The aqueous humor (AH) component transforming growth factor (TGF)-β2 is strongly correlated to primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), and was shown to up-regulate glaucoma-associated extracellular matrix (ECM) components, members of the ECM degradation system and heat shock proteins (HSP) in primary ocular cells. Here we present osteopontin (OPN) as a new TGF-β2 responsive factor in cultured human...

BACKGROUND The clinical significance of a single assessment of circulating hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA and its relation to the level of intrahepatic HCV RNA remains unclear. AIMS To investigate the relation between intrahepatic HCV levels and clinicopathological characteristics of chronic HCV infection. PATIENTS Ninety eight consecutive patients with chronic HCV infection were studied; none...

Thioredoxins (Trxs) are small ubiquitous disulfide reductases that participate in dithiol-disulfide exchange reactions. In contrast to animals and prokaryotes that typically possess one or a few genes encoding Trxs, higher plants contain eight different Trx types: f, m, x, y, z, o, s, and h. Trx h with multiple forms is involved in different processes such as seed germination, cellular protecti...

AIM To identify cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in liver transplant recipients by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques and to separate the cases in which CMV related disease will occur, for whom treatment is indicated, from those in whom infection will remain innocuous. METHODS The combination of qualitative and semiquantitative PCR of serum and urine was assessed to determine whether t...

secreted cytokines of th1 (t-helper)/th2 cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of many diseases. th1 cells secrete predominantly ifn-γ and il-2 which regulate cell-mediated immunity against intracellular pathogens and tumors. in this study, expression of ifn-γ was studied using semiquantitative rt-pcr. in brief, lymphocytes of a healthy donor were stimulated with pha (1μg/106 cell/ml...

PCR-based strategies such as competitive RT-PCR or semiquantitative RTPCR are commonly used for quantitating low-abundance mRNA transcripts (4,7–9). Competitive RT-PCR relies on amplifying the same target with a known amount of a competitor/reference sequence and comparing the relative amounts of the two PCR products. To improve the sensitivity and accuracy of these methods, often expensive and...

BACKGROUND Proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines play a key role in the pathogenesis of periodontal diseases. Secretion of bioactive IL-35 has been described by T regulatory cells (T(regs)) and is required for their maximal suppressive activity. T(regs) are involved in the modulation of local immune response in chronic periodontitis patients. OBJECTIVE Hence, the present study was a...

Gen ekspresyonunun post-transkripsiyonel düzenleyicisi olarak bilinen miRNA’lar ökaryotik canlılarda çeşitli fizyolojik ve patolojik süreçlerde rol oynamaktadır. miRNA'ların rollerinin ortaya konulması ile birlikte üzerine yapılan çalışmaların sayısı da gün geçtikçe artmaktadır. Yapılan çalışmalar bütün hücre doku tiplerinde eksprese olduğu konmuştur. miRNA ekspresyon profilinin konması için yö...