BACKGROUND It has been reported that interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-induced inflammatory markers, such as circulating neopterin and kynurenine-to-tryptophan ratio (KTR), are increased in patients with cancer and are also a predictor of poor prognosis. However, whether baseline levels of these makers are associated with subsequent cancer risk in the general population remains unknown. METHODS We conduct...

PURPOSE We investigated correlations of coronary plaque composition determined by virtual histology (VH) intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and blood levels of biomarkers that represent the vulnerability of coronary plaques. MATERIALS AND METHODS Pre- and postprocedural blood levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein, soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L), matrix metalloproteinase-9, and neopterin we...

Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is considered to be caused by an increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier and results in enlargement of Virchow Robin spaces (VRs), white matter lesions, brain microbleeds, and lacunar infarcts. The increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier may relate to endothelial cell activation and activated monocytes/macrophages. Therefore, we hypothesi...

BACKGROUND Obesity and increased waist-to-hip ratio, emphasizing the importance of truncal obesity, have been found to correlate positively with increased cardiovascular disease risk and mortality. Owing to the inflammatory nature of atherosclerosis, the aim of our study was to find possible correlations between body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio, and the inflammatory markers C-reactive pro...

A prospective study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of serum neopterin and soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R) concentrations in comparison to CD4 count to study the progression of HIV disease and monitor response to ART in HIV cases. One hundred newly diagnosed HIV seropositive subjects were recruited. CD4 counts were determined by FACS system. Serum neopterin and sIL-2R levels were measur...

Cellular (Th1-type) immune response is centrally involved in the pathogenesis of various diseases. Within the immunological cascades of Th1-type immunity, interferon gamma (IFN-gamma), among other cytokines, is critically involved. It triggers a series of immune-relevant reactions mostly directed towards forward regulation of the antigen specific immune response. However, in chronic states of i...

The pterins, neopterin and biopterin, occur normally in body lluids including urine. It has been known for some time that increased production and release of neopterin and 7,sdihydroneopterin accompanies immune activation of macrophages both in vilro and in vivo [ 1.21. Interferon gamma and tuniour necrosis factor alpha are the key cytokines which lead to this increase in neopterin levels [2] b...

The objective of this study was to assess the frequency of blood–brain barrier (BBB) impairment, as measured by the albumin ratio, in neuro-asymptomatic HIV-1-infected individuals without antiretroviral treatment and the correlation between BBB disruption and intrathecal immune activation and HIV-1 RNA levels. Serum and cerebrospinal uid (CSF) albumin, neopterin, and HIV-1 RNA levels were anal...

We determined the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of adenosine, a mediator of cerebral blood flow regulation, and neopterin, a macrophage-producing compound, in patients with neurological disorders. Compared to control subjects, the adenosine levels were significantly increased in the patients with acute-stage cerebral infarction (n=12, p<0.0001), acute meningitis (n=10, p<0.0001), or amyotrop...

Serum levels of cytokines (IL-4, IL-5, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha), cytokine receptors (TNFR I and II) and one monokine (neopterin) were estimated in seven leprosy patients to establish disease associated markers for reversal reactions (RR). Sera were collected at diagnosis of leprosy, at the onset of reversal reaction and at different time points during and at the end of prednisone treatment of reac...