background and aims: plants as medicines have always played a vital role in human life. tumor necrosis factor alpha (tnf)-α is one of the macrophage-derived inflammatory cytokine with pleotropic effects in the inflammation process. some studies have been demonstrated that some of the echinops species have anti-inflammatory activity. in fact, echinops lasilepis is introduced as one of the native...

conclusions the results indicated that there was a positive association between susceptibility to chronic hbv infection and tnf-α polymorphism. in addition, hbv patients carrying -308 gg, -857 cc, and -863 aa genotypes with lower serum levels of tnf-α had an increased risk of infection. background the host genetic background regulates the natural history of chronic hepatitis b virus (hbv) infec...

Tumor Angiogenesis It is one of the most widely accepted paradigms in tumor biology that growth of solid tumors is restricted to the ample supply of nutrients. Accordingly, it is assumed that passive diffusion is sufficient for tumor growth only to a size of ≈2 mm in diameter; thus, the tumor connects to capillaries to satisfy its hunger. It was Folkman who first established in 1971 the concept...