Classic as well as more recent large-scale genomic analyses have uncovered multiple genes and pathways important for bladder cancer development. Genes involved in cell-cycle control, chromatin regulation, and receptor tyrosine…
Bladder cancer incidence is higher in old men, shows geographic variation, and is mostly an environmental disease. Cigarette smoking, occupational exposures, water arsenic, Schistosoma haematobium infestation, and some medications are…
Joaquim Bellmunt, MD, PhD, Editor After very little advancement in the last two decades, bladder cancer is back in the spotlight with the advent of new immunotherapy approaches and the…
The availability of anticomplement therapies has been a major achievement for medicine in the last decade. Indeed, eculizumab has changed the treatment paradigm of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and atypical hemolytic…
Thrombotic microangiopathies (TMA) such as atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) have evolved from rare, fulminant childhood afflictions to uncommon diseases with acute and chronic phases involving both children and adults….
Shiga toxin associated hemolytic uremic syndrome (Stx HUS), a thrombotic microangiopathy, is the most common cause of pediatric acute kidney injury but has no direct treatment. A better understanding of…
The severe clinical symptoms of inherited CD59 deficiency confirm the importance of CD59 as essential complement regulatory protein for protection of cells against complement attack, in particular protection of hematopoietic…
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria is manifests with a chronic hemolytic anemia from uncontrolled complement activation, a propensity for thrombosis and marrow failure. The hemolysis is largely mediated by the alternative pathway…
The molecular linkage between ultralarge (UL) von Willebrand factor (VWF) multimers and the alternative complement pathway (AP) has recently been described. Endothelial cell (EC)-secreted and anchored ULVWF multimers (in long…
