role of interleukin 16 in the immunopathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis [RA] is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by hyperplasia of the synovium and excessive cellular infiltration, which leads to progressive joint destruction. We analyzed, interleukin 16 [IL16], in relation to disease activity to characterize its biologic function in RA. Secreted IL-16 was measured by enzyme immunoassay in sera from 30 RA patients and 30 healthy controls [HC], and also in synovial fluid [SF] from 16 RA patients and 15 patients with non-RA synovitis as controls. IL-16 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells [PBMC] was characterized by flow cytometric analysis after intracellular cytokine staining for IL-16. In synovial tissue specimens, both were done: Immunohistochemistry for localization of IL-16, and histopathology, in which the tissue scored semiquantitatively for synovial hyperplasia and cellular infiltration. IL-16 was detected at significantly higher levels in sera and SF of RA patients in comparison to HC and non-RA synovitis [p<0.001 and p<0.0001 respectively]. Also, IL-16 was detected significantly higher in SF in comparison to sera in RA patients [p<0.001]. Flow cytometry of PBMC showed that a great proportion of both CD4+ and CD8+ cells expressed IL-16 protein. Also, immunohistochemistry revealed more CD4+ and less frequency of CD8+ cells in synovial infiltration. A significant correlation between IL-16 expression and local inflammatory activity could not be established [p>0.21] by microscopic analysis of the synovial cells infiltrate. In addition, no significant association was observed between serum, SF, and synovial tissue expression of IL-16 and clinical disease activity in RA [p>0.61, p>0.5 and p>0.42 respectively]. This indicated that, IL-16 played a regulatory rather than a proin-flammatory role in the immunopathogenesis of RA

Predicting factors for distant failure in head and neck cancer-impact of grade

This retrospective study was performed on 157 patients treated by radiotherapy between 1993-1998 years. The frequency of distant metastases and the influence of different variables as tumor stage, nodal stage, tumor grade and anatomic site in addition to p53 on the appearance of distant metastases were evaluated. The study showed that patients with high grade squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck presented with advanced tumor stage combined with advanced nodal stage, arising mainly from nasopharynx, are at a high risk of developing distant failure and should be candidates for extensive evaluation by recent imaging studies as well as pathological markers. This subset of patients should be considered for combined modality treatment