Role of regulatory CD4+CD25+ Foxp3 T cells in bronchial asthma in Egyptian children.

CD4+CD25+high Foxp3 regulatory T (Treg) cells are known to play a key role in balancing immune response to maintain peripheral tolerance against harmless antigens or allergens. Defective immunological suppression by CD4+CD25+high Foxp3 Treg cells can be a cause of the inflammation that leads to an allergic condition such as asthma. The aims of the study are to (1) determine CD4+CD25+high Foxp3 Treg cells frequency in the peripheral blood of children with and without asthma; and (2) investigate the association between CD4+CD25+high Foxp3 Treg cells frequency with disease severity and corticosteroid therapy.

Evaluation of androgen receptor gene as a candidate gene in female androgenetic alopecia.

Background: Genetic polymorphisms of the androgen receptor (AR) gene have been studied in male androgenetic alopecia (AGA); however, little is known about gene polymorphism and female AGA.

Aim: To evaluate the AR gene as a candidate gene for female AGA.

Methods: Thirty premenopausal Egyptian female patients with AGA (mean age, 32.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells serve as a possible extrahepatic site for hepatitis C virus replication.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is thought to have a strong tropism for hepatic tissue but also replicative intermediates are found in extrahepatic tissues suggesting active viral replication in these cells. The aim of the study is to confirm that HCV can infect and replicate in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as one of the possible sites of extrahepatic hepatitis C virus replication during the natural course of infection which may serve as a source of virions causing reinfection. Reverse transcriptase Polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for detection of positive and negative strands of HCV-RNA in PBMCs was done for 30 patients with chronic HCV infection admitted to Ain Shams University Hospitals and the results were compared with those from 20 healthy controls matched in age and sex.