background: cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in the world among women and human papilloma virus (hpv) plays a major role in its development. the aim of this study was to determine the frequency of hpv type 16 and 18 in cervical discharge by polymerase chain reaction (pcr) method in women with atypical biopsy or papsmear. method: this case- control study was performed on women i...

Steady state mRNA levels in various human tissues reveal that the proinflammatory cytokine IL-18 is constitutively and ubiquitously expressed. However, limited IL-18R alpha-chain (IL-18Ralpha) expression in tissues may restrict ligand-acting sites and contribute to a specific response for IL-18. To study the IL-18R complex, [(125)I]IL-18 was studied for binding to the cell surface receptors of ...

The Edwards' syndrome phenotype results from full, mosaic or partial trisomy 18q. Full trisomy 18 is the most common form occurring in about 94% of cases. In full trisomy every cell contains three full copies of chromosome 18. Mosaics can occur in about 5% of cases in which some cells are normal with 46 chromosomes and others have the extra chromosome. Partial trisomy 18 can (rarely) occur if a...

IL-18 is a pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine that is involved in induction of inflammatory mediators, regulation of the cytotoxic activity of NK cells and T cells, and differentiation and activation of both Th1 and Th2 cells. IL-18 signals through its specific cell surface receptor IL-18R, which comprises two subunits: IL-18R alpha and IL-18R beta. IL-18R alpha alone has a weak affinity for ...

OBJECTIVE To assess the association of the polymorphisms of the interleukin-18 (IL-18) gene with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and with risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). METHODS This sample comprised 97 patients with RA and 151 healthy controls. In the patients, risk factors for CVD were analyzed, such as cholesterol levels, arterial hypertension, smoking habit, C-reactive protein (...

MRL lpr/lpr mice spontaneously develop a severe autoimmune lupus syndrome characterized by strong autoantibody production and massive lymphoproliferation, in which IFN-gamma plays a major pathogenic effect. The role of the IFN-gamma-inducing cytokine IL-18 in the autoimmune syndrome of lpr/lpr mice has been investigated. In response to IL-18, lymph node cells of lpr/lpr mice produce significant...

The metabolic syndrome is thought to be associated with a chronic low-grade inflammation, and a growing body of evidence suggests that interleukin-18 (IL-18) might be closely related to the metabolic syndrome and its consequences. Circulating levels of IL-18 have been reported to be elevated in subjects with the metabolic syndrome, to be closely associated with the components of the syndrome, t...

Based on reporting in the last several years, an impressive but dismal list of cytotoxic chemotherapies that fail to prolong the median overall survival of patients with glioblastoma has prompted the development of treatment protocols designed to interfere with growth-facilitating signaling systems by using non-cytotoxic, non-oncology drugs. Recent recognition of the pro-mobility stimulus, inte...

Autoimmune disease in Fas-deficient MRL-Faslpr mice is dependent on infiltrating autoreactive leukocytes and autoantibodies, and IFN-gamma plays an important role in the pathogenesis. As IL-18 is capable of inducing IFN-gamma production in T cells, we hypothesized that signaling through IL-18R is involved in the pathogenesis. To investigate the impact of IL-18 in this autoimmune disease, we gen...

PURPOSE To characterize ophthalmic findings in patients with tetrasomy 18p, a rare chromosomal anomaly that has been previously associated with strabismus. METHODS All subjects underwent a complete eye examination to screen for ocular pathology. RESULTS A total of 25 subjects (13 female) were examined after they were diagnosed with tetrasomy 18p. The average age of subjects was 8.2 years (r...