The success of IL-2 gene therapy in cancer is in part dependent on the development of high level IL-2 gene expression vectors. Currently, expression vectors based on the human cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter give the highest levels of expression. We have attempted to construct new IL-2 expression vectors to test whether gene expression can be further increased. The first approach was to use the ...

background: β-thalassemia as a hereditary disease is defined as defective synthesis of   β-globin chains, resulting in erythropoiesis abnormalities and severe anemia. different studies have shown that cytokines and cytokine gene polymorphisms play a major role in the pathogenesis of   β-thalassemia. single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) within the promoter region or other regulatory sequences ...

Background: Endometriosis is the growth of endometrial cells outside the uterine cavity. It has been suggested that immune system plays important roles in both initiation and progression of the disease. Several studies have been shown that women with endometriosis diverge in their expression of different genes including heat-shock proteins, fibronectin, and neutrophil elastase, which might be i...

Introduction: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), is a bacterium responsible for upper gastrointestinal tract diseases. The 16s rRNA is a common H. pylori gene which are usually preferred for diagnosis purpose. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and abundance of 16s rRNA in fecal samples and also evaluate correlation between the level of 16s rRNA and activities of the cytokine...

Interleukin (IL) 2-deficient mice develop a fatal immunopathology characterized by lymphoadenopathy, splenomegaly, T cell infiltration of the bone marrow, loss of B cells, anemia, and inflammation of the gut. The thymus dependence of these disease symptoms was tested by introducing the IL-2 mutation into athymic mice. With the exception of an increase in CD8+ intrahepatic alpha/beta T cells, IL...

Contracting skeletal muscle produces and releases interleukin-6 (IL-6) in high amounts. Nevertheless, the mechanisms underlying IL-6 expression are not understood. Because inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP(3))-mediated slow Ca(2+) signals evoked by depolarization of skeletal myotubes appears to play a role in the regulation of gene expression, we examined its involvement on IL-6 transcription. W...

OBJECTIVES To examine the expressions of IL-17, IL-22, and IL-23 receptors in four osteoblast models and the effects of IL-17, IL-22, and IL-23 on osteoblasts. METHODS Gene expression levels of receptors, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), osteocalcin (OCN), and Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx-2), were evaluated by RT-PCR and real-time RT-PCR. Proliferative responses and cell cycle analysi...

background: increased levels of interleukin-8 (il-8) and interleukin-6 (il-6) in acute human brucellosis have been reported. previous studies have shown that the production and level of il-6 and il-8 cytokines are associated with the polymorphism of the encoding genes. objective: to investigate the probable association between il-6 (-174 c/g) and il-8 (-251 a/t) gene polymorphisms and susceptib...