Monthly Archives:
February 2022

Therapeutic Apheresis and Immunosuppression in Immunologic Diseases: A Review and Own Observations

Bambauer R, Schiel R. Therapeutic Apheresis and Immunosuppression in Immunologic Diseases: A Review and OwnObservations. Clin Immunol Res. 2021; 5(2): 1-36. ISSN 2639-8486

TA should be reserved for treatment of children and adolescents

who are severely affected by PANDAS. In such patients, it


appears to be safe, well-tolerated, and beneficial treatment


option [130]. Bien et al reported in 2020, besides the first-line


interventions of steroids, IVIG, and TA as second-line treatments


cyclophosphamide or rituximab [131].”

Abnormal mTOR Activity in Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric and MIA-Associated Autism Spectrum Disorders

Trifonova, E.A.; Mustafin, Z.S.; Lashin, S.A.; Kochetov, A.V. Abnormal mTOR Activity in Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric and MIA-Associated Autism Spectrum Disorders. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23, 967. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23020967

Abstract: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by

the early onset of communication and behavioral problems. ASD is highly heritable; however,

environmental factors also play a considerable role in this disorder. A significant part of both

syndromic and idiopathic autism cases could be attributed to disorders caused by mammalian

target of rapamycin (mTOR)-dependent translation deregulation. This narrative review analyzes both bioinformatic and experimental evidence that connects mTOR signaling to the maternal autoantibody-related (MAR) autism spectrum and autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders simultaneously. In addition, we reconstruct a network presenting the interactions between the mTOR signaling and eight MAR ASD genes coding for ASD-specific maternal autoantibody target proteins. The research discussed in this review demonstrates novel perspectives and validates the need for a subtyping of ASD on the grounds of pathogenic mechanisms. The utter necessity of designing ELISA-based test panels to identify all antibodies related to autism-like behavior is also considered.

Discovering prescription patterns in pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome patients
Lopez Pineda A, Pourshafeie A, Ioannidis A, Leibold CM, Chan AL, Bustamante CD, Frankovich J, Wojcik GL. Discovering prescription patterns in pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome patients. J Biomed Inform. 2021 Jan;113:103664. doi: 10.1016/j.jbi.2020.103664. Epub 2020 Dec 28. PMID: 33359113.
  • PANS has an inflammatory or autoimmune etiology associated with an infection.
  • Longitudinal clustering can subset patients with polypharmacy treatments.
  • Included 43 consecutive new-onset pre-pubertal patients who had at least 3 clinic visits. “We used a cut-off age of 12 years to include only pre-pubertal children, as hormones might play a role in psychiatric symptoms and behaviors.”
  • Algorithm identified six clusters with distinct medication usage history which may represent clinician’s practice of treating PANS of different severities and etiologies i.e.,
    • two most severe groups requiring high dose intravenous steroids
    • two arthritic or inflammatory groups requiring prolonged nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)
    • two mild relapsing/remitting group treated with a short course of NSAID.
  • The psychometric scores as outcomes in each cluster generally improved within the first two years.