Cytokines are signaling molecules between inflammatory cells that play a significant role in the pathogenesis of a disease. Among these cytokines are interleukins (ILs) 17A and 33, and accordingly, the current case-control study sought to investigate the role of each of the two cytokines in the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). Sixty-eight relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) Iraqi patients and twenty healthy individuals (control group) were enrolled. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were used to determine serum levels of IL-17A and IL-33. Results revealed that IL-17A and IL-33 levels were significantly higher in MS patients than in controls (14.1 ± 4.5 vs. 7.5 ± 3.8 pg/mL; p < 0.001 and 65.3 ± 16.3 vs. 49.3 ± 20.0 pg/mL; p < 0.001, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis demonstrated that IL-17A was a very good predictor of MS (area under curve [AUC] = 0.869; 95% CI = 0.779 - 0.960; p < 0.001; cut-off value = 10.2 pg/mL; sensitivity = 80.8%; specificity = 75.0%). A similar prediction was presented by IL-33, but the AUC value was lower (AUC = 0.762; 95% CI = 0.63 - 0.89; p < 0.001; cut-off value = 56.4 pg/mL; sensitivity = 70.6%; specificity = 70.0%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis confirmed the significance of IL-17A and IL-33 in MS risk, and under three models of analysis, the estimated odds ratios for IL-17A (1.50, 1.49 and 1.50, respectively) and IL-33 (1.05, 1.05 and 1.06) were above 1.0. Patients stratified by gender (male and female), expanded disability status scale (EDSS: < 3 and ≥ 3) or medication (pre- and post-medication) showed no significant differences in serum levels of IL-17A and IL-33 for each stratum. However, with regard to response to medication, it was found that responding patients showed significantly higher levels of IL-33 than non-responders (70.9 ± 12.2 vs. 57.2 ± 18.2 pg/mL; p = 0.018). This difference was not observed when considering IL-17A. Pearson correlation analysis between IL-17A and IL-33 revealed that both cytokines were not significantly correlated. In conclusion, the study indicated that IL-17A and IL-33 were up-regulated in serum of MS patients, and this up-regulation was not influenced by age, gender, EDSS or medication status, but the elevated level of IL-33 was more pronounced in patients who responded to medication.
Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) affecting young adults and is considered as the leading cause of non traumatic neurological disability of young adults affecting nearly 2 million people worldwide. The pathogenesis of MS is at best incompletely understood. There are several proposed mechanisms that may be important in the production of MS plaques: autoimmunity, environment and heredity. Deviation of immune responses in a genetically susceptible patient plays a central role in its pathogenesis. Electrophysiological, spinal tap and Radiological tools are important laboratory investigations and have added so much to the clinical diagnosis and for the classification of
... Show MoreMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a neuro-inflammatory disorder in which the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is proposed to have a pathogenic role. Therefore, a case-control study was performed (93 patients with relapsing-remitting MS and 113 healthy controls (HC) to analyze the prevalence and viral load of EBV infection using real time-polymerase chain reaction. Prevalence of EBV infection was lower in patients compared to HC but the difference was not significant (12.9 vs. 21.2%; probability [p] = 0.187). EBV-positive MS cases were more common in females than in males (83.3 vs. 16.7%), while an opposite distribution was observed in HC (37.5 vs. 62.5%), and the difference was significant (p = 0.041). Blood group O frequency was higher in EBV-p
... Show MoreMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory, immune mediated disease of the central nervous system, mostly affecting young adults with mean age of 30 years, twice as high in women compared to men. The etiology of MS is not fully elucidated. MS symptoms are directly related to demyelination and axonal loss, along with other psychological symptoms, can result in functional limitations, disability and reduced quality of life (QoL). The QoL assessments in patients with a chronic disease may contribute to improving treatment and could even be of prognostic value. The goals of this study were to compare the QoL of Iraqi patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS),using three different diseas
... Show MoreBackground: The prevalence of spinal cord lesions is high in multiple sclerosis particularly in the cervical cord, and their detection can assist in both the diagnosis and follow-up of the patients. For spinal multiple sclerosis, MRI is considered the first line investigation.
Objective: To evaluate the value of sagittal 1.5 Tesla proton density-fast spin echo (PD-FSE) MRI in the detecting and increasing conspicuity of multiple sclerosis lesions in cervical cord in comparison with sagittal T2 fast spin-echo (T2-FSE) MRI.
Patients and Methods: A cross sectional study carried out from 3rd of January 2017 to 1st of January 2018 in the MRI department of
... Show More
|
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a progressive neurological disease characterized by periods of quiescence and exacerbation, epidemiological data suggest the notion that MS is an acquired autoimmune disease caused by environmental factors, probably infectious, in genetically susceptible individuals.The submitted research was attempted to study the possible viral (Paramyxoviruses) role in MS, the sera of 57 MS patients were assayed for anti-measles and anti-mumps IgG antibodies using ELISA technique, the results were compared in order to establish the presence or absence of a significant difference regarding both number of positive cases and antibodies titer between the two groups, the results revealed that there is no in number of measles posit
... Show MoreBackground: Hyperthyroidism refers to overactive of thyroid gland leading to excessive synthesis of thyroid hormones and accelerated metabolism in the peripheral tissue.
Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate a new member of the IL-1 super family of cytokines interleukin-33(IL-33) levels in serum .in order to evaluate its utility as clinical bio marker of autoimmune disease (i.e. hyperthyroidism)
Methods: The present study was conducted on 30 patients from the Iraqi female patients with hyperthyroidism attending Baghdad teaching hospital, in addition to 30 healthy controls. All subjects were (35-65) years old. Parameters measured in the sera of patients and healthy groups, were interleukin -33 (IL-33), Thyroxin (T4), Thyro
Background:
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease believed to be the result of autoimmune disorders of the central nervous system, characterised by inflammation, demyelination, and axonal transection, affecting primarily young adults. Disease modifying therapies have become widely used, and the rapid development of these drugs highlighted the need to update our knowledge on their short- and long-term safety profile.
Objective:
The study aim is to evaluate the impact of disease-modifying treatments on thyroid functions and thyroid autoantibodies with subsequent effects on the outcome of the disease.
Materials and Methods:
A retro prospective study
... Show MoreBackground: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the increasing prevalent neurologic disorders. Epidemiologic and family studies implicate genetic and environmental factors in determining
susceptibility to MS. The exact effect of the former is intended for investigation in our study.
Objectives: The objective of the study is to compare the demographic features, clinical presenting features, and clinical course between familial and sporadic cases of MS.
Materials and Methods: this is a retrospective cohort study conducted in Multiple Sclerosis Center in the Medical City in Baghdad. The records of the MS center in Baghdad Teaching Hospital were surveyed, and data from 13 patients with positive family history of MS