title: Evaluation of neuroimmunomodulatory activity of recombinant human interferon α.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recombinant human interferon (rhIFN)-α is a potent immunoregulator having a wide range of therapeutic applications. In the present study, rhIFN-α was evaluated for its neuroimmunomodulatory activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dose-dependent gene expression of cytokines and chemokines in the brain of rhIFN-administered mice was studied using real-time SYBR green PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Statistically significant increase in expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β and IFN-γ were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings indicate that rhIFN-α may be used at an optimized dose to cause appropriate neuromodulation of cytokine/chemokine secretion that can aid in the development of therapeutic approaches for many infectious diseases of the central nervous system for which therapies are lacking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology and Immunology, Haffkine Institute, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: Shraddha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Sandeepan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: Deepa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Balasubramanian
authors.forename: Abhay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chowdhary
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000276:immunology* / Q000494:pharmacology; D051379:Mice; D015213:Neuroimmunomodulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins