A pilot study evaluating the clinical and immunomodulatory effects of an orally administered extract of Dendrobium huoshanense in children with moderate to severe recalcitrant atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disorder for which few safe and effective systemic treatments are available. To test the clinical and immunomodulatory effects of a crude polysaccharide fraction isolated from Dendrobium huoshanense for the treatment of AD, we conducted a pilot, uncontrolled case series study. Twenty-seven patients aged 4-18 years (mean∓SD, 10.82±4.4) with AD that had not responded to topical therapy were treated with polysaccharide derived from D. huoshanense for 4 weeks and followed-up for another 4 weeks. Progression of AD was determined with the Lund-Browder chart for children, the Investigator's Global Atopic Dermatitis Assessment (IGADA), and the Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) at weeks 0, 2, 4, and 8. Serum levels of cytokines were evaluated. Safety was determined with laboratory and clinical tests. The lesion area, IGADA score, total SCORAD result, and score for sleeplessness decreased significantly from weeks 0 to 4, but did not change significantly between weeks 4 and 8. The scores for subjective symptoms and pruritus decreased significantly from week 0 to week 4 and increased significantly from week 4 to week 8. Serum levels of IL-5, IL-13, IFN-gamma, and TGF-beta1 decreased significantly between weeks 0 and 4 and between weeks 0 and 8. No significant difference in the levels of IL-10 was found. The polysaccharide from D. huoshanense reduced the levels of some cytokines associated with AD and had beneficial effects on symptoms. No serious adverse effects occurred when it was administered orally for 4 weeks.

Correlations of serum Interleukin-16, total IgE, eosinophil cationic protein and total eosinophil counts with disease activity in children with atopic dermatitis.

Several laboratory parameters have been investigated for assessing disease activity in children with atopic dermatitis (AD). Analyses of the correlation between these parameters and clinical severity can help to choose a convincing tool. This study compared the significance of serum interleukin-16 (IL-16), serum total immunoglobulin E (IgE), serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), and total eosinophil count (TEC) in reflecting AD severity to order to identify the most relevant objective tool for assessing AD activity and to assess the correlation between these laboratory parameters. The Severity Scoring of Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD index) was used for the assessment of disease activity in 48 pediatric patients in the acute exacerbation phase and in the maintenance phase after improvement of clinical findings with conventional treatment for 8 weeks. Serum levels of total IgE, ECP, and IL-16 as well as TEC were measured on the same time points and compared with healthy non-atopic controls. The correlation between SCORAD and each laboratory parameter was tested for significance and compared. Serum levels of ECP and IL-16 of AD patients were significantly higher than those of controls. These serum parameters, except TEC, declined significantly after conventional treatment with clinical improvement. There was positive correlation with SCORAD for serum IgE (r=0.317, p=0.028), TEC(r=0.434, p=0.002), IL-16 (r = 0.321, p=0.026) in the acute exacerbation phase and with SCORAD for serum IgE (r=0.510, p<0.001), TEC(r=0.489, p<0.001), serum ECP (r=0.468, p=0.001) in the maintenance phase. Serum levels of total IgE, IL-16, ECP, and TEC correlated with the SCORAD index in pediatric patients with atopic dermatitis. Thus, they can serve as serum markers for monitoring disease activity in childhood atopic dermatitis.

New cytotoxic butanolides from Litsea acutivena.

Six new compounds, including one nor-neolignan, dehydroxymethylailanthoidol (1), and five butanolides, litseakolide D (2), litseakolide E (3), litseakolide F (4), litseakolide G (5), and isolincomolide D (6), were isolated from the leaves of Litsea acutivena. Their structures were elucidated from spectral analyses. The butanolides (2-6) showed significant cytotoxic activity against P-388, A549, and HT-29 cell lines in vitro.

[Setting up a CMV negative donor file].

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is serious to immunocompromized individuals such as recipients of bone marrow transplantation, preterm infants and other immunosuppressed patients. Since there is no effective treatment as yet, prevention is the most effective way so far to avoid CMV infection. Blood transfusion is one of the dangerous sources and screening for CMV negative donors is mandatory, therefore, to provide blood components for immunocompromized patients. We have screened 2,015 donors at various ages for CMV antibody by using passive latex agglutination test (PLA). The results showed that the CMV antibody positive rate was 91.7% in Taiwan. It differs from those of the western countries (40-79%) and the countries of Africa and Asia (96-100%). It has also shown that the positivity rate is closely related to the age of donors. The seronegative rates of ages among 18-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50 and 51-60 years old were 10.7%, 9.8%, 3.9%, 1.2% and 0% respectively. It has suggested thus that the older the donor is, the higher the seropositive rate will be. Therefore, we should choose the donors of younger age as candidates for making CMV negative donor file.