Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic inflammation of liver with unclear etiology. It is frequently associated other autoimmune diseases, and its association with celiac disease (CD) is well established. In this article, we describe the case of a 50-year-old male with long-standing AIH taking azathioprine for 10 years, evaluated for flares in transaminases. Despite adding high-dose corticoste...

Collagen extracellular matrix is one of the factors related to high passive stiffness of cardiac muscle. However, the architecture and the mechanical aspects of the cardiac collagen matrix are not completely known. In particular, endomysial collagen contribution to the passive mechanics of cardiac muscle as well as its micro anatomical arrangement is still a matter of debate. In order to invest...

We read, with much interest, the recent Research Article by Järvinen et al. (Järvinen et al., 2003), in which the authors show that, after removing the cast from an immobilized rat hind leg, within 8 weeks tenascin-C (TN-C) expression is increased in tendon and the myotendinous junction, but there is no de novo appearance of TN-C in skeletal muscle connective tissue. The authors extensively cri...

Sporadic inclusion-body myositis (sIBM) is the most common disabling, adult-onset, inflammatory myopathy histologically characterized by intense inflammation and vacuolar degeneration. In spite of T cell-mediated cytotoxicity and persistent, clonally expanded and antigen-driven endomysial T cells, the disease is resistant to immunotherapies. Alemtuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that c...

BACKGROUND An increased prevalence of coeliac disease in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis has been recently reported. However, in other studies the association has not been confirmed. There have been no formal attempts to systematically evaluate patients with autoimmune cholangitis for coeliac disease. METHODS Sera from 62 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, 17 with autoimmune cho...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate muscle pathology and clinical characteristics in patients with a myopathy and serum antibodies to the Jo-1 antigen (histidyl t-RNA synthetase). BACKGROUND Anti-Jo-1 antibodies occur in syndromes that may include muscle weakness and pain, Raynaud's phenomenon, interstitial lung disease, arthritis, and a skin rash different from that seen in dermatomyositis. The muscle pat...

Aim: The prevalence of celiac disease (CD) in patients with iron deficiency (ID) is estimated at 0-6% in European countries. The prevalence of celiac disease in patients with iron deficiency in the USA is unknown. Given the treatable nature of gluten hypersensitivity, estimating the prevalence of CD in patients with ID can help to determine the need to screen these patients for occult CD. Metho...