Radiological aspects of idiopathic lumbosacral plexitis

Idiopathic Lumbosacral Plexitis is a disease that do not have definitive causes but even starts to be studied by Sander Evans et al. in 1981 hypotheses were put forward related to viral infections, vaccines and heterologous serum. Although more recently studies have showed that the disease can develop without immunological history. Multiple roots and nerves are affected and it can be bilateral. The diferential diagnosis of other pathologies must involves research for tumours, traumas and diabetes. The findings of the disease include: autoimmune demyelination and vasculitis with axonal lesion. The clinicalconditionare characterized by intensive pain, paresis, hypoesthesia in lower members, and a limping gait. The prognosis is positive, however do not have a completely remission without squeals. The treatment has not been defined but is common to uses corticosteroids and immunoglobulin.

Immunomodulatory dendritic cells require autologous serum to circumvent nonspecific immunosuppressive activity in vivo

In immunotherapy, dendritic cells (DCs) can be used as powerful antigen-presenting cells to enhance or suppress antigen-specific immunity upon in vivo transfer in mice or humans. However, to generate sufficient numbers of DCs, most protocols include an ex vivo culture step, wherein the cells are exposed to heterologous serum and/or antigenic stimuli. In mouse models of virus infection and virus-induced autoimmunity, we tested how heterologous serum affects the immunomodulatory capacity of immature DCs generated in the presence of IL-10 by comparing fetal bovine serum (FBS)- or normal mouse serum (NMS)-supplemented DC cultures. We show that FBS-exposed DCs induce a systemic immune deviation characterized by reduction of virus-specific T cells, delayed viral clearance, and enhanced systemic production of interleukin 4 (IL-4), IL-5, and IL-10 to FBS-derived antigens, including bovine serum albumin (BSA). By contrast, DCs generated in NMS-supplemented cultures modulated immunity and autoimmunity in an antigen-specific fashion. These cells did not induce systemic IL-4, IL-5, or IL-10 production and inhibited generation of virus-specific T cells or autoimmunity only if pulsed with a viral antigen. These data underscore the importance of using autologous serum-derived immature DCs in preclinical animal studies to accurately assess their immunomodulatory potential in future human therapeutic settings, where application of FBS is not feasible.