Soluble form of fasl [sFasL] in adult asthma

sFasL is the soluble form of FasL inducing apoptosis by binding to Fas. Fas/sFasL could be the most important mechanisms in inflammatory conditions such as asthma by controlling inflammatory responses. This study was undertaken to determine the level of sFasL in allergic and non- allergic asthmatic patients with different stages of asthma control. Twenty asthmatic patients were enrolled and divided into controlled and uncontrolled patient groups. They were divided into 4 subgroups including controlled/allergic, controlled/non-allergic, uncontrolled/allergic and uncontrolled/non-allergic subgroups. Five normal subjects were selected as a control group. From all subjects, 3 ml of blood was obtained and sFasL and IgE serum levels were evaluated by a specific ELISA kit. sFasL in the controlled and uncontrolled patient groups did not have any significant difference; but in the uncontrolled/allergic subgroup, it was significantly lower than that in the control group and also higher in the uncontrolled/non-allergic subgroup insignificantly. In patients with acute inflammatory conditions, sFasL had an increasing effect to control inflammation observed in uncontrolled/non-allergic subgroup, but unexpectedly not in the uncontrolled/allergic subgroup. Probably in allergic patients, there are factors or mechanisms that inhibit sFasL production or expression

[Evaluation of relation between polymorphisms in -590 region of IL-4 and occult HBV infection]

Occult Hepatitis B Infection [OBI] is a form of hepatitis in which despite of absence of detectable HBsAg, HBV-DNA is presented in patients peripheral blood. Responsible mechanisms of progression of OBI are unknown yet, but some investigators believed that the genetic and immunological parameters may be different. Cytokine network system could be leading alteration in viral immune response. IL-4 as an anti-inflammatory cytokines causes decreased immune function. Thus, regulatory factors which influences expression and function of IL-4 can be effective on immune system functions. As polymorphic variation in cytokine genes has regulatory effects on their expression and functions, this study investigates the association of-590 region polymorphisms of IL-4 with OBI. Determination of association between IL-4 polymorphisms with OBI. In this study, the plasma samples [FFP] of 3700 blood donors were tested for HBsAg and anti-HBs by ELISA. The HBsAg negative and anti-HBc positive samples were selected and screened for HBV-DNA by PCR. HBV-DNA positive samples assigned as OBI cases while HBV-DNA negative samples were used as control and PCR-RFLP was performed to examine the presence of polymorphisms in -590 regions of IL-4 genes of patients with OBI. 352 [9.51%] Out of 3700 blood samples were negative for HBsAg and positive for anti-HBc antibody. HBV-DNA was detected in 57[16.1%] of HBsAg negative and anti-HBc positive samples. Our results showed that none of the alleles had significant difference between patients and control group. Our results demonstrated that there is no significant difference between patients with OBI and control cases. Therefore, it seems that there is not any relation between these alleles and OBI and more study should be done on polymorphisms in other to cytokine genes in patients with OBI

Relation of Interleukine-4 [C-589T] and Interferon-Gamma [A+874T] allele polymorphism with Asthma

Asthma is a common respiratory disease caused by acute and chronic bronchial inflammation. Clinical manifestations of the disease are closely related to genetics. IL-4 is a cytokine of TH2 lymphocytes, polymorphism in prompter region, C-589T, is associated with IL-4 production, while IFN-gamma, is a cytokine of TH1, and A+874T polymorphism in interon 1 of IFN-gamma is associated with it.s production and release. Cytokine gene polymorphisms could influence pathogenesis of asthma with TH1/THh2 ratio, being of great importance. 81 unrelated asthmatic patients were selected according to ATS characteristics and separated into two groups of controlled and uncontrolled asthma. 80 normal subjects were chosen as control group. After collection of peripheral blood and DNA extraction, PCR-RFLP method was used for genotyping of IL-4, -589 position. For evaluation of polymorphism in +874 position of IFN-gamma ARMS-PCR method was used. Distribution of frequency of IFN-gamma [A+874T] and IL-4[C-589T] polymorphisms didn.t show any statistically significant difference between two patient groups and healthy control group [p >/= 0.05]. There was neither any significant difference [p >/= 0.05] among other parameters. Studies in field of cytokine polymorphism have had variable results. So many studies have mentioned a relationship between cytokine gene polymorphism and susceptibility and/or severity of asthma and some studies have shown that there is no association between these factors we believe that there may exist factors different from IL-4 and IFN-gamma polymorphism which coner the effects of these genetic vaciants in pathogenesis and severity of asthma