Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin. The causes of psoriasis are unknown, although family and twin studies have shown genetic factors to play a key role in its development. The many genes associated with psoriasis and the immune response include TNF α , IL23, and IL12. Advances in knowledge of the pathogenesis of psoriasis have enabled the development of new drugs that targe...

Infection with influenza virus strongly predisposes an individual to bacterial superinfection, which is often the significant cause of morbidity and mortality during influenza epidemics. Little is known about the immunomodulating properties of the virus that lead to this phenomenon, but the effect of the viral components on the development of immune dendritic cells (DCs) may prove vital. In thi...

Objective(s): Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite that causes toxoplasmosis in humans and animals. Micronemes (MICs) are effective candidates for DNA vaccine. Materials and Methods: In this study, we evaluated the immune response of BALB/c mice against MIC3 gene of Toxoplasma gondii and interleukin 12 (IL-12...

Total ascorbic acid (total-AsA) content and percentage of reduced ascorbic acid (AsA) on total-AsA were investigated and discussed in fruits, leaves, petiole, stem and roots of the Solanum lycopersicum cv M82 and S. pennellii introgression lines IL7-3, IL10-1 and IL12-4. In fruits, total-AsA content showed to be different according to genotype analysed. Higher total-AsA accumulations were obser...

Interleukin 12 (IL-12) is made up of two disulphidelinked chains, p35 and p40. The cytokine is produced by monocytes, macrophages, myeloid dendritic cells and B cells. It stimulates development of NK cells and TH1 differentiation of CD4 T cells, thus participating in the regulation of the immune response (for a review, see Klein and Hořejší, 1997; Grufman and Kärre, 2000; Jinushi and Tahara, 20...

BACKGROUND Numerous animal model studies have examined the ability of genetically engineered tumor cells to release cytokines and to elicit an immune memory against the parental tumor. Often only a single cytokine is studied, and few comparative studies have been conducted. PURPOSE We evaluated the antitumor efficacy of adenocarcinoma cells engineered to release interleukin (IL)-12 in a mouse...