Hepatitis C (HCV) is now the main cause of chronic hepatic disease, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Several extrahepatic diseases have been associated with chronic HCV infection, and in most cases appear to be directly related to the viral infection. Thyroid disorders are common in patients with chronic HCV. Some patients with chronic hepatitis C experience thyroid problems, and thyroid...

BACKGROUND We aimed to investigate the effects of ribavirin on hepatitis C virus (HCV). Immunological and virological effects were analysed in patients undergoing treatment with ribavirin monotherapy prior to the initiation of combination therapy with interferon-alpha. METHODS A total of 25 patients with chronic HCV infection were enrolled in this study. All patients received ribavirin for 4 ...

CD4+ T cells are involved in several immune response pathways used to control viral infections. In this study, a group of genetically defined goats was immunized with a synthetic peptide known to encompass an immunodominant helper T-cell epitope of caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV). Fifty-five days after challenge with the molecularly cloned CAEV strain CO, the vaccinated animals had ...

Cryostat sections from skin biopsies from 24-h allergen-induced late-phase cutaneous reactions (LPR) in 14 human atopic subjects were hybridized with 35S-labeled RNA probes for a number of cytokines. mRNA was detected for interleukin 3 (IL-3) (8/14), IL-4 (10/14), IL-5 (11/14), and granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) (13/14). Only 5 of 14 gave hybridization signals for IL-...

The NF1 tumor suppressor gene encodes a guanosine triphosphotase (GTPase)-activating protein that negatively regulates Ras signaling and is inactivated in a subset of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemias (JMMLs). Adoptive transfer of fetal liver cells from Nf1 mutant mice models JMML; however, this system has important limitations as a platform for performing biologic and preclinical studies. We h...

conclusions this study supports the idea that the ifnl3 gene is an important predictor of the response of chb patients to ifn therapy. results nine studies of 1602 chb patients receiving ifn treatment were included. under the random-effects model, patients expressing the variant rs12980275 showed a significantly increased response to ifn therapy (or = 2.85; 95% ci = 1.14 - 4.60). in the subgrou...

During previous investigations on the viral autoinhibition phenomenon' it was observed that interferon was detected in the culture medium of viral-infected cells but not in extracts of these cells. It was suggested that viral-infected cells may contain a substance antagonistic to interferon, a substance which, unlike interferon, diffuses poorly into the surrounding culture medium. Further studi...

Cranberry contains high levels of nutrients and bioactive molecules that have health-promoting properties. The purpose of the present studies was to determine if cranberry extracts (CEs) contain phytochemicals that exert anti-inflammatory effects. The human monocytic cell line THP-1 was treated with two CEs (CE and 90MX) and subsequently challenged with Lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Tumor necrosis...

interferon- gamma (ifn- γ) is an important immune regulator and inflammatory cytokine which is implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (ms). a single nucleotide polymorphism, t to a, at position +874 in the first intron has previously been shown. this polymorphism is associated with ifn- γ production level. to study the effect of this polymorphism on susceptibility to multiple scle...

Neointimal hyperplasia is the leading cause of restenosis after endovascular interventions. It is characterized by the accumulation of myofibroblast-like cells and extracellular matrix in the innermost layer of the wall and is exacerbated by inflammation. Monocytes from either young or aged rats were applied perivascularly to injured vascular walls of young recipient animals. Monocytes from age...