Iranian Journal of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
Volume:9 Issue: 2, Jun 2010

IL-22 is a member of IL-10 cytokine family which is believed to play an important role ininflammatory responses. IL-22 has similarities with IL-10 including conserved sequenceswith IL-10. IL-22 receptor is also comprised of two chains known as L-22R1 and L-10R2;supporting the speculation that the two cytokines may have similar effects.The aim of this study was to shed some light on the biological activity of IL-22 upon thecord blood CD4+CD25- T cells. In this research, cord blood T CD4+CD25- cells werecultured in presence of anti CD2/CD3/CD28 coated beads, IL-2 and IL-22 for two weeksat 37 oC and 5% CO2. Flow cytometry analysis showed that IL-22 has no effect upon D25and Foxp3 expression.Also, the results indicated that IL-22 is not involved in CD4+ T cell proliferation.Moreover, the results of suppression assay did not show any suppression effect on thecultured T cells. Thus, it seems that umbilical cord blood T cells probably do not express IL-22R1 on their surface.

Hematopoietic cord blood (CB) stem cell transplantation has more advantages to othercell sources because of lower Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD). Interleukin-15(IL-15) isan immunoregulatory cytokine, known to enhance cytolytic function of cord Natural Killer(NK) cells. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of IL-15 on NK cytotoxicitysimultaneously in different cell death stages.We compared the ability of IL-15 to enhance the NK cytotoxicity of CB in comparisonto adult blood Mononuclear Cells (MNCs) against K562 target cells by co-staining withAnnexinV-FITC and Propidium Iodide after 3.5 h incubation at 37C and 5% CO2 by usingflow cytometric method. We also evaluated phenotypic changes after treatment by IL-15 inboth cell sources.Our results indicated that CB samples had lower level of apoptosis, while necrosis wasnegligible; also by escalating Effector: Target (E: T), we got higher level of apoptosis andnecrosis in peripheral blood (PB). NK activity of cord and adult MNCs was enhanced byincubation with IL-15 (10 ng/ml) for 72 h with significantly higher results of PB incomparison to CB (p<0.0001). Moreover, IL-15 increased the percentage of CD3-/CD56+and CD25+ cells after 72 h incubation. Results showed incubation with human recombinant(hr) IL-15 for 3 days increased NK activity.Taken together, these results indicated that NK cytotoxicity of CB MNCs could beaugmented by human recombinant (hr) IL-15, but this activity did not reach to same level ofPB counterparts.We established that CD25 expression on CB MNCs could be increased with IL-15, in72-hour cultures, but to a lesser degree compared to that on corresponding adult PB MNCs.

The process of bronchial tissue repair/remodeling depends on balance betweenproduction and degradation achieves the regulation of extracellular matrix turnover. Wedesigned this study to evaluate relation between Transforming Growth Factor β1 (TGFβ1)and Tissue Inhibitory of Metaloproteinase 2 (TIMP2) as two main tissue mediators onactivity and reversibility of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).In a cross sectional study we evaluated TIMP2 and TGFβ1 expression in two groups of29 asthmatic (14 males and 15 females) and 13 male COPD patients using semi-quantitative PCR on induced sputum samples. The relation between TIMP2 and TGFβ1 and PFT indices and disease free period were assessed. The COPD patients with raised expression of both TGFβ1 and TIMP2 had better pulmonary function test (PFT) indices and also longer diseasefree period. In contrast patients with chronic asthma could remain in well pulmonaryfunction status with raised TIMP2 and decreased TGFβ1 expression.We supposed that underlying inflammatory process is the main reason for the differenteffect of cytokines in asthma and COPD. It raises concern about critical role ofcorticosteroids consumption on various cytokines expression. Furthermore TGFβ1 may beserved as a biomarker in sputum for assessing disease activity and evidence based prescribing corticosteroids in patients with COPD and asthma

The importance of Amaranthus retroflexus pollen in causing respiratory allergy has beenwell ascertained in many countries including Iran with a high positive rate (69%) amongIranian allergic patients. The aim of the present study is to identify the allergenic properties of A. retroflexus pollen. Sixteen patients with allergy to A. retroflexus pollen were selected for the study. The antigenic and allergenic profiles of the A. retroflexus ollen extract as well as pollen extracts from other species of the maranthaceae/Chenopodiaceae family, including Chenopodium album, Kochia scoparia, and Salsola kali, were evaluated by ELISA, immunoblotting, and immunoblot inhibition assays.The resolved protein fractions on SDS-PAGE ranged from 10–85 kDa. Several allergeniccomponents (MW 85, 45, 39, 18, 15, and 10 kDa) of the A. retroflexus pollen extract were recognized by using patients'' sera by specific antibody of IgE class using ELISA andimmunoblot assays.The IgE reactivity of the A. retroflexus pollen extract was partially inhibited by all threepollen extracts tested. the inhibition by the S. kali pollen extract was more than those byother pollen extracts. Moreover, the wheal diameters by the A. retroflexus pollen extract were highly correlated with those by C. album, K. scoparia and S. kali pollen extracts.In conclusion, three proteins with apparent MWs of 39, 45, and 66 kDa are suggested asthe common allergenic components among the four pollens from the Amaranthaceae/Chenopodiaceae family. It appears that there are some common (similar)epitopes among the four common allergenic pollens.

The aim of the present study was to characterize allergen-specific immunoglobulin E(IgE) among children in Fez region. Eighty one children were recruited from the HospitalUniversity Center of Fez. All of them had completed a questionnaire before taking sera. The sera were used to measure total IgE and specific data to proteins of egg’s white (EWP), peanuts (PP) and gliadins (G). In last part, we studied the reactivity of specific IgE to native and to heat- and acid-treated allergens.Allergen-specific IgE measurement indicated more positive values for gliadins (46.9% upto 2IU/ml) than egg white’s (29.6%) and peanut’s proteins (22.2%). According to predictive values published by Sampson (2001), 14.3% of children are sensitive to egg white’s proteins, 4.1% to gliadins and 2.7% to peanut’s proteins. The allergenic potential of EWP and gliadins among children were partially diminished by heat and acid treatment.Allergen-specific IgE measurement indicates that children from Fez region are moresensitive to EWP than peanut’s proteins and gliadins. Treatments of these food proteinsindicated that recognition by children IgE can be reduced by thermal or acid treatment ofthese allergens.

Airway mucus hypersecretion and increased oxidative stress are clinical and pathophysiological features of asthma exacerbation. We studied effects of N- cetylcysteine(NAC) as a mucolytic and antioxidant agent in asthma exacerbation. In this randomized, single-blinded, placebo-controlled study 50 patients (17 male, 33 female, mean age 48.94±13.68) with asthma exacerbation were randomized to receive either oral 600 mg b.d. N-acetylcystiene or placebo in addition to standard treatment during 5 dayshospitalization. Daily measurements of wheezing, dyspnea, cough, sputum, expectoration,night sleep scores and morning PEFR were performed.There was no significant difference in wheezing score between patients assigned NACand those assigned placebo in day 5(0.84[SD 0.94] VS 0.87[SD 0.79]) and also in cough score (0.72[SD 0.84] VS 0.79[SD 0.97]), dyspnea score (0.84[SD 1.06] VS 0.91[SD 1.01]), sputum score(0.79[SD 0.83] VS 0.62[SD 0.71]), expectoration score(0.79[SD 0.97] VS 0.83[SD 1.09]), night sleep score(1[SD 1.17] VS 0.67[SD 0.98] and morning PEFR (256[SD 96.36] VS 282[SD 98.86]).We concluded that addition of N-acetylcysteine to usual asthma medication has nosignificant effect in treatment of asthma exacerbation.

Asthma is the major chronic respiratory inflammatory disease in all ages. The validity andpredictability of revised Jones Morbidity Index (JMI) as a simple and practical tool forasthma evaluation morbidity has not yet been tested in Iran. This study aimed to evaluate the predictability and validity of a revised JMI in northern Iran. As a one-year follow up study, 210 adult asthmatic patients were visited in an asthma clinic in the town of Babol (north of Iran) at two stages.At first stage, in addition to demographic information, 3 simple questions of revised JMIwere asked and Pulmonary Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) for each patient was measured.Based on modified JMI, patients were categorized in three groups: Low, Medium, and Highmorbidity. At the second stage, after one year, patients were visited again and in addition to their last year medical records, the same questionnaires were filled. The validity of the index checked by PEFR values at two stages and its predictability was evaluated by morbidity factors during the last year. From hundred and seventy (170) patients who were able to fulfil the second stage of the study, 55 patients (32%) had een categorized as low, 88 patients (52%) as medium, and 27 patients (16%) as high morbidity.The percentages of patients PEFR to the estimated normal values in these threecategories (90.8%, 74.7%, and 55.3% respectively) were significantly different which shows a good correlation between PEFR values and asthma morbidity (p<0.001). The relative risks of high morbidity group for hospitalization from asthma and needing oral steroids during the one year period were 4.1 (CI = 1.27 to 13.1), 1.96 (CI = 0.97 to 3.96) respectively which are significantly higher than the other two categories (P<0.05).Since the modified JMI showed an acceptable validity and predictability in northernpatients of northern Iran, we recommend its use as a simple pragmatic tool for evaluatingasthma morbidity in primary care in this region of Iran.

Airway mucus hypersecretion Health effects caused by air pollutants may range fromsubtle biochemical or physiological signs, such as mildly reduced lung function, to difficultbreathing, wheezing, coughing and exacerbation of existing respiratory conditions such asasthma. The aim of this study was measuring the adverse health effects of air pollution onlung function of primary school students.The lung function of students was measured daily for seven weeks in two elementaryschools in District 12 of Tehran, after obtaining permission from the two principals andsigned parents’ consent forms. Twenty four hourly air pollution levels were used as potential predictors of lung function. The principal analysis conducted was a logistic regression on a subset of the data using a case-crossover design.The outcomes data consisted of the results of lung function tests for 356 female and 206male students over the six-week period. Using the difference between mean (87) andmaximum (125) concentration of moving average of NO in this period to judge the size ofthe effect, such an increase in NO is predicted to lead to an increase in the probability ofpoor lung function (OR=20) based on population-based predicted value.This study has shown strong and consistent associations between children’s poor lungfunction and outdoor air pollutants in District 12 of Tehran for some pollutants. The strongassociation found in this study was an increase in seven-day moving average of NO usingboth definitions.