Publications (5) View all
-
Article: CD28 family and chronic rejection: "to belatacept...And beyond!".
[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Kidneys are one of the most frequently transplanted human organs. Immunosuppressive agents may prevent or reverse most acute rejection episodes; however, the graft may still succumb to chronic rejection. The immunological response involved in the chronic rejection process depends on both innate and adaptive immune response. T lymphocytes have a pivotal role in chronic rejection in adaptive immune response. Meanwhile, we aim to present a general overview on the state-of-the-art knowledge of the strategies used for manipulating the lymphocyte activation mechanisms involved in allografts, with emphasis on T-lymphocyte costimulatory and coinhibitory molecules of the B7-CD28 superfamily. A deeper understanding of the structure and function of these molecules improves both the knowledge of the immune system itself and their potential action as rejection inducers or tolerance promoters. In this context, the central role played by CD28 family, especially the relationship between CD28 and CTLA-4, becomes an interesting target for the development of immune-based therapies aiming to increase the survival rate of allografts and to decrease autoimmune phenomena. Good results obtained by the recent development of abatacept and belatacept with potential clinical use aroused better expectations concerning the outcome of transplanted patients.Journal of Transplantation 01/2012; 2012:203780. -
Article: Expression of the melatonin receptor and tryptophan hydroxylase in placentas of the fetus with intra-uterine stress.
European journal of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology 09/2009; 147(2):234-6. · 1.97 Impact Factor -
Article: Description of microscopic lesions of vestibular folds of autopsied adults and their relationship with cause of death and underlying disease.
[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The increase in invasive methods currently applied to diagnosis airway upper tract infection leads to a possible increase in vestibular folds (VF) lesions. Besides, VF importance in the prevention of the organism against infection pathogens had been stressed and few studies had addressed the microscopic lesions of the VF in autopsied patients because there is no routine VF examination in the postmortem exam. The aim of this study is morphological microscopic analyses of the VF from autopsied patients and its correlation with basic disease and cause of death. Transversal cohort. We studied 82 larynges collected during the autopsy exam and performed the Hematoxylin -eosin method for morphological analyses. From the 82 vestibular folds analyzed we observe that 42 (51%) showed an inflammatory reaction. In fifteen (18.3%) vestibular folds we found lymphoid follicular hyperplasia, in eleven (13.4%) diffuse inflammatory infiltrate and in sixteen (19.5%) acute inflammatory reactions. Circulatory diseases were the most frequently underlying diseases found, 31 (37.8%) and from these 20 (67.8%) presented associated vestibular folds inflammatory reaction. The infection diseases were the most frequently cause of death among the patients with inflammatory reaction of the VF. Besides the anatomic function, VF seem to have a immunological function preventing lower airway infections. Our study demonstrated inflammatory PV reactions in patients with infections diseases as cause of death; this finding could be a consequence of the sepsis that leads the patient to death or a different way used by the organism to prevent infection.Brazilian journal of otorhinolaryngology 71(2):161-6. -
Article: Placental morphometrical and histopathology changes in the different clinical presentations of hypertensive syndromes in pregnancy.
[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Even though there are clinical studies emphasizing the diagnosis and the perinatal intercurrent diseases of the Hypertensive Syndromes in Pregnancy, few of these studies establish the clinical forms of the specific hypertensive syndromes with the associated morphological placental alterations. The lack of studies on placental morphology and the etiopathogenesis of the different clinical standards for HSP, together with the need to objectively characterize these morphological placental lesions justify this study. A retrospective study was carried out with 91 placentas examined throughout the period from 2000 to 2003. All placentas from patients presenting HSP in this period were included in the study. These were classified according to features well established by the literature such as laboratory and clinical criteria into: gestational hypertension (GH), chronic hypertension (CH), pre-eclampsia (PE) and pre-eclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension (PSCH). The number of knots presented a positive correlation with the length of time and severity of the hypertension during gestation (Spearman correlation: 0.253; P = 0.0158). The fibrin deposit was greater in all HSP groups but the pattern of distribution changes in the most severe cases from perivillous to intravillous as in the PSCH group (P = 0.002). There was no statistically significant difference in the area of the stem vessel walls among the groups. The cases with PE and CH presented a larger number of terminal villi vessels (P < 0.001). This report suggests, that although they could be different types of hypertension or an evaluation of the same disease, the final pathway that leads to microscopic lesions in the placenta is the same, with only different intensity due to the severity of the disease.Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics 03/2008; 277(3):201-6. · 1.28 Impact Factor -
Article: Cushing's disease in a 5-month infant due to a basophilic microadenoma of the pituitary gland.
[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We report a female patient who developed severe Cushing's disease during the fifth month of life due to a basophilic pituitary adenoma Histological findings showed a basophilic microadenoma of the pituitary gland, leading to the diagnosis of Cushing's disease. The infant died because of untreatable septic shock. The importance of the present report resides in the age of the child at diagnosis, and that it was the necropsy finding of microadenoma which clarified the cause of the Cushing's syndrome, since it was not diagnosed during life. Cushing's disease is most often diagnosed in children older than 7 years, and our patient was only 5 months old when we detected the pituitary adenoma, the earliest case diagnosed so far. Cushing's syndrome in pediatric patients has been rarely reported and most cases are due to functioning adrenal tumors, usually a malignant carcinoma but occasionally a benign adenoma. The present case shows that the pituitary of these patients should be investigated with important implications in terms of therapeutic approaches, such as pituitary radiotherapy, which can cure the patient when treatment is started very soon.Journal of pediatric endocrinology & metabolism: JPEM 11/2006; 19(10):1263-6. · 0.88 Impact Factor
