NOD2 polymorphisms in clinical phenotypes of common variable immunodeficiency disorders

Common variable immunodeficiency disorders (CVIDs) are a heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by hypogammaglobulinaemia and consequent susceptibility to infection. CVID patients commonly develop a variety of additional manifestations for which the causative factors are not fully understood. Two such manifestations are granulomatous disease and enteropathy. Because the ability to predict complications would aid clinical management, we continue to search for possible disease modifier genes. NOD2 acts a microbial sensor and is involved in proinflammatory signalling. Particular mutations of the NOD2 gene are associated with Crohn's disease including gly908arg, leu1007finsc and arg702trp polymorphisms. We hypothesized that NOD2 polymorphisms may be a disease modifier gene towards an enteropathic or granulomatous phenotype within CVIDs. Sequence‐specific primers returned genotypes for 285 CVID patients from centres across the United Kingdom and Europe. We present the frequencies of the different phenotypes of patients within our international cohort. Arg702trp polymorphisms were significantly less frequent than wild‐type (WT) (P = 0·038) among international CVID patients with splenomegaly. Gly908arg polymorphisms were more prevalent than WT in UK patients with autoimmune disorders (P = 0·049) or enteropathy (P = 0·049). NOD2 polymorphisms were not more prevalent than WT in CVID patients with clinical phenotypes of granulomata. UK allele frequencies of 0·014, 0·056 and 0·026 were found for gly908arg, arg702trp and leu1007finsc NOD2 polymorphisms, respectively. These do not differ significantly from UK immunocompetent controls confirming, as expected, that in addition these NOD2 polymorphisms do not confer susceptibility to CVIDs per se.     

Once-daily tobramycin in cystic fibrosis: better for clinical outcome than thrice-daily tobramycin but more resistance development?

OBJECTIVES: Once-daily administration of aminoglycosides in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is considered equally efficacious and potentially less nephrotoxic than dosing three times a day. However, the choice of the most suitable PK/PD index (C(max)/MIC versus AUC(24)/MIC) to ensure optimum clinical outcome in this patient population is not clear. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a single-centre, open, randomized, controlled, non-blinded study 33 adult CF patients (20 females, 19-37 years) were treated with intravenous tobramycin (10 mg/kg/day) for 14 days given either as single dose once a day (Q24; 17 patients) or divided into three equal doses every 8 h (Q8; 16 patients). Tobramycin serum concentrations and MICs for Pseudomonas aeruginosa were determined on days 1 and 14. The clinical outcome parameter, correlated to PK/PD indices, was the percentage predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)% pred.). RESULTS: FEV(1)% pred. improved significantly for both treatments. There was a log-linear relationship between C(max)/MIC and FEV(1)% pred. and AUC/MIC and FEV(1)% pred. for both treatments. For equal values of AUC24/MIC, however, Q24 treatment provided better improvement in lung function than Q8 dosing, whereas C(max)/MIC did not show any dosing interval dependence. A statistically significant increase was observed for MIC (day 1) versus MIC (day 14) for Q24 treatment, however, no such difference was observed for Q8 treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The most important PK/PD parameter for clinical outcome in CF patients was C(max)/MIC. Outcome prediction of AUC(24)/MIC was dependent on the regimen. The increase of P. aeruginosa resistance after once-daily administration is linked to a long dosing interval. More and larger studies are needed to optimize the dosing regimen for maximum clinical outcome with minimum resistance development.     

Clinical and laboratory features of seventy-eight UK patients with Good’s syndrome (thymoma and hypogammaglobulinaemia)

Good’s syndrome (thymoma and hypogammaglobulinaemia) is a rare secondary immunodeficiency disease, previously reported in the published literature as mainly individual cases or small case series. We use the national UK-Primary Immune Deficiency (UKPID) registry to identify a large cohort of patients in the UK with this PID to review its clinical course, natural history and prognosis. Clinical information, laboratory data, treatment and outcome were collated and analysed. Seventy-eight patients with a median age of 64 years, 59% of whom were female, were reviewed. Median age of presentation was 54 years. Absolute B cell numbers and serum immunoglobulins were very low in all patients and all received immunoglobulin replacement therapy. All patients had undergone thymectomy and nine (12%) had thymic carcinoma (four locally invasive and five had disseminated disease) requiring adjuvant radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. CD4 T cells were significantly lower in these patients with malignant thymoma. Seventy-four (95%) presented with infections, 35 (45%) had bronchiectasis, seven (9%) chronic sinusitis, but only eight (10%) had serious invasive fungal or viral infections. Patients with AB-type thymomas were more likely to have bronchiectasis. Twenty (26%) suffered from autoimmune diseases (pure red cell aplasia, hypothyroidism, arthritis, myasthenia gravis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren’s syndrome). There was no association between thymoma type and autoimmunity. Seven (9%) patients had died. Good’s syndrome is associated with significant morbidity relating to infectious and autoimmune complications. Prospective studies are required to understand why some patients with thymoma develop persistent hypogammaglobulinaemia.     

Raised tryptase without anaphylaxis or mastocytosis: heterophilic antibody interference in the serum tryptase assay

Mast cell tryptase (MCT) is a key diagnostic test for mastocytosis and anaphylaxis. High serum tryptase levels are also one of the risk factors for adverse reaction in venom immunotherapy, yet occasional patients are seen with raised levels in the absence of either diagnosis. False positive results can be due to assay interference by heterophilic antibodies such as rheumatoid factor (RF) and human anti-mouse antibodies (HAMA). We therefore investigated heterophilic antibody interference by rheumatoid factor activity and HAMA as a cause of raised MCT results in the Phadia tryptase assay. Serum samples from 83 patients were assayed for MCT and rheumatoid factor before and after the use of heterophilic antibody blocking tubes (HBT). Samples with more than 17% reduction in MCT with detectable RF were then assayed for HAMA. Fourteen (17%) of the 83 samples with positive RF showed a >17% decrease in mast cell tryptase after HBT blocking. Post-HBT, eight of 14 (57%) reverted from elevated to normal range values with falls of up to 98%. RF levels were also decreased significantly (up to 75%). Only one of the 83 tested was apparently affected by HAMA in the absence of detectable IgM RF. In conclusion, any suspicious MCT result should be checked for heterophilic antibodies to evaluate possible interference. False positive MCT levels can be caused by rheumatoid factor. We suggest a strategy for identifying assay interference, and show that it is essential to incorporate this caveat into guidance for interpretation of MCT results.     

Hypnosis effect on carbon dioxide chemosensitivity

Hypnosis is an induced state of heightened suggestibility during which certain physiologic variables can be altered. To investigate if carbon dioxide (CO2) chemosensitivity could be blunted during this suggestible state, we measured hypercapnic ventilatory response (HCVR, delta VE/delta PaCO2), oxygen consumption (VO2), breathing pattern (VT and f), inspiratory flow rate (VT/Ti), and inspiratory timing (Ti/Ttot) in 20 healthy subjects. Mouth occlusion pressures (P0.1) were measured in the last nine subjects. Resting oxygen consumption and minute ventilation were measured during awake and hypnotic control states. The HCVR was measured spontaneously and with the suggestion to maintain normal ventilation during both awake and hypnotic conditions. It was found that without a change in metabolism, ventilatory responses to CO2 could be blunted both voluntarily, and to a greater degree, with hypnotic suggestion. These findings may have important implications in clinical settings in which patients suffer from marked dyspnea secondary to increased ventilatory chemosensitivity.     

Defining the impact of individual sample variability on routine immunoassay of serum free light chains (sFLC) in multiple myeloma

Serum free light chain (sFLC) measurement has gained widespread acceptance and is incorporated into various diagnostic and response criteria. Non‐linearity and antigen excess are the main causes of ‘variability’ in the measurement of sFLC using immunoassay, but the impact of these on measurement has been unclear. We performed a retrospective evaluation using a dilutional strategy to detect these phenomena. A total of 464 samples in 2009 and 373 samples in 2010 were analysed for sFLC. Non‐linearity was detected in both high and apparently normal sFLC. Major non‐linearity of more than twofold is common in high kappa (20·2%) and lambda (14·1%). It is less common in samples with apparently normal levels – kappa (6·4%) and lambda (9·5%). 9·4% of kappa and 15·5% of lambda showed antigen excess at screening dilutions. 34·4% of the samples had either non‐linearity or antigen excess. We conclude that significant measurement variability is common in the measurement of sFLC. There is currently no reliable technique to detect non‐linearity phenomena unless a serial dilution strategy is applied to every analysis. We recommend that laboratories routinely reporting sFLC results for clinical services need appropriate strategies for addressing these issues. Clinicians should be aware of these limitations in interpretation of sFLC assay for individual patients. Future guidelines should adopt action thresholds which are grounded firmly in test performance parameters.