Collectively, our data suggest that the combination of low-dose CyA with iloprost administration may be of clinical utility in SSc and that a mechanism of action of CyA in SSc may include the decrease in IL-6 production.

The diagnosis of food allergy, as assessed by skin tests or in vitro tests with allergen extracts, has insufficient diagnostic performance and needs to be confirmed by food challenges. However, the availability of molecular allergens (recombinant or highly purified) for laboratory methods has profoundly changed the diagnostic approach to food allergy. In fact, the allergy diagnosis conducted at the molecular level, which is defined internationally as component resolved diagnosis (CRD), allows to characterize more precisely the sensitization profile of the individual patient, distinguishing the sensitizations to allergens that are strongly associated with a given source (genuine sensitizers) from those to molecules that are common to many sources (panallergens) or cross-react with other components from the same family or from other families. This review provides an update on the allergen molecules from foods, including plant foods and animal foods, and on the techniques to detect them, by means of a single reagent (singleplex) or an array of molecules tested at the same time (multiplex). Such testing offers detailed information on the sensitization profile of patients and enables the physician to suitably manage their allergy. Moreover, identifying the real causative allergens will be crucial when allergen immunotherapy for food allergy will be introduced in the near future. We also address patents concerning food allergens in this review.

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In the present study T lymphocytes isolated from a metastatic lymph node (T-LNL) of a melanoma patient have been cloned. In the attempt to verify whether T-LNL may acquire in vitro functional activities in the absence of tumour-associated antigens, they were cloned utilizing allogenic lymphocytes as feeder cells. Nineteen clones generated from T-LNL proved to be CD4+ and, among these, five were able to kill autologous and allogeneic human melanoma cells in HLA-class-II-restricted way. On the basis of their cytokine production, these CD4+ cytolytic T-LNL clones were shown to belong to the Th0 subset and three of them expressed the V beta 17 chain of the T cell receptor. These results suggest the presence of melanoma-specific but functionally inactive lymphocytes with T cell receptor oligoclonality in the lymph node environment. These specific T cells may acquire in vitro the capacity to kill autologous and allogeneic tumours without any induction by autologous melanoma cells.