Background: IL-4 is an antibodies inflammatory cytokine which has an important role in protecting against the inflammatory reactions in most of diseases. Here, we try to highlights the role of this cytokine in chronic Rheumatic heart disease and its correlation with the extent of histopathological abnormalities.
Patients and Methods: Rheumatic mitral valve surgical fragments were taken from a total of 48 Iraqi patients with chronic rheumatic heart disease under mitral valve replacement surgery in Ibn Al- Bitar Hospital for Cardiac Surgery-Iraq-Baghdad. Paraffin embedded mitral valve tissue sections were prepared. IL-4-expressing cells were detected by using immunohistochemical staining technique and

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic synovial inflammation. The insufficient immune clearance of the apoptotic cell results into the formation of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies which may play a critical role in the initiations of inflammatory responses. These antibodies together with Matrix Metalloproteinase-3 play an important role in joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis disease.
Objectives: to study the value of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies, and Matrix Metalloproteinase-3 in differentiation between active and inactive rheumatoid arthritis.
Patients and Methods: A cross- sectional study was conducted on 60 Iraqi patients with rheumatoid arthritis (16

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is a common chronic and destructive autoimmune arthropathy .Treatment with infliximab gives great improvement to a large numbers of patients with RA ,however, in some patients after prolonged treatment infliximab can induce anti-infliximab antibodies formation and result to loss of infliximab efficacy and active persistent disease.
Objective: to investigate the frequency of anti-infliximab antibodies in Iraqi patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Patients and methods: fifty Iraqi RA patients(36 females and 14 males) compared with 50 control( 25 healthy control and 25 case control (patients with RA on other treatment) ) were included in this study from begging of March 201

Serum samples were obtained from patients suffering from chronic Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) disease. They were divided into three groups; 20 patients with RA taking biological treatment Etanercept (Enbrel), 20 patients with RA not taking biological treatment (disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug) and 10 people as healthy control group. The ages of these patients and control group were between 46-50 years old; one male and 19 female in each group. The samples were used for measuring the levels of Interleukin (IL)-1 Beta and Interleukin-10 using the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay technique. Both interleukins were at their highest levels in the group of RA patients treated with biological treatment followed by the RA patients group that

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity plays a central role in causing disability both directly and via indirect effects mediated through joint damage. Evaluation of RA disease activity is therefore important to predict the outcome and effectiveness of therapeutic interventions during follow-up. Clinical disease activity index (CDAI) is new simple tool for measurement of disease activity.
Objectives: To assess validity and reliability of CDAI in comparison to disease activity score-28 joints (DAS28) in Iraqi patients with active RA.
Patients and Methods: Sixty nine Iraqi RA patients were included in this study. All patients were fulfilling the ACR classification criteria and active. Full history was taken and comple

            Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systematic autoimmune disorder with chronic inflammation changes of unknown etiology. Various synovial inflammatory and proliferative alterations may contribute to the cartilaginous tissues and invasive bony tissues, leading to destructive joints and malformed bones. This disease is mostly due to infective microorganisms or genetic susceptibility causing immune system disturbances through triggering both T-cells and B-cells. Furthermore, different immune cells may secret cytokines, which are responsible for some RA pathogenesis activity. From ninety individuals, serum sample was collected; thirty of them were normal and sixty cases were patients with RA attended a privet medical clin

The current study included the collection of 175 samples of blood (Urea-blood) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis from Al–Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital, Baghdad Teaching Hospital and Al-Imamian Al-Kadhimyain Medical City in Baghdad from both sexes with different ages at the period between 1/10/2016-1/2/2017. Bacterial growth results showed that 80% of urea for bacterial transplantation were positive results, while the number of samples showing no bacterial growth was 20%. The bacterial isolation evaluate for morphological testes and biochemical microscopy, as well as identification by Api system. The highest frequency of inflectional bacteria was E. coli (41.97%), followed by E. cloacae (21.25%), P. aeruginosa (12.5%), Salmonella (10%), K

Collagen triple helix repeat containing-1 (CTHRC1) is an essential marker for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), but its relationship with pro-inflammatory, anti-inflammatory, and inflammatory markers has been scantily covered in extant literature. To evaluate the level of CTHRC1 protein in the sera of 100 RA patients and 25 control and compare levels of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 10 (IL-10), RA disease activity (DAS28), and inflammatory factors. Higher significant serum levels of CTHRC1 (29.367 ng/ml), TNF-α (63.488 pg/ml), and IL-10 (67.1 pg/ml) were found in patient sera as compared to that in control sera (CTHRC1 = 15.732 ng/ml, TNF-α = 33.788 pg/ml, and IL-10 = 25.122 pg/ml). There was no significant correlation be

The relation between anemia and inflammatory immune response has lately had much attention. This research was conducted from October 2018 until April 2019, including  (110) children below 12 years from both gender in some Hospitals, Primary Health care centers, Public Primary Schools and Kindergarten in Baghdad, Iraq. The objective of this study is to determine the possible correlation between iron deficiency anemia and inflammatory immune response  among children infected with Entamoeba  histolytica or Giardia  lamblia. Blood samples were taken from all groups to measure  hemoglobin level, serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and mean corpuscular  hemoglobin concentration

The clinical spectrum of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), an intracellular parasitic pathogen, ranges from a single sore healing to chronic crusty lesions with a manifestation of treatment resistance. The complicated interaction between Leishmania bodies and the early immune response, including innate and adaptive mechanisms, determines the evolution of nodules. This study examined the levels of the chemoattractant interleukin 8 (IL-8), pro-inflammatory nitric oxide (NO), and immunoregulatory macrophage inhibitory factor (MIF) in the serum of subjects recently diagnosed with cutaneous leishmaniasis, in parallel with patients being monitored during consecutive sodium stibogluconate (Pentostam) treatment. A total of 161 serum samples of newly di