[Change in the blood cytokine spectrum in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis].

AIM: To assess cytokine spectrum changes in different types of pulmonary sarcoidosis (PS). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty-seven PS patients without signs of pulmonary fibrosis and 14 patients with sarcoidosis complicated by pulmonary fibrosis were examined. Baseline serum Th1 and Th2 cytokine concentrations were studied. A control group comprised 30 healthy donors. RESULTS: A higher interleukin (IL)-4/IL-2 ratio was found in the peripheral blood of the patients with pulmonary fibrosis-complicated sarcoidosis than in the other patients (326.4 +/- 122.6 and 88.2 +/- 28.6%, respectively; p = 0.002). The sarcoidosis patients with signs of pulmonary fibrosis and no symptoms of disease inflammatory activity had elevated blood IL-1 levels whereas an IL-1 receptor antagonist was decreased. CONCLUSION: In the patients with PS, the development and progression of pulmonary fibrosis occur with a shift in the Th1/Th2 balance towards Th2, which manifests itself as a higher IL-4/IL-2 ratio in the peripheral blood. At the same time, the signs of systemic inflammatory activity remain.

[Interethnic differences in the genetic control of the human immune status]. / Interétnicheskie razlichiia v geneticheskom kontrole immunnogo statusa cheloveka.

Most parameters of the immune status were found to depend on the HLA-antigens determined in the phenotypes of the human subjects under study. The findings suggest a HLA-transmitted genetic regulation of immune response. Various HLA-markers related to certain parameters of the immune status, were determined. These markers seem to be unique and different for each examined population.

[The HLA-associated immunological mechanisms in rheumatic involvement of the myocardium]. / HLA-assotsiirovannye immunologicheskie mekhanizmy pri revmaticheskom porazhenii miokarda.

The examination of 95 Uzbeks with rheumatic myocardium and 60 healthy subjects of the same nationality has found accumulation in the patients' phenotypes of antigens HLA-B17, HLA-B21 and HLA-Cw4. A high PHA-induced response of T-lymphocytes occurred in HLA-Cw4- and especially in HLA-B21-positive patients. The findings suggest participation of HLA-associated genes in the mechanisms of rheumatic process. These are thought responsible for rheumatism-specific cell immune reactions.

[Analysis of nuclear families with two or more patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with diabetic siblings]. / Analiz iadernykh semei s dvumia i bolee bol'nymi insulinzavisimym sakharnym diabetom sibsami.

HLA haplotype distribution was analyzed in nuclear families of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Sixteen families with two or more diabetic siblings were examined, a total of 69 subjects, 33 of these diabetic siblings and 36 normal subjects (siblings and parents). The data were processed using the involved sibling pairs method based on a mixed model making use of a conditional probability approach. The ratio of diabetic sibling pairs concordant by 2 haplotypes, 1 haplotype, and discordant by 2 haplotypes was 9:5:2 vs. 1:2:1 expected according to Mendel's accidental distribution (p < 0.025). Increased incidence of siblings concordant by 2 haplotypes proves the presence in the HLA domain of one or several genes responsible for the development of diabetes mellitus. Siblings identical by two HLA haplotypes with the diabetic proband are at a higher risk of developing this disease.

[Genetic aspects of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (familial studies and relation of HLA to obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy)]. / Geneticheskie aspekty gipertroficheskoi kardiomiopatii (semeinye issledovaniia i sviaz' HLA s obstruktivnoi gipertroficheskoi kardiomiopatiei).

The purpose of the paper was to study the families of 31 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCMP) to establish the hereditary nature of disease as well as to study the peculiarities of distribution of HLA-A, B and DR antigens in 44 patients (Russians) with obstructive HCMP using a method of histocompatibility typing. Echocardiographic investigation of 105 relatives of 31 patients with various types of HCMP revealed 32 patients with the same pathology among 84 persons in 20 families suggesting the familial pattern of disease. Antigen markers of predisposition to obstructive HCMP were established: HLA-B27, DR1 and DR4. DR4 antigen has primary relationship with the disease. Some differences in the distribution of HLA-antigens in men and women with obstructive HCMP were revealed. There was no correlation of HLA-markers with the severity of disease and patient's age at which the disease developed.

[Value of immunological studies in various forms of cardiomyopathy]. / Znachenie immunologicheskikh issledovanii pri izuchenii razlichnykh form kardiomiopatii.

Immunologic status of 97 patients with dilating cardiomyopathy (DCMP) and 52 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCMP) was studied; total amount of T-lymphocytes as well as the amount of T-active lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes in the test of E- and EAC-rosette formation, subpopulations of T-lymphocytes (T mu, T g in the EA-rosette formation reaction were determined. HLA-typing in the microlymphocytes toxic test was performed. It was determined that the amount of B- and T-lymphocytes as well as the amount of T mu- and Tg-lymphocytes in patients with HCMP does not practically differ from that in normal subjects. Antigens 27, DR1 and DR4 were proved to be HLA-markers of HCMP. Reliable decrease in the amount of T mu and Tg cells as well as NK cells in patients with DCMP compared to that in normal subjects and patients with HCMP was observed. The study of HLA-antigens distribution in patients with DCMP revealed greater prevalence of DR1 and DR4 antigens.