Melatonin and Immune Function: Clinical Significance

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) function as immunologic mediator has become interesting with the recent usage of PTH analogue (teriparatide) in the management of osteoporosis. Since the early 1980s, PTH receptors were found on most immunologic cells (neutrophils, B and T cells). The in vitro evaluations for a possible role of PTH as immunomodulator have shown inconsistent results mainly due to methodological heterogeneity of these studies: it used different PTH formulations (rat, bovine, and human), at different dosages and different incubating periods. In some of these studies, the lymphocytes were collected from uremic patients or animals, which renders the interpretation of the results problematic due to the effect of uremic toxins. Parathyroidectomy has been found to reverse the immunologic defect in patients with high PTH levels. Nonetheless, the clinical significance of these findings is unclear. Further studies are needed to define if PTH does have immunomodulatory effects.

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Applications of immunohistochemistry in the evaluation of immunosuppressive agents

Human & Experimental Toxicology ◽

10.1191/096032700678815819 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 251-254 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

N A Gillett ◽

C Chan

Keyword(s):

Immune Function ◽

Tissue Distribution ◽

Clinical Significance ◽

Peripheral Blood ◽

Immunosuppressive Agents ◽

Flow Cytometric Analysis ◽

Peripheral Lymphocyte ◽

Lymphocyte Subpopulations ◽

Flow Cytometric ◽

Conventional Histology

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) can be a valuable endpoint to evaluate lymphocyte subpopulations in tissues following exposure to presumptive immunosuppressive agents. IHC is more sensitive than conventional histology in detecting subtle differences in lymphocyte numbers and distribution in tissue. In combination with flow cytometric analysis of peripheral lymphocyte subpopulations, IHC can determine if alterations detected in the peripheral blood are a result of trafficking or reflective of changes in tissue distribution. These techniques can be used to evaluate adult animals as well as to evaluate the effects of immunosuppressive agents on fetal tissues in reproductive toxicology studies. While IHC can enhance the detection of subtle changes in lymphocyte subpopulations in tissue, the evaluation of additional end-points of immune function must be done to further assess the biological or clinical significance ofthese changes.

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Expression of peripheral blood monocyte human leukocyte antigen DR in patients with cardiac arrest and its clinical significance

Hong Kong Journal of Emergency Medicine ◽

10.1177/1024907918803503 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 3-7

Author(s):

Junli Zhang ◽

Yanjuan Wang ◽

Wei Gu

Keyword(s):

Cardiac Arrest ◽

Human Leukocyte Antigen ◽

Immune Function ◽

Clinical Significance ◽

Human Leukocyte ◽

The Body ◽

Apache Ii ◽

Survival Group ◽

Leukocyte Antigen ◽

Death Group

Background: In the early period of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), the body may show severe immunosuppression and excessive activation of inflammatory response, This is very similar to sepsis in many ways. Objective: The aim of this study is to observe changes of the early expression of monocyte human leukocyte antigen DR in patients with cardiac arrest, so as to explore the clinical significance of the related immune assessment and prognosis prediction. Methods: A total of 43 patients with cardiac arrest who have been treated in the emergency department of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital from January 2015 to February 2018 are selected. By taking the survival rate on the 28th day of hospitalization as the end of observation, the patients are divided into the survival group and the death group. Changes of APACHE-II scores and monocyte human leukocyte antigen DR levels on the first, second, and third day after admission are analyzed. Results: On the first, second, and third day after onset, cardiac arrest patients show significantly decreased levels of monocyte human leukocyte antigen DR which are obviously lower in the death group than in the survival group. In addition, human leukocyte antigen DR levels were significantly negatively correlated with APACHE-II scores. Conclusion: The expression of monocyte human leukocyte antigen DR is proven to be an ideal indicator to evaluate the immune function and prognosis of cardiac arrest patients. A constantly low expression of human leukocyte antigen DR indicates impaired immune function and increased mortality of patients.

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