An Overlapping Case of Lupus Nephritis and IgG4-Related Kidney Disease

We report a case of a 71-year-old Filipino female who was admitted to the hospital for abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea of 8 days duration. The patient was found to have marked acute kidney injury (AKI), which required hemodialysis in the next 3 days. Extensive workup revealed hematuria, subnephrotic range proteinuria, elevated anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) and elevated total immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels, with normal IgG4 and anti-dsDNA levels. On kidney biopsy, mild membranous glomerulonephritis was found, along with autoimmune tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN) with a full-house pattern of immune deposits. These findings were suggestive of lupus interstitial nephritis. However, IgG4+ plasma cells were detected in the interstitium by immunostaining, favoring a diagnosis of IgG4-related kidney disease (IgG4-RKD). Our case highlights the difficulty in differentiating lupus nephritis (LN) from IgG4-RKD in some patients, raising the suspicion that these two entities can co-exist

Redox proteomics of the inflammatory secretome identifies a common set of redoxins and other glutathionylated proteins released in inflammation, influenza virus infection and oxidative stress

Protein cysteines can form transient disulfides with glutathione (GSH), resulting in the production of glutathionylated proteins, and this process is regarded as a mechanism by which the redox state of the cell can regulate protein function. Most studies on redox regulation of immunity have focused on intracellular proteins. In this study we have used redox proteomics to identify those proteins released in glutathionylated form by macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) after pre-loading the cells with biotinylated GSH. Of the several proteins identified in the redox secretome, we have selected a number for validation. Proteomic analysis indicated that LPS stimulated the release of peroxiredoxin (PRDX) 1, PRDX2, vimentin (VIM), profilin1 (PFN1) and thioredoxin 1 (TXN1). For PRDX1 and TXN1, we were able to confirm that the released protein is glutathionylated. PRDX1, PRDX2 and TXN1 were also released by the human pulmonary epithelial cell line, A549, infected with influenza virus. The release of the proteins identified was inhibited by the anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid, dexamethasone (DEX), which also inhibited tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α release, and by thiol antioxidants (N-butanoyl GSH derivative, GSH-C4, and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), which did not affect TNF-α production. The proteins identified could be useful as biomarkers of oxidative stress associated with inflammation, and further studies will be required to investigate if the extracellular forms of these proteins has immunoregulatory functions

Peroxiredoxin isoforms are associated with cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes mellitus

The production of oxygen free radicals in type 2 diabetes mellitus contributes to the development of complications, especially the cardiovascular-related ones. Peroxiredoxins (PRDXs) are antioxidant enzymes that combat oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between the levels of PRDX isoforms (1, 2, 4, and 6) and cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Fifty-three patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (28F/25M) and 25 healthy control subjects (7F/18M) were enrolled. We measured the plasma levels of each PRDX isoform and analyzed their correlations with cardiovascular risk factors. The plasma PRDX1, -2, -4, and -6 levels were higher in the diabetic patients than in the healthy control subjects. PRDX2 and -6 levels were negatively correlated with diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, and hemoglobin A1c. In contrast, PRDX1 levels were positively correlated with low-density lipoprotein and C-reactive protein levels. PRDX4 levels were negatively correlated with triglycerides. In conclusion, PRDX1, -2, -4, and -6 showed differential correlations with a variety of traditional cardiovascular risk factors. These results should encourage further research into the crosstalk between PRDX isoforms and cardiovascular risk factors

Fiber-integrated optical nano-tweezer based on a bowtie-aperture nano-antenna at the apex of a SNOM tip

International audienceWe propose a new concept of fiber-integrated optical nano-tweezer on the basis of a single bowtie-aperture nano-antenna (BNA) fabricated at the apex of a metal-coated SNOM tip. We demonstrate 3D optical trapping of 0.5 micrometer latex beads with input power which does not exceed 1 mW. Optical forces induced by the BNA on tip are then analyzed numerically. They are found to be 103 times larger than the optical forces of a circular aperture of the same area. Such a fiber nanostructure provides a new path for manipulating nano-objects in a compact, flexible and versatile architecture and should thus open promising perspectives in physical, chemical and biomedical domains

Engineering of Hybrid Photonic-Plasmonic Devices for Enhanced Light-Matter Interactions

In this chapter, we focus on the design and characteristics of a hybrid photonic-plasmonic nanoresonator using 3D finite-difference time-domain simulations. This structure is capable of localization of high intensity light in a subwavelength hotspot, whilst maintaining a high quality factor making it suitable for applications such as near field optical trapping and manipulation, sensing and spectroscopy of nanoparticles