Vitiligo is an important skin disease having major impact on quality of life of patients, many of whom feel distressed and stigmatized by their condition. Society greets vitiligo patients in much the same way as it does any one else who appears to be different. They are started at or subjected to whispered comments, antagonism, insult or isolation. The chronic nature of disease, long term treat...

OBJECTIVE Polymorphism of the interleukin-23 receptor gene corresponds with susceptibility to several immune-related diseases. For the terminal differentiation of IL-17-producing effector T-helper cells in vivo, the interleukin-23 receptor gene is of vital importance. As shown recently, Th17 cells probably have a great influence on the pathogenesis of allergic airway diseases. Our intention was...

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of IL-23 on the activity and proliferation of osteoclasts (OC) in co-culture with osteoblasts (OB). OB and OC were individually separated from the skull and femoral bone of a SD rat. OB-OC co-culture with IL-23 added was designed as the experimental group, while the OB-OC co-culture without IL-23 was the control group. In the experimental group,...

IL-23 and IL-12 are structurally similar and critical for the generation of efficient cellular immune responses. Toxoplasma gondii induces a strong cell-mediated immune response. However, little is known about IL-23 secretion profiles in T. gondii-infected immune cells in connection with IL-12. We compared the patterns of IL-23 and IL-12 production by THP-1 human monocytic cells in response to ...

IL-23 plays a critical role in EAE induced by the active immunization of C57BL/6 mice with an immunodominant epitope of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG(35-55)). It was initially assumed that the pathogenic effects of IL-23 were directly related to the generation, expansion and/or stabilization of autoreactive CD4(+) Th17 cells. However, a number of recent studies have uncovered discrep...