| 1. |
- Einarsdottir, Elisabet, et al.
(författare)
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A mutation in the nerve growth factor beta gene (NGFB) causes loss of pain perception.
- 2004
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Ingår i: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 13:8, s. 799-805
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Identification of genes associated with pain insensitivity syndromes can increase the understanding of the pathways involved in pain and contribute to the understanding of how sensory pathways relate to other neurological functions. In this report we describe the mapping and identification of the gene responsible for loss of deep pain perception in a large family from northern Sweden. The loss of pain perception in this family is characterized by impairment in the sensing of deep pain and temperature but with normal mental abilities and with most other neurological responses intact. A severe reduction of unmyelinated nerve fibers and a moderate loss of thin myelinated nerve fibers are observed in the patients. Thus the cases in this study fall into the class of patients with loss of pain perception with underlying peripheral neuropathy. Clinically they best fit into HSAN V. Using a model of recessive inheritance we identified an 8.3 Mb region on chromosome 1p11.2-p13.2 shared by the affected individuals in the family. Analysis of functional candidate genes in the disease critical region revealed a mutation in the coding region of the nerve growth-factor beta (NGFB) gene specific for the disease haplotype. This NGF mutation seems to separate the effects of NGF involved in development of central nervous system functions such as mental abilities, from those involved in peripheral pain pathways. This mutation could therefore potentially provide an important tool to study different roles of NGF, and of pain control.
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| 4. |
- Yamamoto, Shinji, et al.
(författare)
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Long-term consequences of domino liver transplantation using familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy grafts
- 2007
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Ingår i: Transplant International. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 0934-0874 .- 1432-2277. ; 13:6, s. S223-S223
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Domino liver transplantation (DLT) using grafts from patients with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) is an established procedure at many transplantation centers. However, data evaluating the long-term outcome of DLT are limited. The aim of the present study was to analyze the risk of de novo polyneuropathy, possibly because of amyloidosis, and the patient survival after DLT. At our department, 28 DLT using FAP grafts were conducted between January 1997 and December 2005. One patient was twice subjected to DLT. Postoperative neurological monitoring of peripheral nerve function was performed with electroneurography (ENeG) in 20 cases. An ENeG index based on 12 parameters was calculated and correlated to age and/or height. Three patients developed ENeG signs of polyneuropathy 2-5 years after the DLT, but with no clinical symptoms. The 1-, 3- and 5-year actuarial patient survival in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients (n = 12) and non-HCC patients (n = 15) was 67%, 15%, 15% and 93%, 93%, 80%, respectively (P = 0.001). Development of impaired nerve conduction in a proportion of patients may indicate that de novo amyloidosis occurs earlier than previously expected. Survival after DLT was excellent except in patients with advanced HCC.
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| 5. |
- af Edholm, Karolina, et al.
(författare)
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Clinical Reasoning : Leg weakness and stiffness at the emergency room
- 2019
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Ingår i: Neurology. - : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. - 0028-3878 .- 1526-632X. ; 92:6, s. E622-E625
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A 48-year-old woman from the Maghreb came to the emergency department with insidious gait difficulties, urgency, and constipation starting 6 months prior to the visit. The patient's complaints consisted of weakness, stiffness, and pain in her legs. Her medical history consisted of Hashimoto thyroiditis and breast cancer, with the latter having motivated surgery 4 months prior to admission. Histopathologic examination had demonstrated ductal cancer sensitive to estrogen and mapping with sentinel node biopsy ruled out metastasis. For that reason, the patient was treated with local radiation given weekly over 1 month and treatment with tamoxifen was started. Physical examination upon admission demonstrated weakness and spasticity in both legs. Reflexes were brisk; bilateral nonsustained foot clonus and Babinski sign were also present. Bilateral dorsal flexion was reduced, but vibration and sensation to touch and pinprick were normal. Sphincter tonus was reduced; systemic manifestations such as myalgias, fever, skin rashes, uveitis, sicca, and arthritic joints were absent.
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| 6. |
- Danielsson, Olof, 1963-
(författare)
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The Clinical and Pathological Spectrum of Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies : Implications for pathogenesis, classification and diagnosis
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) constitute a heterogeneous group of diseases with severe consequences for the life of affected patients. Dermatomyositis, polymyositis and inclusion body myositis (IBM) are the classical representatives of this group. The treatments given today often have limited effects, and are taken at the cost of side effects. Major obstacles in the search for more effective treatments are; (1) an incomplete understanding of the disease mechanisms, (2) difficulties to delineate homogeneous disease groups for clinical studies and (3) the sometimes challenging task to diagnose these diseases.Aims: We addressed a number of “loose ends” in the areas of pathogenesis, classification and diagnosis; mechanisms of muscle fiber degeneration in IIM, with a focus of programmed cell death (apoptosis) and invasion of muscle fibers by inflammatory cells (partial invasion); protecting and mediating factors present in muscle; the association of other diseases with IIM, in particular celiac disease ; the evaluation of two classification systems and laboratory methods for increased diagnostic performance.The studies: We included 106 patients, diagnosed at the Neuromuscular unit in Linköping, Sweden, with pathological muscle findings consistent with IIM. The incidence in the county of Östergötland (during 5 years) was 7.3 per million/year (3 patients each year). Of 88 patients with confirmed IIM 4 (4.5 %) had celiac disease, 33 (38%) had an associated systemic inflammatory disease and 5 (5.7 %) had a malignancy. Ninety-nine patients were included for a comparison of two classification systems using criteria of the European Neuromuscle Centre (Amato/ENMC), and the widely used Bohan and Peter classification, both with the addition of IBM according to Griggs et al. Using the Amato/ENMC criteria the most prevalent diagnostic group after IBM (30%) was nonspecific myositis (23%), followed by polymyositis (20%) and dermatomyositis 17%). A substantial number of patients meeting Bohan and Peter (or Griggs) criteria were excluded by Amato/ENMC criteria, most (21/23) due to lack of detectable muscle weakness. Extended muscle sectioning increased the sensitivity of a muscle biopsy by 15 % and the specificity by 22%, and showed an overlap between disease groups. Muscle biopsies from patients with IIM and controls were used to investigate pathological findings considered specific for disease groups, and for the presence of programmed cell death (apoptosis) and disease protecting and mediating factors in muscle. The presence of apoptotic muscle fiber nuclei was detected in muscle with partial invasion (however not in the invaded fibers) in the presence of granzyme B and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells. The major apoptosis inhibiting protein Bcl-2 was shown to be constitutionally expressed in healthy muscle but weakened in IIM.Conclusion: We present apoptosis as a possible disease mechanism in parallel with partial invasion of fibers. Furthermore, partial invasion may not be a suitable distinguishing feature in the pathogenesis, or for classification and diagnosis of IIM. We also introduce the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 as a possible relevant muscle fiber protecting factor. A more extensive pathological work-up improves classification and diagnosis of IIM. The proposed Amato/ENMC creates a substantial portion of patients with non-specific or unclassified myositis. Associated diseases are common in IIM, and also include celiac disease.
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| 7. |
- Edström, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Neuromuskulära sjukdomar
- 2006
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Ingår i: Neurologi. - : Liber AB, Stockholm.
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 8. |
- Heldestad, Victoria, 1970-
(författare)
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Methodological aspects and usefulness of Quantitative Sensory Testing in early small fiber polyneuropathy : a clinical study in Swedish hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis patients
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Generalised polyneuropathy (PNP) is a common cause to neurological impairment, and may be an early symptom of a severe systemic disease. One such illness is hereditary transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis (ATTR), a progressive fatal disorder caused by a mutation on the TTR gene. More than 100 such mutations have been found worldwide, of which Val30Met is the most common neuropathic variant with initial clinical manifestations indicating small fiber impairment. Differences in onset age, penetrance and phenotypes are present between endemic areas. Liver transplantation generally slows the progress of the symptom development, especially in patients with short disease duration. Ongoing research has also shown promising results with drug interventions. In any event, early diagnosis of PNP onset in ATTR patients is crucial to ensure early therapeutic interventions. Nerve conduction studies (NCS) and electromyography (EMG) provide the basis for evaluation of the functional state of the thick myelinated nerve fibres in patients with symptoms of PNP, but no such quantitative methods are available for the thin myelinated or unmyelinated fibers. Instead, a psychophysical method with thermal quantitative sensory testing (QST) can provide indirect information about the overall function in the afferent small fiber systems. The purpose of thesis was to evaluate the applicability of QST by the Method-of-limits (MLI) for early detection of PNP in Swedish ATTR patients with the Val30Met mutation. In healthy subjects the repeatability of the MLI was assessed, and reference values for thermal perception thresholds (TPT) in several body regions were determined. No significant differences in TPT or pain thresholds were found at repeated testing with MLI, indicating that the MLI is a reliable method. However, the results show that the arrangement of the testing order is of importance, as cold (CT) and warm (WT) perception thresholds were significantly elevated when tested after thermal pain assessments, instead of before. I general, the TPT was more elevated at lower parts of the body compared to the upper part, and with higher WT than CT, fully in accordance with the underlying anatomical and physiological prerequisites for QST. In biopsy verified ATTR patients lacking EMG and NCS abnormalities, significantly elevated TPT were found compared to controls. Furthermore, significantly more increased TPT were observed in patients with an early onset of the disease, compared those with a late onset. Finally, a combined detailed evaluation of QST and heart rate variability (HRV) analyses demonstrated correlations between QST and HRV abnormalities in patients with late onset, but not in those with early onset. The present thesis emphasizes the importance of incorporating QST early in the clinical evaluation of ATTR patients with a Val30Met mutation and with symptoms of thin fiber PNP. This is particularly indicated when patients report symptoms, or show signs, of neuropathic small fiber affection, but simultaneously exhibit normal EMG and NCS findings. The results furthermore underline the importance of performing both QST and HRV for a complete evaluation of both the thin somatic and autonomic nerve fibers, as both types of nerves may be affected early in the ATTR disease.
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| 9. |
- Lindau, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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Decidual stromal cells support tolerance at the human foetal-maternal interface by inducing regulatory M2 macrophages and regulatory T-cells
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Reproductive Immunology. - : Elsevier Ireland Ltd. - 0165-0378 .- 1872-7603. ; 146
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- During pregnancy, the semi-allogeneic nature of the foetus requires maternal immune adaption and acquisition of tolerance at the foetal-maternal interface. Macrophages with regulatory properties and regulatory T (Treg) cells are central in promoting foetal tolerance and are enriched in the decidua (the uterine endometrium during pregnancy). Although tissue-resident decidual stromal cells (DSC) have been implicated in regulatory functions, it is not known if they are able to induce the regulatory phenotype of macrophages and T-cells. In this study we report that maternally derived DSC are able to induce homeostatic M2 macrophages and Treg cells. CD14+ monocytes and CD4+ T-cells from healthy non-pregnant women were cultured in the presence or absence of conditioned medium (CM) from DSC isolated from 1st trimester and term placentas. DSC-CM alone was able to promote the survival of macrophages and to induce a regulatory CD14brightCD163+CD209+CD86dim phenotype, typical for decidual macrophages and similar to that induced by M-CSF. Interestingly, DSC-CM was also able to overrule the pro-inflammatory effects of GM-CSF by upregulating CD14, CD163 and CD209. Protein-profiling showed that M-CSF was secreted by DSC, and blocking of M-CSF partially reversed the M2 phenotype and reduced viability. DSC-CM also expanded CD25brightFoxp3+ Treg cells, an expansion that was abolished by a SMAD3-inhibitor, indicating the contribution of TGF-beta signaling. In conclusion, our findings collectively emphasize the role of tissue-resident stromal cells in shaping the tolerogenic environment at the foetal-maternal interface.
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| 10. |
- Lindh, Jonas, 1967-
(författare)
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Cryptogenic Polyneuropathy : Clinical, Environmental, And Genetic Studies
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Objectives: The purpose of this medical thesis was to describe the clinical and neurophysiological features and to evaluate the health related quality of life (HR-QoL) in patients with cryptogenic polyneuropathy. We also wanted to investigate different occupational, and leisure time exposures as determinants for cryptogenic polyneuropathy, and to analyze whether polymorphisms for the null alleles of Glutathione S-Transferase Mu-1 (GSTM1), and Theta-1 (GSTT1), and a low activity genetic variation of epoxide hydrolase (EPHX) affect the risk of developing polyneuropathy. These genes were chosen because their enzymes are important in the metabolism of toxic compounds.Methods: The medical records of all patients aged 40–79 years with the diagnosis of cryptogenic polyneuropathy from 1993 to 2000 were analyzed, and data regarding clinical symptoms, laboratory findings, and neurophysiological findings at diagnosis were collected. 255 cases were found. When the medical records were reevaluated assessment to a protocol 168 patients remained as cryptogenic. Two validated instruments (SF-36 and EQ-5D) for measuring HR-QoL were sent to patients, and a reference group from the general population. Additional clinical information, and data on occupational, and leisure time exposure was obtained from postal questionnaires. Crude odds ratios (COR), and logistic regression odds ratios (LOR) were calculated for exposures with five or more exposed cases and referents taken together. We also tested for genetic polymorphisms of GSTM1 and GSTT1, and epoxide hydrolase exon three, EPHX*3.Results: 68% of the patients were men. The mean age at first symptom was 61 years and at diagnosis 64 years. Distal numbness was the most common symptom, but pain, pedal paresthesias, and impairment of balance were also common. The most common clinical findings were decreased or lost proprioception or sense of vibration (80%), and loss of ankle jerks (78%). Neurography showed mixed sensorimotor polyneuropathy of axonal or mixed axonal and demyelinating type. QOL was significantly affected concerning motor functions, with 42% of the patients reporting problems to walk, 3% having problems with daily activities, and 85% were suffering from pain. Mental health was preserved. Mobility was declining with increasing age, but was not affected by disease duration. Increased risks were found in men for occupational exposure to sulphur dioxide, xylene, methyl ethyl ketone, and herbicides and in women for occupational exposure to lead, nitrous oxide, and insecticides. Interaction between occupational and leisure time exposure were seen for several exposures. No significant correlation was found between GSTM1, GSTT1, and EPHX1 polymorphisms in patients with cryptogenic polyneuropathy compared with controls. A tendency, however, was seen for the GSTT1 null phenotype, which was enhanced among smokers compared to controls (OR 3.7).Conclusions: Cryptogenic polyneuropathy is a slowly progressive sensorimotor nerve lesion of mainly axonal type. Patients with cryptogenic polyneuropathy have a lower QOL compared to the general population, although mental health scores did not differ between the groups. Our results show that known determinants could be confirmed, but also some new appeared i.e. sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, fungicides, and vibrations in the feet. Moreover our results point to a synergistic effect of various exposures. Our hypothesis is that the GSTT1 null polymorphism may be related to an impaired metabolism of toxic substances and reactive oxygen that could lead to nerve damage in the peripheral nervous system. Our results are indicating that components in cigarette smoke might increase the risk of axonal neuropathy in genetically predisposed patients.
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