Dose HLA-B5, 7, 8, 27, and 51 Antigens Associated to Behcet's disease? A Study in Southwestern Iran.

BACKGROUND: Behcet's disease is a potentially life threatening autoimmune disease with recurrent ulcers and unknown pathogenesis. Gender and human leukocyte antigen-B51 seem to have an effective role in the clinical features of the disease. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the frequency of HLA-B5, 7, 8, 27 and 51 in behçet's disease in southwestern Iranian patients who visited the rheumatology clinic and to find the association between these HLA types and the disease. METHODS: 63 patients with behcet's disease participated in this study and peripheral blood samples were collected from them. The expression of each HLA antigen was evaluated by standard lymphocytotoxicity technique. RESULTS: Compared to other studied antigens, the expression of HLA-B5 and HLA-B51 was more prevalent among our patients. According to the results, 25% and 21% of patients were positive for HLA-B5 and HLA-B51, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: HLA-B5 and HLA-B51 are dominant positive HLA antigens among behcet's disease patients in the southwest of Iran; however, we cannot conclude that these antigens are valuable diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers due to our study limitations. We suggest studying the association between HLA-B antigens and inflammation severity in patients to determine the possible prognostic value of HLA-B antigens in Iranian population in the southwest and this region needs more studies in HLA subject among BD patients because of the frequency of BD to evaluate the value of HLA typing in BD prognosis.

Flip-flops of natural killer cells in autoimmune diseases versus cancers: Immunologic axis.

Natural killer (NK) cells play an essential role in the immune response to infections, inflammations, and malignancies. Recent studies suggest that NK cell surface receptors and cytokines are the key points of the disease development and protection. We hypothesized that the interactions between NK cell receptors and targeted cells construct an eventual niche, and this niche has an eventual profile in various autoimmune diseases and cancers. The NK cells preactivated with cytokines, such as interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-12, IL-15, and IL-18 can have higher cytotoxicity; however, the toxic side effect of IL-2 should be considered. The vicissitudes of NK cell profile and its receptors obey the environmental communications and cell interactions. Our vision around the NK cells as an immune axis remained dual, and we still cannot judge the immune responses based on the NK cell flip-flop. A design of eventual niche to monitor the NK cell and targeted cell interaction is needed to strengthen our ability in diagnosis and treatment approaches based on the NK cells. Here, we have reviewed the shifts in the NK cells and their surface receptors in autoimmune diseases, solid tumors, and leukemia, and also discussed the effective chemokines that affect NK cell activation and proliferation. The main aim of this review is to present a broader vision of the NK cell changes in autoimmune disease and cancers.

Metformin one in a Million Efficient Medicines for Rheumatoid Arthritis Complications: Inflammation, Osteoblastogenesis, Cardiovascular Disease, Malignancies.

BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis is a widespread autoimmune disease and inflammation and bone destruction are two main issues in rheumatoid arthritis. OBJECTIVE: To discussing metformin effects on rheumatoid arthritis complications. METHODS: We conducted a narrative literature search including clinical trials, experimental studies on laboratory animals and cell lines. Our search covered Medline, PubMed and Google Scholar databases from 1999 until 2018. We used the terms" Metformin; Rheumatoid arthritis; Cardiovascular disease; Cancer; Osteoblastogenesis. DISCUSSION: Inflammatory pro-cytokines such as Interlukin-6 play important roles in T. helper 17 cell lineage differentiation. Interlukin-6 and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α activate Janus kinase receptors signal through signaling transducer and activator of transcription signaling pathway which plays important role in inflammation, bone destruction and cancer in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Interlukin-6 and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α synergistically activate signaling transducer and activator of transcription and Nuclear Factor-kß pathways and both cytokines increase the chance of cancer development in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Metformin is AMPK activators that can suppress mTOR, STAT3 and HIF-1 so AMPK activation plays important role in suppressing inflammation and osteoclastogenesis and decreasing cancer. CONCLUSION: Metformin effect on AMPK and mTOR pathways gives the capability to change Treg/Th17 balance and decrease Th17 differentiation and inflammation, osteoclastogenesis and cancers in RA patients. Metformin can be useful in protecting bones especially in first stages of RA and it can decrease inflammation, CVD and cancer in RA patients so Metformin beside DAMARs can be useful in increasing RA patients' life quality with less harm and cost.