Original Article
Amir Hassan Zarnani; Pouneh Dokouhaki; Mahmood Jeddi-Tehrani
Volume 1, Issue 3 , December 2004, Pages 143-153
Abstract
Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme involved in the catabolism of tryptophan, is expressed by a variety of cells and tissues such as macrophages, dendritic cells, cells of the endocrine system and by the placenta. IFN- γ is the main inducer of this enzyme. IDO acts as an important defense ...
Read More
Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme involved in the catabolism of tryptophan, is expressed by a variety of cells and tissues such as macrophages, dendritic cells, cells of the endocrine system and by the placenta. IFN- γ is the main inducer of this enzyme. IDO acts as an important defense mechanism of innate immunity against pathogens. It also has tumor suppressive activity and prolongs the survival of allograft. One of the interesting functions of IDO is prevention of the allogenic fetus rejection during pregnancy by inhibiting alloreactive T cells. It was shown that inhibition of IDO activity by IDO inhibitor, 1-methyl tryptophan, during mouse pregnancy causes fetal rejection. The main mechanism by which IDO protects fetus is through reducing the tryptophan level and suppressing the T cell activity in the feto-maternal interface. In this review the biological functions of IDO with emphasis on its role in allogeneic fetus protection have been discussed.
Original Article
Fatemeh Hajighasemi; Ali Akbar Saboor-Yaraghi; Fazel Shokri
Volume 1, Issue 3 , December 2004, Pages 154-161
Abstract
Background: The affinity of an antibody to its antigen is a crucial parameter in its biological activity and performance of an immunoassay such as ELISA. Affinity of most IgG specific MAbs are often determined by methods which require labeling of either antigen or antibody, and are sometimes difficult ...
Read More
Background: The affinity of an antibody to its antigen is a crucial parameter in its biological activity and performance of an immunoassay such as ELISA. Affinity of most IgG specific MAbs are often determined by methods which require labeling of either antigen or antibody, and are sometimes difficult to control, do not always lead to the expected signal and often result in immunological modification of the molecules. Moreover, direct solid phase binding assays pose some problems such as diffusion effects and difficulties in reaching equilibrium due to heterogeneous binding and co-operativity. Objective: To employ a rapid and simple ELISA-based method for measuring affinity constants of two pan-h-IgG specific MAbs (3F2D8 and 5F19G11) established in our laboratory. Methods: The method is based on the effect of antibody affinity on the sigmoidal dose response curve. In this method, the binding of anti-human IgG (anti-h-IgG) MAbs with their corresponding antigen was measured using serial concentrations of both antigen and antibody. The amount of antibody bound to the antigen on the plate is represented as a sigmoidal curve of OD versus the logarithm of antibody concentration added to each well. Results: Based on the data obtained from this study, the affinity constants of 3F2D8 and 5F19G11 MAbs were 0.74 x 10 8 Mol –1 and 0.96 x 10 7 Mol –1, respectively. Conclusion: 3F2D8 MAb with reasonably high affinity is suggested as a candidate for quantitative measurement of IgG by ELISA, whereas 5F19G11 MAb could be considered as a suitable tool for immunoaffinity chromatography.
Original Article
Behrouz Nikbin; Nader Tajik; Ali Saraji; Gholam Reza Pourmand; Fatemeh Talebian; Abdurasul Mehrsai; Ali Akbar Amirzargar
Volume 1, Issue 3 , December 2004, Pages 162-168
Abstract
Background: The Presence of donor leukocytes in recipients of organ allograft has been shown even several years after transplantation. However, it remains unclear whether this donor cell microchimerism plays an effective role in allograft acceptance or is simply a consequence of immunosuppressive conditions ...
Read More
Background: The Presence of donor leukocytes in recipients of organ allograft has been shown even several years after transplantation. However, it remains unclear whether this donor cell microchimerism plays an effective role in allograft acceptance or is simply a consequence of immunosuppressive conditions in recipients. Objective: To study microchimerism in a group of kidney transplant recipients. Methods: In this study, the Peripheral Blood Microchimerism (PBM) after renal transplantation was retrospectively evaluated in 32 male-to-female recipients of living (unrelated) and cadaveric donor renal transplants. Using a Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction (Nested-PCR) amplification specific for SRY region of the Y chromosome, microchimerism was detected with a sensitivity of 1:1000000. Recipients were classified and compared according to the presence of PBM, acute and chronic rejection episodes, type of allotransplant, recipient and donor age at transplantation, previous male labor or blood transfusion, allograft function (serum creatinine level), and body mass index. Results: Among 32 recipients, 7 (21.9) were positive for PBM in multiple testing at different post-transplantation times. All microchimeric recipients had received kidney from living-unrelated donors. No significant difference was observed with regard to other parameters mentioned above. In addition, acute rejection rate in the microchimeric group was 3 (42%) versus 4 (16%) in the nonmicrochimeric recipients (not significant). Conclusion: Our results demonstrate better establishment of microchimerism after living donor kidney transplantation. However, concerning the true effect of microchimerism after renal transplantation doubt still persists; and it seems that microchimerism alone has no major protective role in renal allograft survival.
Original Article
Shahnaz Rafiei; Forouzan Karimi; Fatemeh Roohollah; Ali Rafinejad
Volume 1, Issue 3 , December 2004, Pages 169-176
Abstract
Background: The effectiveness of T cell vaccination has been demonstrated in a variety of animal models of both induced and spontaneous autoimmune diseases. Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the T cell vaccination protocol to treat and prevent collagen induced arthritis (CIA) in a rheumatoid ...
Read More
Background: The effectiveness of T cell vaccination has been demonstrated in a variety of animal models of both induced and spontaneous autoimmune diseases. Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the T cell vaccination protocol to treat and prevent collagen induced arthritis (CIA) in a rheumatoid arthritis model. Methods: CIA was induced by an intradermal injection of an artheritogen substance at the right paw of each female Albino rat under ether anesthesia. T cells were achieved from spleens of syngeneic rats that developed full clinical features of CIA. Rats suffering from CIA were divided in case groups (4 rats/group) based on the degrees of their disease and were injected intraperitoneally once with a suspension of T cells to investigate the effects of autoreactive T cells on CIA. To investigate the preventive effects of autoreactive T cells on CIA, 12 normal rats were injected intraperitoneally once either with a suspension of T cells or PBS, respectively. The results were evaluated by clinical observation, histopathological and radiographic findings. Results: Intraperitoneal inoculation of T cells to rats suffering from CIA, suppressed the development of CIA in case rats in stage 2 of the disease but not the other case rats. Rats who received T cells as prevention, showed the mild signs of disease. Injection of artheritogen substance to the case rats didn’t result in development of CIA but the control rats, showed signs of CIA. Conclusion: The results of this pilot study demonstrate that CIA presentations and signs can be subsided or suppressed by autoreactive T cells. The vaccination is most effective before onset of the disease and in early phases of CIA. Modifying and improving the protocol using more cases is recommended.
Original Article
Abolghasem Ajami; Amir Esmailnejad Moghaddam; Hasan Motamed
Volume 1, Issue 3 , December 2004, Pages 177-182
Abstract
Background: Antifertility effect of naturally occuring antisperm antibody (ASA) in infertile couples and studies on experimental immunization of various animals with sperm antigens represents ASA as immunocontraceptive target. Despite extensive research on the effects of different factors on sperm immunogenecity ...
Read More
Background: Antifertility effect of naturally occuring antisperm antibody (ASA) in infertile couples and studies on experimental immunization of various animals with sperm antigens represents ASA as immunocontraceptive target. Despite extensive research on the effects of different factors on sperm immunogenecity and ASA production variable result have been reported. Objective: To study whole sperm immunization in mice. Methods: In an experimental study, whole mice sperm with different adjuvant i.e. complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA), incomplete Freund’s adjuvant (ICFA), and cholera toxin subunit- β (CTS-β) were administrated to mice intramuscularly (IM), subcutaneously (SC), intranasally (IN), intra-peritoneally (IP), intrarectally (IR), intravaginally (IVA) and orally. Control groups were inoculated with phosphate buffer saline (PBS) plus corresponding adjuvant. Immunization was carried out on days 0, 7, 14, 28 and ASA titers were detected by indirect immunofluorescence (IFA) technique in sera and vaginal washes of all groups. The IP group was further excluded from the study due to high mortality rate. The results were compared between control and experimental groups by Mann Whitney and Fisher exact tests. Results: The number of positive mice for ASA in IM, SC, IN experimental and control groups were significantly different (P = 0.01, P = 0.01, P = 0.04, respectively). However, there were no significant differences between IR, IVA, and oral experimental and control groups. No differences were observed between ASA in vaginal washing of all groups. Due to high mortality in IP group it was excluded from the study. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the whole sperm antigen can induce immune response in female mice by IM, SC, IN but not IAV, IR and oral administration routes.
Original Article
Mehrnoosh Doroudchi; Hamidreza Dehshiri; Alamtaj Samsami Dehaghani
Volume 1, Issue 3 , December 2004, Pages 183-188
Abstract
Background: Respiratory Syncytical virus infection is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and viral pneumonia in infancy. Objective: To investigate the placental transfer of RSV-specific IgG in Iranian mothers. Methods: The antibodies were measured in sera of 146 mother/newborn pairs using a commercially ...
Read More
Background: Respiratory Syncytical virus infection is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and viral pneumonia in infancy. Objective: To investigate the placental transfer of RSV-specific IgG in Iranian mothers. Methods: The antibodies were measured in sera of 146 mother/newborn pairs using a commercially available indirect Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). The studied subjects were among healthy pregnant women who attended to the Zeinabieh Hospital of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in a one year period. Results: A highly significant correlation was observed between RSV-specific IgG in newborns and mothers (r = 0.88). However, mean RSV-specific IgG antibodies in neonates was significantly higher than that of their mothers (P = 0.019). In addition, the mean cord/maternal ratio of RSV-specific IgG was detected to be 1.27 ± 0.60. Maternal blood group, age, parity, previous abortions and neonatal gestational age had no correlation with placental transfer of RSV-specific IgG antibodies. Conclusion: Our finding demonstrates that placental transfer of RSV-specific IgG antibodies is an active process and the main factor that influences this transfer is maternal concentration of these immunoglobulins.
Original Article
Maryam Kasraeian; Marjan Movaseghii; Alireza Fotouhi Ghiam
Volume 1, Issue 3 , December 2004, Pages 189-193
Abstract
Background: Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Type 2 is a widespread human infectious agent responsible for persistent and latent infections. Objectives: To estimate the regional seroprevalence of anti HSV-2 antibody in Shiraz, Iran and to investigate the possible correlation of seropositivity with malignant ...
Read More
Background: Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Type 2 is a widespread human infectious agent responsible for persistent and latent infections. Objectives: To estimate the regional seroprevalence of anti HSV-2 antibody in Shiraz, Iran and to investigate the possible correlation of seropositivity with malignant changes in subjects’ Papanicolaou (Pap) tests. Methods: Data were collected in a cross-sectional study. A randomly selected population of 915 women, from nine primary health care centers according to regional population size, was recruited in this study. HSV type specific serum IgG was determined by an Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent assay. Results: The overall seroprevalence of HSV-2 antibody was 258/915 (28.19%). Most of the seropositive cases (87.6%) were categorized in the group of less educated women. None of the individuals with positive serum antibody had malignant change in the uterine cells obtained with the help of Pap smear. Conclusion: HSV-2 infection is relatively common and largely unrecognized among our study participants. The HSV-2 antibody was more prevalent in the studied population in comparison with European and American women, and less prevalent than African women. Although HSV-2 is reported to be in correlation with cervical cancer, none of our studied subjects had any malignant change in cervical cells.
Original Article
Ezzatallah Basiri; Sadreddin Mohseni Ardehali; Mehrnoosh Doroudchi; Fereidoun Mahboodi; Arsalan Kharazmi; Abbas Ghaderi
Volume 1, Issue 3 , December 2004, Pages 194-199
Abstract
Background : Production of monoclonal antibodies to Leishmania antigens assists the identification and characterization of these organisms. Objective: Production of monoclonal antibodies against epitopes on the gp63. Methods: Two murine monoclonal antibodies to gp63 were produced and characterized. The ...
Read More
Background : Production of monoclonal antibodies to Leishmania antigens assists the identification and characterization of these organisms. Objective: Production of monoclonal antibodies against epitopes on the gp63. Methods: Two murine monoclonal antibodies to gp63 were produced and characterized. The reactions of both antibodies with soluble leishmanial antigens, purified gp63 and truncated recombinant gp63 molecules were studied by an ELISA assay. These two antibodies reacted with the crude soluble antigens prepared from 4 reference strains of Leishmania, 10 isolates from the patients, purified gp63 and recombinant gp63 molecules. However, no reaction with several non-leishmanial antigens was observed. Reaction of both antibodies with the intact recombinant gp63 and truncated molecules were compared. Results: The results indicated that the two antibodies specifically recognize two different epitopes on the gp63 molecule. Conclusion: Possible applications of such antibodies in searching for immunogenic epitopes are discussed.
