Glomerulonephritis associated with tuberculosis: A case report and literature review

Rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis caused mycobacterium tuberculosis is rare; however, three case have been reported to date. Crescentic glomerulonephritis is a life-threatening disease and together with the presence of tuberculous infection is associated with a poor outcome if treatment is inadequate and delayed. We describe the case of a 31-year-old female patient with nephrotic syndrome and progressive renal failure secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis. Renal biopsy showed crescent formation in 14 out of 27 glomeruli, and there was diffuse linear staining of immunoglobulin G deposits. Treatment included corticosteroids in combination with antituberculosis drugs for 2 months, and resulted in a significant improvement in renal function, the disappearance of proteinuria and pulmonary symptoms. We also present a review of the pertinent literature and discuss the pathophysiology of tuberculosis-related acute postinfectious glomerulonephritis.     

Mitochondrial Homeostasis and Mast Cells in Experimental Hepatic Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury of Rats

Background:Ischemia-reperfusion injury is a histopathological event and is an important cause of morbidity and mortality after hepatobiliary surgery. We aimed to investigate the protective effect of uridine on hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats.Methods:he animals were divided into 4 groups (n = 8): group I (control), group II: ischemia-reperfusion (30 minutes ischemia and 120 minutes reperfusion), group III: ischemia-reperfusion + uridine (at the beginning of reperfusion), and group IV: ischemia-reperfusion + uridine (5 minutes before ischemia-reperfusion). Uridine was administered a single dose of 30 mg/kg IV. The 3 elements of the hepatoduodenal ligament (hepatic artery, portal vein, and biliary tract) were obliterated for 30 minutes. Then hepatic reperfusion was achieved for 120 minutes.Results:In the ischemia-reperfusion group, both liver tissues and serum chymase activity and high-temperature requirement A2 levels were higher. Severe central vein dilatation and congestion, widening sinusoidal range, diffuse necrotic hepatocytes and dense erythrocyte accumulation in sinusoids, and strongly inducible nitric oxide synthase expression were seen in the ischemia-reperfusion group. A clear improvement was seen in both uridine co-administration and pretreatment groups.Conclusion:Our results revealed that uridine limits the development of liver damage under conditions of ischemia-reperfusion, thus contributing to an increase in hepatocyte viability.     

Genomic analysis of inherited breast cancer among Palestinian women: Genetic heterogeneity and a founder mutation in TP53

Breast cancer among Palestinian women has lower incidence than in Europe or North America, yet is very frequently familial. We studied genetic causes of this familial clustering in a consecutive hospital‐based series of 875 Palestinian patients with invasive breast cancer, including 453 women with diagnosis by age 40, or with breast or ovarian cancer in a mother, sister, grandmother or aunt (“discovery series”); and 422 women diagnosed after age 40 and with negative family history (“older‐onset sporadic patient series”). Genomic DNA from women in the discovery series was sequenced for all known breast cancer genes, revealing a pathogenic mutation in 13% (61/453) of patients. These mutations were screened in all patients and in 300 Palestinian female controls, revealing 1.0% (4/422) carriers among older, nonfamilial patients and two carriers among controls. The mutational spectrum was highly heterogeneous, including pathogenic mutations in 11 different genes: BRCA1, BRCA2, TP53, ATM, CHEK2, BARD1, BRIP1, PALB2, MRE11A, PTEN and XRCC2. BRCA1 carriers were significantly more likely than other patients to have triple negative tumors (p = 0.03). The single most frequent mutation was TP53 p.R181C, which was significantly enriched in the discovery series compared to controls (p = 0.01) and was responsible for 15% of breast cancers among young onset or familial patients. TP53 p.R181C predisposed specifically to breast cancer with incomplete penetrance, and not to other Li‐Fraumeni cancers. Palestinian women with young onset or familial breast cancer and their families would benefit from genetic analysis and counseling.     

Immunoaffinity purification of S-antigen using monoclonal antibodies to different antigenic sites

Retinal S-antigen (S-ag) was purified by monoclonal antibody (MoAb) immunoaffinity chromatography from soluble protein extracts of bovine and human retina. Purification of S-ag was readily achieved by affinity chromatography using four different MoAb-Sepharose 4B columns. The four antibody columns gave different recoveries with material of comparable enrichment with greater than 95% purity as judged by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The use of two different MoAbs covalently bound to Sepharose 4B and known to be directed to disparate, spacially distant epitopes on S-ag led to at least a twofold increase in recovery, with the aforementioned purity. Immunoaffinity purified S-ag retained its serological and uveitogenic properties. The high recovery of S-ag associated with this one-step procedure is preferable to conventional preparatory techniques, and enables high antigen recovery when tissue availability is limited (eg human retina).