Highlights Patients with COVID-19 show a prominent Th1 and Th17 cytokine profile. COVID-19 induces the expression of TGF-β. TGF-β can be used as a predictive factor of disease severity in patients with COVID-19.

Background: The complement system, consisting of more than 20 soluble proteins, has a key role in innate immunity and inflammation that eliminates pathogens and viral infections. Therefore, we investigated the titer of C3, C4, and total IgG in the serum of the non-severe and severe COVID-19 patients. Methods: For this purpose, peripheral blood samples were collected from 30 non-sever, 30 severe COVID-19 patients, and 30 healthy individuals with similar age and sex as the control group. The amount of total IgG, C3, and C4 were analyzed in the serum samples. Also, white blood cells, platelets (PLTs), and lymphocytes were counted by the auto-analyzer. Results: White blood cells had no difference between patients and control groups. The results showed a significant decrease in lymphocyte and PLTs in COVID-19 patients compare to control. Complement proteins including C3 and C4 were increased in non-severe COVID-19 patients than the other groups. Total IgG showed a notable decrease in severe patients. In conclusion, the level of C3 and C4 complement proteins were increased in non-severe-COVID-19 patients; however, in the severe COVID-19 patients their concentrations were decreased. Conclusion: However, inflammatory C3 and C4 complement factors increase in non-severe COVID-19, it decreased in the severe patients that may be because of more consumption by the formation of the immune complex. These results can shed light on the inflammatory role of C3 and C4 proteins in various phases of the disease and could provide a basis for further exploration of the pathophysiological significance and can suggest them for specific interventions.

Introduction: The complement system, consisting of more than 20 soluble proteins, has a crucial role in innate immunity and inflammation and eliminates pathogens and viral infections. Therefore, we investigated the titers of C3, C4, and total IgG in the sera of non-severe and severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Methods: For this purpose, peripheral blood samples were collected from 30 non-severe and 30 severe COVID-19 patients and 30 healthy individuals with similar age and sex as the control group. The serum levels of total IgG, C3, and C4 were analyzed. Also, white blood cells, platelets (PLTs), and lymphocytes were counted by an auto-analyzer. Results: White blood cell count showed no difference between COVID-19 patients and the control group. The results showed a significant decrease in lymphocyte and PLT counts in COVID-19 patients compared to the control. Complement proteins, including C3 and C4, were increased in non-severe COVID-19 patients (C3; P=0.017 and C4; P=0.012) compared to other groups. Total IgG showed a notable decrease in severe COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: The decrease in C3 and C4 complement factors in severe COVID-19 patients may be due to further consumption secondary to the formation of immune complexes. By clarifying the role of complement proteins of C3 and C4 in different stages of the disease, our results can be helpful in designing therapeutic and diagnostic measures for the disease.

Background: The heterogeneous nature of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and the hurdle to find a suitable treatment strategy for this malignancy put this type of leukemia at the top of the list of the priorities for finding a valuable biomarker to improve its treatment and predict the outcome of the patients. Objectives: Given the involvement of the variety of signaling pathways, foremost the PI3K axis in the pathogenesis of human cancers, we aimed to investigate the expression of the most important downstream targets of this pathway to propose a plausible mechanism underlying AML pathogenesis. Methods: In this case-control study, the blood samples from 30 patients diagnosed with AML were collected and after extracting their RNAs, the expression levels of Akt, c-Myc, CIP2A, and PP2A were evaluated using qRT-PCR analysis. For the control group, we also collected blood samples from 10 healthy volunteers. Afterward, by applying statistical analysis, we determined the probable correlation between the expressions of the aforementioned genes. Results: There was a significant elevation in the expression levels of Akt, c-Myc, and CIP2A coupled with the meaningful reduction in the expression level of PP2A in AML samples. However, we failed to find any significant association between the expression level of the indicated genes and age, sex, and the percentage of the blasts. Conclusions: As the most straightforward interpretation of our results, we propose that probably the association between PI3K and c-Myc which is built through the interaction between CIP2A and PP2A may play a pivotal role in the pathogenies of AML and any component of this axis could serve as a potential new target for more profound treatment strategy. However, further detailed investigations in this field are required to clarify the exact role of this interesting testis-specific pathway in the context of hematological malignancies, in particular AML.