Amyloid : the international journal of experimental and clinical investigation : the official journal of the International Society of Amyloidosis
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From a clinical perspective, there is a need for a reliable and comprehensive list of diseases causing AA amyloidosis. This list could guide clinicians in the evaluation of patients with AA amyloidosis in whom an obvious cause is lacking. In this systematic review, a PubMed, Embase and Web of Science literature search were performed on causes of AA amyloidosis published in the last four decades. ⋯ Disease associations were categorized and 48 were listed as strong, 19 as weak, 23 as unclear, and 60 as unlikely. Most newly described diseases are not really unexpected because they often cause longstanding inflammation. Based on the spectrum of identified causes, a pragmatic diagnostic approach is proposed for the AA amyloidosis patient in whom an obvious underlying disease is lacking.
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Background: Cardiomyopathy is a major cause of death in patients with systemic transthyretin amyloidosis. Long term effect of therapy designed to inhibit hepatic production of the amyloid precursor has not been established in cardiomyopathy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long term safety and efficacy of transthyretin specific antisense oligonucleotide therapy, inotersen, in transthyretin cardiomyopathy. ⋯ At the 2 year time point, mean LV mass decreased by 8.4% as measured by MRI, and exercise tolerance increased by 20.2 metres as measured by 6 minute walk test. Further positive indicators were noted at 3 years, with LV mass decreasing by 11.4% and 6MWT increasing by 16.2 metres. Conclusion: Long term treatment of amyloid cardiomyopathy with inotersen is safe and effective in inhibiting progression and potentially reversing amyloid burden.
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Response assessment in light chain (AL) amyloidosis is challenging given the low level of circulating free light chains usually seen. Multi-parametric flow cytometry (MFC) from a marrow aspirate was demonstrated to retain a prognostic significance in several recent studies. ⋯ Absence of clonal plasma cells by MFC compared with patients with detectable clonal plasma cells among deep responders was associated with lower level of involved light chain (involved free light chain (iFLC), median 1.1 vs. 1.7 mg/dL; p = .02) and higher frequency of renal response (100% vs. 68%; p = .005). Further studies are needed to determine if MFC should be incorporated into response criteria in AL amyloidosis.
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Pragmatic Clinical Trial
Immunoelectron microscopy and mass spectrometry for classification of amyloid deposits.
Amyloidosis is a shared name for several rare, complex and serious diseases caused by extra-cellular deposits of different misfolded proteins. Accurate characterization of the amyloid protein is essential for patient care. Immunoelectron microscopy (IEM) and laser microdissection followed by tandem mass spectrometry (LMD-MS) are new gold standards for molecular subtyping. ⋯ Concordance was 89.6-100% for different amyloid subtypes. Importantly, combined use of both methods increased the diagnostic classification to 100%. Some variety in performances at organ level was observed.