Efficacy of Sublingual Immunotherapy with Dermatophagoides farinae Extract in Monosensitized and Polysensitized Patients with Allergic Rhinitis: Clinical Observation and Analysis.

AIM: To investigate differences in the efficacy of sublingual immunotherapy with Dermatophagoides farinae drops in monosensitized and polysensitized allergic rhinitis patients. METHODS: The patients enrolled in the study were treated for more than one year by sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) using Dermatophagoides farinae drops and were divided into a monosensitized group (n = 20) and a polysensitized group (n = 30). Total nasal symptom scores of patients before and after SLIT were analyzed to evaluate the curative effect. The phylogenetic tree of dust mite allergens as well as other allergens that were tested by skin prick test was constructed to help the analysis. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the efficacy of SLIT between dust mite monosensitized and polysensitized patients. CONCLUSIONS: Both dust mite monosensitized and polysensitized patients could be cured by SLIT using Dermatophagoides farinae drops. This study provides a reference for the selection of allergens to be used in immunotherapy for polysensitized AR patients.

Strengths and weaknesses of immunotherapy for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a meta-analysis of 12 randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for approximately 85% of all lung cancers. Immunotherapy has yielded no consistent benefit to date for those patients. Assessing the objective efficacy and safety of immunotherapy for advanced NSCLC patients will help to instruct the future development of immunotherapeutic drugs. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We performed a meta-analysis of 12 randomized controlled trials including 3134 patients (1570 patients in the immunotherapy group and 1564 patients in the control group) with histologically confirmed stage IIIA, IIIB, or IV NSCLC. The analysis was executed with efficacy end points regarding overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), complete response (CR), partial response (PR), and total effective rate. Overall unstratified OS, PFS, PR, and total effective rate were significantly improved in advanced NSCLC patients in the immunotherapy group (P = 0.0007, 0.0004, 0.002, 0.003, respectively), whereas CR was not improved (P = 0.97). Subgroup analysis showed that monoclonal antibody (mAb) immunotherapy significantly improved the PFS, PR, and total effective rate and showed a trend of improving OS of advanced NSCLC patients compared with the control group, with one kind of adverse event being significantly dominant. Compared with the control group, the vaccine subgroup showed no significant difference with regard to serious adverse events, whereas cytokine immunotherapy significantly induced three kinds of serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Immunotherapy works efficiently on advanced NSCLC patients. Of several immunotherapies, mAb therapy may be a potential immunotherapy for advanced NSCLC patients, and become a standard complementary therapeutic approach in the future if the issues concerning toxicity and allergenicity of mAbs have been overcome.

[Detection of hearing threshold and polymorphic molecular marker analysis of guinea pigs of mimetic aging].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the establishment of the mimetic aging effect in guinea pigs induced by D-galactose, and to detect the biological indicatrix associated with hearing loss and provide a new tool for molecular pathogenesis of hearing loss. METHODS: Total of 51 guinea pigs were randomly divided into three groups: group A (model aging group, n = 25), which were injected with D-galactose (200 mgxkg(-1)xd(-1)) by intra peritoneum for 6 weeks, group B (model control group, n = 18), which were given the same amount of saline only, and group C (vacant group, n = 15) were not treated. Then, The guinea pigs in group A and B were exposed in noise for 8 days, 8 hours once a day. Auditory brainstem response (ABR) was used to test the hearing threshold of guinea pigs thrice, first before the drug administered, then after 6 weeks the drug used, third after noise exposure. And colorimetry was used to analyze the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malon dialdehyde (MDA) in brain and liver tissue. The DNA of inner ear tissue was harvested and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was used to detect the differential polymorphic markers. RESULTS: After injection, there was no significant difference in elevation of ABR threshold between the group A and group B (t = 1.14, P > 0.05). However, exposure of noise later, elevation in ABR threshold of (22.97 +/- 10.56) dB peSPL was observed in group A, and (14.16 +/- 7.36) dB peSPL in group B. The was significant difference in variation of hearing threshold between group A and group B (t = 2.78, P < 0.05). The activity of SOD in brain and liver tissue in group A was lower than that in group B. the level of MDA was opposite between group A and group B. The difference between group A and group B was significant (P < 0.01). A differential polymorphic marker was observed by AFLP. CONCLUSIONS: The mimetic aging effect of the guinea pigs can be induced by D-galactose, and this model can not directly induce the hearing loss. The differential polymorphic marker possibly act as a predisposing factor which can greatly enhance the sensitivity of the ear to the noise.

[Antigenic localization of specific allergen in the body of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus by immunohistochemistry].

OBJECTIVE: To study the localization of specific allergen of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. METHODS: Through optical microscope, the specific allergens of D. pteronyssinus were observed in paraffin sections using D. pteronyssinus-specific IgE antibodies from the patient sera. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The digestive system was found occupying large parts of body cavity of D. pteronyssinus by HE staining, while the specific allergens of D. pteronyssinus were mostly occurred in the midgut tissue, gut contents, cuticle and reproductive system in the immunostained sections. The results also showed that many parts of D. pteronyssinus were recognized by the specific IgE antibodies obtained from allergic individuals to D. pteronyssinus, which provided a theoretic base for further study of isolation and purification of the specific allergen.