allopurinol and Sarcoidosis--Pulmonary

We assessed the distribution and expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (i-NOS), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (e-NOS), and xanthine oxidase (XAO) in usual interstitial pneumonia, desquamative interstitial pneumonia, and granulomatous diseases. The material consisted of biopsy specimens from 5 healthy subjects (nonsmokers), 9 patients with usual interstitial pneumonia, 11 with desquamative interstitial pneumonia, 14 with sarcoidosis, and 8 with extrinsic allergic alveolitis. i-NOS was expressed intensively in inflammatory but not infibrotic lesions. It was expressed most prominently in alveolar macrophages and alveolar epithelium of all disorders and in the granulomas of sarcoidosis and extrinsic allergic alveolitis. In contrast with i-NOS, e-NOS was expressed prominently in control lung tissue samples but also in granulomas of sarcoidosis and extrinsic allergic alveolitis. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction performed on bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples from patients with sarcoidosis or usual interstitial pneumonia andfrom healthy subjects indicated positivity for XAO, but immunohistochemical analysis in samples from healthy lung and all parenchymal lung disorders showed no immunoreactivity for XAO. i-NOS has an important role in the pathogenesis of interstitial lung diseases, being up-regulated during the inflammatory but not during the fibrotic disease stage.

Topics: Adult; Alveolitis, Extrinsic Allergic; Female; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Lung Diseases, Interstitial; Male; Middle Aged; Nitric Oxide Synthase; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II; Sarcoidosis, Pulmonary; Up-Regulation; Xanthine Oxidase

Scar sarcoidosis is one of the rare cutaneous manifestations of sarcoidosis. Apart from the clinical picture, suppression of the cell-mediated immunity can often be determined when tuberculin tests and testing for recall antigens are carried out. In the present case of a 68-year-old woman patient scar sarcoidosis and pulmonary sarcoidosis were detected. Remarkably, a strongly positive tuberculin reaction was found, while acute tuberculosis and former BCG vaccination were excluded. Both references in the literature and the case presented demonstrate that a positive tuberculin test, while very unusual in sarcoidosis, does not however, preclude the diagnosis. On the basis of some case reports in the literature, our patient was treated with allopurinol; impressive improvement of both the skin and the pulmonary manifestations was noted. Despite the well-known phenomenon of spontaneous regression in sarcoidosis, we recommend a clinical trial with allopurinol as this substance is well tolerated.

Topics: Allopurinol; Cicatrix; Diagnosis, Differential; Facial Dermatoses; Female; Humans; Immune Tolerance; Middle Aged; Sarcoidosis; Sarcoidosis, Pulmonary; Skin; Tuberculin Test