BACKGROUND There is evidence that opium addiction has immunosuppressant effects. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a condition resulted from atherosclerosis which is dependent on the immune response. PURPOSE To evaluate plasma levels of interleukin-6 and interleukin-1Ra in 30 patients with three-vessel coronary artery disease, ejection fraction of more than 35% and to evaluate their changes af...

We have recently shown that leptin strongly induces the expression and secretion of the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) [Gabay, Dreyer, Pellegrinelli, Chicheportiche and Meier (2001) J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 86, 783-791] in monocytes. However, the intracellular signalling mechanisms involved remained unknown. We now demonstrate that the activation of the IL-1Ra promoter by leptin ...

Background The interleukin-1 pathway has been linked to pancreatic diseases. We applied the Mendelian randomization approach explore whether higher receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) levels reduce risk of acute and chronic pancreatitis cancer. Methods Genetic variants associated with blood IL-1RA at genome-wide significance level located 5MB downstream or upstream IL1RN gene were extracted from a met...

BACKGROUND Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) left in microcultures for 24h without mitogen do not respond to subsequent stimulation with PHA. They regain reactivity if the native culture medium is absorbed with other party lymphocytes or partially replaced with the medium from a PHA-stimulated culture. The observations suggest that, during the incubation, some inhibitory agent had...

BACKGROUND The inflammatory cytokines have an important role in the pathogenesis of viral myocarditis. Inerleukin-1 (IL-1) is one of the major cytokines that modulate the outcome of viral infection. Among the methods for in vivo gene transfer, direct injection of plasmid DNA is one that is simple and feasible. In this study, we expressed human IL-1 receptor antagonist (hIL-1Ra) in the mouse hea...

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) plays an important role in the pathophysiology of osteoarthritis (OA), and gene transfer of IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) holds promise for OA treatment. A preclinical safety and biodistribution study evaluated a self-complementary adeno-associated viral vector carrying rat IL-1Ra transgene (sc-rAAV2.5rIL-1Ra) at 5 × 10(8), 5 × 10(9), or 5 × 10(10) vg/knee, or human IL-...

We investigated whether interleukin-1 (IL-1) activity in the rat hypothalamus was increased by immobilization stress (IS), and whether pretreatment with an interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) is capable of inhibiting IS-induced elevations of hypothalamic norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA), and serotonin (5-HT) and the levels of their metabolites as well as of plasma adrenocorticotropic h...

Ligament healing follows a series of complex coordinated events involving various cell types, cytokines, as well as other factors, producing a mechanically inferior tissue more scar-like than native tissue. Macrophages provide an ongoing source of cytokines to modulate inflammatory cell adhesion and migration as well as fibroblast proliferation. Studying interleukins inherent to ligament healin...

OBJECTIVE To delineate the mechanisms by which topical interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) treatment promotes orthotopic corneal allograft survival. METHODS Corneal buttons were prepared from eyes of C57BL/6 mice and placed orthotopically in normal or neovascularized (high-risk) eyes of BALB/c mouse recipients. Topical IL-1RA (or vehicle alone) was applied to grafts 3 times daily until...

Pneumonia is a disease causing serious inflammation and infection of the lungs and accounts for >50,000 mortalities annually. The elderly are at an increased risk of developing pneumonia. Pneumonia is more serious in the elderly than in any other age group due to the increased inflammation and risk of community‑acquired pneumonia associated with aging. Interleukin‑1 receptor antagonist (IL‑1RA)...