Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the most common kidney diseases, but its exact pathophysiology remains unknown. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are innate immune receptors that recognize pathogen- and danger-associated molecular patterns, which can result in an inflammatory response. TLR4, TLR2, TLR5, TLR7, TLR8, TLR9, and TLR11 are essential in the pathogenesis of DN, according to recent evidence collected from both in vivo and in vitro studies. Studies have shown that TLR2 and TLR4 expression is higher in patients with renal failure and nephrotic diabetes. They also play critical roles in podocyte injury and inflammation caused by high glucose. TLR2 and TLR4 may be helpful therapeutic targets to prevent or delay DN in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Additionally, TLR7 may contribute to kidney damage in type 1 diabetes mellitus, whereas downregulation of TLR9 expression inhibits inflammation and apoptosis pathways associated with DN.

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease affecting the brain and spinal cord by demyelination and neurodegeneration. Although the cause of the disease is not known exactly due to its heterogeneous etiology, it is thought that inflammatory processes can be effective in the formation and progression of the MS pathology. Herein, the present study’s aim was to evaluate the changes in inflammation-related proteins, which have a crucial role in the formation of neuroinflammation, according to the period of MS.
Materials and Methods: The study included 33 MS patients, 8 of whom were in relapse and 25 in remission, and 10 healthy individuals. Lymphocytes were isolated from peripheral blood. After RNA isolation and cDNA conversion, NLRP3, ASC, NLRX1, IL-1β, and IL-18 gene expressions were measured in real time-polymerase chain reaction. In addition, the protein levels of the NLRP3 and ASC were determined from serum samples by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results: The expression of the NLRX1 gene was significantly decreased in the patient groups compared to the controls. The levels of NLRP3, ASC, and IL-18 gene expressions of patients were not significantly different from controls in the remission and relapse periods. Although IL-1β gene expressions of the patients in the remission period increased in value, it was not statistically significant compared to that of healthy controls.
Conclusion: Our findings showed that anti-inflammatory NLRX1 protein can be considered as a strong biomarker in the diagnosis and treatment of MS, where neuroinflammation is the main cause.

Objective: Human-immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection initiates the dysregulated production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Moreover, unsuccessful treatment for HIV might be due to the drug resistance mutations (DRM) against anti-retroviral therapy (ART). This study aimed to compare pro-inflammatory cytokines levels of HIV patients, who received first line ART and patients, with mutations of M184V and K103N.
Materials and Methods: This was a case-control study which involved eighty patients with AIDS who received first-line anti-retroviral therapy for at least 6 months. The respondents were divided into two groups of patients with HIV with DRM and the ones with HIV without DRM. M184V and K103N drug resistance mutations to ART were analyzed using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) meanwhile tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-6 as pro-inflammatory cytokines were measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.
Results: Most of the patients were men with an average age of 35.5 ± 9.2 years. The median levels for TNF-α and IL-6 were found 43.3 (4.3-96.1) pg/mL and 46.2 (15.5-158.1) pg/mL, respectively. The results showed that the DRM group got higher values compared to the non-DRM group, but there was no statistically significant difference found between both groups.
Conclusion: There were no differences in pro-inflammatory cytokines between the DRM AIDS patients group compared to the non-DRM who received first-line ART with mutations of M184V and K103N.

Objective: Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), an anti-inflammatory cytokine, plays a crucial role in restraining the proliferation and differentiation of T effector cells in autoimmune diseases. Glycoprotein A repetitions predominant (GARP), belonging to the leucine-rich repeat protein family, functions in facilitating the presentation of TGF-β on the surface of regulatory T-cells. The study aims to evaluate the activity of regulatory T-cell in Iraqi patients with psoriasis, treated with topical and biological therapy considering the level of TGF-β1 and LRRC32 gene (GARP) expression.
Materials and Methods: In this study 22 blood samples of psoriasis patients and 24 healthy samples as a control group were analyzed to measure the level of TGF-β1 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the gene expression level of the LRRC32 (GARP gene) by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction technique.
Results: The results showed a significant decrease (p=0.004) in the level of TGF-β1 in the serum of patients with psoriasis treated with topical therapy and others treated with biological therapy compared to the control group. A significant increase (p=0.05) in the folding of LRRC32 gene expression was detected in psoriasis patients compared to the control percentage (100%). Moreover, there was a significant increase (p=0.000) in the percentage of the gene expression folding of LRRC32 gene in patients treated with biological therapy and patients treated with topical therapy compared to control percentage (100%).
Conclusions: The high expression of the LRRC32 gene in patient samples is an indication of the effective role of regulatory T-cells under biological and topical treatment.

Objective: B-cells can contribute to the suppression or progression of the tumor growth through the secretion of various cytokines. In this study, the relevance of B-cell cytokine production to the outcome variables in patients having squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck was studied.
Materials and Methods: Thirty-six draining lymph nodes from untreated patients with tongue and larynx SCC were stimulated with CpG, recombinant CD40L and phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate/ionomycin and analyzed by flow cytometry for the frequency of B-cell subsets based on interleukin (IL)-10 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) cytokine production.
Results: It was indicated that patients with uninvolved lymph nodes and low stage of the disease had an increased percentage of TNF-α+CD19+ B-cells (p=0.006 and p=0.041, respectively), whereas the frequency of IL-10+CD19+ B-cells showed an increasing trend in tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLNs) of patients with grade 2+3 compared to grade 1 (p=0.054).
Conclusion: Collectively, TNF-α-producing B-cells in TDLNs has been reported to be associated with good prognosticators in patients with SCC of head and neck that might have a positive role in immunity to SCC of head and neck.