Serum levels of TNF-alpha, TNF-alpha RI, TNF-alpha RII and IL-12 in treated Rheumatoid Arthritis patients

Rheumatoid arthritis [RA] is a chronic multisystem autoimmune disease common in all races and ethnics. Cytokines and cytokines receptors play an important role in RA pathogenesis and clinical presentation. To investigate the serum levels of TNF-alpha, TNF-alpha RI, TNF-alpha RII and IL-12 in RA patients and healthy control group. In this study 43 patients fulfilling the revised criteria of American College of Rheumatology [ACR] for RA and 13 healthy cases as a control group were selected for TNF-alpha, TNF-alpha RI, TNF-alpha RII and IL-12 serum level analysis. The patients' age was 42.2 +/- 22 and the age of healthy group was 40.1 +/- 19.2 years [p=0.1]. The patients had an active disease with at least six swollen and ten tender joints. Minimum ESR was 28 mm at first hours of the morning. Early morning stiffness in patients lasted longer than 45 minutes. Our study showed that IL-12 serum level of the patients [91.69 +/- 43.07 [rho]g/ml] and control [61.79 +/- 40.08 [rho]g/ml] group was significantly different [p<0.001]. The serum level of TNF-alpha RI was 2.36 +/- 0.77 ng/ml in the patient and 1.73 +/- 0.37 ng/ml in the control group [p<0.01]. TNF-alpha RII serum concentration in patients was 8.89 +/- 2.3 ng/ml, while that of control group was 7.06 +/- 1.30 ng/ml [p=0.03]. The serum level of TNF-alpha in patients was 32.90 +/- 19.27 [rho]g/ml and that of the control group was 24.27 +/- 8.28 [rho]g/ml [p=0.08] with no significant difference between the two. It is concluded that IL-12, TNF-alpha RI and TNF-alpha RII serum concentrations are more important and better predictive factors than TNF-alpha in RA course and in the active forms of the disease

Influence of E1-deleted recombinant adenoviruses on B7.1 and IL-2 expression in C1498 cells

Knowing that adenoviral vectors could initiate innate immunity, the ability of E1-deleted recombinant adenovirus [Ad-E1delta] in induction of B7.1 and IL-2 molecules was studied. The expression of green fluorescent protein in C1498 cells following transfection of these cells with adenovirus green fluorescent protein vector confirmed the ability of adenovirus vectors in infecting the cells and inducing the expression of the gene of interest. The expression of B7.1 molecule on the surface of the cells was assayed upon infection with Ad-E1delta vector. Adenovirus-IL-2/B7.1 vector capable of inducing IL-2 and B7.1 expression in the cells was used as the positive control vector. According to the FACS results, about 4.17% of normal cells expressed B7.1 on their surface, while this level was increased in Ad-E1delta transduced cells up to 14.43%. These results demonstrate that Ad-E1 delta vector considerably [about 3 folds] increases the expression of B7.1 on the cells. No detectable IL-2 was secreted into the medium of non-transduced and Ad-E1 delta transduced cells. Data indicate that the infection of C1498 cells with recombinant adenoviruses stimulates expression of B7.1 on the cell surface rather than secretion of IL-2 into the medium