PURPOSE Recent studies identified an association between Behcet's disease (BD) and the IL-23R gene polymorphism (rs17375018) in different populations. This study examined whether this IL-23R gene polymorphism is associated with enhanced inflammatory responses. METHODS We recruited 27 BD patients and 32 controls with three genotypes. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were seeded with ...

There are several reports suggesting that the pathophysiology of psoriasis may be associated with aberrant circadian rhythms. However, the mechanistic link between psoriasis and the circadian time-keeping system, "the circadian clock," remains unclear. This study determined whether the core circadian gene, Clock, had a regulatory role in the development of psoriasis. For this purpose, we compar...

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) and parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) bind and activate the PTH/PTHrP receptor (PTH-1R). However, while the related receptor PTH-2R responds potently to PTH, it is not activated by PTHrP. Two hormone sites are known to be responsible for these different potencies. First, the absence of efficacy for PTHrP at PTH-2R is due to the presence of His-5 in PTHrP (Ile...

Recently it was reported that 1-alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3] inhibited cell growth in a cell line derived from a metastasis from renal cell carcinoma. We have examined samples from 23 primary renal cell carcinomas for 1,25-(OH)2D3 receptor content, and compared it with the concentrations in autologous normal kidney tissue. Nineteen of 23 (83%) renal cell carcinomas had detectable...

The development of oxytocin (OT) sensitivity in the parturient uterus is associated with increases in myometrial OT receptor concentration, gap junction formation, and prostaglandin (PG) production. To investigate whether PGs mediate these responses, we measured OT responsiveness, OT receptor concentrations, and gap junction formations in uteri of Day 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 pregnant and Day 2 postp...

In C. elegans, the LET-23 receptor tyrosine kinase is localized to the basolateral membranes of polarized vulval epithelial cells. lin-2, lin-7, and lin-10 are required for basolateral localization of LET-23, since LET-23 is mislocalized to the apical membrane in lin-2, lin-7, and lin-10 mutants. Yeast two-hybrid, in vitro binding, and in vivo coimmunoprecipitation experiments show that LIN-2, ...

The two brassinosteroids, 22 S,23 S-homobrassinolide and 22 S,23 S-homocastasterone are weak competitors of the binding of [3H]ponasterone A to the intracellular ecdysteroid receptor from the epithelial cell line from Chironomus tentans. The relative affinities to the ecdysteroid receptor are 0.001 for both brassinosteroids as compared to 20-OH-ecdysone and 0.1 in comparison to ecdysone. Both s...

male breast cancer is a rare disease with an increasing trend. due to limited information especially about the genetic basis of the disease in iran and the lower age of its onset, the disease requires more attention. the aim of this study was to screen the male patients with breast cancer for brca mutations as well as tissue markers of estrogen receptor (er), progesterone receptor (pr), human e...