Ulcerogenesis in gastroduodenal mucosa area is a complex multistep process. Its, phases are
controlled by interaction and activation of pro­ and antiinflammatory cytokine cascade. Present review article summarizes scientific data on impact of cytokines upon ulcerative and reparatory processes, a variety of their diagnostic and therapeutic options is defined. Evaluation of cytokine status, or, in some cases, cytokine genotyping in patients with stomach and duodenal ulcers, may predict clinical course of the disease, as well as efficiency of basic and eradication therapy, correction of the treatment.

The review is dedicated to modern concepts of arachidonic acid metabolites, i.e., endocannabinoids and eicosanoids, their biosynthetic pathways, cross-talk mechanisms and participation in immune response.
New information from literature and own results include data concerning overlapping enzymatic pathways controlling biosynthesis of endocannabinoids and eicosanoids. Impact of synthetic cannabinoid receptor ligands upon production rates of proinflammatory cytokines and eicosanoids is discussed, as like as relationships
among immune system reactivity and expression levels of cannabinoid receptors.

Decidual and placental macrophage pools are renewed due to its transendothelial monocyte
migration from peripheral blood. Tissue macrophages control placental development and provide fetomaternal immunological tolerance. Preeclamptic pregnancy is accompanied by increased monocyte migration to decidual tissue and local inflammatory events. Regulatory mechanisms of monocyte recruitment to placental and decidual tissues is still unclear. Therefore we investigated the influence soluble placental factors (SPFs) during the first- and third-trimester normal pregnancy, as compared to effects of these factors in preeclamptic pregnancy. We studied biological actions of SPF upon transendothelial migration of monocyte-like THP-1 cells and their phenotypic pattern. Transendothelial migration of THP-1 cells was more intensive with firsttrimester SPFs from normal pregnancy, when compared with third-trimester samples, and it was accompanied by decreased CD11a expression. SPFs from pre-eclamptic pregnancy caused an increase in transendothelial migration of THP-1 cells, as compared to SPFs from normal pregnancies, being accompanied by increased CD11b expression. The present study was supported by grants ГК №  02.740.11.0711, НШ-3594.2010.7, МД-150.2011.7 and a grant from St.-Petersburg Goverment for young scientists.

A group of 112 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease of severity were included
into the study. Differential cell counts, IL-8, TNFα, and IL-10 concentrations were assayed in sputum and bronchial lavage. The results were compared in groups with different severity of the disease. High levels of macrophages in sputum and bronchial lavage were revealed in COPD of grade 1 and 2. More severe COPD was characterized by mean higher levels of neutrophils in sputum and bronchial lavage. Increased levels of IL-8 and TNFα cytokines have been found in bronchial secretions, independently on COPD severity. Interestingly, maximal levels of these cytokines were associated with mild /moderate stage of the disorder. We have confirmed distinct effects of inhaled corticosteroids upon cytokine levels in sputum and bronchial lavage samples. Sputum proved to be a useful biological material for studies of local inflammatory events in COPD.

 To reveal clinical and immunological features of bronchial asthma (BA) combined with thyroid gland pathology,  sixty patients have been examined  in  five equal groups, i.e., BA; hypothyroidism;  thyrotoxicosis; BA + hypothyroidism; BA + thyrotoxicosis. We assessed serum IgE, IgG levels, as wekk as IL-4/IFNγ, IL-4/IL-1, and IL-1/IL-6 ratios. Clinical exacerbations were observed more  frequently  in BA + hypothyroidism, as compared with BA patients. Remissions of BA were more prolonged  in BA patients,  than  in groups with BA + hypothyroidism, or BA + hyperthyroidism. Serum  IgE  levels were much  increased  in  the group with BA + hyperthyroidism. The  lowest IL-4/IFNγ ratio was revealed  in BA + hypothyroidism group versus BA and BA + hyperthyroidism groups. IL-4/IL-1 ratio was higher  in BA + hyperthyroidism group,  than  in BA and BA + hypothyroidism. Co-existence of hyperthyroidism with BA seems to enhance Th2 immune reactions
dominating  in BA, whereas concomitant hypothyroidism may cause  a  reduction of Th2  immune  response.

When studying patients with an association of arterial hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus, we
have shown a lower number of FoxP3+T-regulatory cells, as well as elevated levels of anti-myocardial antibodies and autoantibodies to nuclear antigens. In a group with combination of impaired glucose tolerance and arterial hypertension, a decrease in T-regulatory lymphocytes’ numbers, along with increased rheumatoid factor and antimitochondrial autoantibodies concentrations were observed. Arterial hypertension was combined with dyslipidemia, being accompanied by higher levels of rheumatoid factor and antibodies to nuclear antigens. In all these clinical groups, we revealed close correlations between concentrations of autoantibodies, FoxP3+T-regulatory lymphocyte scores, and parameters of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. The results, obtained in present study, allow us to suggest that metabolic disturbances may be associated with altered immune tolerance mechanisms and activation of humoral immune response that are detectable since early stages of the disease and may contribute to development of complications occurring in diabetes mellitus type 2.

We observed twenty patients (12 women and 8 men) with erythematous-bullous erysipelas of
moderate grade, and twenty patients (10 men and 10 women) with erythematous form of the disease, 45 to 55 years old. All the patients were diagnosed with primary inflammatory disease located at the lower extremities. The patients were admitted to the hospital within 1 or 3 days from the onset of clinical signs of the disease. In all patients, laboratory studies were performed at 3 and 12 days after clinical onset of the disease. Control group consisted of 55 age- and sex-matched healthy persons. All the patients received standard therapy, including antibiotics, desensitization and detoxifying drugs. Indices of l;ymphocyte-to-platelet adhesion (LPA) were determined in patients with different forms of erysipelas,. It has been found that LPA parameters were sharply
decreased since the beginning of the disease, in spite of near-normal absolute lymphocyte counts, as compared with healthy controls at these terms. A simultaneous reduction in adherence was registered. At day 12, the LPA parameters were increased in the patients, with absence of significant changes in absolute lymphocyte contents against control values, the adhesion rates proved to be increased as well.  Hence, a reduced ability of blood lymphocytes to adhere to the surface of platelets was revealed in erysipelas. Dynamics of LPA parameters may serve as an indicator of treatment efficiency.

Various parameters of neutrophil reactivity, i.e., superoxide anion-forming ability (NВT-test), formation of the extracellular networks (NET) and phagocytic function, were studied in sixty-six patients with
severe form of chronic recurrent herpetic infection. In resting leukocyte cultures from the patients, regardless of the disease stage, NВT scores were higher, and NET values were lower, than in control group. In stimulated cultures, NВT response was decreased, whereas NET parameters were higher than reference values. The changes in NET, but not NВT scores, were more pronounced in patients during the disease exacerbtion and in combined form of herpesvirus infection.

In view of wide-spread usage of flow cytometry (FC) in various areas of modern medicine, Russian market is still dominated by foreign manufacturers of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). This problem
is accomplished by lack of information about Russian producers of MAbs. Objective: to compare a set of FC reagents produced by a Russian manufacturer with MAbs for FC from different foreign manufacturers. Venous blood served as biomaterial for this study. The parameters under study were measured by FC techniques. Comparative immunophenotyping was performed with MAbs from Becton Dickinson (USA), Lab Constant (Russia), and Beckman Coulter (USA). Virtually complete absence of systematic differences and a relatively small spread of values was revealed by means of Bland–Altman analysis. The values of parameters, as measured with different MAbs, did not differ from one another by significance level of 0.01, according to Friedman criterion. The following evidence has been yielded in present study: (1) data obtained with “Klim-Test” reagents do not exhidit any systematic differences, as compared with Mabs from foreign manufacturers, and
they show a relatively small scatter of results. “Klim-Test” reagents may be applied for Becton Dickinson and Beckman Coulter flow cytometers. (2) These reagents are equally effective at the levels of CD4-lymphocytes above 500 cells/mcL, and below these values. (3) Usage of “Klim-Test” reagents with a three-color label for CD45 cells (CD3-FITC/CD4-PE/CD45-PE-Sy5) corresponds to the standards for CD4-lymphocyte count in HIV-infected patients, thus allowing it to recommend this reagent for HIV-infection monitoring.