Srdja Janković

• PhD
• Head of Department at University Children's Hospital, Belgrade, Serbia

Background/Aim. The cause of eosinophilia often remains unelucidated. The aim of the study was to analyze causes and treatment approaches in children with eosinophilia in pediatric tertiary care hospital. Methods. The medical records of children investigated for eosinophilia (based on the International Classification of Diseases code D72.1) were re...

Now that we know that Earth-like planets are ubiquitous in the universe, as well as that most of them are much older than the Earth, it is justified to ask to what extent evolutionary outcomes on other such planets are similar, or indeed commensurable, to the outcomes we perceive around us. In order to assess the degree of specialty or mediocrity o...

Now that we know that Earth-like planets are ubiquitous in the universe, as well as that most of them are much older than the Earth, it is justified to ask to what extent evolutionary outcomes on other such planets are similar, or indeed commensurable, to the outcomes we perceive around us. In order to assess the degree of specialty or mediocrity o...

Introduction/Objective. Although lymphocyte immunophenotyping based on flow cytometry is a powerful tool in the diagnosis of many primary immunodeficiences (PID), there has been an increasing awareness of associated costs and the need for its reassessment as a screening tool. We present the results and diagnostic impact of immunophenotyping perform...

Introduction/Objective. Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a severe hyperinflammatory condition characterized by fever, splenomegaly and cytopenias. Diagnosis of HLH requires at least five of the eight criteria set by the Histiocyte Society and poses a significant challenge to physicians. HLH-2004 criteria include measurement of plasma lev...

Cadmium (Cd) represents a unique hazard because of the long biological half-life in humans (20-30 years). This metal accumulates in organs causing a continuum of responses, with organ disease/failure as extreme outcome. Some of the cellular and molecular alterations in target tissues can be related to immune-modulating potential of Cd. This metal m...

Vaccination is one of the most important methods of prevention of infectious disease, saving millions of lives worldwide and protecting people from potentially debilitating complications. It is therefore hailed as one of the greatest advances of science-based medicine of all times. Although repeatedly proven safe and effective, vaccination has been...

Women with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) experience pregnancy complications mostly due to impaired trophoblast cell functions. Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) affect extravillous trophoblast in vivo and in culture, but the mechanisms are still poorly understood. Previously, syncytiotrophoblast was shown to bind and internalize aPL, which was no...

Introduction. Fever of unknown origin is an important diagnostic challenge. Although rare, periodic fever syndromes may often present with a chronic or recurrent febrile condition with a variable temporal pattern of occurrence. Although clinical characteristics often indicate the syndrome in question, there are many atypical forms, and the genotype...

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a pertinent deleterious factor in oral microenvironment for cells which are carriers of regenerative processes. The aim of this study was to investigate the emerging in vitro effects of LPS (E.coli) on human periodontal ligament stem cell (PDLSC) functions and associated signaling pathways. We demonstrated that LPS did n...

The purpose of this review is to provide an up-to-date outlook on autoimmune phenomena associated with vaccination. Autoimmune reactions triggered by vaccination are a rare occurrence, but a frequent cause of concern. Search of available medical literature for terms “vaccination” and “autoimmunity” or “autoimmune” was performed. Additional articles...

Introduction. Perforation of the sigmoid colon is rare in children and its descriptions in medical literature are infrequent. Case Outline. In a 13-year-old boy with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a ten-month course of chemotherapy was accompanied by many complications: parasitic infestation (Enterobius vermicularis), lung candidiasis, esophageal ca...

The age-specific differences in the genetic mechanisms of myeloid leukemogenesis have been observed and studied previously. However, NGS technology has provided a possibility to obtain a large amount of mutation data. We analyzed DNA samples from 20 childhood (cAML) and 20 adult AML (aAML) patients, using NGS targeted sequencing. The average covera...

The age-specific differences in the genetic mechanisms of myeloid leukemogenesis have been observed and studied previously. However, NGS technology has provided a possibility to obtain a large amount of mutation data. We analyzed DNA samples from 20 childhood (cAML) and 20 adult AML (aAML) patients, using NGS targeted sequencing. The average covera...

Introduction. Intensive treatment protocols used for non-Hodgkin lymphoma in children lead to eventfree survival rates ranging from 80% to 90%. However, the results are less successful in developing countries. Lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL) is the second most frequent type of lymphoma in children, contributing with about one third to all non-Hodgkin...

Acute leukemias constitute the most common malignancy in childhood, accounting for 25-35% of all cancer in children. They are divided into acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Genetic susceptibility is known to play a major role in childhood leukemias. Wilms tumor (WT)1 is a zinc finger transcription factor involved...

Introduction. Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare, potentially life-threatening, hyperinflammatory syndrome caused by severe hypercytokinemia due to a highly stimulated, but ineffective immune response. Case report. We reported a 19-year-old woman presenting with fever, muscle and joint pain and sore throat. After diagnostic procedur...

Introduction. Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a severe hyperinflammatory condition characterized by fever, cytopenias, hepatosplenomegaly and hemophagocytosis. HLH may be primary or secondary to infection, autoimmune disease or malignancy. Hypertriglyceridemia is a common abnormality in HLH and one of the HLH-2004 diagnostic criteria. C...

Physical processes that characterize living matter are qualitatively distinct in that they involve encoding and transfer of specific types of information. Such information plays an active part in the control of events that are ultimately linked to the capacity of the system to persist and multiply. This algorithmicity of life is a key prerequisite...

Purpose: To assess the impact of measuring plasma levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) on the timely diagnosis of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) in pediatric patients treated in University Children’s Hospital, Belgrade in the period August 2008–April 2015. Methods: Retrospective review of patients’ histories. Plasma levels of...

Considering that gut mucosal and tumor tissue represents immunologycally tolerogenic microenvironments, we wonder whether pretreatment of monocyte- derived dendritic cells (MoDCs) with colorectal carcinoma conditioned media (CCM-MoDCs) or CM from normal colon mucosa tissue (NCM-MoDCs) may influence their functional response to TLR-3 and TLR-7 ligat...

Introduction: Functional impairment of dendritic cells (DCs) is one of important mechanisms in tumor-mediated immune response subversion. Considering that tumor tissue conditioned media (TCM) could represent suitable source of tumor antigens we wondered whether tumor extracts can be used for in vitro preparation of DCs with stable functional proper...

The levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) in the plasma reflect the activation of the adaptive immune system and are extremely elevated in hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Cutoff value of sIL-2R according to the HLH-2004 criteria, devised by The Histiocyte Society, is 2400 U/ml. Other criteria include fever, hepatosplenomegaly,...

Uprkos velikim uspesima u sprečavanju, suzbijanju, pa i iskorenjivanju zaraznih oboljenja, aktivna imunizacija kao profilaktička metoda je od samog početka bila žučno osporavana. Osporavanje vrednosti aktivne imunizacije je i danas u porastu, što predstavlja svojevrstan paradoks kada se uzme u obzir postojanje dugotrajnih (u nekim slučajevima višev...

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is characterized by the proliferation of clonal dendritic cells, while hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is an extreme inflammatory process sustained by the uncontrolled activation of macrophages. HLH can be primary or secondary, the latter arising in infectious, autoimmune or neoplastic disorders. We here...

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are claimed as outstanding biomedical tools for cancer diagnostics and photo-thermal therapy, but without enough evidence on their potentially adverse immunological effects. Using a model of human dendritic cells (DCs), we showed that 10 nm- and 50 nm-sized GNPs (GNP10 and GNP50, respectively) were internalized predominant...

TLR ligands are widely used maturation agents for preparation of monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MoDCs). We assumed that MoDCs pre-treated with TLR agonists might gain resistance to the immunosuppressive effects of the tumor microenvironment. Therefore, MoDCs were pre-treated with TLR-3 (polyI:C) and TLR-7 (7-thia-8-oxoguanosine) agonists (TLR-pr...

In spite of the wide usage of corticosteroids for the treatment of a plethora of diseases, sometimes they can induce immediate hypersensitivity reactions, which are however uncommon. We report a case of immediate allergic reaction induced by intravenous methylprednisolone given before operation for surgical repair of an arm contracture as a sequel...

Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a disorder characterised by long-standing fever, splenomegaly and bicytopoenia or pancytopoenia. Lymphadenopathy, jaundice and neurological symptoms mayalsooccur. HLH may ensue in various forms of innate or acquired immunodeficiency with impaired cytotoxic lymphocyte function resulting in excessive macro...

To present a patient suffering from Evans' syndrome (ES), whose bouts of severe cytopenia were prevented by low-dose cyclosporine maintenance therapy. A boy suffering from frequent mild respiratory infections, first time evaluated in a tertiary care pediatric center at age 4, was found to have lymphadenopathy and mild splenomegaly. The thrombocytop...

Bernard-Soulier syndrome is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder characterized by thrombocytopenia and giant thrombocytes. The underlying defect in this syndrome is a mutation in one of the genes encoding the GpIa-V-IX complex on the thrombocyte surface, necessary for thrombocyte aggregation and the formation of primary thrombus. In patients suf...

Autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS) is a genetic disorder of the immune system caused by inadequate induction of apoptosis via the Fas pathway, mainly characterized by generalized lymphadenopathy, splenomegaly, and autoimmune cytopenias, as well as increased risk of lymphoma. Although the clinical course of ALPS is highly variable, witho...

To examine the presence of gender differences in pro-inflammatory potential of cadmium in rats by comparing systemic inflammatory response to acute cadmium intoxication in animals of the two sexes. Basic aspects of this response were evaluated, including plasma levels of inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) an...

Introduction: We present a boy diagnosed at age 14 years with hyper-immunoglobulin (Ig) M syndrome, a congenital immunodeficiency characterized by reduced plasma concentrations of IgA, IgE and IgG, with normal or elevated concentrations of IgM. This syndrome is caused by a defect of CD40 ligand (CD40L) on T-helper lymphocytes, impeding the "second...

Introduction: IPEX syndrome, namely, a hereditary (X-linked) immunodysregulation with autoimmune polyendocrinopathy and enteropathy, as the basic manifestations, presents a rare and exceptionally severe disease. It develops due to gene mutation responsible for the synthesis of a specific protein (FOXP3), which, by differentiation and activation of...

The aim of this work was to compare a protocol of accelerated differentiation and maturation of human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DC) (fast-DC protocol) with the conventional procedure for the generation of these cells. The classical protocol includes cultivation of monocytes with granulocyte/monocyte - colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) (100...

Subcutaneous implantation of polyvinyl sponges represents a suitable model for studying the mechanisms of acute and chronic inflammation, granulomatous foreign-body reaction, as well as wound healing. Using such a model in rats, we studied the phenotypic and functional characteristics of dendritic cells (DC). DC were purified from the sponge exudat...