Use of oral vancomycin in children with autoimmune liver disease: A single centre experience.

BACKGROUND: Previous reports showed some beneficial effect of oral vancomycin treatment (OVT) in children with primary sclerosing cholangitis; conversely, the experience in patients with other autoimmune liver diseases (AILD), including autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and autoimmune sclerosing cholangitis (ASC), is scant. AIM: To assess the response to immunosuppressive treatment (IS) and to OVT in children diagnosed with AILD. METHODS: Retrospective study of children diagnosed with AIH (normal biliary tree at cholangiography) and ASC (abnormal biliary tree at cholangiography) in the last 10 years. All underwent standard immunosuppressive therapy (IS), but non-responders received also OVT. Biochemical remission [normal aspartate aminotransferase (AST)] and immunological remission (normal IgG and negative autoantibodies) rates and Sclerosing Cholangitis Outcomes in Pediatrics (SCOPE) index were assessed and compared during the follow up. RESULTS: 75 children were included [69% female, median age 10.5 years (5.6-13.4 years), AIH = 54, ASC= 21]. Sixty-three patients (84%, AIH = 52, ASC = 11) were treated with standard IS and 61 achieved biochemical remission, whereas 12 not responding to IS [16%, F = 75%, median age 13.5 years, (12.2-15.7), 10 with ASC] required OVT and 8 achieved biochemical remission. Overall OVT increased the biochemical remission rate of the whole group of AILD patients from 81% (61/75) to 92% (69/75). Median values of AST, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) decreased significantly after OVT start (P < 0.05). Complete normalization of livers enzymes (AST, ALT and GGT) was observed in 6/12 patients (50%). Decrease in SCOPE index score was reported in 5/12 patients (42%). At last follow up (median of 4.4 years, range 0.6-13.8 years) all 75 patients are alive, 6 (8%, 1 with ASC) successfully discontinued medications, 1 (with ASC) required liver transplantation. CONCLUSION: Children with AIH and ASC respond well to IS treatment. OVT may represent a valuable treatment option to achieve biochemical remission in patients not responding to standard IS. These promising preliminary results suggest that a prospective study is indicated to define the efficacy of OVT in AILD.

Early Treatment and IL1RN Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms Affect Response to Anakinra in Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of early treatment and IL1RN genetic variants on the response to anakinra in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). METHODS: Response to anakinra was defined as achievement of clinically inactive disease (CID) at 6 months without glucocorticoid treatment. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of 56 patients were evaluated in univariate and multivariate analyses as predictors of response to treatment. Six single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IL1RN gene, previously demonstrated to be associated with a poor response to anakinra, were genotyped by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) or Sanger sequencing. Haplotype mapping was performed with Haploview software. IL1RN messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in whole blood from patients, prior to anakinra treatment initiation, was assessed by qPCR. RESULTS: After 6 months of anakinra treatment, 73.2% of patients met the criteria for CID without receiving glucocorticoids. In the univariate analysis, the variable most strongly related to the response was disease duration from onset to initiation of anakinra treatment, with an optimal cutoff at 3 months (area under the curve 84.1%). Patients who started anakinra treatment ≥3 months after disease onset had an 8-fold higher risk of nonresponse at 6 months of treatment. We confirmed that the 6 IL1RN SNPs were inherited as a common haplotype. We found that homozygosity for ≥1 high-expression SNP correlated with higher IL1RN mRNA levels and was associated with a 6-fold higher risk of nonresponse, independent of disease duration. CONCLUSION: Our findings on patients with systemic JIA confirm the important role of early interleukin-1 inhibition and suggest that genetic IL1RN variants predict nonresponse to therapy with anakinra.

The Potential Synergic Effect of a Complex Pattern of Multiple Inherited Genetic Variants as a Pathogenic Factor for Ovarian Dysgenesis: A Case Report.

Non-syndromic primary ovarian insufficiency due to ovarian dysgenesis in 46,XX patients is an uncommon finding in the general population, even though several monogenic variants have been reported as causative factors. Here, we describe a 15-year-old patient diagnosed with gonadal dysgenesis possibly due to the interaction of three potentially pathogenic variants of genes involved in ovarian maturation, namely factor in the germline alpha (FIGLA), newborn ovary homeobox-encoding (NOBOX) and nuclear receptor subfamily 5 group A member 1 (NR5A1). We also describe a different degree of residual ovarian function within the proband's family, whose female members carry one to three demonstrated variations in the aforementioned genes in a clinical spectrum potentially dependent on the number of alleles involved. Our results support the hypothesis that the severity of the clinical picture of the proband, resulting in complete ovarian dysgenesis, may be due to a synergic detrimental effect of inherited genetic variants.