Journal of

Background and Aim: Fatal disease of cancer, ranks second after cardiovascular disease, as the most important causes of mortality in many developing countries, including Iran. Breast cancer is the most common disease among women. TPS is one of the tumor markers which has specially been considered due to its exclusive physiological characteristics like its easy measurement in serum of cancer patients.

Materials and Methods: This study has been set up to evaluate the efficiency of this tumor marker in the prognosis, treatment control and follow up of patients with Breast cancer. TPS has been measured with ELISA in 34 persons including 28 healthy people and 6 patients with breast cancer. Sampling has been done in three times depending on treatment methods.

Results: TPS has been measured  in samples which contend of 2 to 3 ml of serum from patients and the health.

Conclusion: The results has revealed that the serum TPS is not only as a measure of prognosis but also would be helpful in follow up and treatment control of the disease.

Conclusion: Serological analysis can be settled in the diagnosis and trend of cancer with production of polyclonal antibody against TPS gene family and planning appropriate pattern.

Background and Aim: Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic, chronic and inflammatory disease. It is characterized by the symmetric synovitis  of the articules of the extremities. Its major cause is unknown.
Immunological factors including Rheumatoid factor (RF) are considered as more confirming Cause. To date Rheumatoid factor is consisted of many antibodies which are produced against the constant region of IgG. Its causes are not known. This factor is not detected in the healthy people. In the patients with positive rheumatoid factor the probability of a disease would increase seriously. The goal of this study is evaluation of VDRL test in rheumatoid arthritis.

Materials and Methods : Serum Samples were obtained from 70 patients with rheumatoid arthritis from loghman hospital. We selected 70 serum samples from the blood donating healthy people.
The serum samples were kept in the Capped vials in - 20ºc freezer. Within two week, VDRL serologic tests were done on serum samples.

Results : The patients were 49 females and 21 males. In the female group 79.6% had negative response and 20.4% had positive response.
In the male patients 66.7% had negative response and 33.3% had positive response. Positive tests were much more in males. In healthy people only 4 ones has positive VDRL test.(5.7%), versus 17 positive VDRL test in patient group (25.3%). In the normal group, 94.3% had negative test versus 75.7% in the patient group.

Discussion : The difference between two groups was statistically Significant (p<0.01). The result of this study shows that VDRL test would be helpful in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Background and Aim: The present study was designed to compare the cell death, circulating levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and tumor necrosis factor type-I receptor in Iranian patients with sepsis and normal controls.

Materials and methods: Twenty-two patients with sepsis were included in this study. After blood collection, the serum circulating levels of TNF- and TNFRI measured with ELISA kits. The PBMCs isolated from blood samples and proportion of apoptotic cells measured by flowcytometry at the time of blood draws (0 time) and after 24-h incubation. PBMCs incubated at 37°C in culture (spontaneous apoptosis) and in the presence of rTNF that is capable of inducing apoptosis in activated T cells expressing the TNF family of receptors.

Results: PBMCs obtained from the patients showed significantly higher (P<0.001) proportion of apoptotic cells than PBMCs of controls at 0 time, indicated that a higher fraction of PBMCs were undergoing apoptosis in vivo in patients but not in controls. After 24-h incubation, spontaneous ex vivo apoptosis of PBMCs was nearly as high as that of TNF-  induced apoptosis, indicating that activated T cells had been preprogrammed in vivo to die.

Discussion and Conclusion: The circulating levels of both TNF- and TNFRI showed significantly higher in patients (P<0.001) than controls and this increase is proportional (r=0.908) in both indicating that TNFRI may have a protective effect in the early stage of sepsis.