Membranous nephropathy is one of the most common causes of the nephrotic syndrome in adults. Membranous nephropathy is known as a disease associated with many other disorders and the presumed etiology of the disease is a deposition of circulating immune complexes. But, it has rarely been reported in association with autoimmune thyroiditis. We report a case of membranous nephropathy associated with Graves' disease and review the literature regarding this disease entity.
Adult ; Antigen-Antibody Complex ; Glomerulonephritis ; Glomerulonephritis, Membranous* ; Graves Disease* ; Humans ; Immune Complex Diseases ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; Thyroiditis ; Thyroiditis, Autoimmune

This study evaluates the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis by producing immune complex induced arthritis with an intra-articular injection of BSA in immunized rabbits, and the effect of systemic administration of cyclophosphamide and local administration of anti-macrophage serum. The reduction of inflammatory reaction by cyclophosphamide administration appears to be caused mainly by selective depletion of the neutrophils, and partly by immune suppression. It appears that the rabbit abdominal macrophage has the common morphologic, functional and antigenic patterns with the M-type synovial lining cells. There is another possibility that the cross-reacting antigens between macrophage and the M-type cell of the synovial lining may exist. It is concluded that in this experimental immune complex arthritis, the site of localization of immune complexes seems to be the synovial, M-type cell, and the tissue injury of synovium is largely mediated not only by neutrophils and complement, but also by macrophages.
Animal ; Antigen-Antibody Complex* ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/etiology* ; Cyclophosphamide/pharmacology ; Immune Complex Diseases/etiology* ; Immune Sera/pharmacology ; Macrophages ; Rabbits ; Serum Albumin, Bovine/administration & dosage ; Synovial Membrane/pathology

Systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) is the prototypic immune complex disease which involves various organs. Chronic interstitial cystitis and protein-losing enteropathy are uncommon manifestations of SLE and have good response to steroid. Only one case of SLE associated with chronic interstitial cystitis and protein-losing enteropathy has been reported which was resistant to steroid treatment but dramatically responded to cyclophosphamide. We describe a case of a female patient who developed systemic lupus erythematosus associated with chylothorax, interstitial cystitis and protein-losing enteropathy with literature review. This case was initially resistant to steroid but with the addition of cyclophosphamide, chylothorax, chronic interstitial cystitis and protein-losing enteropathy markedly improved. This is the first case of SLE that developed chylothorax as well as chronic interstitial cystitis and protein-losing enteropathy.
Chylothorax* ; Cyclophosphamide ; Cystitis, Interstitial* ; Female ; Humans ; Immune Complex Diseases ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic* ; Protein-Losing Enteropathies*

In the early host defense system, effector function of natural killer (NK) cells results in natural killing against target cells such as microbe-infected, malignant, and certain allogenic cells without prior stimulation. NK cell cytotoxicity is selectively regulated by homeostatic prevalence between a repertoire of both activating and inhibitory receptors, and the discrimination of untransformed cells is achieved by recognition of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I alleles through inhibitory signals. Although it is well known that the bipotential T/NK progenitors are derived from the common precusor, functional mechanisms in terms of the development of NK cells remain to be further investigated. NK cells are mainly involved in innate immunity, but recent studies have been reported that they also play a critical role in adaptive immune responses through interaction with dendritic cells (DC). This interaction will provide effector functions and development of NK cells, and elucidation of its precise mechanism may lead to therapeutic strategies for effective treatment of several immune diseases.
Adaptive Immunity* ; Alleles ; Dendritic Cells ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Homicide ; Immune System Diseases ; Immunity, Innate ; Killer Cells, Natural* ; Major Histocompatibility Complex ; Prevalence

The human leukocyte antigen (HLA), the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in humans has been known to reside on chromosome 6 and encodes cell-surface antigen-presenting proteins and many other proteins related to immune system function. The HLA is highly polymorphic and the most genetically variable coding loci in humans. In addition to a critical role in transplantation medicine, HLA and disease associations have been widely studied across the populations world-wide and are found to be important in prediction of disease susceptibility, resistance and of evolutionary maintenance of genetic diversity. Because recently developed molecular based HLA typing has several advantages like improved specimen stability and increased resolution of HLA types, the association between HLA alleles and a given disease could be more accurately quantified. Here, in this review, we have collected HLA association data on some autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, cancers, drug responsiveness and other diseases with unknown etiology in Koreans and attempt to summarize some remarkable HLA alleles related with specific diseases.
Alleles ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 6 ; Clinical Coding ; Communicable Diseases ; Disease Susceptibility ; Genetic Variation ; Histocompatibility Testing ; Humans ; Immune System ; Leukocytes ; Major Histocompatibility Complex ; Proteins ; Transplants

Acute hemorrhagic edema of infancy (AHEI) is an uncommon form of cutaneous leukocytoclastic vasculitis that occurs in infants and children younger than 2 years. AHEI is characterized clinically by marked peripheral edema and fever as well as large palpable purpuric and ecchymotic skin lesions in a target-like pattern, mainly on the face, ears and extremities, similar to the skin findings of Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP). The skin lesions heal spontaneously within one to three weeks and internal organs are rarely affected. We report a case of AHEI occurring in a 23-month-old boy who was initially misdiagnosed as HSP, and was later diagnosed according to his clinical symptoms and histochemical characteristics.
Child ; Ear ; Edema* ; Extremities ; Fever ; Humans ; Infant* ; Male ; Purpura ; Purpura, Schoenlein-Henoch* ; Skin ; Vasculitis, Leukocytoclastic, Cutaneous

Abnormal hematological values are associated with various disorders including cancer and cardiovascular, metabolic, infectious, and immune diseases. We report the copy number variations (CNVs) in clinically relevant hematological parameters, including hemoglobin level, red and white blood cell counts, platelet counts, and red blood cell (RBC) volume. We describe CNVs in several loci associated with these hematological parameters in 8,842 samples from Korean population-based studies. The data that we evaluated included four RBC parameters, one platelet parameter, and one associated with total white blood cell (WBC) count, exceeding the genome-wide significance. We show that CNVs in hematological parameters are associated with some loci, different from previously associated loci reported in single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) association studies.
Blood Cell Count ; Blood Platelets ; Coat Protein Complex I ; Erythrocytes ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Hemoglobins ; Immune System Diseases ; Leukocyte Count ; Leukocytes ; Platelet Count ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

Lupus-like glomerulonephritis is an immune complex disease with features of lupus nephritis in the absence of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We report a 49-year-old man diagnosed with lupus-like glomerulonephritis associated with extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT). He was admitted to the hospital for edema. At admission, the serum creatinine was 2.2 mg/dL and the urine protein level was 3.9 mg/day. A renal biopsy showed features of lupus nephritis with no clinical or serological evidence of SLE. Extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of MALT was discovered concurrently. After successful chemotherapy, the lupus-like glomerulonephritis and lymphoma entered complete remission.
Biopsy ; Creatinine ; Drug Therapy ; Edema ; Glomerulonephritis* ; Humans ; Immune Complex Diseases ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Lupus Nephritis ; Lymphoid Tissue ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone* ; Middle Aged

Acute hemorrhagic edema of childhood is an uncommon form of cutaneous leukocytoclastic vasculitis that occurs in children younger than 3 years. This is characterized by tender edema and rosette-shaped purpuric patches that generally resolve without intervention. We describe a 26-month-old boy with acute hemorrhagic edema of childhood, in whom the disease appeared after an acute respiratory illness. Skin lesions presented with acral edema, and rosette-shaped purpuric plaques on the face and limbs. Some authors consider the disease as a purely cutaneous form of Henoch-Schoenlein purpura, but it is more likely that acute hemorrhagic edema of childhood could be regarded as a distinct entity within leukocytoclastic vasculitis.
Child ; Child, Preschool ; Edema* ; Extremities ; Humans ; Male ; Purpura, Schoenlein-Henoch ; Skin ; Vasculitis ; Vasculitis, Leukocytoclastic, Cutaneous

Following recent advanced industrialization. the amount of polyurethane to use as thermal insulating materials, upholstery mattresses and packing materials in automotive and furniture industry is increasing world-widely, and the number of polyurethane-producing worker will be increased. Because the numerous organic solvents are used in polyurethane-producing factory, the workers in this work site is exposed to many organic solvents. Of the organic solvents. Toluene Diisocyanate(TDI) has many hazardous effects to human. The effects of TDI on human are the irritation to respiratory mucosa and gastrointestinal symptoms. Conjunctival irritation, dermal inflammation (redness, pain, vesicular formation) and gastrointestinal symptom(nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain) are reported just after short-term exposure of TDI. TDI is known to give rise to bronchial asthma, as the immune disorder. And because of strongly volatile characteristics of TDI, it is suggested as a more injurious material to human health, especially human immune system, than other organic solvents. Bronchial asthma inducing mechanism of TDI is not clearly known, but on the analogy of TDI-induced symptoms and recent studies, early-onset asthma is type I hypersensitivity reaction mediated by immunoglobulin E(IgE), and late-onset asthma is maybe type III hypersensitivity reaction by circulating IgG. And we know that the complicated human immune function is likely to move in such that mechanisms, there are not studies on immune indices evaluating the bronchial asthma-related immune function. The evaluation of change patterns of humoral immunity including IgE and IgG and cellular immunity including T-helper cell, T-suppressor cell and T-cytotoxic cell will be helpful to evaluate exposure degrees and prognosis in TDI-exposed workers. Because TDA(toluene diamine) as a biological exposure index of TDI becomes the focus of interest, we know that a study on the correlation between urinary TDA and air TDI and immunological indices will make a contribution to biological effect monitoring indicies. We examined human immunity indicators such as WBC. %Lymph (percentile of Lymphocyte in WBC). %T-cell(percentile of T-lymphocyte in total lymphocyte). CD4, CD8, C3, C4, IgA, IgG, IgM, IgE in peripheral blood to evaluate the health hazard of the TDI-exposed workers. And we examined TDA to evaluate correlation between exposure and effect. Total 90 subjects was selected, 45 workers who worked in the polyurethane-producing factories as an exposed group, and 45 cases who were office workers(10 cases), other blue collors(27 cases), and medical college students(8 cases) as a control group. And the results were as follows ; 1. The logarithm of IgE -Log10(IgE)+/-SD- in peripheral blood of a exposed group was significantly higher than a control group, 2 22+/-.62 in case group compared with 1.98+/-.53 in control group.(p<0.05) 2. IgA and IgM in the polyurethane-producing workers were 261.02+/-3.12 mg/dl, 151.97+/-9.64 mg/dl, respectively, and 292.77+/-00.45, 179.17+/-00.78 in control group. IgA and IgM was slightly lower in polyurethane-producing group than control (p>0.05). 3. WBC, %Lymph, %T-cell, C3, C4, CD4, CD8, CD4/CDB ratio and IgG in case group were 6,391.1 ea/ml, 37.53%, 59.54%, 76.68 mg/dl, 30.54 mg/dl, 0.76x10(9) ea/L, 0.63x10(9) ea/L, 1.39, and 1606.29 mg/dl, respectively, and 6,974.7 ea/ml, 35.12%, 59.64%, 71.95 mg/dl, 33.94 mg/dl, 0.80x109 ea/L, 0.61x10(9) ea/L, 1.39, and 1581.51 mg/dl in control group. There was no statistical sinificance between two groups. (p>0.05) 4. In the comparison of each other companies, average of individual urinary TDA in polyurethane paint manufacturing companies is higher than that of polyurethane sponge foaming companies. And, the concentration of 2,6-TDA which is a metabolite of well-vaporized 2,6-TDI is higher than that of 2,4-TDA in the polyurethane sponge foaming companies. But, the concentration of 2,4-TDA which is a metabolite of illvaporized but well skin-absorbed 2,4-TDI is higher in polyurethane paint manufactures. 5. There were no statistical significance in the correlations between individual urinary TDA and immunologic indices.
Asthma ; Beds ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity, Immediate ; Immune Complex Diseases ; Immune System ; Immune System Diseases ; Immunity, Cellular ; Immunity, Humoral ; Immunoglobulin A ; Immunoglobulin E ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Immunoglobulins ; Inflammation ; Interior Design and Furnishings ; Lymphocytes ; Paint ; Polyurethanes ; Porifera ; Prognosis ; Respiratory Mucosa ; Solvents ; T-Lymphocytes ; Toluene* ; Vomiting ; Workplace