Introduction: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disorder that causes vasculopathy and scarring, most commonly in the lungs and skin, but it can also affect other organs. Endothelial vinculin plays a critical role in angiogenesis regulation. Therefore, vinculin overexpression in SSc may give rise to anti-vinculin antibodies, which may contribute to the development of SSc vasculopathy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFScand J Clin Lab Invest
September 2017
This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between serum levels of IL-17 and IL-35 and the presence and severity of childhood asthma. The study was performed on 60 diagnosed asthmatic children, who were further classified into four groups according to the Global Initiative for Asthma Guidelines for Asthma Severity and Control (GINA) 2016, plus 30 age- and sex-matched apparently healthy children. All participants were subjected to full medical history, clinical examination, pulmonary function tests and laboratory evaluation in the form of complete blood count (CBC), serum total IgE, IL-17 and IL-35 by ELISA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Cluster of differentiation 163 (CD163) is a receptor that binds haptoglobin-hemoglobin complexes and is mainly expressed on macrophages and monocytes. As a result of shedding, the extracellular portion of CD163 circulates in the blood as a soluble CD163 (sCD163). This study aimed to measure serum sCD163 levels in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and to assess its association with the clinical, laboratory, and radiological features of the disease.
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