Background: Acute appendicitis is a common surgical
problem that is associated with an acute-phase reaction.
Previous studies have shown that cytokines and acutephase proteins are activated and may serve as indicators for
appendicitis.
Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate of serum
levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in correlation to the severity
to acute appendicitis.
Methods: This is a prospective study from December 2008
to March 2009 of patients who had appendectomy in
Department of Surgery, Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital -
Baghdad/Iraq. Serum for estimating levels of interleukin-6
(IL-6) was taken pre-operatively. Depending on the
macroscopic evidence during the operation and the
histopathol

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurodegenerative autoimmune disease mediated by autoreactive T cells against myelin-basic proteins. Cytokines are suggested to play a role in the etiopathogenesis of the disease. Among these cytokines is interleukin-2 (IL-2). Aim of the study: To investigate the association between IL2+166 G/T single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP: rs2069763) and MS in Iraqi patients. Serum level of IL-2 was also detected. Anti-rubella IgG antibody was further determined in the sera of patients. Patients and methods: Eighty MS patients (28 males and 52 females; age mean ± SD: 39.2 ± 16.1 years) and 80 healthy control matched patients for age (32.15 ± 16.13 years) and gender (28 males and 52 females) were en

Interleukin-1 β (IL-1 β) is considered to be one of the most important mediators in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases, particularly in neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized with demyelination in central nervous system (CNS). There was believe that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL-1β gene can alter the structure and function of the IL-1β and consequently may have play role in MS disease. In this this study the IL-1β gene polymorphism (rs16944, rs1143634) and their association with MS in Iraqi patients were investigated. Two SNPs including IL-1β-511 (rs16944) in promoter and IL-1B+3962 (rs1143634) in encoding region, were studied using Polyme

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the association between polymorphisms in the promoter region of the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) gene at locations -308G/A, -857C/T, and -863C/A with the tendency of being non-responder to etanercept.

Patients and methods: Between October 2020 and August 2021, a total of 80 patients (10 males, 70 females; mean age: 50 years; range, 30 to 72 years) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving etanercept for at least six months were included. The patients were divided into two groups responders and non-responders, based on their response after six months of continuous treatment. Following polymerase chain reac

Background: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukins play important roles in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Genetic research has been employed to find many of the missing connections between genetic risk variations and causal genetic components. Objective: The goal of this study is to look at the genetic variations of TNF-α and interleukins in Iraqi RA patients and see how they relate to disease severity or response to biological therapy. Method: Using specific keywords, the authors conducted a systematic and comprehensive search to identify relevant Iraqi studies examining the genetic variations of TNF-α and interleukins in Iraqi RA patients and how they relate to disease severity or response to biolo

Reactive arthritis (ReA) has been as joint developing after infection, it belongs to spongylo arthritis (SpA). The etiology of this disease was multi factorial, the combination between genetic and environmental factors for triggering this disease. This study included 75 Iraqi Arab patients and 39 healthy control. Urine samples and blood were collected from each subject. The results showed that Escherichia coli bacteria (E. coli) was isolated from 32% of urine samples. HLA-B*27 allele frequencies was higher in ReA patients infected with E. coli. This lead to suggest that E. coli may be trigger factor in ReA patients with UTI which had HLA-B*27 positive.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) represents a group of multifactorial autoinflammatory arthritis diseases. A dysregulated production of pro-inflammatory cytokines is proposed to have a role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is one of these pro-inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, this study aimed to define the role of IL-18 in the pathogenesis of JIA. Accordingly, the serum level of IL-18 was determined in 59 Iraqi JIA patients and 58 matched controls. The results revealed a significantly increased median of IL-18 in the patients as compared to the control. A similar increased level was observed in subgroups of patients characterized according to gender, seropositivity for C-reactive protein and rheumatoid facto

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune diseasecharacterized by chronic inflammationthat affects joints and cartilage. Bone complications such asRA-relatedosteoporosis are one of the most extra-articular manifestations. Many inflammatory mediators are released during RA disease pathophysiology; these mediators stimulate osteoclast genesis of bone by direct effects on RANKL and OPG. The study aimedto measure RANKL, OPG in RA patients treated with Etanercept only and other groups treated with Methotrexate onlyat baseline and after three months to evaluate bone state. An observational case-control prospective study was done on 30 RA patients who received MTX, 30 RA patients who received ETN, and 30 healthy,age-matched control groups. The

 The objective of this study is to evaluate plasma levels of total Sialic acid TSA and Lipid –associated Sialic acid LSA as a marker of Rheumatoid Arthritis AR. Plasma Sialic acid is known as a parameter of inflammation. In the present study, in order to explore the potential role of sialic acid in arthritis rheumatoid, plasma sialic acid levels, plasma LSA and total protein in patients with arthritis rheumatoid were measured. A total 40 patients were compared with 40 healthy control subjects. Plasma TSA, LSA and TP level were determined spectrophotometrically in plasma samples. Plasma Sialic acid levels were significantly increased in RA (88.48±14.15 mg/dl, P<0.05) and LSA level were significantly increased in RA (26.3

Background: Despite the importance of vaccines in preventing COVID-19, the willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccines is lower among RA patients than in the general population. Objective: To determine the extent of COVID-19 knowledge among RA patients and their attitudes and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines. Methods: A qualitative study with a phenomenology approach was performed through face-to-face, individual-based, semi-structured interviews in the Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, rheumatology unit. A convenient sample of RA patients using disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs was included until the point of saturation. A thematic content analysis approach was used to analyze the obtained data. Results: Twenty-five RA pa