The autoimmune IgG4 -associated endocrine pathology

Immunoglobulin G4-associated diseases (IgG4-AD) arethe group of chronic progressive autoimmune fibro-inflammatory pathology of various organs and tissues, characterized by their enlargement and abundant infiltration of immunoglobulin G4-positive plasma cells, as well as an increase in the level of serum immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4).In most patients, the disease is characterized by a mild course.However, there is evidence of a high incidence of malignancies in patients with IgG4-AD.Among endocrine IgG4-associated pathologies, pancreatitis with outcome in diabetes mellitus, hypophysitis and thyroiditis are described. Laboratory examination usually reveals an increased level of IgG4. However, the concentration of IgG4 could not be used as the only diagnostic criterion.The possibility of plasmablastsdetermining as a marker of the disease is discussed.Among the imaging techniques CT, MRI and 18F-FDG-PET/CT are used.However, the most informative method of diagnosis is biopsy. Randomized clinical trials to determine clear recommendations for the treatment of IgG4-AD were not conducted.In most cases, glucocorticoids are prescribed, and immunosuppressive therapy is sometimes used.According to the results of recent studies, the genetically engineered drug rituximab is relatively effective in inducing remission of the disease.Given the high recurrence rate and the risk of malignancy, patients with IgG4-AD require careful long-term follow-up. Thus, the review describes the clinical manifestations of IgG4-AD, examines the possibilities of their diagnosis and presents the existing methods of treatment.However, given the fact that IgG4-AD became a separate group of autoimmune pathology less than 20 years ago, there are insufficient data on these diseases. Researches related to epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis and effective treatment of IgG4-AD are actual

Multiplex Autoantibody Detection in Patients with Autoimmune Polyglandular Syndromes

The diagnosis of autoimmune polyglandular syndrome (APS) types 1/2 is difficult due to their rarity and nonspecific clinical manifestations. APS-1 development can be identified with assays for autoantibodies against cytokines, and APS-2 development with organ-specific antibodies. In this study, a microarray-based multiplex assay was proposed for simultaneous detection of both organ-specific (anti-21-OH, anti-GAD-65, anti-IA2, anti-ICA, anti-TG, and anti-TPO) and APS-1-specific (anti-IFN-ω, anti-IFN-α-2a, and anti-IL-22) autoantibodies. Herein, 206 serum samples from adult patients with APS-1, APS-2, isolated autoimmune endocrine pathologies or non-autoimmune endocrine pathologies and from healthy donors were analyzed. The prevalence of autoantibodies differed among the groups of healthy donors and patients with non-, mono- and multi-endocrine diseases. APS-1 patients were characterized by the presence of at least two specific autoantibodies (specificity 99.5%, sensitivity 100%). Furthermore, in 16 of the 18 patients, the APS-1 assay revealed triple positivity for autoantibodies against IFN-ω, IFN-α-2a and IL-22 (specificity 100%, sensitivity 88.9%). No anti-cytokine autoantibodies were found in the group of patients with non-APS-1 polyendocrine autoimmunity. The accuracy of the microarray-based assay compared to ELISA for organ-specific autoantibodies was 88.8–97.6%. This multiplex assay can be part of the strategy for diagnosing and predicting the development of APS

Diagnosis and differential diagnosis of adrenal incidentalomas

This lecture focuses on the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of adrenal incidentalomas with special reference to diagnostic steps, major pharmacological tests, and instrumental studies. Strategies of management of patients with this pathology are described

Insulin-producing tumor of pancreas in a young patient: the search for germline mutations. Clinical case

Insulinoma is the most common functioning tumor of the pancreas. Approximately 5% of cases of the disease is associated with the syndrome of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1), caused by mutation in the gene MEN1. The MEN-1 is manifested by pituitary adenomas and adenomas of parathyroid glands, pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, tumors of thyroid gland, adrenal glands, intestine, carcinoids of lungs and other organs. Patients with MEN-1 often have angiofibromas, collagenomas and lipomas. However, in 5–10% of patients with clinical manifestations of this syndrome, mutations in MEN1 cannot be detected. In such cases, the disease can be caused by various disorders (mutations, polymorphisms, etc.) in other genes. More than 10 genes, associated with insulin-producing pancreatic tumor, are described in the literature. In the presented clinical case, an extended genetic study was performed in a young patient with insulinoma and a suspicious phenotype of MEN-1. The article emphasizes the need to search for new genetic markers that predispose to the development of insulinoma, and the subsequent introduction of panel of genes sequencing in such patients. Genetic testing is indicated primarily for young patients with multifocal lesions, family history and associated pathology