BACKGROUND Interferon beta therapy has been shown to reduce the rate of clinical relapse and the frequency of magnetic resonance imaging-defined T2- weighted lesions in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). When given early, interferon beta also reduces the rate of development of brain atrophy and improves axonal integrity. Nerve growth factor (NGF) can retard the severity and course of experi...

We have demonstrated anti-proliferation and anti-metastasis effects of both interferon-alpha and a histone deacetylase inhibitor, sodium butyrate, on human liver cancer cell lines. In this study, invasive ability of human liver cancer cell lines through the matrix-coated membrane was examined and inhibitory effect of interferon-alpha and sodium butyrate was investigated. Among six human liver c...

Background: It has been reported that liver function alterations occur in 8–38% of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) treated with interferon-beta in controlled clinical trials or in prospective but non-controlled studies. We report herein a case of symptomatic liver dysfunction associated with two-year-period of regular interferon-beta-1a (Avonex®) intramuscular inje...

The virus induced production of interferon alpha by human intestinal lamina propria mononuclear cells was investigated. Intestinal and autologous peripheral cells from control subjects and patients with Crohn's disease were cultured in vitro with and without stimulation with the Newcastle disease virus. Interferon alpha was measured and characterised in the culture supernatants after 12 hours a...

Aicardi-Goutières syndrome is a genetically determined infantile encephalopathy, manifesting as progressive microcephaly, psychomotor retardation, and in ∼25% of patients, death in early childhood. Aicardi-Goutières syndrome is caused by mutations in any of the genes encoding TREX1, RNASEH2-A, -B, -C and SAMHD1, with protein dysfunction hypothesized to result in the accumulation of nucleic acid...

Background: Interferon α-2b is a vital biotherapeutic produced through the recombinant DNA technology in E. coli. The recombinant IFN-α2b normally appears as intercellular IBs, which requires intensive refolding and purification steps. Method: Purification of IFN-α2b from solubilized IB was performed using two-phase extraction. To optimize refolding conditions, the effects of pH and different a...

The combined effects of tamoxifen, a competitive inhibitor of estrogen, and type I or II interferons on the proliferation of several human breast cancer cell lines in vitro were examined. Additive antiproliferative effects were observed with interferons and tamoxifen, in two estrogen receptor positive cell lines, MCF-7 and T-47D. In MCF-7 cells neither beta ser interferon, gamma interferon, nor...

Although it is clear that trisomy 21 causes Down syndrome, the molecular events acting downstream of the trisomy remain ill defined. Using complementary genomics analyses, we identified the interferon pathway as the major signaling cascade consistently activated by trisomy 21 in human cells. Transcriptome analysis revealed that trisomy 21 activates the interferon transcriptional response in fib...