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Background and Objective: Occult hepatitis B infection is a form of hepatitis in which despite of absence of detectable HBsAg, HBV-DNA is present in peripheral blood of patients. The mechanisms which are responsible for progression of OBI yet to be clarified but some investigators believed that the genetics and immunological parameters may are different in resistant individuals and patients. Cytokine network system could be leading alteration in viral immune response. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between polymorphisms +874 region of IFN-Gama with occult hepatitis B infection. Materials and Methods: In this study, the plasma samples of 3700 blood donors were tested for HBsAg and anti-HBs by ELISA. The HBsAg negative and anti-HBc positive samples were selected and screened for HBV-DNA by PCR. HBV-DNA positive samples assigned as occult hepatitis B infection cases and ARMS-PCR technique were performed to examine the present polymorphisms in +874 region of IFN-Gama genes of patients with occult hepatitis B infection. Results: 352 (9.51%) out of 3700 blood samples were negative for HBsAg and positive for anti-HBc antibody. HBV-DNA was detected in 57 (16.1%) of HBsAg negative and anti-HBc positive samples. Our results showed that there was not any significant difference between patients and control group in polymorphisms in +874 region of IFN-Gama genes. Conclusion: This study showed that there is not any significant difference between polymorphisms in +874 region with IFN-Gama occult hepatitis B infection.

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Background and Objective: An increased risk of invasive infections with encapsulated bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae has been described among splenectomized patients. Pneumococcal vaccination has been recommended in these patients. In this study, the serum antibody response to pneumococcal polysaccharide antigens in splenectomized patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) or trauma who immunized with Pneumovax 23 was evaluated. Materials and Methods: This case - control study was performed on two groups of patients including fifteen cases of trauma patients (11 male, 4 female) and twenty patients with ITP (10 male, 10 female) along with 40 healthy volunteers as controls who were immunized with Pneumovax 23 to prevent pneumococcal infections. All patients received the pneumococcal vaccine before splenectomy. The serum antibody response (IgG and IgG2) to pneumococcal antigens was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique prior to vaccination and 4 weeks post-vaccination. Analyzing of data was performed using student t-test and linear regression test. Results: The mean of post-vaccination IgG or IgG2 titer to the pneumococcal antigens in ITP patient group was significantly lower than those in controls or in trauma group (P<0.05). No significant differences in IgG or IgG2 antibody titer increase were found between trauma group and healthy control group. Response to immunization was poor in 9 of 20 ITP patients. Conclusion: This study indicated that 45 percent of patients suffered from ITP who have undergone splenectomy responded poorly to pneumococcal antigens.

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Background and Objective: Many different factors and problems can cause infertility. This study carried out to compare NK, T and B lymphocyte populations in peripheral blood of fertile and infertile women.

Materials and Methods: In this case - control study 30 infertile women and 15 non pregnant women participated. The non pregnant women had a history of at least two alive children as a control group. The monoclonal antibodies and flowcytometry were used for evaluation of T cell subpopulations (CD3, CD4, CD8), B cells (CD22) and NK cells (CD56) in fertile and infertile women.

Results: NK cells (CD56) significantly increased in infertile women compared with control groups (P=0.009) and T lymphocytes CD3, CD4 significantly reduced in infertile women compared with fertile women (P=0.013, P=0.004, respectively). CD4/CD8 ratio reduced in infertile women compared with fertile women (P=0.05). There was no difference in B cells and CD8 T cells in infertile women compared with controls.

Conclusion: This study showed that NK cells increase and CD4 T lymphocytes reduce in infertile women. Our results suggest the immunological alterations may be related to infertility.

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Adjuvants are an essential component of modern vaccines. An adjuvant is an entity added to a vaccine formulation to ensure that robust immunity to the antigen is inoculcated. The adjuvant is typically vital for the efficacy of vaccines using subunit (pepdids, proteins and virus like particles) and DNA antigens. Furthermore, these components are used to reach the current new goals of preventing and/ or treating chronic infectious diseases and cancers. This review focuses on formulation aspects of adjuvants, safety considerations, progress in understanding their mechanisms of action and also their side effects with using 97 articles are acceceble in pubmed central and google scholar indexing which published during 1980-2016. Adjuvants can be broadly divided into two classes, based on their principal mechanisms of action; the first class are vaccine delivery systems that generally particulate and mainly function to target associated antigens into antigen presenting cells. The others are immunostimulatory adjuvants that predominantly derived from pathogens and often represent pathogen associated molecular patterns which activate cells of the innate immune system. Adjuvants induce cellular and humoral responses, in particular neutralizing antibodies that able to inhibit the binding of pathogens to their cellular receptors. Efficient Th1-immunity-inducing adjuvants are highly in demand. The adjuvants promote good cell-mediated immunity against subunit vaccines that have low immunogenicity themselves. However, attempts to develop a new generation of adjuvants, which are essential for new vaccines, is important, but their use is limited because, little is known about their mechanisms of action and health risks.

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Background and Objective: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is highly prevalent in the group of autoimmune and inflammatory patients. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) plays an important role in regulating complex interactions between pancreatic beta cells and immune cells in the development of T1D. This study was performed to determine the simultaneous effect of resistance training and endothelial progenitor cell injection on blood glucose levels and protein expression of proinflammatory factors TNF-a and IL-10 in muscle tissue of streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic male rats.
Methods: In this experimental study, 36 male Wistar rats weighing approximately 200±20 g and six weeks old were randomly divided into six groups. Induction of diabetes was performed by intraperitoneal injection of STZ at a dose of 45 mg/kg body weight. Groups included diabetes + stem cell injection + resistance training group, diabetes + resistance training group, diabetes + stem cell injection group, control diabetic group to control the passage of time, and healthy basal and diabetic groups for defaults. Exercises were performed for 17 sessions of resistance training, including climbing ladders with increasing weight three days a week in the same laboratory conditions. Endothelial progenitor cells were cultured by femoral bone marrow aspiration and culture and then injection into the tail vein. 68 hours after the last training session, blood glucose levels were assessed by ELISA and the expression of TNF-a and IL-10 protein in muscle tissue was assessed by Western blotting.
Results: Endothelial stem cell injection, resistance training and resistance training with the simultaneous injection of endothelial stem cells significantly increased the anti-inflammatory factor IL-10 in the skeletal muscle tissue of diabetic rats in compared to control group (P<0.05). Expression of the anti-inflammatory factor IL-10 in the skeletal muscle tissue was significantly increased in resistance training plus the simultaneous injection of endothelial stem cells group in compared to injection of stem cells and resistance training groups (P<0.05). Glucose concentration in the skeletal muscle tissue was significantly reduced in resistance training plus the simultaneous injection of endothelial stem cells group in compared to injection of stem cells and resistance training groups (P<0.05).
Conclusion: It seems that 17 sessions of resistance training reduces blood glucose level and improves inflammatory conditions in response to an increase in IL-10 and a decrease in TNF-a in a group of diabetic rats with resistance training and simultaneous injection of endothelial progenitor cells in diabetic male rats.