The Serum Levels of Resistin and Its Relationship with Other Proinflammatory Cytokines in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to analyze the levels of resistin, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-18, and C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and also investigate a potential relationship between resistin levels and TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-18, and CRP levels in patients with AD. METHODS: The study included fifty patients with AD and 30 healthy controls with normal cognitive functions. The serum resistin, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-18, and CRP levels were assessed. We performed a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to evaluate the general cognitive performance. RESULTS: The mean serum resistin, IL-1β, IL-18, and TNF-α levels were significantly higher in patients with AD compared with the controls (p=0.026, p=0.002, p=0.003, and p=0.038, respectively). The IL-6 and CRP levels did not differ between the groups (p=0.874 and p=0.941). The resistin levels were positively correlated with the levels of CRP and IL-18 (r=0.526, p0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: Serum resistin levels were significantly increased and correlated with some inflammatory markers in AD patients, suggesting that resistin might play a role in the inflammatory process of AD.

Autoantibodies in patients with fasciolosis

Antiself humoral immune responses have been detected not only in classical autoimmune diseases, but autoantibodies have also been found in sera of patients suffering from chronic parasitic diseases. We aimed to investigate the role of fasciolosis as a trigger factor of autoimmune reactivity by searching some antibodies related to hepatobiliary systems, in patients with fasciolosis. Thirty-two patients [17 males, 15 females] with fasciolosis were included in this case-control study. Anti-nuclear antibodies [ANA] Screen [antigen mixture of dsDNA, histones, nRNP/Sm, Sm, SS-A, SS-B, Scl-70, Jo-1, ribosomal P-proteins, centromere] ELISA and single-antigen ELISAs for detection of some antibodies [dsDNA, Anti-M2, Anti- liver-kidney microsomes type 1 [LKM-1] and Myeloperoxidase [MPO] were carried out. ANA-screen, M-2, LKM-1, MPO and anti-dsDNA positivity were detected with ELISA in 7, 7, 4, 2 and 2 of 32 patients with fasciolosis, consecutively. No statistically significant difference was detected for any of the autoantibodies' frequency between patients with fasciolosis and control group. However, autoantibody positivity rate was significantly higher in patients with fasciolosis [50%] than control group [12.5%]. Absorbance values of all autoantibodies in patients with fasciolosis were statistically significant higher than controls. These results lent support to the role of fasciolosis as a trigger factor of autoimmune reactivity by the breakdown of tolerance. In spite of the extensive knowledge that has accumulated, the specific relationship between fasciolosis and autoimmunity is still obscure