Introduction and Aim: The pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-39, a member of the IL-12 family plays a key role in the inflammatory response by modulating immune cell activity and inflammation. A literature search shows no study undertaken for the effect of IL-39's on arthritis so far. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the role of IL-39 in rheumatoid arthritis. Materials and Methods: This study involved 80 patients with rheumatoid arthritis registered at the Rheumatology Clinic at Baghdad teaching hospital. The patients were divided into three groups based on treatments received. Group 1 included patients who were not on any treatment for arthritis, Group 2 with patients on hydroxychloroquine and or prednisone treatment,

            Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic parasite in immune-compromised persons. The prevalence of toxoplasmosis in psoriasis patients is investigated. In addition, the treatment effect on psoriasis patients infected with toxoplasmosis through evaluating Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) cytokine levels is studied. Blood samples were collected from 130 individuals who involved 60 control samples and 70 samples with psoriasis. They attended Medical City Hospital in Baghdad province from October 2017 - February 2018. Then, the anti- T. gondii antibodies (IgM and IgG) and TNF- α in the sera were determined via the enzyme linked immune-sorbent assay. The highe

Type-1 diabetes is defined as destruction of pancreatic beta cell, virus and bacteria are some environmental factor for this disease. The study included 25 patients with type-1 diabetes mellitus aged between 8 – 25 years from Baghdad hospital and 20 healthy persons as control group. Anti-rubella IgG and IgM, anti-Chlamydia pneumonia IgG and IgM were measured by ELISA technique while anti-CMV antibody were measured by immunofluorescence technique. The aim of current study was to know the trigger factor for type-1 diabetes. There were significant differences (P<0.05) between studied groups according to parameters and the results lead to suggest that Chlamydia pneumonia, CMV and rubella virus may trigger type-1 diabetes mellitus in Iraqi pat

Introduction and Aim: Forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) are the key regulators controlling the activity of Treg cells, which are crucial for maintaining immune tolerance and reducing autoimmune reactions. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential utility of elevated levels of FOXP3 and IL-10 gene expression as a diagnostic indicator in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).   Materials and Methods: The study used quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to examine the expression levels of FOXP3 and IL-10 transcripts in whole blood samples from Iraqi patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A group of healthy control subjects were also included in the study.   Results: In blood samples taken fr

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with decreased antioxidant state .This study aim to investigate the status of oxidant/antioxidant in a sample of  Iraqi patients with RA and the role of peroxynitrite and its natural scavenger uric acid in them .This case-controlled study was conducted at Baghdad teaching hospital /Baghdad from December 2010-May 2011 . Twenty-five patients with mean age 39 years and 25 apparently healthy subject as controls with mean age 29 years were included in the study .Investigations include estimation of serum levels of nitric oxide (NO)  ,peroxynitrite (PN) , malondialdehyde (MDA)  , and uric acid (UA) .Serum PN levels were significantly elevated in RA patients a

     Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflamed chronic autoimmune disease in which genetics and environment are the most common causative factors. Peptidyl arginine deiminase type IV (PADI4) is an enzyme responsible for the posttranslational conversion of arginine residues into citrulline. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is a specific technique was used to determine gene polymorphism. One hundred twenty three patients molecularly confirmed with RA and sixty healthy control subjects were recruited. By applying the logistic regression analysis, some alleles and genotypes were associated with susceptibility to RA. Under the allelic model, C allele frequency was significantly increased in RA patients compared

The current work aims to evaluate the association between genetic mutations in thymidylate synthetase (TYMS gene in exon1 and partial regions of promotor and intron 1 [877 bp, 657,220–658,096 bp]) and the therapeutic outcomes for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) Iraqi patients. An observational cross-sectional study involving 95 RA patients with established RA patients based on their methotrexate treatment responsiveness. Genetic sequencing of the TYMS gene was performed for all patients according to the instruction manuals of the sequencing company (Macrogen Inc. Geumchen, South Korea). Four polymorphisms were identified by sequencing 95 randomly selected patients in the noncoding region of TYMS

Reactive arthritis (ReA) is an incendiary joint inflammation that occurs few days to weeks after a gastrointestinal or genitourinary infection. The etiology of the disease is not well-known. Therefore, the present study included 80 females and 25 males, divided into 51 patients with reactive arthritis and 54 healthy individuals as control group.  The study involved the detection of serum levels of anti-rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP) as well as those of CRP and C3 in all subjects. In addition, EBV levels were detected by Real Time-PCR technique. The results showed significantly increased levels (P < 0.05) of CRP, C3 and anti-CCP Ab in ReA patients’ group compared to th