Concordance of skin prick test and serum-specific IgE to locally produced component-resolved diagnostics for cockroach allergy

Background

Diagnosis of Periplaneta americana (American cockroach, ACR) allergy is commonly performed based on clinical history and skin prick test (SPT) or specific serum IgE (sIgE) measurement. The concordance of the findings with the SPT and sIgE results has never been investigated.

Major lupus organ involvement: severe lupus nephritis

Lupus nephritis is a common and severe complication of systemic lupus erythematosus. A number of patients have nephritis as a presenting feature that, in its severe form, can shortly lead to end-stage renal disease and/or death. Renal flare usually occurs a few years after the first episode and is remarkably predominant in the Asian population. Frequent monitoring for renal flare enhances early recognition and timely treatment. The mainstay therapy continues to be the prolonged use of cytotoxic/immunosuppressive drugs that have a number of undesirable effects, particularly ovarian failure and development of opportunistic infections. This review will focus on the pathogenesis and the unique genetic factors found in Asian patients with lupus nephritis. Here, we propose an appropriate management scheme for the treatment of lupus nephritis in Asian patients.     

Thiopurine S-methyltransferase pharmacogenetics: Functional characterization of a novel rapidly degraded variant allozyme

A novel human thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) variant allele, (319 T > G, 107Tyr > Asp, *27), was identified in a Thai renal transplantation recipient with reduced erythrocyte TPMT activity. The TPMT*27 variant allozyme showed a striking decrease in both immunoreactive protein level and enzyme activity after transient expression in a mammalian cell line. We set out to explore the mechanism(s) responsible for decreased expression of this novel variant of an important drug-metabolizing enzyme. We observed accelerated degradation of TPMT*27 protein in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate. TPMT*27 degradation was slowed by proteasome inhibition and involved chaperone proteins—similar to observations with regard to the degradation of the common TPMT*3A variant allozyme. TPMT*27 aggresome formation was also observed in transfected mammalian cells after proteasome inhibition. Inhibition of autophagy also decreased TPMT*27 degradation. Finally, structural analysis and molecular dynamics simulation indicated that TPMT*27 was less stable than was the wild type TPMT allozyme. In summary, TPMT*27 serves to illustrate the potential importance of protein degradation - both proteasome and autophagy-mediated degradation - for the pharmacogenetic effects of nonsynonymous SNPs.     

Prevalence of Thalassemia and Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency in Newborns and Adults at the Ramathibodi Hospital,Bangkok, Thailand

Thalassemias and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency are the most common inherited blood disorders. They are distributed among populations living in malaria endemic regions resulting in survival advantage from severe malaria disease. The aims of this study were to analyze the prevalence of thalassemias and G6PD deficiency at the Ramathibodi Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 616 adult and 174?cord blood samples were collected and analyzed for red blood cell (RBC) parameters, hemoglobin (Hb) typing and DNA analysis for G6PD mutations and α-thalassemia (α-thal). The two most prominent types of thalassemia were heterozygous Hb E (HBB: c.79G>A), (19.5% in newborns and 35.6% in adults) followed by heterozygous α-thal-2 [–α^3.7 (rightward) deletion] at 18.7% in newborns and 19.5% in adults. After performing G6PD genotyping using multiplex amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (multiplex ARMS-PCR) for 10 G6PD mutations, the prevalence of G6PD mutation was found in 12.0% of newborns and 11.7% of adults. The G6PD Viangchan [871 (G>A)] is the most common G6PD mutation in newborns (42.9%) and adults (52.8%). In addition, coinheritance of various types of thalassemia with G6PD deficiency were found. The results indicated that heterozygous Hb E and G6PD Viangchan are predominant both in newborns and adults in this study.