Background: Rituximab is a chimeric IgG1 kappa immunoglobulin that has been genetically modified to incorporate human constant region sequences together with murine light- and heavy-chain variable region sequences. People use it to treat rheumatoid arthritis and certain malignancies. Objective: The study aimed to assess the potential association between the serum levels of Factor I, CD59, interleukins (IL)-6, and interferon-gamma (IFN)-γ and the response to Rituximab treatment in Iraqi rheumatoid arthritis patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the rheumatology center at Baghdad Teaching Hospital. Ninety adult patients who have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and are receiving Rituximab intravenous infusions were included. The enrolled patients were divided into a responder group (45 patients) and a non-responder group (45 patients). The response to Rituximab was assessed according to the 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28). Results: The serum levels of Factor I and CD59 were significantly higher in the non-responders group in comparison to the responders group. In addition, the serum IL-6 and IFN-γ levels were significantly elevated in the non-responders group in comparison to the responders group. The estimated marker serum levels showed a strong, significant correlation with the 6-month change in DAS28. Conclusions: In Rituximab nonresponder RA patients, serum levels of Factor I, CD59, Factor H, IL-6, and IFN-γ are higher, and they have good potential to be used in the assessment of the response to Rituximab therapy.
Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder categorized hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. Protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of phosphate groups from ATP to the tyrosine residues of many important proteins resulting in proteins phosphorylation. The aim of current study was to evaluate serum levels of protein tyrosine kinase enzyme and thyroid hormone (T3, T4and TSH) and to find the correlation between them in type 2 diabetes mellitus and diabetic nephropathy Iraqi patients. Methods: This study was conducted at The National Diabetes Center, Al-Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, Iraq and included 150 patients divided into three groups the first group included 50
... Show MoreBackground: Osteoporosis (OP) is a systemic disease characterized by low bone mass and micro architectural deterioration of bone tissue, resulting in an increased risk of fractures and has touched rampant proportions. Osteocalcin, one of the osteoblast-specific proteins, showed that its functions as a hormone improves glucose metabolism and reduces fat mass ratio. This study is aimed to estimate the osteocalcin and glucose level in blood serum of osteoporotic postmenopausal Women with and without Type 2 Diabetes.Materials and methods: 60 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis divided into two groups depending on with or without T2DM, 30 patients for each. Serum samples of 30 healthy postmenopausal women were collected as control group. Ost
... Show MoreTo investigate the effects of losartan and enalapril on serum uric acid in hypertensive patients with metabolic syndrome, one hundred and twenty six newly diagnosed mild hypertensive patients, having markers of metabolic syndrome included in the study. The patients were divided into two groups. Group 1 (60 patients) was given losartan (50 mg/ day) and group 2 (66 patients) enalapril (20 mg/ day) for a duration of 2 months. A control group of seventy apparently healthy individuals were included. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed according to diagnostic criteria of metabolic syndrome related to the American National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III. Serum uric acid levels were measured bef
... Show MoreThis study was carried out to describe the gene expression of the micro RNA 122a gene with the development of diabetes in Iraq. The difference in gene expression between patients and healthy controls was properly considered. In this study, blood was isolated from 121 individuals divided into two groups as follows: 80 samples of diabetic patients and 41 samples from a healthy control. miRNA was isolated and transformed into cDNA, and the expression of mi122a was measured by qRT-PCR. The researchers looked at the relationship between age and gender and the occurrence of diabetes, as well as how they compared to controls. When comparing the mean gene expression level (Ct) of patient groups to the corresponding Ct means in the control group, th
... Show MoreEndothelin-I (ET-I) is one of the potent vasoconstrictors secreted from endothelial cells when needed. Many studies revealed the elevation of serum ET-I with human diabetes and microangiopathies. Since insulin resistance is a case of mixed diabetic and pre-diabetic cases, many risk factors beyond obesity and inflammation are proposed. The current study aims to demonstrate the association between serum ET-I and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Sera of 73 subjects were enrolled currently (control= 35 subjects, and 38 with T2DM for more than 7 years), aged (40-60) years old, with distinct body mass index (BMI) ≤ 25 for control volunteers and (BMI) ≥ 25 for obesity and diabetes
... Show MoreType 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease with chronic nature resulting from a combination of both factors genetic and environmental. The genetic contributors of T1D among Iraqis are unexplored enough. The study aimed to shed a light on the contribution between genetic variation of interleukin2 (IL2) gene to T1D as a risk influencer in a sample of Iraqi patients. The association between IL2−330 polymorphism (rs2069762) was investigated in 322 Iraqis (78 T1D patients and 244 volunteers as controls). Genotyping for the haplotypes using polymerase chain reaction test – specific sequence primer (PCR-SSP) for (GG, GT, and TT) genotypes corresponding to (G and T) alleles were performed. A significant association revealed a decreased freq
... Show MoreThis study is carried out on patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus to assess the lipid profile, malondialdehyde and glutathione. Our study is concerned with 51 (Iraqi Arab females) patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus compared with 31 control subjects unified in age, sex and ethnic background. Lipid profile is measured by using commercially available kits, while the serum MDA and glutathione levels are measured by means of sandwich ELISA test using commercially available kits. Serum MDA is significantly higher (P<0.001) while glutathione is significantly lower (P<0.001) in type 2 diabetic patients when compared to the control. The normal levels of MDA (3.82 ± 0.77n mol/ml) and GSH (2.23 ± 0.54 µg/ml) recorded for the non-diabetic female
... Show MoreBackground: the activity of acute lymphoblastic leukemia had been observed to correlate with levels of serum lipoproteins
Objective: to evaluate the correlation of serum levels of different types of lipoproteins with activity of the disease in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Type of the study: A prospective study.
Methods: A study included patients diagnosed as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, their serum levels of lipoproteins at time of diagnosis, and on relapse were obtained for comparison.
Results: there is significant inverse correlation of activity of acute lymphoblastic leukemia with serum total cholesterol
... Show MoreInterleukin-6 (IL-6) is a proinflammatory cytokine implicated in the immunopathogenesis of tuberculosis (TB). TB is recognized worldwide as an important public health issue. To study the relationship between the age of patients with pulmonary TB and serum IL-6 levels, from the other hand, the severity of this disease with IL-6 levels. This study included 30 patients (16 female and 14 male) with pulmonary TB and 10 healthy persons (5 female and 5 male) as control group for comparison. An ELISA assay was used to quantify IL-6 in the sera. The results showed a significant increase of IL-6 levels with increase of age of patients, in (23-38) year old patients the IL-6 levels (median= 17.9 pg/ml, range 12.3-29.1), while in (50-70) year old patien
... Show MoreChronic inflammation can induce proliferative events and posttranslational DNA modifications in prostate tissue through oxidative stress. The present study was designed to evaluate the changes in serum levels of TNF-α, malomdialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant status (TAS) patients with different stages of malignant prostatic cancer (PCa) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). One hundred males (age range of 58-72 years) with different stages of malignant PCa were recruited from the Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine Teaching Hospital in Baghdad during the period from September 2010 to April 2011. The patients were categorized according to the 4 disease stages (I, II, III, and IV); 25 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)
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