Iranian Journal of Immunology : IJI

BACKGROUND: Buerger's disease, also known as Thromboangiitis Obliterans (TAO), is a progressive, inflammatory vascular disease with unknown etiology. OBJECTIVE: To address the degree of T cell immunosenescence in this inflammatory disease, the frequency of senescent T cells expressing CD57 and/or CD153 (CD30L) in patients with TAO. METHODS: In this study, nine male cigarette smoker patients with TAO, nine male healthy cigarette smokers, and nine male healthy non-smoker blood donors were enrolled...

BACKGROUND: Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are involved in innate and adaptive immune responses, especially inflammatory responses due to immune cell activation. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was one of the most important causes of death in the recent pandemic. Increased cellular stress and excessive inflammation are common in coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), although the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationship between HSP and the pathological effects of COVID-19...

BACKGROUND: Kawasaki disease (KD) is a vasculitis associated with vascular injury and autoimmune response. Inflammatory factors stimulate neutrophils to produce web-like structures called neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). Citrullinated histone 3 (H3Cit) is one of the main protein components of neutrophil extracellular traps involved in the process of NETosis. The levels of NETs and H3Cit in the KD are not known. OBJECTIVE: To determine the changes in the levels of NETs and H3Cit in KD...

Two central questions in COVID-19 treatment which should be considered are: "How does the imbalance of the complement system affect the therapeutic approaches?" and "Do we consider complement inhibitors in therapeutic protocols?". The complement system is a double-edged sword since it may either promote immune responses against COVID-19 or contribute to destructive inflammation in the host. Therefore, it is crucial to regulate this system with complement inhibitors. In this manuscript, we discuss the molecular mechanisms of complement and complement inhibitors in COVID-19 patients...

BACKGROUND: Lupus nephritis (LN) refers to the injury caused by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) involving the kidneys. A previous study identified angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4) as a novel urinary biomarker for tracking disease activity in LN. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the detailed role and regulatory mechanism of ANGPTL4 in experimental models of LN. METHODS: MRL/lpr mice 11-week-old were injected with adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated ANGPTL4 short hairpin RNA (shRNA)...

BACKGROUND: Different subtypes of dendritic cells (DCs) can induce different types of immune responses. Our previous study found that Echinococcus granulosus (E. granulosus) antigens (Eg.ferritin, Eg.mMDH and Eg.10) stimulated DC differentiation to different subtypes and produced different immune responses. OBJECTIVE: To further understand whether Eg.ferritin, Eg.mMDH and Eg.10 affect the DC-mediated immune response by promoting the differentiation of monocytes to DCs...

BACKGROUND: CD39 is an inhibitory checkpoint exerting rate-limiting effects on the ATP-adenosine pathway. It can be targeted to block adenosine-mediated immunosuppression. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the relationship between the CD39 expression and clinicopathological characteristics including FIGO stage, lymph node and distant metastasis, and to further explore its potential role in cervical cancer. METHODS: Peripheral blood was collected from 59 healthy people and 43 patients with cervical cancer...

BACKGROUND: Spi-B transcription factor (SPIB) is an E-twenty-six (ETS) transcription factor associated with tumor immunity. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the functions and mechanisms of SPIB in ovarian cancer (OC) cells. METHODS: Cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion were determined using colony formation, EdU, flow cytometry, and transwell assays, respectively. The binding sites of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and SPIB were predicted using the JASPAR database and verified using the ChIP and luciferase reporter assays...

BACKGROUND: Trastuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that targets site-specifically human epidermal growth factor-2 receptor (HER2) cell surface antigen overexpressed in approximately 20% of human breast carcinomas. Despite its positive therapeutic outcomes, a large proportion of individuals are unresponsive to the treatment with the trastuzumab or develop resistance to it. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a chemically synthesized trastuzumab-based antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) to improve the trastuzumab therapeutic index...

BACKGROUND: The initial inflammatory reaction starts following occlusion in ischemic stroke (IS). Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine with a crucial role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the levels of IL-1β and vitamin D (VitD) in patients with IS compared with controls and their correlation. METHODS: The serum level of 25-OH VitD and IL-1β was assessed in 102 IS patients (0-24 h after stroke) and 102 controls with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit...

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China. As long as the 27th of December 2021, approximately 280 million people have been infected with coronavirus, resulting in more than 5,418,421 deaths worldwide. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, different methods were introduced for diagnosing coronavirus-infected patients and evaluating the immune response, following the vaccination. OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to compare the level of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) specific IgG in a group of patients who recovered from COVID-19, measured by three different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits...

BACKGROUND: Type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) and NLRP3 inflammasome are related to allergic and inflammatory responses. NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor MCC950 was demonstrated to ameliorate allergic rhinitis (AR) in animal models. OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the effect of MCC950 on ILC2 responses in AR. METHODS: NLRP3 inflammasome, ILC2s, IL-5+ILC2s, IL-13+ILC2s, and Th2-related factors were examined in 30 AR patients. ILC2s were identified as Lin-CRTH2+CD127+lymphocytes...

BACKGROUND: Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), as an autoimmune disease in the central nervous system (CNS), is an animal model for multiple sclerosis (MS) mediated by T lymphocytes. OBJECTIVE: To investigate ginger extract's effect on reducing inflammation and improving the symptoms in the EAE model. METHODS: The EAE was induced by injecting MOG35-55 and pertussis toxin into eight-week-old female C57BL6 mice. The mice were treated with an intraperitoneal injection of 300 mg/kg/day of hydroalcoholic extract of ginger for 21 days...

BACKGROUND: Molecular markers are involved in atopic dermatitis (AD) pathogenesis. The estrogen receptor (ESR)-1 gene, encoding ERα, is reported to express aberrantly in AD patients. OBJECTIVE: To detect the biological functions of ESR1 in 2,4 dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB)-treated mice. METHODS: The DNCB-treated mice received a topical application of emulsion containing the 1,3-bis(4 hydroxyphenyl)-4-methyl-5-[4-(2-piperidinyl ethoxy) phenol]-1H-pyrazole dihydrochloride (MPP; an ESR1-selective antagonist) to dorsal skins and ears...

BACKGROUND: The functions of dendritic cells (DCs) are influenced by their intracellular metabolism, in which liver kinase B1 (LKB1) plays an important role. However, due to the difficulty in isolating the DCs, the roles of LKB1 in DC maturation and functions in tumor settings have been poorly characterized. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the roles of LKB1 in DC functions including phagocytosis and presentation of antigens, activation, T cell differentiation, and ultimately tumor eradication...

BACKGROUND: Retinopathy of diabetes is a chronic diabetes mellitus complication affecting retinal vessels, and some ocular complications' molecular mechanisms remain obscure. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the expression of HLA-G1, HLA-G5, miRNA-181a, and miRNA-34a in the lens epithelial cells of patients with retinopathy of diabetes. METHODS: In a case-control study, 30 diabetic patients with retinopathy, 30 diabetic patients without retinopathy, and 30 cataract patients without diabetes mellitus as the control group were enrolled after a full description with details about the study methods and objectives...

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICIs) have dramatically revolutionized the therapeutic approaches by which we treat a series of cancers accompanied by immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Herein, we reported an intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma male patient with a history of ankylosing spondylitis developing pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) under ICI combined therapy with pembrolizumab and lenvatinib. The indirect measurement of cardiac ultrasound showed a pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) of 72mmHg after 21 three-week cycles of ICI combined therapy...

BACKGROUND: One of the inflammatory diseases of the respiratory system is asthma. Teucrium polium (TP) has anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic properties and its anti-asthmatic effects have not been investigated yet. RORγt is an inflammatory transcription factor for Th17 differentiation. By secreting IL-17, Th17 leads to neutrophilic inflammation in the lungs. As an anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10 reduces the dissemination of inflammatory elements in the airways. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of TP extract in asthma treatment...

BACKGROUND: Suppressor APC domain containing 2 (SAPCD2) is involved in cell cycle regulation and its mRNA levels are higher in cancer tissues. But, the function of SAPCD2 in cancer development remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To generate mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific to SAPCD2 and thus clarify the function of SAPCD2 in the development of gastric carcinoma (GC). Methods: Purified SAPCD2-GST immunized BALB/c mouse spleen cells were collected and fused with myeloma cells to obtain monoclonal antibody hybridoma...

Individuals with Selective Immunoglobulin-A Deficiency (SIgAD) are often asymptomatic, and symptomatic SIgAD patients often have autoimmune comorbidities. A 48-year-old Han Chinese man presented with abdominal discomfort, hematochezia, and a large tumor in the anogenital region. The primary diagnosis of SIgAD was based on the patient's age, serum IgA concentration (0.067 g/L), and the evidence of chronic respiratory infection. No other immunoglobulin deficiency or evidence of immunosuppression was present. The primary diagnosis of giant condyloma acuminatum was based on human papilloma virus-6-positive laboratory results and histological characteristics...