Gold: an old drug still working in refractory pemphigus

BACKGROUND: The mainstay of treatment for pemphigus is systemic corticosteroids. Different adjuvants have been used to reduce side-effects of long-term corticotherapy. Gold is an anti-inflammatory drug used in autoimmune diseases, whose use has waned with the advent of new immunosuppressive agents. OBJECTIVE: To study the outcome of the use of intramuscular gold treatment of pemphigus vulgaris refractory to previous therapies. METHODS: Thirteen patients with pemphigus vulgaris who had failed to respond to several prior therapies were treated with aurothiomalate, as a steroid-sparing agent. Patients were monitored to assess disease activity and gold toxicity. RESULTS: Seven patients achieved complete remission. Four patients were able to taper prednisone doses, although pemphigus flared when prednisone was discontinued or reduced. Toxicity was observed in the other two patients. CONCLUSIONS: In 53.4% of the patients, the use of chrysotherapy resulted in the complete clearing of the disease, discontinuation of all systemic therapies and induced a long-term clinical remission. Prednisone doses were able to be reduced in the remaining 46.6%. Any side-effects were reversible with drug discontinuation. Gold therapy showed efficacy as a secondary line treatment in refractory pemphigus vulgaris.     

A retrospective mortality study of workers exposed to arsenic in a gold mine and refinery in France

A historical mortality study of a cohort of employees of a gold mining and refining company was carried out in Salsigne, France. A major goal of the study was to investigate the relationship between lung cancer mortality and exposure to arsenic, radon, silica, and other contaminants of the working environment. A twofold excess of lung cancer was found both among miners and smelters, mainly concentrated among workers who had experienced exposure to past levels of arsenic, radon, and silica. The consistency of the results in the mine and the refinery are suggestive of a carcinogenic risk from both soluble and insoluble arsenic, although the potential role of other factors cannot be dismissed. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Differentiating Small Round Cell Sarcomas of the Soft Parts by an Innovative Immunogold Labeling Method: An Ultrastructural Study

A new immunoelectron microscopy procedure was developed by remaking the fixed-frozen tissue specimens into LR White resin blocks suitable for postembedding colloidal gold immunolabeling, and used to examine 16 cases of small round cell soft tissue sarcomas. In rhabdomyosarcoma, ultrastructural double-immunogold staining demonstrated a coexpression of muscle specific actin and desmin in the same tumor cell. In both Ewing's sarcoma and peripheral neuroepithelioma, the heterogeneous expression of MIC2 gene product (p30/32^MIC2) in each tumor cell was demonstrated as well. In peripheral neuroepithelioma, the colloidal gold immunolabeling for neurofilament demonstrated the intermediate filaments surrounding microtubules. The procedure for ultrastructural colloidal gold immunolabeling using fixed-frozen tissue is thus considered to be useful not only for tumor diagnosis, but also for investigating various subcellular structures.     

一种神经丝研究方法的建立及应用

本文世界首次报道用抗磷酸化神经丝单克隆抗体及抗非磷酸化神经丝单克隆抗体和免疫胶体金为探针.对3例神经外科手术取材的颞叶大脑皮质神经元进行了电镜免疫细胞化学研究。结果发现,在神经元核周质的内侧部、树突存在有磷酸化神经丝;在神经元核周质的外侧部也存在有非磷酸化神经丝。值得提出的是在整个细胞核内,尤其在核仁内,存在着大量的磷酸化神经丝和非磷酸化神经丝。本文提出了统一的细胞核浆骨架的新概念。     

Contact allergy to gold sodium thiosulfate

278 consecutive patients with suspected contact dermatitis were patch tested with the European standard series and gold sodium thiosulfate (0.5% pet.): 13 patients (4.6%) had a positive allergic response to gold sodium thiosulfate (GST). All of these patients were female, with a mean age of 37 years. The most frequent site of eczema in these patients was the head and neck (62%). A seborrhoeic distribution of eczema was common. 46% had involvement of the limbs, 15% had a perianal or perivulval rash. The mean duration of eczema in this group of patients was 15.8 months. 54% of patients allergic to gold were also allergic to nickel. Biopsy of positive patch test reactions to GST were consistent with allergic contact dermatitis.     

Oral lichenoid lesions, mercury hypersensitivity and combined hypersensitivity to mercury and other metals: histologically-proven reproduction of the reaction by patch testing with metal salts

We report 11 patients seen between 1991 and 1994 with oral lichenoid lesion(OLL). In 10 cases, there was contact with dental amalgam fillings, and in patient no. 10 with both amalgam restorations and a gold crown. The last patient had, in addition to her OLL, lichen planus of the skin and genital mucosa. In 5 cases, combined sensitization to mercury and other metal salts, particularly gold sodium thiosulfate (GST) and palladium chloride (PDC), was observed. In 10 patients, the lesions considerably improved or totally cleared within 1 to 9 months of replacement of restoration materials. Histological examination of biopsies from the test sites of amalgam, mercuric chloride, GST and PDC, taken 10 or 17 days, after application of patch tests, showed lichenoid changes in 7 patients with at least 1 of the allergens. At least 2 patients had inflammatory lesions of the oral mucosa related to both amalgam and gold restorations, combined sensitization to inorganic and organic mercury derivatives. GST and, in 1 case, PDC, a "dental restoration metal intolerance syndrome" is proposed.     

Multicenter study of the frequency of contact allergy to gold

Gold sodium thiosulfate (GSTS) is reputed to be the most reliable gold antigen, but control studies are still required. Although Koreans have more varied sources of contact with gold, such as herbal medicines with gold coatings and indwelling gold acupuncture needles, no epidemiological studies have been performed. This study examined the frequency and sources of contact allergy to gold in South Korea by a multicenter study. Patch testing with 0.5% GSTS in pet. was conducted in 255 eczema patients and 58 control subjects. Results were observed at 21 days (D) to ensure there were no undetected late reactions in 54 observed patients and 47 controls. 8 (3.1%) of the 255 patients reacted positively to GSTS, including 1 with a late reaction. 1 of the 58 controls showed a positive reaction to GSTS on D4 with a negative reaction on D14. Clinical relevance was lacking in the patients with positive reactions. Unexpectedly, the above particular sources of gold contact gave rise to few allergic reactions in our patients.     

High frequency of contact allergy to gold sodium thiosulfate

When gold sodium thiosulfate was added to the patch test standard series, positive reactions were obtained in 8.6% of 823 consecutive patients with suspect contact allergy. The test reactions were clinically of an allergic type and, in several cases, long-lasting. There was no correlation with other allergens in the standard series. In a special study on 38 patients with contact allergy to gold sodium thiosulfate, the following principal findings were obtained: positive patch tests to the compound itself in dilute concentration; positive patch tests to potassium dicyanoaurate; negative patch tests to gold sodium thiomalate, sodium thiosulfate, and metallic gold; positive intradermal tests to gold sodium thiomalate. Our findings make gold sodium thiosulfate the 2nd most common contact allergen after nickel sulfate. It is suggested that a positive skin test to gold sodium thiosulfate represents gold allergy.     

Development of a lateral-flow immunochromatographic test device for the rapid detection of difloxacin residues

In this study, a rapid competitive immunochromatographic test strip has been developed for specifically testing residues of difloxacin (DIF). 1H₁₀-2B₂, one of the three hybridoma lines that were tested and selected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, was used in the test strip. The monoclonal antibody has a good sensitivity with an IC₅₀ of 2.2 ng/mL to DIF, 0.24% cross-reactivity towards danofloxacin and no cross-reactivity towards other related compounds and other drugs. The calibration curve of DIF test strip presented a typical sigmoidal curve. In practice, the lower limit of detection using a strip reader was 0.5 ng/ml while 2 ng/ml by unaided visual assessment. Samples of milk were spiked at 2–8 ng/mL, presenting recoveries between 94.5 and 107%, and the coefficient of variation (CV,%) (1.6–9%). The data above suggests that the strip meets the requirements of high sensitivity, good specificity, simplicity and speed, as well as the characteristics of reproducibility and accuracy.     

EB病毒衣壳抗原IgA抗体胶体金快速检测法的建立及应用

目的建立了一种快速检测人血清中EB病毒衣壳抗原(VCA)IgA抗体的胶体金免疫层析(GICA)方法。方法预先将EB病毒衣壳抗原(EB-VCA)包被在硝酸纤维素膜上,将鼠抗人IgA抗体免疫金固化在金标垫上。检测时,样本通过层析作用向上流动,样本中的IgA抗体首先被胶体金标记的鼠抗人IgA抗体捕获,其中的EB-VCAIgA抗体再与包被在硝酸纤维素膜上的EB-VCA特异性结合,最后形成包被固相上的EB-VCA与EB-VCAIgA抗体及胶体金标记鼠抗人IgA抗体的三元复合物,通过检测线胶体金沉淀颜色的变化来定性判定样本中是否存在EB-VCAIgA抗体。结果采用自制的GICA试纸条进行了1028份临床标本的盲法检测,并与酶联免疫吸附试验的EB-VCAIgA抗体诊断试剂盒进行比对,结果表明两种试剂检测的总符合率达到94.56%,阳性符合率为93.40%,阴性符合率为95.17%,Kappa值为0.873,两种诊断试剂具备一致的诊断价值。结论用于检测血清中的EB-VCAIgA抗体的GICA试纸条的制备条件已基本建立,其检测结果特异性强、稳定性好、操作方法简便快捷且无需特殊仪器设备。