Impact of high fat diets, prebiotics and probiotics on gut microbiota and immune function, with relevance to elderly populations

According to WHO, the number of people over 60 years of age is set to rise to 2 billion by 2050. Dysbiosis of microbial composition and impaired immune function have been observed in elderly persons compared to younger adults. As a result, the aging population has a higher disease risk than other age groups. In addition, high fat intakes have been observed to exert negative effects on microbial composition and immune function in murine studies. Elderly people have higher fat intakes than recommended levels, and this may make them more vulnerable to disease risk. Therefore, the impact of high fat consumption on elderly populations may be of relevance. Prebiotics and probiotics have been shown to have positive effects on microbiota composition and immune function in the elderly. This review describes aged-related changes in gut microbiome of elderly persons. It will also summarise studies concerning the impact of prebiotics, probiotics and high fat diets on microbiota composition and immune function

Demographic, clinical and antibody characteristics of patients with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: data from the DUO Registry

OBJECTIVES: The Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry was designed to describe the clinical and antibody characteristics, disease course and outcomes of patients with digital ulcers associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: The DUO Registry is a European, prospective, multicentre, observational, registry of SSc patients with ongoing digital ulcer disease, irrespective of treatment regimen. Data collected included demographics, SSc duration, SSc subset, internal organ manifestations, autoantibodies, previous and ongoing interventions and complications related to digital ulcers. RESULTS: Up to 19 November 2010 a total of 2439 patients had enrolled into the registry. Most were classified as either limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; 52.2%) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc; 36.9%). Digital ulcers developed earlier in patients with dcSSc compared with lcSSc. Almost all patients (95.7%) tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 45.2% for anti-scleroderma-70 and 43.6% for anticentromere antibodies (ACA). The first digital ulcer in the anti-scleroderma-70-positive patient cohort occurred approximately 5 years earlier than the ACA-positive patient group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides data from a large cohort of SSc patients with a history of digital ulcers. The early occurrence and high frequency of digital ulcer complications are especially seen in patients with dcSSc and/or anti-scleroderma-70 antibodies

Immunoglobulin G anti-endothelial cell antibodies: inducers of endothelial cell apoptosis in pulmonary arterial hypertension?

Endothelial cell (EC) apoptosis seems to play an important role in the pathophysiology of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We aimed to test the hypothesis that circulating anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECA) of PAH patients induce EC apoptosis. Immunoglobulin (Ig)G was purified from sera of PAH patients (n = 26), patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) nephritis without PAH (n = 16), patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) without PAH (n = 58) and healthy controls (n = 14). Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were incubated with patient or healthy control IgG for 24 h. Thereafter, apoptosis was quantified by annexin A5 binding and hypoploid cell enumeration by flow cytometry. Furthermore, real-time cell electronic sensing (RT-CES) technology was used to monitor the effects of purified IgG from patient and healthy control IgG on HUVECs. As demonstrated previously, IgG of AECA-positive SLE nephritis patients (n = 7) induced a higher percentage of apoptosis of HUVECs compared to IgG of AECA-negative SLE nephritis patients and healthy controls. Furthermore, IgG of AECA-positive SLE nephritis patients induced a marked decrease in cell index as assessed by RT-CES technology. IgG of AECA-positive PAH patients (n = 12) and SSc patients (n = 13) did not alter the percentage of HUVEC apoptosis or cell index compared to IgG of AECA-negative PAH and SSc patients and healthy controls. AECA-positive PAH patients, in contrast to SLE nephritis patients, do not have circulating IgG AECA that enhances apoptosis of HUVECs in vitro. Further studies should focus on other mechanisms by which AECA may enhance EC apoptosis in PAH, such as antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity

Prevalence and prognostic relevance of cardiac involvement in ANCA-associated vasculitis: eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis and granulomatosis with polyangiitis

To investigate the prevalence and prognostic relevance of cardiac involvement in an ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) population of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) and granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) patients.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Prevalence and prognostic relevance of cardiac involvement in ANCA-associated vasculitis: Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis and granulomatosis with polyangiitis journaltitle: International Journal of Cardiology articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2015.06.087 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.status: publishe