Patients/methods We evaluated clinical/laboratory variables and serum IL18 in 17 unselected children (13 males, 4 females; mean age at the onset: 7.5±3.4 years; age range: 3-16 years) hospitalized during the last year for HSp, diagnosed by EULAR/PRINTO/PRES criteria; the same patients were re-evaluated after 6 months too. All results were compared with 25 age-matched healthy controls. IL-12 and...

Methods We performed gastroduodenoscopy and colonoscopy in 16 children with JIA suffering from gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. The control children (n=25) had GIsymptoms, but eventually were shown not to have any significant GI disease. We analyzed in duodenal and ileal biopsy samples the mRNA expression of IFNg, TGFb, IL6, IL4, FoxP3, IL17A, CTLA4, ICOS, GITR, IL10, IL18, IL12p40, IL23, TLR2, ...

Kindlin-2 is a novel focal adhesion gene mediating the cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesion. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play an important role in linking chronic inflammation to cancer progression. Both kindlin-2 and TAMs have been found to promote the invasion of gastric cancer cells in our previous studies. However, the correlation ...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation has been noted in HBV surface antigen (HBsAg)-seronegative patients with CD20 B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) undergoing rituximab treatment. Clinically, hepatitis flares are usually associated with the reappearance of HBsAg (reverse seroconversion of HBsAg, HBV-RS). It is unclear whether human genetic factors are related to rituximab-associated HBV reacti...

Functional recovery of peripheral nerve injuries is of major demand in clinical practice worldwide. Although, to some extent, peripheral nervous system can spontaneously regenerate, post-injury recovery is often associated with poor functional outcome. The molecular mechanism controlling the peripheral nerve repair process is still majorly unclear. In this study, by utilizing the Next Generatio...

The interplay between innate and adaptive immunity is important in multiple sclerosis (MS). The inflammasome complex, which activates caspase-1 to process pro-IL-1beta and pro-IL-18, is rapidly emerging as a pivotal regulator of innate immunity, with nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich repeat containing protein family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) (cryopyrin or NALP3) as a prominent pl...

OBJECTIVE Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a proinflammatory cytokine involved in the processes of innate and acquired immunities and associated with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. We sought to identify the common genetic variants associated with IL-18 levels. METHODS AND RESULTS We performed a 2-stage genome-wide association study among women of European ancestry from the Nurses' Healt...