Síndrome de hiper-IgM asociado a colangitis esclerosante y neoplasia vesicular: caso clínico / X-linked hyper-IGM syndrome associated to sclerosing cholangitis and gallbladder cancer

We report a 11 years old male diagnosed as a X-linked hyper-IgM syndrome that presented with recurrent infections and sclerosing cholangitis and later developed a gallbladder cancer. Immunological evaluation showed decreased levels of serum IgG and IgA with elevated levels of IgM. Study of CD40 ligand expression on mitogen activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells revealed total absence of this marker on T lymphocytes. Molecular analysis detected, in the patient and his mother, a nonsense mutation in exon 1 of the transmembrane segment of the CD40 ligand. He also presented elevation of alkaline phosphatases and mild elevation of liver enzymes. Liver biopsy demonstrated the presence of idiopathic sclerosing cholangitis. The patient was started on monthly IVIG therapy at 400 mg/kg, as well as ursodeoxycholic acid and vitamin E, with normalization of his IgG and IgM levels a decrease in the incidence of infections and normalization of liver function. Three years after diagnosis, we detected the presence of polyps inside the gallbladder that were reported at biopsy as adenocarcinoma. He underwent hepatic bisegmentectomy (VI B-V) and local lymphadenectomy

La inmunología clínica actual: una perspectiva genética y molecular / Present time clinical immunology: a genetic and molecular perspective

During the last few decades, basic scientists and clinicians have gained a deeper insight of the cellular and molecular physiology of the immune system. The widespread application of molecular biology and genetic techniques has advanced our understanding of states of health and disease, bringing forth renewed hopes concerning the advent of a more ÒspecificÓ therapeutic era of clinical immunology. The precise structural and genetic characterization of molecular complexes such as B and T-cell receptors, the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), cytokines, chemokines, cellular receptors and co-receptors has produced a wealth of information open to both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. We herein review several recent advances in the molecular and genetic characterization of immune deficiency states, autoimmunity and the induction of antigen specific immune unresponsiveness or tolerance, together with the therapeutic implications of these findings

Remisión inexplicada de inmunodeficiencia común variable: análisis de un caso clínico / Unexplained remission of common variable immunodeficiency: analysis of 1 clinic case

We report a 26 years old female with a common variable immunodeficiency diagnoses at the age of 21 with recurrent pulmonary and sinusal bacterial infections that had a clinical and laboratory remission. At the moment of diagnosis she had agammaglobulinemia in the protein electrophoresis, very low level of IgG and IgM and absence of IgA. Absolute counts of CD4(+) T lymphocytes were low and CD8(+) were normal. B lymphocyte count was normal. Five years later a repeated study revealed normal levels of all these parameters, excepting IgA that continued to be undetectable. We propose that the remission could be due to a decrease in suppressor activity of T lymphocytes. There is no documented evidence of infectious factors or the use of immunological therapy that could have influenced the course of the disease