Natural evolution of hepatitis C virus infection in hemodialysis Tunisian patients and CTLA-4 SNP's.

Aim: To analyze the polymorphisms of CTLA-4 gene involved in the response against hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

Methods: We recruited 500 hemodialysed patients from several hemodialysis centers, all HCV-antibody positive, spread over different regions of Tunisia, as part of a national survey in 2008 conducted in the laboratory of immunology at the Charles Nicolle hospital Tunisia, classified into two groups G1 (PCR+) and G2 (PCR-) according to the presence or absence of viral RNA. Of these patients, 307 were followed prospectively on a viral molecular level over a period from 2002 to 2008, divided into two groups based on the persistence and viral clearance.

Vascular endothelial growth factor genetic polymorphisms and susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration in Tunisian population.

Purpose: Three VEGF SNPs (-2578) C/A, (+405) G/C and (+936) C/T were investigated in Tunisian exudative AMD patients in order to determine their association with the disease susceptibility and their influence to intravitreal bevacizumab therapy response.

Methods: 145 AMD patients and 207 age-matched controls were included. 68 patients were treated with intravitreal bevacizumab.

Chemokine and chemokine receptor gene polymorphism in Tunisian hemodialysis patients with HCV infection.

Introduction: Our aim was to investigate the possibility of a significant relationship between chemokines and chemokine receptor genes polymorphisms and the spontaneous clearance or the persistence of HCV infection.

Methods: A total of 96 hemodialysis (HD) patients infected with HCV were classified into two groups: G1 included 73 patients with persistently positive HCV-RNA and G2 included 23 HD patients who have spontaneously eliminated the virus. The control group consisted of 170 healthy blood donors.

Cytokine and apoptosis gene polymorphisms influence the outcome of hepatitis C virus infection.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is thought to be chronic and the factors leading to viral clearance or persistence are poorly understood. This study was undertaken to investigate the possibility of a significant relationship between the spontaneous clearance or the persistence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and cytokine and apoptosis gene polymorphisms in Tunisian patients on hemodialysis.

Methods: Polymorphisms of the genes IL-1 (-889 IL-1alpha, -511 and +3954 IL-1beta, IL-1Ra), IL-18 (-137 and -607), IL-12 (-1188) and Apo1/Fas (-670) were determined by PCR-RFLP, PCR-SSP and PCR-VNTR in 100 healthy blood donors and 100 patients infected with HCV and undergoing hemodialysis.

CD86 +1057G>A polymorphism and susceptibility to acute kidney allograft rejection.

Introduction: CD86 is a costimulatory molecule that participates in the regulation of T-cell lymphocytes activation. Thus, we examined a genetic marker on the CD86 gene in kidney transplant outcome.

Materials And Methods: In our retrospective study, 168 kidney allograft recipients were genotyped by direct sequencing.

[IL1/IL1 Ra, CTLA-4 and Apo1/Fas genes polymorphisms and susceptibility to IgA nephropathy in Tunisian patients].

Background: The IgA nephropathy (IgA-N) is considered the most common form of primary glomerulonephritis and its pathogenic mechanisms are very complex. The study of several genes which encode for immunoregulator molecules in inflammatory and immunological responses during the disease, allowed to describe some number of polymorphisms would be involved in the molecular expression, the road marking, the synthesis and\or the binding to the receptors. So an abnormality of the molecular function associated with its polymorphism would be suggested in the genetic predisposition to the disease.

Role of genetic polymorphisms in factor H and MBL genes in Tunisian patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy.

The molecular mechanisms of IgA nephropathy (IgAN) remain poorly understood. Several different polymorphic genes have been investigated in order to demonstrate their possible association with this disease. It is evident that mainly alternative and lectin pathways complement activation and play an important role in renal injury of IgAN.

Role of immune system, apoptosis and angiogenesis in pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and joint destruction, a systematic review.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of unknown cause that is notorious for the chronic polyarticular synovial inflammation and progressive destruction of affected joints. Understanding the pathogenesis of RA provides the basis for optimal management of that disease in patients. The pathogenesis of RA was largely explored in many studies in human as much as in mice models with collagen II induced arthritis, nevertheless the pathogenesis puzzle is still incomplete.