AIM AND BACKGROUND Herpes zoster is a viral disease caused by the reactivation of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) which remained latent in the cranial nerve or dorsal root ganglia. Cell-mediated immunity is known to decline with age as part of immunosenescence and can lead to the reactivation of VZV. Whereas herpes zoster is usually mild in healthy young persons, older patients are at increased ri...

INTRODUCTION Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is now suspected to be driven by pathogenic Th17 cells that secrete interleukin (IL)-17 and can be regulated by IL-4. A single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), I50V, in the coding region of the human IL-4 receptor (IL-4R) is associated with rapid development of erosive disease in RA. The present study was undertaken to determine whether this SNP renders the ...

Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) and bullous pemphigoid (BP) are skin diseases associated with eosinophilic and neutrophilic infiltrations. Although cytokines are critical for the inflammatory process, there are single findings concerning concentration of IL-17 in bullous diseases. The goal of this study was to assess IL-17 expression in DH and BP patients. Skin biopsies were taken from 10 DH, 14 ...

BACKGROUND Flu-like symptoms (FLS) are common side effects of interferon beta (IFN-β) treatment in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) and are associated with post-injection cytokine surge. We hypothesized that vitamin D3 supplementation would ameliorate FLS by decreasing related serum cytokines' levels. METHODS In a randomized, double blind study of 45 IFNβ-treated PwMS, 21 patients were...

BACKGROUND Persistent Helicobacter pylori infection confers an increased risk for serious illnesses such as peptic ulcers and gastric cancer. Various cytokines are involved in the regulation of inflammatory immune response in H. pylori-infected gastric mucosa. OBJECTIVES The current study aimed to obtain evidence regarding the association between IL-17, IL-8 and IL-18 expression in peripheral...

BACKGROUND Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic, inflammatory disease with autoimmune etiology, characterized by synovial inflammation and destruction of joint cartilage and bone. There are controversial data about the profile of interleukin-17 (IL-17A), interleukin-4 (IL-4), and interferon-gamma (INFγ), indicating in some studies the key role of IL-17, while in others the Th1 cytok...

background and aims: natural killer t (nkt) cells have been suggested to play critical roles in a wide range of immune responses especially against hepatotropic pathogens such as hepatitis c virus (hcv). in  the  present  study,  we  investigated  the  status  of  nkt  cells  by producing interleukin-17 cytokine in  peripheral  blood.  patients and methods: as case-control study, 15 patients wi...

background: management of multiple sclerosis (ms) is based on the usage of immunosuppressive and immune-modulating medications. cytokines play an important role in the pathogenesis of ms. objective: to evaluate the effects of rapamycin on the concentrations of th1/th2/th17 serum cytokines in patients with ms. methods: six patients with relapsing remitting ms as a case group and 6 healthy indivi...

BACKGROUND Drug addiction triggers the infliction of a variety of diseases. Various subjects have indicated that during the withdrawal syndrome period, the immune system is weakened. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to investigate the changes in serum levels of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and interleukin-17 (IL-17) during the morphine withdrawal syndrome induced by 8 weeks of moderate exercise and th...