Patricia Inácio, PhD,  science writer—

Cardiac sarcoidosis might be accurately diagnosed by measuring the ratio of immune cells, specifically macrophages and dendritic cells, in tissue samples from patients, researchers reported. The study, “Myocardial Immunocompetent Cells and Macrophage Phenotypes as Histopathological Surrogates for Diagnosis of Cardiac Sarcoidosis in Japanese,” was published in the Journal…

Aging and a lack of devices addressing heart problems, mainly pacemakers or defibrillators, were identified as risk factors for higher mortality in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis. The study, “Cardiac sarcoidosis: the impact of age and implanted devices on survival,” was published in the journal CHEST. “Cardiac sarcoidosis is a…

Sarcoidosis patients who are prescribed vitamin D supplements show increased risk for hypercalcemia (high calcium levels in the blood), highlighting the need for more appropriate screening when prescribing vitamin D in these patients. The study, “Vitamin D Supplementation: Not So Simple in Sarcoidosis,” was published in The American…

Genome-wide analysis of lung samples from pulmonary sarcoidosis patients and a healthy control group identified a set of genes whose expression is altered only in disease samples. These results may lead to new biomarkers for pulmonary sarcoidosis. The study, “Bioinformatics analysis of gene expression profile data to screen key…

In the study “Pembrolizumab-associated sarcoidosis,” researchers described the first case of sarcoidosis after a patient was treated with after Keytruda (pembrolizumab) to inhibit the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) receptor. The study was published in the JAAD Case Reports journal. Keytruda is a humanized antibody that targets the PD-1…

The study “Immunological Evidence for the Role of Mycobacteria in Sarcoidosis: A Meta-Analysis,” published recently in PLOS One, links some patients with sarcoidosis to the development of the disease and the presence of mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the second leading cause of death by infectious disease, preceded only…

Analyzing the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (called BALF, it is a small sample of the fluid present in the lungs) for the ratio of immune CD4 and CD8 cells may improve the diagnosis of sarcoidosis, according to the results of a recent study. BALF is collected through a medical procedure using a bronchoscope that is…

For patients with sarcoidosis, high levels of inflammatory markers may predict systemic hypertension (sHTN), high blood pressure in the systemic arteries that carry blood from the heart to the body’s tissues — but little was known about the relationship, until recently. The study, “The Association between ESR and CRP and Systemic Hypertension…