Mohammad Reza Haghshenas; Aida Khademolhosseini; Amirreza Dehghanian; Fereshteh Ghanipour; Hamid Ghaderi; Soolmaz Khansalar; Abdolreza Sotoodeh Jahromi
Abstract
Background: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and brain stromal cells produce immunosuppressive cytokines, contributing to an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Interleukin-38 (IL-38) is a novel anti-inflammatory cytokine and a natural modulator of the innate and adaptive immune system. ...
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Background: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and brain stromal cells produce immunosuppressive cytokines, contributing to an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Interleukin-38 (IL-38) is a novel anti-inflammatory cytokine and a natural modulator of the innate and adaptive immune system. However, its biological roles in brain tumors are not well defined.Objective: To assess the serum levels of IL-38 and the percentages of TILs in the tumor tissues of patients with primary brain tumors and to determine their associations with the pathological features of the disease.Methods: IL-38 was evaluated in sera using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained sections were scored to determine the percentages of TILs in four different areas: the invasive margin, central tumor, perivascular and perinecrotic areas.Results: IL-38 serum levels were significantly higher in low- and high-grade tumors than in healthy individuals, meanwhile, its levels remained consistent between these two grades. Although no significant difference was found in IL-38 serum levels between different histological subtypes of brain tumors, its levels were significantly higher in intra-axial brain tumors than in extra-axial ones. Additionally, a significant positive correlation was observed between serum levels of IL-38 and tumor size in patients with low-grade tumors. TILs were detected in at least one of the four examined areas; however, no statistically significant correlation was found between IL-38 levels and TILs.Conclusion: Our data may suggest a connection between IL-38 and immune suppression and tumor progression in primary brain tumors. Further investigation is needed to uncover the role of IL-38 in the brain tumor microenvironment.
Mohammad Reza Haghshenas; Seyed Reza Hosseini; Mohammad Javad Fattahi; Mahyar Malekzadeh; Ali Ariafar; Abbas Ghaderi
Abstract
Background: Interleukin-37 (IL-37) is a recently described cytokine that emerges as a natural inhibitor of inflammatory and immune responses. However, IL-37 has not yet been investigated in bladder cancer, and its biological role is unknown. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate IL-37 ...
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Background: Interleukin-37 (IL-37) is a recently described cytokine that emerges as a natural inhibitor of inflammatory and immune responses. However, IL-37 has not yet been investigated in bladder cancer, and its biological role is unknown. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate IL-37 serum levels in patients with bladder cancer and determine whether they were linked to the patients' pathological characteristics. Methods: IL-37 serum levels were measured using a commercial ELISA kit in 60 patients with transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder (mean age: 64.55±12.93) and 50 healthy controls (mean age: 62.94±12.69). Non-parametric tests were used for statistical comparisons, and the Cohen's d effect size was calculated to evaluate the practical and clinical significance of the results. Results: Our findings indicated an increasing trend in IL-37 serum levels in patients with TCC (42.77±3.36 pg/ml) in comparison with controls (40.51±7.32 pg/ml, p=0.09). However, IL-37 serum levels were found to be significantly higher in male patients (44.72±3.81 pg/ml) and patients aged ≥70 (46.92±6.77 pg/ml) in comparison with male controls (29.96±3.30 pg/ml, p=0.026) and controls aged ≥70 (23.62±4.43 pg/ml, p=0.009). In comparison to similar controls, Cohen's d effect size for patients aged ≥70 years was found to be 0.90. Conclusion: The findings reveal a higher serum level of IL-37 in patients with TCC, which might be clinically associated with immunosuppression and tumor growth. However, this is a preliminary study, and more research on the biological role of IL-37 and its potential therapeutic effects in bladder cancer is required.
Abolfazl Gheshlaghi; Mohammad Reza Haghshenas; Ali Reza Safarpour; Seyed Younes Hossini; Seyed Ali Malekhosseini; Mohammad Reza Fattahi; Jamal Sarvari
Abstract
Background: Genetic variation in immune regulatory genes might influence the HBV infection outcome. Objective: This study aimed to determinethe association of IL-17A rs2275913 (G197A), IL-17F rs763780 (A7488G), and IL-23R rs10889677 (C2370A) gene polymorphisms, as well as the emerged haplotypes in the ...
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Background: Genetic variation in immune regulatory genes might influence the HBV infection outcome. Objective: This study aimed to determinethe association of IL-17A rs2275913 (G197A), IL-17F rs763780 (A7488G), and IL-23R rs10889677 (C2370A) gene polymorphisms, as well as the emerged haplotypes in the individual infected by HBV and to investigate their association with the infection outcome. Materials and Methods: 300 chronic HBV infections with Cirrhotic/Hepatocellular carcinoma (C/HCC), chronic active (CA), and asymptomatic carrier (AC) and 38 individuals whose infection was spontaneously cleared (SC) were enrolled. Genomic DNA was extracted, and IL-17A/F and IL-23R genotyping were performed by using the PCR-RFLP method. Results: Out of 338 subjects, 238 and 100 were respectively male and /female with a mean age of 47.61±13.41. The frequency of GA genotype (p=0.01) and A alleles (p=0.001) of IL-17A rs2275913 (G197A), as well as the frequency of AA genotype (p=0.014) and A alleles (p=0.018) of IL-17F rs763780 (A7488G) gene locus, was found to be significantly higher in the C/HCC than CA and AC groups. Furthermore, the frequency of GA and AG haplotype in CA individuals was higher than those with C/HCC and AC (p=0.003). Also, the GG haplotype was higher in AC individuals than those with C/HCC (P=0.022), and the AA haplotype was higher in C/HCC individuals than the CA patients (P=0.001). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that A allele and GA genotype at IL-17A rs2275913 (G197A), as well as A allele and AA genotype at IL-17F rs763780 (A7488G) locus, might be associated with increased risk of C/HCC among patients with hepatitis B virus infection.
