[Immune dysfunction and cognitive deficit in stress and physiological aging. Part II: New approaches to cognitive disorder prevention and treatment ].

Long-term stress as well as physiological aging result in similar immunological and hormonal disturbances including hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal) axis depletion, aberrant immune response (regulatory T-cells, Tregs, and T(h17)-lymphocyte accumulation) and decreased dehydroepian-drosterone synthesis both in the brain and in the adrenal glands. Since the main mechanisms of inflammation control, "prompt" (stress hormones) and "delayed" (Tregs), are broken, serum cytokine levels increase and become sufficient for blood-brain-barrier disruption. As a result peripheral cytokines penetrate into the brain where they begin to perform new functions.

[Immune dysfunction and cognitive deficit in stress and physiological aging (Part I): Pathogenesis and risk factors].

The concept of stressful cognitive dysfunction, which is under consideration in this review, allows picking out several therapeutic targets. The brain, immune and endocrine systems being the principal adaptive systems in the body permanently share information both in the form of neural impulses and soluble mediators. The CNS differs from other organs due to several peculiarities that affect local immune surveillance.

[Regulatory T-cells: modern approaches to optimization of their numbers].

Regulatory T-cells (Tregs) are important components of the complex adaptive system of the body responsive to environmental challenges. Tregs ensure peripheral tolerance and play an important role in control of inflammatory reactions. Several subsets of Tregs have been described.

[Effect of steroid therapy on the clinical course of bronchial asthma].

Although only some 5% of the asthmatic population develop severe disease, such cases eat up more than half of the spendings for the management of asthma and they are poorly controlled by the currently available therapies. Most of these patients undergo long-term treatment with various steroid formulations that exert selective action in the airways eliminating one cell type and supporting the growth of another. For this reason, inflammation patterns in severe, as opposed to mild, asthma resemble those in COPD, with a high neutrophil count in the sputum, increased oxidative stress, and poor response to corticosteroids.

[Inflammatory reactions in patients suffering from coronary artery disease with concomitant obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus].

Of late, inflammatory reactions have been considered to play an important part in the development of atherosclerosis. Acute-phase inflammatory reaction, being initially a protective response directed within the homeostasis system towards lesion repair, may by itself due to various factors favor the development of pathological processes. Considering the role played by inflammation in the development of atherosclerosis, and inflammatory activity in obesity and diabetes mellitus (DM), a range of common and interrelated elements of these processes may be marked out.