Soft toys are a major source of house dust mites (HDM) and HDM allergens, and sleeping with soft toys is a significant risk factor for HDM sensitization. We studied three techniques to eliminate HDM from soft toys, namely freezing, hot tumble drying and washing with eucalyptus oil. Thirty-six toys (12 in each treatment group) were enumerated for live HDM by the heat escape method before and aft...

Reduced translation of CEBPA mRNA has been associated with increased proliferation of bronchial smooth muscle (BSM) cells of asthma patients. Here, we assessed the effect of house dust mite (HDM) extracts on the cell proliferation ([(3)H]-thymidine incorporation), inflammation (interleukin (IL)-6 release) and upstream translation regulatory proteins of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP)α in...

Several studies have demonstrated that the c‑kit proto‑oncogene and its ligand, stem cell factor, are important in the development of asthma. House dust mite (HDM; Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus) allergens are a major trigger in the development and exacerbation of asthma. HDM allergens can induce the activation of c‑kit in dendritic cells (DCs), leading to the development of allergic asthma. Pr...

High-dose melphalan (HDM) followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is a standard treatment for patients with multiple myeloma. However, lymphocyte reconstitution is impaired after HDM. Recent work has suggested that the lymphopenia period occurring after various immunosuppressive or chemotherapy treatments may provide an interesting opportunity for adoptive antitumor immunotherap...

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) modulates immune responses and cellular proliferation. The objective of this study was to assess whether inhibition of mTOR with rapamycin modifies disease severity in two experimental murine models of house dust mite (HDM)-induced asthma. In an induction model, rapamycin was administered to BALB/c mice coincident with nasal HDM challenges for 3 weeks. I...

BACKGROUND Although the use of bortezomib alone and in combination with steroids has shown efficacy in AL amyloidosis, its role in combination with high-dose melphalan and autologous stem cell transplantation (HDM/SCT) is unknown. In this study, we evaluated bortezomib in combination with dexamethasone (BD) for induction chemotherapy prior to HDM/SCT. METHODS This was a single-center, prospec...

BACKGROUND Th2 cells have long been considered responsible for the switching of B cells to production of IgE during cognate interaction, primarily due to their expression of CD40L and secretion of IL-4. This concept has been challenged by the more recent definition of follicular helper T cells (Tfh) as the key T cell subset in B cell isotype switching, due to their physical location at the boun...

In areas with low house dust mite (HDM) allergen exposure, both mite sensitization and asthma prevalence are low. In most other areas, HDM allergen exposure is higher than the threshold for sensitization. In this setting, is HDM allergen exposure a factor which is causally related to the development of asthma in HDM-sensitive individuals? To answer this question, the cumulative prevalence of as...

Background Th2 cells are the central mediators of the allergic immune response, as their activation induces it by cytokine release. The key cytokines expressed by Th2 cells and involved in the pathogenesis of allergic airway inflammation and immunoglobulin E (IgE) production are interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-5, IL-10 and IL-13. The aim of study was to evaluate the in vitro effect of Der p 1, the maj...

Allergic asthma is characterized by airway inflammation with a Th2-type cytokine profile, hyper-IgE production, mucus hypersecretion, and hyperreactivity (AHR). It increasingly recognized that heterogeneous disease implicating complex immune mechanisms resulting in distinct endotypes observed patients. In this study, we showed non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice, which spontaneously develop autoimmun...