Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic multisystem autoimmune disease common in all races and ethnics. Cytokines and cytokines receptors play an important role in RA pathogenesis and clinical presentation. Objective: To investigate the serum levels of TNF-a, TNF-a RI, TNF-a RII and IL-12 in RA patients and healthy control group. Methods: In this study 43 patients fulfilling the revised criteria of American College of Rheumatology (ACR) for RA and 13 healthy cases as a control group were selected for TNF-α, TNF-aRI, TNF-aRII and IL-12 serum level analysis. The patients' age was 42.2±22 and the age of healthy group was 40.1 ± 19.2 years (p=0.1). The patients had an active disease with at least six swollen and ten tender joints. Minimum ESR was 28 mm at first hours of the morning. Early morning stiffness in patients lasted longer than 45 minutes. Results: Our study showed that IL-12 serum level of the patients (91.69 ± 43.07 ρg/ml) and control (61.79 ± 40.08 ρg/ml) group was significantly different (p<0.001). The serum level of TNF-aRI was 2.36 ± 0.77 ng/ml in the patient and 1.73 ± 0.37 ng/ml in the control group (p<0.01). TNF-aRII serum concentration in patients was 8.89 ± 2.3 ng/ml, while that of control group was 7.06±1.30 ng/ml (p=0.03). The serum level of TNF-a in patients was 32.90 ± 19.27 rg/ml and that of the control group was 24.27± 8.28 rg/ml (p=0.08) with no significant difference between the two. Conclusions: It is concluded that IL-12, TNF-aRI and TNF- aRII serum concentrations are more important and better predictive factors than TNF-a in RA course and in the active forms of the disease.

Background: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFa) is one of the key cytokines that affects on pathology of microbial infections. It is suggested that genetic susceptibility to severe form of malaria is associated with TNFa promoter polymorphisms. The aim of present study was to investigate frequency of -308GàA, -244GàA and -238GàA polymorphism in 174 samples of Hormozgan and Kerman provinces.Material and methods: In case- control study, we investigated the prevalence of TNFa-244GàA, TNFa-308GàA and TNFa-238GàA polymorphism in 174 (154 healthy and 20 patients) individuals from Kerman and Hormozgan provinces of Iran. DNA extraction performed, and then PCR-RFLP was used to detect polymorphisms in -308,-244 and -238 loci.Results: In these three regions, 82.2% of healthy samples showed GG genotype, 14.26% AG and 0.19% AA. All samples of patients showed GG genotype in these three regions.Conclusion: It seems that evolutionary effect of malaria causes increased genotypes which related with protection against malaria or reduction of risk of cerebral malaria and death, although, there was no association between frequency of these genotypes and protection against malaria.

Introduction: This research aimed determining the levels of cortisol, immunoglobulins and major serum cytokines, following Ramadan fasting, as immune response indexes. Materials and Methods: For this before and after Ramadan fasting study, twenty-five students residing at the dormitory of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences were selected. All cytokines levels (IL-1a, TGF-b, TNF- a, IFN-a, IFN-g) were determined by the ELISA method, Immoglobulines were determined by the Radial Immunodiffusion (SRID) technique and cortisol levels were measured by EIA too. Results: While IFN-g a showed a considerable increase after Ramadan fasting (P<0.01), IFN-a and TNF-a had decreased (P≥0.5 and <0.02 respectively). Serum level of TGF-b increased but not significantly  (P>0.3); cortisol also increased after one month of fasting (P<0.05). Serum IL-1α had a non-significant decrease (P≥0.5). Although IgG & IgM levels showed no significant increase, IgA levels showed significant decrease [P<0.5].Conclusion: Our data revealed that Ramadan fasting increased IFN-g, while decreasing TNF-a and IgA levels; ramadan fasting can probably increase T-Cell function, lower the inflammatory appreance rate and affect immunoglobulin production.

Background and Aim: The prevalence of children’s obesity, and thus cardiovascular diseases, is rapidly increasing and it is known that exercises have beneficial effects on losing weight and accordingly decreases of cardiovascular system. The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of eight weeks of High Intensity Training (HIT) on TNFa in obese children.Materials and method: A total of 34 obese children were randomly divided into two groups of experimental, with the mean age of 9.58±0.35 and Body Mass Index (BMI) 30.89±0.95 and control, with the mean age of 9.51±0.48 and BMI 29.89±0.81. For 8 weeks, 3 sessions a week, participants performed HIT, including bouts of 30s with maximal speed and 1.5 min active rest between them. The number of bouts increased from 6 in the first week to 10 in the latter week. Blood samples were obtained 48 hours before and after performing the protocol and serum was separated and then levels of serum TNFa were measured and quantified using ELISA. SPSS, version 20, was used to analyse the data.Results: Data analysis revealed a significant decrease in serum TNFa and BMI before and after doing HIT.Conclusion: High intensity training results in the reduction of BMI and body weight. Due to the strong relationship between BMI and selected TNFa, HIT, via reduced fat mass, causes decrease of serum TNFa in children, and this reduction can effectively prevent, control, and reduce the number of cardiovascular diseases. So, doing HIT cautiously can bring about benefits in obese children.

Background and Objective: Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is an infectious disease in human which kills nearly three millions of people annually. Approximately, one - third of the world populations are infected with this bacteria and 5 - 10 % of them develop the active form of the disease. Individuals are different in susceptibility to TB infection. These differences might be due to the host characteristics especially genetic factors. TNF- a as a pro-inflammatory cytokine, plays a key role in host defense against tuberculosis. Presence of mutation in this gene can influence the effectiveness, performance and capability of immune responses against TB infection. The Aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of TNF- a gene polymorphisms and its relation with susceptibility to the pulmonary TB. Materials and Methods: Sixty healthy controls and 60 TB patients were enrolled. Genotype of TNF-238, TNF -244, TNF-308, TNF -857 and TNF-863 were determined using PCR-RFLP method. The results were analyzed by Fisher Exact and ¸ 2 tests using SPSS v.14 and evaluated with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Results: The results of this study showed a significant difference in TNF-308 and TNF -857 regions between the control and study groups (P < 0.05).Conclusion: Presence of mutation in TNF-308 and TNF -857 regions may increase the host susceptibility to mycobacterium tuberculosis and genotyping of these regions can be used for screening of the high risk individuals.

Introduction: Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) is an endogenous phenomenon that can induce ischemic tolerance (IT) in a variety of organs such as brain. Noxious stimuli applied at close to but below the threshold of cell injury induce adaptive responses that protect the brain against additional stress from the same (tolerance) or other (cross-tolerance) stimuli. In this study, we examined the effect of intermittent and prolonged doses of normobaric hyperoxia (NBHO) on neurologic deficit scores, serum TNF-a level, and gene expression of TNF-a converting enzyme (TACE).Material and Method: The rats were exposed to NBHO in prolonged (24h) and intermittent (every 4 hours for 6 days) groups. Each group subdivided into three subgroups. After 24 hours, the first subgroup underwent MCAO for 60 minutes followed by 24h of reperfusion. Then, IT induced by intermittent and prolonged NBHO were measured by neurologic deficit scores. The second and third subgroups, called sham-operated and intact subgroups respectively, were considered for the assessment of the effect of NBHO on serum TNF-a level and gene expression of TNF-a converting enzyme.Result: Our findings indicated that intermittent and prolonged NBHO were involved in the induction of IT. Pretreatment with prolonged and intermittent NBHO reduced neurologic deficit scores significantly. Prolonged and intermittent NBHO increased serum TNF-a level and gene expression of TNF-a converting enzyme with the effect of prolonged NBHO being significantly stronger. Also, intermittent NBHO with ischemia significantly increased serum TNF-a level and gene expression of TNF-a converting enzyme rather than intermittent NBHO alone. Conclusion: Although further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms of ischemic tolerance, intermittent and prolonged NBHO seem to partly exert their effects via increasing serum TNF-a levels and up regulation of TNF-a converting enzyme.

Purpose: To evaluate the distribution of TNF-alpha promoter -1031T/C and -308G/A polymorphisms in an Iranian population with Behcet disease and ocular manifestation.Method: We investigated the distribution of TNF-alpha promoter -1031T/C and -308G/A polymorphisms in 53 patients with Behcet disease (BD) and 79 matched healthy controls, using the PCR-RFLP technique. All subjects were from an Iranian Azeri population.Results: The frequency of the TNF-alpha -308G/A polymorphism was similar in BD patients and healthy controls (P= 0.234) whereas the frequency of the TNF-alpha-1031T/C polymorphism was different between two groups (P= 0.0006). The frequency of the CG haplotype was significantly higher (P< 0.0001), and that of the TA haplotype was significantly lower in BD patients than healthy controls. Different TNF-a-1031T/C and TNF-a-308G/A polymorphisms were not associated with ocular involvement.Conclusion: TNF-alpha is a susceptibility gene for BD in Iranian patients of Azeri ethnicity. There was no relation between different haplotypes in the investigated genetic region in this group of BD patients with ocular manifestation.

Background and aims: Endurance training has a potential ability to prevent breast cancer by strengthening the immune system and reducing inflammation, and can reduce cachexia which is effects of cancer in advanced stages. This study aims to investigate the effect of endurance training with moderate intensity on the serum levels of TNF-a and weight of the mice suffered from breast cancer.Methods: 24 female BALB/c mice were randomly allocated to 3 groups: negative control (Rest-Healthy); positive control (Rest-Tumor) and experimental (Exercise-Tumor) groups. The experimental group carried out the continuous endurance exercise 5 days per week for 12 weeks.Training intensity was begun from 15.4 meter per minutes in the first week and gradually raised up to 23.8 meters per minutes in the last week.24 hours after the end of training program, the 4T1 cancer cell line was injected subcutaneously to mice in positive control and experimental groups. After tumor formation, TNF-a concentration was measured by ELISA. The weight of mice was measured regularly from the beginning to the end of the study after each two-week training period subsequently.Results: The Mean of TNF-a in the experimental group as compared to the positive control decreased significantly (P=0.030), but there was no significant difference between experimental and negative control groups. The mean of weight of rats in the experimental group was significantly lower than both positive and negative control groups during tumor formation and after two weeks was lower compared to positive control group.Conclusion: It seems that participating in moderate-intensity training can play a role by decreasing the cytokine TNF-a and cachexia to prevent breast cancer.