Background:Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with an immunogenetic background. This work was planned to check for the association of polymorphisms related to cytokine genes TNF-α-308 (G/A), IL-10-1082 (G/A), IL-6-174 (G/C), and IL-1Ra (VNTR) with psoriasis in cases from Egypt.Materials and Methods:This work included 46 cases with psoriasis recruited from the Dermatology Departments, University Hospitals, Nile Delta region of Egypt. They included 14 males and 32 females with an age mean ± SD of 46.68 ± 12.16 years and range of 15–70 years. Their genotypes were compared to 98 healthy controls of matched age and sex from the same locality. Genotyping was done through deoxyribonucleic acid amplification using PCR with sequence specific primers for polymorphic alleles.Results:Compared to controls, cases showed significant higher frequency of certain genotypes including IL-6-174 CC (P < 0.001, OR = 6.7), IL-10-1082 GG (P < 0.05, OR = 5.1), and TNF-α-308 GG (P < 0.05, OR = 3.7). TNF-α-308 GG and IL-10-1082 GG genotypes were higher among cases with plaque subtype of moderate severity. Combined heterozygosity for IL-10 GA, IL-6 GC with TNF GA showed a significant low frequency among studied cases.Conclusion:Genetic polymorphisms related to IL6, IL10, and TNF-α genes showed a particular pattern of association with psoriasis that may have a potential impact on disease counseling and management.

Bakers yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae , has been shown to sensitize a variety of breast cancer cell (BCC) lines to paclitaxel chemotherapy in vitro . The present study evaluated the ability of S. cerevisiae to sensitize BCCs to paclitaxel in animals bearing Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC). Mice bearing EAC were intratumorally injected with dead S. cerevisiae (1×10 7 cells/ml) in the presence or absence of low- and high-dose paclitaxel [paclitaxel-L, 2 mg/kg body weight (BW) and paclitaxel-H, 10 mg/kg BW, respectively]. At 30 days post tumor inoculation, co-treatment with yeast plus paclitaxel-L showed improvements over paclitaxel-H alone, as measured by tumor weight (−64 vs. −53%), DNA damage (+79 vs. +62%), tumor cell apoptosis (+217 vs. +177%), cell proliferation (−56 vs. −42%) and Ki-67 marker (+95 vs. +40%). Histopathology and ultra-structural examinations showed that yeast plus paclitaxel-L enhanced apoptosis in EAC more than paclitaxel-H alone and caused comparable tumor necrosis. We conclude that bakers yeast may be used with low-dose chemotherapy to achieve the same potency as high-dose chemotherapy in mice bearing EAC. This suggests that bakers yeast may be an anticancer adjuvant and may have clinical implications for the treatment of breast cancer.

Our earlier studies have demonstrated that phagocytosis of baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) induces apoptosis in different cancer cell lines in vitro and in vivo. This study aimed to examine how baker’s yeast sensitizes murine and human breast cancer cells (BCC) to paclitaxel in vitro. This sensitizing effect makes lower concentrations of chemotherapy more effective at killing cancer cells, thereby enhancing the capacity of treatment. Three BCC lines were used: the metastatic murine 4T1 line, the murine Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) line, and the human breast cancer MCF-7 line. Cells were cultured with different concentrations of paclitaxel in the presence or absence of baker’s yeast. Cell survival and the IC50 values were determined by MTT assay and trypan blue exclusion method. Percent of DNA damage, apoptosis, and cell proliferation were examined by flow cytometry. Yeast alone and paclitaxel alone significantly decreased 4T1 cell viability postculture (24 and 48 hours), caused DNA damage, increased apoptosis, and suppressed cell proliferation. Baker’s yeast in the presence of paclitaxel increased the sensitivity of 4T1 cells to chemotherapy and caused effects that were greater than either treatment alone. The chemosensitizing effect of yeast was also observed with murine EAC cells and human MCF-7 cells, but to a lesser extent. These data suggest that dietary baker’s yeast is an effective chemosensitizer and can enhance the apoptotic capacity of paclitaxel against breast cancer cells in vitro. Baker’s yeast may represent a novel adjuvant for chemotherapy treatment.