[Radiological versus endoscopic gastrostomy in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]. / Gastrostomía radiológica frente a endoscópica en pacientes con esclerosis lateral amiotrófica.

IIntroduction: patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) require nutritional support, in most cases with enteral nutrition through gastrostomy, either endoscopic (PEG) or radiological (PRG). OBJECTIVES: to analyze the characteristics of patients with ALS at the time of PEG/PRG placement, and to compare the efficacy and safety of PRG versus PEG. METHODS: a retrospective descriptive study. All patients with ALS who required gastrostomy in the last 3 years (2021-2023) in our hospital were recruited (4 PEG and 6 PRG). Demographic and nutritional parameters were analyzed. RESULTS: ten patients were included, with an average age of 57 years. All patients presented with dysphagia and received oral or tube supplements prior to gastrostomy placement. The average duration of enteral nutrition was approximately 50 months, with a mortality rate of 30 % at 12 months after gastrostomy. The success rate of PEG and PRG was similar, with no complications. All patients developed deterioration of respiratory function, even after nutritional support. CONCLUSION: gastrostomy should be indicated as soon as a patient is at risk of aspiration pneumonia or when weight loss begins. Although the nutritional benefit of gastrostomy is well established, there is currently a delay between diagnosis and placement of approximately 4 years. PRG appears to be safer than PEG in patients with ALS and respiratory failure.

Pharmaceutical targeting of the cannabinoid type 1 receptor impacts the crosstalk between immune cells and islets to reduce insulitis in humans.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Insulitis, a hallmark of inflammation preceding autoimmune type 1 diabetes, leads to the eventual loss of functional beta cells. However, functional beta cells can persist even in the face of continuous insulitis. Despite advances in immunosuppressive treatments, maintaining functional beta cells to prevent insulitis progression and hyperglycaemia remains a challenge. The cannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB1R), present in immune cells and beta cells, regulates inflammation and beta cell function. Here, we pioneer an ex vivo model mirroring human insulitis to investigate the role of CB1R in this process. METHODS: CD4+ T lymphocytes were isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from male and female individuals at the onset of type 1 diabetes and from non-diabetic individuals, RNA was extracted and mRNA expression was analysed by real-time PCR. Single beta cell expression from donors with type 1 diabetes was obtained from data mining. Patient-derived human islets from male and female cadaveric donors were 3D-cultured in solubilised extracellular matrix gel in co-culture with the same donor PBMCs, and incubated with cytokines (IL-1ß, TNF-α, IFN-γ) for 24-48 h in the presence of vehicle or increasing concentrations of the CB1R blocker JD-5037. Expression of CNR1 (encoding for CB1R) was ablated using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Viability, intracellular stress and signalling were assayed by live-cell probing and real-time PCR. The islet function measured as glucose-stimulated insulin secretion was determined in a perifusion system. Infiltration of immune cells into the islets was monitored by microscopy. Non-obese diabetic mice aged 7 weeks were treated for 1 week with JD-5037, then euthanised. Profiling of immune cells infiltrated in the islets was performed by flow cytometry. RESULTS: CNR1 expression was upregulated in circulating CD4+ T cells from individuals at type 1 diabetes onset (6.9-fold higher vs healthy individuals) and in sorted islet beta cells from donors with type 1 diabetes (3.6-fold higher vs healthy counterparts). The peripherally restricted CB1R inverse agonist JD-5037 arrested the initiation of insulitis in humans and mice. Mechanistically, CB1R blockade prevented islet NO production and ameliorated the ATF6 arm of the unfolded protein response. Consequently, cyto/chemokine expression decreased in human islets, leading to sustained islet cell viability and function. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: These results suggest that CB1R could be an interesting target for type 1 diabetes while highlighting the regulatory mechanisms of insulitis. Moreover, these findings may apply to type 2 diabetes where islet inflammation is also a pathophysiological factor. DATA AVAILABILITY: Transcriptomic analysis of sorted human beta cells are from Gene Expression Omnibus database, accession no. GSE121863, available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSM3448161 .

Pancreatitis aguda severa y precoz por liraglutide / Liraglutide-induced severe early acute pancreatitis

Los agonistas GLP-1 presentan como efectos secundarios más frecuentes las náuseas y vómitos que son de carácter leves y moderados, siendo transitorios y dosis dependiente sin necesidad de suspender el fármaco en la mayoría de casos. Estos efectos ocurren más frecuentemente con exenatide y raramente con liraglutide, sin conocer un caso clínico de tal severidad y sobre todo precocidad. Se describe una mujer de 55 años caucasiana con diabetes mellitus tipo 2 de larga evolución asociadas que presentó cuadro de dolor abdominal, náuseas, vómitos incoercibles e hiperlipasemia de aparición súbita tras la primera dosis de titulación de liraglutide, completando solo 2 dosis en 48 horas, consultando en urgencias donde se apreció fracaso renal agudo y descompensación hiperosmolar que requirió su ingreso en unidad de cuidados intensivos. Al emplear la escala de probabilidad de reacción a fármaco de Naranjo obtenemos dicha reacción como probable, sin encontrar otras alternativas justificables clinicamente.

The most frequent side effects seen with GLP-1 agonists are mild and moderate nausea and vomiting, which are typically transient and dose-dependent, in most cases not requiring discontinuation of the drug. These effects occur most frequently with exenatide, and rarely with liraglutide; no clinical cases with such a severity -and especially with such an early occurrence- had been previously reported. The case herein described is that of a 55-year-old Caucasian female with a long-standing Type 2 diabetes mellitus, who presented with sudden abdominal pain, nausea, relentless vomiting an increased lipase serum levels after the first dosage of liraglutide, after completing only 2 dosages in 48 hours. The patient was seen at the emergency room, where she was diagnosed acute renal failure and hyperosmolar decompensation that required admission at the intensive care unit. According to Naranjo’s odds scale, the reaction was considered to be likely related to the drug; no other alternatives were considered to be clinically justified.