INTRODUCTION Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections remain an increasingly prevalent and emergent health problem worldwide, causing a wide spectrum of liver diseases. Combination therapy with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) of peginterferon alfa-2a and oral ribavirin is currently recognized as the standard treatment of chronic HCV infection. Several complex immunological mechanisms are involved duri...

We previously reported early and extensive loss of astrocytic connexin 43 (Cx43) in acute demyelinating lesions of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Because it is widely accepted that autoimmune T cells initiate MS lesions, we hypothesized that infiltrating T cells affect Cx43 expression in astrocytes, which contributes to MS lesion formation. Primary mixed glial cell cultures were prepared fro...

Renal fibrosis is a serious clinical problem resulting in the greatest need for renal replacement therapy. No adequate preventive or curative therapy is available that could be clinically used to target renal fibrosis specifically. The search for new efficacious treatment strategies is therefore warranted. Although in vitro models using homogeneous cell populations have contributed to the under...

BACKGROUND The cytokines TNF (TNFSF2) and IFNγ are important mediators of inflammatory bowel diseases and contribute to enhanced intestinal epithelial permeability by stimulating apoptosis and/or disrupting tight junctions. Apoptosis and tight junctions are also important for epithelial tissue morphogenesis, but the effect of TNF and IFNγ on the process of intestinal epithelial morphogenesis is...

BACKGROUND Nonviral vectors are attractively used for gene therapy owing to their distinctive advantages. Our previous study has demonstrated that transfer of human IFNγ gene into nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) by using a novel nonviral vector, minicircle (mc), under the control of cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter was effective to inhibit tumor growth. However, therapies based on CMV promoter can...

Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is common among HIV-positive patients, up to 50% of them being coinfected in Russia. While highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) suppresses HIV replication and restores the immune system HIV-infected subjects, HCV coinfection interferes CD4 + T cell regeneration increases risk patients’ morbidity mortality. During HAART, HIVinfection progression res...

In order to design a new Salmonella enterica vaccine, one needs to understand how naive and immune chickens interact differently when exposed to S. enterica. In this study we therefore determined the immune response of vaccinated and non-vaccinated chickens after intravenous infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis). Using flow cytometry we showed that 4 days post ...

BACKGROUND Maternal factors are implicated in the onset of childhood asthma. Differentiation of naïve CD4+ T lymphocytes into pro-allergic T-helper 2 cells induces interleukin (IL)4 expression and inhibits interferon (IFN)γ expression accompanied by concordant methylation changes in the promoters of these genes. However, it has yet to be established whether maternal exposure to polycyclic aroma...

Resumen Context: Antibiotics belong to the powerful weapons applied against microbial infections. It is notable that in addition to their antimicrobial effect they express immunomodulatory and anti-cancer activities. Aims: To explore the effect of four antibiotics on the immune cross-talk between peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and colon carcinoma cells from two human lines. Methods: ...