OBJECTIVE This paper aims to investigate the interaction mechanism between pioglitazone/simvastatin and the CD40-CD40 ligand (CD40-CD40L) system and to determine their interaction effects on atherosclerosis in rabbits. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty rabbits were randomly divided into five groups of eight: normal control, hyperlipidemia model, pioglitazone, simvastatin, and pioglitazone combined ...

The primary toll-like receptor (TLR)-mediated immune cell response pathway common for all TLRs is MyD88-dependent activation of NF-κB, a seminal transcription factor for many chemokines and cytokines. Remarkably, anucleate platelets express the NF-κB machinery, whose role in platelets remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the contribution of NF-κB in the release of cytokines and sero...

BACKGROUND AND AIM The effect of ezetimibe-statin combination on inflammatory markers in acute coronary syndrome is unknown. The aim of our study is to evaluate the effect of this combination on the lipid profile, the CRP hs and the sCD40 ligand levels in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients. METHODS This is a randomized, double-blind study including 93 patients admitted for ACS randomized ...

Ligation of CD40 on the surface of B cells induces multiple phenotypic effects, many of which are mimicked by the EBV latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) through its interaction with downstream components of the CD40 signaling pathway. Because the effects of LMP1 have been most closely studied in human Burkitt Lymphoma (BL) cell lines retaining a tumor biopsy-like phenotype in vitro, we have exami...

BACKGROUND Beyond lipid lowering, various antiinflammatory properties have been ascribed to statins. Moreover, in vitro studies have suggested the presence of anticoagulant effects of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors, as lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced monocyte tissue factor (TF) was suppressed. In this study, we examined the role of statins in experimental endotoxemi...

context traumatic brain injury (tbi) is a leading cause of death, disability, and resource consumption per year. there are two kinds of brain injury in tbi, primary and secondary injuries. primary injury refers to the initial physical forces applied to the brain at the moment of impact. secondary injury occurs over a period of hours or days following the initial trauma and results from the acti...

To the editor Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) frequently complicates hematologic malignancy and infections [1]. Coagulation abnormalities and thrombocytopenia are common in DIC, and the extent of hemostatic disorders appears to correlate with disease severity [2]. In particular, low platelet count is predictive of poor outcome [3, 4]. In DIC patients, the thrombin generated may rea...

CONTEXT Experimental data suggest that placental growth factor (PlGF), a member of the vascular endothelial growth factor family, acts as a primary inflammatory instigator of atherosclerotic plaque instability and thus may be useful as a risk-predicting biomarker in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). OBJECTIVE To determine whether blood levels of PlGF predict risk for death or nonf...