory skin diseases. 1612 29

Previous studies indicate that 30-50% of chronic urticaria patients have an autoimmune etiology. Clinical diagnosis of autoimmune urticaria is supported with the autologous serum skin test. The purpose of this study was to compare two laboratory tests for measurement of IgG autoantibodies to IgE or IgE receptors and compare the results with the autologous serum and plasma skin tests. We performed skin tests and two functional in vitro tests, basophil histamine release, and CD63 up-regulation to detect autoantibodies relevant to autoimmune urticaria. Both sera and citrated plasma were evaluated in the autologous skin test and histamine release assay. Thyroid autoantibodies were also measured. Basophils were incubated with patient plasma, sera, buffer, or anti-IgE. The cells were analyzed for CD63 expression and the supernatants were recovered for histamine analysis. There was high correlation between CD63 up-regulation and histamine release assays, but histamine release was more sensitive. There was a high concordance between sera and citrated plasma for the skin test. Sera from chronic urticaria patients produced higher mean histamine release (23%) compared with citrated plasma (12%). Thirty-one percent of patients positive in the histamine release assay were also positive for thyroid autoantibodies. This compares with 12% who were negative in the histamine release assay. These data show that in vitro basophil histamine release can be used to measure antibodies to FceRI, FceRII/CD23, or IgE and identify patients with autoimmune urticaria.
 ...
PMID:Comparison of the in vivo autologous skin test with in vitro diagnostic tests for diagnosis of chronic autoimmune urticaria. 1902 96