Background In many cases, human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is self‐limiting, as innate and adaptive cell‐mediated immunity is needed for infection elimination; however, the inability of the immune system in some patients to clear the infection is a matter of debate. The interleukin‐17 (IL‐17) family cytokines play an important protective role in host immune response to infections, through maintaining immunity against specific pathogens, induction of antimicrobial proteins, and recruitment of neutrophils to sites of invasion. Galectin‐3 (Gal‐3) may be considered as a marker of viral infection as many studies reported its increased serum level in viral infections. Aims To evaluate levels of serum Gal‐3 and IL‐17 in patients with verrucas and to explore the potential role of these markers in the pathogenesis of the disease. Methods Fifty patients suffering from HPV Infection, and fifty healthy controls were included in this study. Serum levels of Gal‐3 and IL‐17 were assessed using enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Results The patients’ serum Gal‐3 was significantly higher, while IL‐17 was significantly lower than that of the healthy controls (p‐value < 0.001). Moreover, a statistically significant positive correlation was found between Gal‐3 serum level and disease duration and number of warts. Significant negative correlation exists between IL‐17 and Gal‐3 levels. Conclusion Our results indicate a potential role of both IL‐17 and Gal‐3 in the pathogenesis of warts and open a new opportunity in targeting these markers in the future in treating warts.

Cavendish bananas ʻGrand Nainʼ are commercially important cultivars. It belongs to the Cavendish subgroup of the AAA banana cultivar group. These cultivars face the problem of quick rotting due to infection with different phytopathogens. Gene transformation technique was used to improve the cultivar productivity and resistance to infection. Thionin genes (AT1G12660 and AT1G12663) were isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana. Thionin genes (thio-60 and thio-63) are antimicrobial genes producing antimicrobial proteins which inhibit fungal infection. These two thionin genes were integrated into the pEGAD vector. Then transformed into the tested banana cultivar via chitosan nanoparticles using the shoot tip culture technique. The chitosan nanoparticles are efficient, rapid and safe transformation technique. The resulted transgenic banana lines were partially resistant to infection by two different fungal species: Fusarium solani and Fusarium equiseti. These fungi cause rotting for the non-transgenic lines compared to the transgenic lines which resist the rotting infection due to the expressed inhibitory thionin protein. Transformation of thionin into the transgenic plants were confirmed by conventional PCR.