TY - JOUR A1 - Üçeyler, Nurcan A1 - Schröter, Nils A1 - Kafke, Waldemar A1 - Kramer, Daniela A1 - Wanner, Christoph A1 - Weidemann, Frank A1 - Sommer, Claudia T1 - Skin Globotriaosylceramide 3 Load Is Increased in Men with Advanced Fabry Disease JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Background The X-chromosomally linked life-limiting Fabry disease (FD) is associated with deposits of the sphingolipid globotriaosylceramide 3 (Gb3) in various tissues. Skin is easily accessible and may be used as an additional diagnostic and follow-up medium. Our aims were to visualize skin Gb3 deposits in FD patients applying immunofluorescence and to determine if cutaneous Gb3 load correlates with disease severity. Methods At our Fabry Center for Interdisciplinary Therapy we enrolled 84 patients with FD and 27 healthy controls. All subjects underwent 5-mm skin punch biopsy at the lateral lower leg and the back. Skin samples were processed for immunohistochemistry using antibodies against CD77 (i.e. Gb3). Cutaneous Gb3 deposition was quantified in a blinded manner and correlated to clinical data. Results We found that Gb3 load was higher in distal skin of male FD patients compared to healthy controls (p<0.05). Men (p<0.01) and women (p<0.05) with a classic FD phenotype had higher distal skin Gb3 load than healthy controls. Men with advanced disease as reflected by impaired renal function, and men and women with small fiber neuropathy had more Gb3 deposits in distal skin samples than males with normal renal function (p<0.05) and without small fiber neuropathy. Gb3 deposits were not different between patients with and without enzyme replacement therapy. Conclusions Immunofluorescence on minimally invasive skin punch biopsies may be useful as a tool for assessment and follow-up in FD patients. KW - biopsy KW - neuropathy KW - Fabry disease KW - renal system KW - immunofluorescence KW - enzyme replacement therapy KW - skin diseases KW - nerve fibers Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-178856 VL - 11 IS - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rogoll, Dorothee A1 - Schauber, Jürgen A1 - Mheta, Koy K. A1 - Stich, August A1 - Scheppach, Wolfgang T1 - Differential Cathelicidin Expression in Duodenal and Gastric Biopsies from Tanzanian and German Patients JF - PLoS One N2 - Background Epithelial surfaces such as the gastrointestinal mucosa depend on expression of antimicrobial peptides like cathelicidin for immune defence against pathogens. The mechanisms behind mucosal cathelicidin regulation are incompletely understood. Methods Cathelicidin expression was analysed in duodenal, antral and corpus/fundic mucosal biopsies from African and German patients. Additionally, cathelicidin expression was correlated with Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection and the inflammatory status of the mucosa. Results High cathelicidin transcript abundance was detected in duodenal biopsies from African subjects. On the contrary, cathelicidin mRNA expression was either undetectable or very low in tissue specimens from German patients. Also, in the antrum and corpus/fundus regions of the stomach significantly higher cathelicidin transcript levels were measured in Tanzanian compared to German patients. In gastric biopsies from African patients cathelicidin expression was increased in HP positive compared to HP negative subjects. Additionally, the inflammatory status measured by IL-8 expression correlated well with the HP infection status. Conclusions A higher duodenal and gastric cathelicidin expression in African (compared with European) individuals may be due to upregulation by antigenic stimulation and may confer a higher resistance against enteric infections. KW - messenger RNA KW - german people KW - gastrointestinal tract KW - gastrointestinal infections KW - africans KW - antimicrobials KW - biopsy KW - helicobacter pylori infection Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-137970 VL - 6 IS - 7 ER - TY - THES A1 - Köberle, Philipp T1 - High-resolution ultrasound for the identification of pathological patterns in patients with polyneuropathies and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis T1 - Hochauflösender Ultraschall zur Identifizierung von pathologischen Mustern bei Patienten mit Polyneuropathien und amyotropher Lateralsklerose N2 - Neuropathies are a group of potentially treatable diseases with an often disabling and restricting course. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a lethal disease without causal treatment possibilities. The objective of this study was to examine the diagnostic utility of HRUS for the differentiation of subtypes of axonal and demyelinating neuropathies and to investigate its utility for the sonological differentiation of ALS. The hypothetical statement that neuropathy causes enlargement of peripheral nerves compared to healthy controls proved to be right, but the adjunctive assumption that ALS does not cause enlargement of peripheral nerves proved to be wrong – in patients with ALS slight enlargement of peripheral nerves was visible as well. The statement that nerve enlargement can be detected by measurement of the cross-sectional area (CSA) and the longitudinal diameter (LD) with comparable results proved to be right, but the enlargement was slightly less present by measurement of the LD. The statement that axonal and demyelinating neuropathies show distinct patterns of nerve enlargement must be answered differentiated: The comparison between axonal and demyelinating neuropathies showed a stronger nerve enlargement in patients with demyelinating neuropathies than in patients with axonal neuropathies at proximal nerve segments of upper extremities. In the comparison of diagnose-defined subgroups of inflammatory demyelinating neuropathies a respective specific pattern of nerve enlargement was visible. However, remarkable in this context was the strong nerve enlargement found in patients with NSVN, which is classified as an axonal neuropathy. Stratification for specific findings in nerve biopsy did not lead to constructive differences in comparison between the different groups. To sum up, HRUS showed to provide a useful contribution in the diagnostic process of neuropathies and ALS but needs to be integrated in a multimodal diagnostic approach. N2 - Neuropathien stellen eine Gruppe potenziell behandelbarer Erkrankungen mit häufig behinderndem und einschränkendem Verlauf dar. Die amyotrophe Lateralsklerose (ALS) ist eine tödliche Erkrankung ohne Möglichkeiten der kausalen Behandlung. Das Ziel dieser Studie war es, den diagnostischen Nutzen von hochauflösendem Ultraschall für die Differenzierung von Subtypen axonaler und demyelinisierender Neuropathien, sowie der amyotrophen Lateralsklerose zu untersuchen. Die hypothetische Aussage, dass durch Neuropathien eine Vergrößerung von peripheren Nerven im Vergleich zu gesunden Kontrollen nachgewiesen werden kann, erwies sich als richtig. Entgegen der hiermit verknüpften Aussage, dass es bei amyotropher Lateralsklerose zu keiner Größenzunahme peripherer Nerven kommt, konnte bei diesen Patienten ebenfalls eine leichte Kaliberzunahme der Nerven nachgewiesen werden. Die Aussage, dass eine Nervenvergrößerung durch die Messung von Querschnittsfläche und longitudinalem Durchmesser mit vergleichbaren Ergebnissen erfolgen kann, erwies sich als richtig, jedoch zeigte sich die Nervenvergrößerung bei der Messung des longitudinalen Durchmessers etwas geringer ausgeprägt. Die Aussage, dass axonale und demyelinisierende Neuropathien unterschiedliche Muster der Nervenvergrößerung aufweisen, muss differenziert beantwortet werden: Der Vergleich axonalen und demyelinisierenden Neuropathien zeigte bei Patienten mit demyelinisierenden Neuropathien, insbesondere an proximalen Nervensegmenten der oberen Extremitäten, eine stärkere Nervenvergrößerung als bei Patienten mit axonalen Neuropathien. Im Vergleich diagnose-definierter Subgruppen demyelinisierender Neuropathien zeigte sich ein jeweils spezifisches Verteilungsmuster der Nervenvergrößerung. In diesem Zusammenhang bemerkenswert war jedoch die starke Nervenvergrößerung bei Patienten mit nicht-systemischer vaskulitischer Polyneuropahie, welche als axonale Neuropathie klassifiziert wird. Die Stratifikation nach spezifischen Befunden in der Nervenbiopsie führte nicht zu konstruktiven Unterschieden im Vergleich der Untergruppen. Zusammenfassend zeigte sich, dass der hochauflösende Nervenultraschall einen nützlichen Beitrag im diagnostischen Prozess von Neuropathien und ALS leisten kann, jedoch in eine multimodale diagnostische Herangehensweise integriert werden muss. KW - Polyneuropathie KW - Ultraschall KW - HRUS KW - polyneuropathy KW - ALS KW - pattern KW - biopsy KW - Nervenultraschall KW - Muster KW - Nervenbiopsie KW - Polyneuropathie KW - amyotrophe Lateralsklerose Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-245800 ER -