BACKGROUND The role for endometrial secretion of cytokines during the establishment of pregnancy in a number of mammals is well established. The current study determined endometrial expression of caspase 1 (CASP1) and interleukin-18 (IL18) during the estrous cycle and early pregnancy, and following early estrogen administration, which induces conceptus loss during early development in pigs. M...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether IL18 has any indirect effects on osteoclastogenesis mediated by T cells in RA synovium, and compare its effects with those of IL1 beta and TNF alpha. METHODS Resting T cells were isolated from peripheral blood of healthy donors, and stimulated with 2 microg/ml phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) and 0.5 ng/ml IL2 for 24 hours. Synovial T cells were isolated from RA synovi...

Alopecia areata (AA) is a chronic autoimmune hair loss disease that affects several million men, women and children worldwide. Previous studies have suggested a link between autoimmunity, stress hormones, and increased cardiovascular disease risk. In the current study, histology, immunohistology, quantitative PCR (qPCR) and ELISAs were used to assess heart health in the C3H/HeJ mouse model for ...

cDNAs of the HA genes of subtype H5N1 AIV were fused to form a single open reading frame, designated H5HA-H7HA. The H5HA-H7HA cDNA and chicken Interleukin-18 (IL18) were inserted into the fowlpox virus (FPV) expression vector pUTA-16-LacZ to produce pUTAL-H5-H7-IL18. cDNA of H5N1 AIV HA was inserted into the FPV expression vector pUTA2 to create the recombinant expression plasmid pUTA2-H5. Plas...

systemic sLE erythematosus is a chronic relapsing autoimmune disease that affects multiple organ systems. studies have shown overproduction of IL-18 in a number of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Indeed, serum IL-18 levels in sLE patients correlate with disease activity. Further, IL-18 treatment accelerates autoimmunity in MrL/lpr sLE prone-mice. serum IL-18 levels are also increased in p...

BACKGROUND The underlying molecular mechanisms of PTSD are largely unknown. Distinct expression signatures for PTSD have been found, in particular for immune activation transcripts. DNA methylation may be significant in the pathophysiology of PTSD, since the process is intrinsically linked to gene expression. We evaluated temporal changes in DNA methylation in select promoter regions of immune ...

IL-12 and IL-18 are immunomodulatory cytokines that play important roles in host immune response against cancers. Variation in DNA sequence in gene promoter may lead to altered IL-18 production and/or activity, and hence can modulate an individual's susceptibility to BC. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the relationship of IL-18 gene promoter -137 G/C and -607C/A polymorphisms and IL12 ...

BACKGROUND Allergy is regarded as a multifactorial condition. Its onset and severity are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Identification of genetic factors involved in asthma development and related phenotypes is a major task in understanding the genetic background of asthma. The possible involvement of IL18 polymorphisms in asthma was examined in a Korean asthma cohort. ...

Alu RNA accumulation due to DICER1 deficiency in the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) is implicated in geographic atrophy (GA), an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration that causes blindness in millions of individuals. The mechanism of Alu RNA-induced cytotoxicity is unknown. Here we show that DICER1 deficit or Alu RNA exposure activates the NLRP3 inflammasome and triggers TLR-ind...

PURPOSE Recent clinical trials and animal models demonstrated that immune checkpoint blockade enhanced effector cell responses and tumor rejection; however, further development and improvement of cancer immunotherapy is necessary for more favorable objective responses. In this study, we examined the effect of IL18 on the antitumor effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We...