Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-15 and interleukin-10 in patients with pre-eclampsia in comparison with normotensive pregnant women.

BACKGROUND: Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy associated disorder characterized by hyper-tension and proteinuria. The first 2 stages of PE cause dysfunction in uteroplacental perfusion and oxidative stress while the third stage of PE is due to the release of inflammatory and angiogenic factors, which could lead to maternal endothelial damage and systemic inflammatory response. In this study, we compared the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-15 (IL-15), and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in PE and normotensive women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Serum samples of 84 pregnant women (44 PE and 40 normotensive) were evaluated for TNF-α, IL-15 and IL-10 by sandwich ELISA assay. RESULTS: The women with PE showed significantly higher serum levels of TNF-α and IL-15 (P = 0.001 and 0.01 respectively) in comparison with normotensive pregnant women. Conversely, the serum levels of IL-10 in normotensive women were significantly higher compared to PE patients (P = 0.01). CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated that inflammatory T helper 1-type responses are increased in PE women compared to normotensive pregnant women.

Erythropoietin levels in aqueous humor of patients with glaucoma.

PURPOSE: To compare the aqueous concentration of erythropoietin (EPO) in eyes with primary open-angle (POAG), pseudoexfoliative (PXFG), and neovascular (NVG) glaucoma with age-matched eyes with cataracts, and to correlate its concentration with other factors including age, gender, intraocular pressure (IOP), type of glaucoma, and severity of glaucoma. METHODS: In this prospective non-randomized comparative study, a total of 26 eyes with cataracts (control group) and 92 glaucomatous eyes (POAG, 40 eyes; PXFG, 26 eyes; NVG, 26 eyes) were enrolled. Aqueous samples (0.1 to 0.2 ml) were obtained during phacoemulsification, trabeculectomy, phacotrabeculectomy, or Ahmed valve glaucoma implants. The aqueous concentration of EPO was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The mean±SEM aqueous level of EPO was statistically significantly higher in eyes with glaucoma (56.7±9.3 mIU/ml) compared to the control group (0.8±0.51 mIU/ml; p<0.001). Eyes with NVG had the highest aqueous level of EPO. Aqueous EPO concentrations remained considerably elevated even in eyes with controlled IOP in all three types of glaucoma. Eyes with PXFG displayed the greatest change in aqueous EPO concentration proportionate to the IOP level. In simple regression analysis, IOP, mean deviation, and the type of glaucoma were the factors that had a statistically significantly positive correlation with the aqueous level of EPO (p=0.011 and <0.001, respectively). Only the type of glaucoma remained statistically significant in the multiple regression analysis (adjusted R(2)=0.278). CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the control group, the aqueous humor EPO concentration is increased in eyes with POAG, PXFG, and NVG, both with and without controlled IOP. The aqueous level of EPO was more proportionate to the level of IOP in eyes with PXFG compared to eyes with POAG and NVG.

Detection of human papillomavirus in squamous cell carcinoma of conjunctiva by nested PCR: a case control study in Iran.

Squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC) of the eye conjunctiva is a rare tumor. Its link with immune impairment suggests that infectious agents such as human papillomavirus (HPV) may be involved in the etiology of SCC. We conducted a case-control study on 50 SCC cases (mean age: 65.2) and 50 age frequency-matched control patients with lesion-free, normal conjunctival biopsies (mean age: 63.8) obtained from the cancer registry archive at Pathology Department of Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, where SCC has become the most common conjunctival malignancy. MY/GP nested PCR was performed for HPV detection and E6/E7 consensus primers in combination of type specific primers were used in another nested PCR series for HPV typing. HPV DNA was detected in 46 of 50 samples of squamous cell carcinoma and none of the normal biopsies by nested PCR using primer sets of the HPV consensus L1 region (MY/GP). Subsequently, specimens from the 46 positive cases were subjected to specific PCR. Although 630bp amplicon was produced in 44 of 46 samples (E6/E7 primers), none of the specific HPV PCR reactions for HPV DNA type 16, 18, 31 or 33 resulted in the detection of HPV DNA in the 44 SCC specimens of the conjunctiva. Current results confirm the role of HPV in the etiology of conjunctival SCC. The absence of HPV 16, 18, 31 and 33 in conjunctival SCC in this study raise doubts about the role of genital types of HPV in conjunctival carcinomas.

Cytokines genes polymorphisms and risk of multiple sclerosis.

Association studies of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines single nucleotide polymorphisms with multiple sclerosis (MS) in population with different ethnic background have shown inconsistent results. To study the possible role of tumor necrosis factor-alpha G-308A, interleukin-6 G-174C, interleukin-10 C-592A, C-819T, G-1082A, transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta (codons 10 and 25), and interferon-gamma T+874A polymorphisms in susceptibility to MS in Iranian population, DNA samples from 98 patients and 97 healthy controls were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers. Analysis of the genotypes revealed a significant lower frequencies of tumor necrosis factor-alpha GA and TGF beta C/C G/G genotypes and higher frequency of TGF beta T/C G/C genotype in patients (P < 0.05). Our data suggest that these polymorphisms play a role in susceptibility to MS, which is possibly mediated by dysregulated production of these cytokines.

Survey of 447 patients with conjunctival neoplastic lesions in Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran, Iran.

PURPOSE: The current study was undertaken to determine the frequency of specific primary conjunctival neoplastic lesions in a patient population treated at an ocular service over a 15-year period. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed the data of all primary cases of conjunctival neoplasia diagnosed from 1990 to 2004 in the pathology department of Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. RESULTS: Of 3,242 conjunctival specimens, 447 were identified as primary conjunctival neoplasms. The patient group comprised 270 (60.4%) males and 177 (39.6%) females, with an age range of 1 to 90 years. The mean age was 38 years and the median was 32 years. The most common primary conjunctival neoplastic lesion was nevus (38.7%), followed by squamous cell carcinoma, (25.1%), papilloma (7.8%), dysplasia (5.6%), and hemangioma (5.1%), respectively. Of 447 lesions, 261 (58.4%) were benign, 134 (30%) were malignant, and 52 (11.6%) were precancerous. CONCLUSION: As in previously published studies, benign lesions were the most frequent, but the percent of malignant lesions was much higher than that described in other reports. The high percentage of squamous cell carcinoma that we observed can likely be attributed to elevated sun exposure and ultraviolet light in Iran. The characterization of precancerous lesions in this study emphasizes their potential to transform into malignant lesions and the need for sufficient early management and follow up.