International Journal of Inflammation

Immune system disorders and increased inflammation in the male reproductive system can lead to fetal risk in the early stages of development and implantation. Antioxidants such as vitamin C can play a protective role against sperm inflammatory reactions. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of vitamin C on the expression of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine genes in the male partners of couples with recurrent pregnancy loss. In this randomized clinical trial, twenty male partners of couples with RPL were examined for sperm parameters and expression profile of some inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine genes before and after treatment with vitamin C...

Introduction: Recurrent extreme hyperferritinemia (ferritin >10,000 ng/mL) was noted in 4 critically ill adolescents prior to death, though this association has not previously been described. Methods: A retrospective review of the medical records of 4 critically ill adolescents with recurrent extreme hyperferritinemia and systemic inflammation was performed to identify additional common epidemiologic factors. Results: Systemic inflammation was characterized as cytokine storm syndrome in 2 patients and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in 2 patients...

Background: People receiving hemodialysis (HD) treatment have higher cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, ascribed to an increased prevalence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors. However, the role of nontraditional risk factors, such as inflammation, has become increasingly recognized. The origin of this inflammation remains elusive and one putative cause is elevated levels of circulating bacterial endotoxin. Methods: In this study, serum concentrations of endotoxin and inflammatory biomarkers, including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 β (IL1 β ), ferritin and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), were measured in 30 adults receiving HD and 10 healthy individuals without kidney disease...

AIRmax and AIRmin mice strains were selected according to the intensity of their acute inflammatory responsiveness. Previous studies have shown that AIR mice differ in their resistance to chemically induced skin tumors and in the development of melanoma metastases, in addition to differences in neutrophil and NK cells activity. In the present work, we aimed to evaluate whether the difference of susceptibility to murine melanoma is associated with NK cytotoxic activity against Yac.1 cells and lymphocyte subsets...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a critical role in innate immune system responses to damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). A growing body of evidence suggests that excessive TLR-mediated innate immune system activation can lead to neuronal damage and precipitate or perpetuate neurodegenerative diseases. Among TLR subtypes, both TLR2 and TLR9 have been implicated in neurodegenerative disorders with increased expression of these receptors in the central nervous system being associated with pro-inflammatory signaling and increased burdens of pathologic aggregated proteins...

Virtually any stressor that alters the cellular homeostatic state may result in an inflammatory response. As a critical component of innate immunity, inflammasomes play a prominent role in the inflammatory response. The information on inflammasome biology is rapidly growing, thus creating the need for structuring it into a model that can help visualize and enhance the understanding of underlying biological processes. Causal biological network (CBN) models provide predictive power for novel disease mechanisms and treatment outcomes...

Bergapten, a furocoumarin found in many medicinal plants, is used for the management of various conditions. The present in vitro study evaluated the ability of bergapten to prevent human erythrocyte hemolysis and protein denaturation. Bergapten administered at 10, 30, and 100  μ g/ml exhibited a significant concentration-dependent protection on the erythrocyte membrane exposed to hypotonicity and heat-induced hemolysis. The concentration at which bergapten inhibited 50% of the cells from hemolysis (IC50 ) was determined on a dose-response curve, plotted as logarithmic (concentration) against percentage inhibition, keeping the hemolysis produced within the control group at 100%...

This study aims at evaluating the ameliorative role of Terminalia catappa aqueous leaf extract (TCA) on hyperglycaemia-induced oxidative stress and inflammation in a high-fat, low dose streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rat model. Experimental rats were treated orally with 400 and 800 mg/kg bw TCA daily for four weeks. Antioxidant enzyme activities, plasma glucose concentration, protein concentration, oxidative stress, and inflammation biomarkers were assayed using standard methods. Hepatic relative expressions of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF- α ), interleukin-six (IL-6), and nuclear factor-erythroid 2 related factor 2 (Nrf-2) were also assessed...

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a malignancy derived from the glandular epithelial cells in the colon. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are more likely to develop CRC. Cancer proliferation is characterized by the loss of inhibition of apoptosis, which involves caspase-3 activation. This study examined the effects of the pomegranate peel extract on the expression of caspase-3 in mice crypt cells induced by dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) 2%. Methods: The experimental study was done in six groups...

Inflammation is associated with the development of several cancers, including breast cancer. However, the molecular mechanisms driving breast cancer initiation or enhancement by inflammation are yet to be deciphered. Hence, we opted to investigate the role of inflammation in initiating and enhancing tumor-like phenotypes in nontumorigenic, pretumorigenic, and tumorigenic breast epithelial cells. Noncytotoxic endotoxin (ET) concentrations capable of inducing an inflammatory phenotype were determined for the different cell lines...

Understanding immunoregulation in newborns can help to determine the pathophysiology of neonatal sepsis and will contribute to improve the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment and remains an urgent and unmet medical need to understand hyperinflammation or hypoinflammation associated with sepsis in newborns. This study included infants (up to 4 days old). The "sepsis" criteria was a positive blood culture. C-reactive protein demonstrates a strong dependence on the pathogen etiology. Therefore, its diagnostic odds ratio in Gram-positive bacteremia was 2...

Known as a degenerative joint disorder of advanced age affecting predominantly females, osteoarthritis can develop in younger and actively working people because of activities involving loading and injuries of joints. Collagenase-induced osteoarthritis (CIOA) in a mouse model allowed us to investigate for the first time its effects on key cytoskeletal structures (meiotic spindles and actin distribution) of ovulated mouse oocytes. Their meiotic spindles, actin caps, and chromatin were analyzed by immunofluorescence...

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a disease with an unknown etiology mainly characterized by a progressive decline of lung function due to the scarring of the tissue deep in the lungs. The overall survival after diagnosis remains low between 3 and 5 years. IPF is a heterogeneous disease and much progress has been made in the past decade in understanding the disease mechanisms that contributed to the development of two new drugs, pirfenidone and nintedanib, which improved the therapeutic management of the disease...

It has been postulated that the immune system is impaired in individuals with endometriosis, with attention directed to natural killer (NK) cells. Specifically, it has been hypothesized that altered numbers of peripheral NK cells in blood are associated with the presence of endometriotic lesions. This study aimed to evaluate the level of the peripheral NK cell surface marker CD107a in endometriosis in the presence of IL-2 stimulation. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were obtained from 7 women with endometriosis and 7 women without endometriosis...

Xanthine oxidase (XO) is an enzyme that catalyzes the production of uric acid and superoxide radicals from purine bases: hypoxanthine and xanthine and is also expressed in respiratory epithelial cells. Uric acid, which is also considered a danger associated molecule pattern (DAMP), could trigger a series of inflammatory responses by activating the inflammasome complex path and NF- κ B within the endothelial cells and by inducing proinflammatory cytokine release. Concurrently, XO also converts the superoxide radicals into hydroxyl radicals that further induce inflammatory responses...

Background: The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been increasing rapidly. This disease causes an increase in proinflammatory cytokine production that leads to cytokine storm or cytokine release syndrome (CRS). Autologous activated platelet-rich plasma (aaPRP) contains various types of growth factors and anti-inflammatory cytokines that may have the potential to suppress CRS. This study of phase I/II trial was aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of aaPRP to treat severe COVID-19 patients...

Background: The Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) and the Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR) are inflammatory biomarkers for several diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular morbidities; however, there are currently few studies on kidney diseases. We aimed to evaluate nondialysis patients and determine the association of NLR and PLR with inflammation in these patients. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted with 85 patients at different stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD), treated at the Kidney Disease Prevention Center of the University Hospital of the Federal University of Maranhão...

Psoriasis is an inflammatory, autoimmune disease that affects approximately 2% of the population. The inflammation in psoriasis can be systemic, so despite a predominantly cutaneous manifestation, it also affects the internal organs. The diagnosis and monitoring of the disease are based on the clinical picture. To assess the disorders of other organs, additional tests need to be performed. Recently, the examination of blood morphology has been enriched with modern haematological parameters, i.e., Extended Inflammation Parameters (EIP), which include RE-LYMPH (activated lymphocytes), AS-LYMPH (antibody-producing B lymphocytes), and NEUT-RI and NEUT-GI (activated neutrophils)...

Background: There is strong evidence to suggest that the negative influence of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRLs) on atherosclerosis development and progression is at least partially mediated by their proinflammatory effects. However, the effect of hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) on the subpopulation composition of circulating neutrophils has not been studied so far. The aim of this study was to examine correlations between the level of triglycerides (TGs) and the subpopulation composition of circulating neutrophils in middle-aged patients with dyslipidemia without established atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVDs)...

Objective: This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of ozonated Aloe vera oil on the wound healing response of full-thickness defect tissue in Sprague-Dawley rats, assessed by collagen thickness and the number of fibroblasts. Methods: This was an experimental research method using control groups and treatment groups with a posttest only control group design. The results showed that collagen thickness in wounds tended to increase, assessed on day 3 and day 7 using Masson's trichrome staining and microscopic evaluation...