Publications (5)2.97 Total impact
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Article: Treatment for sulfur mustard lung injuries; new therapeutic approaches from acute to chronic phase.
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ABSTRACT: Sulfur mustard (SM) is one of the major potent chemical warfare and attractive weapons for terrorists. It has caused deaths to hundreds of thousands of victims in World War I and more recently during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). It has ability to develop severe acute and chronic damage to the respiratory tract, eyes and skin. Understanding the acute and chronic biologic consequences of SM exposure may be quite essential for developing efficient prophylactic/therapeutic measures. One of the systems majorly affected by SM is the respiratory tract that numerous clinical studies have detailed processes of injury, diagnosis and treatments of lung. The low mortality rate has been contributed to high prevalence of victims and high lifetime morbidity burden. However, there are no curative modalities available in such patients. In this review, we collected and discussed the related articles on the preventive and therapeutic approaches to SM-induced respiratory injury and summarized what is currently known about the management and therapeutic strategies of acute and long-term consequences of SM lung injuries. This review was done by reviewing all papers found by searching following key words sulfur mustard; lung; chronic; acute; COPD; treatment. Mustard lung has an ongoing pathological process and is active disorder even years after exposure to SM. Different drug classes have been studied, nevertheless there are no curative modalities for mustard lung. Complementary studies on one hand regarding pharmacokinetic of drugs and molecular investigations are mandatory to obtain more effective treatments.DARU-JOURNAL OF FACULTY OF PHARMACY 01/2012; 20(1):27. · 0.63 Impact Factor -
Article: Smad molecules expression pattern in human bronchial airway induced by sulfur mustard.
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ABSTRACT: Airway remodelling is characterized by the thickening and reorganization of the airways seen in mustard lung patients. Mustard lung is the general description for the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease induced by sulfur mustard(SM). Pulmonary disease was diagnosed as the most important disorder in individuals that had been exposed to sulfur mustard. Sulfur mustard is a chemical warfare agent developed during Wars. Iraqi forces frequently used it against Iranian during Iran -Iraq in the 1980-1988. Peribronchial fibrosis result from airway remodeling that include excess of collagen of extracellular matrix deposition in the airway wall. Some of Smads families in association with TGF-β are involved in airway remodeling due to lung fibrosis. In the present study we compared the mRNA expression of Smad2, Smad3, and Smad4 and Smad7 genes in airway wall biopsies of chemical-injured patients with non-injured patients as control. We used airway wall biopsies of ten unexposed patients and fifteen SM-induced patients. Smads expression was evaluated by RT-PCR followed by bands densitometry. Expression levels of Smad3 and Smad4 in SM exposed patients were upregulated but Smad2 and Smad7 was not significantly altered. Our results revealed that Smad3, and 4 may be involved in airway remodeling process in SM induced patients by activation of TGF-β. Smad pathway is the most represented signaling mechanism for airway remodeling and peribronchial fibrosis. The complex of Smads in the nucleus affects a series of genes that results in peribronchial fibrosis in SM-induced patients.Iranian journal of allergy, asthma, and immunology 09/2011; 10(3):147-54. · 0.51 Impact Factor -
Article: Sulfur mustard induces expression of metallothionein-1A in human airway epithelial cells
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ABSTRACT: Background: Sulfur mustard can cause several long-term complications in the organs of individuals exposed to this toxic gas, and among these, pulmonary sequelae are the most important. More than 25 years after the Iran–Iraq war, thousands of Iranians are suffering from the chronic respiratory complications of sulfur mustard. Currently, based on several clinical findings, bronchiolitis obliterans is confirmed as the major diagnosis in these patients. Numerous studies have revealed that this disorder is strongly associated with oxidative stress due to excessive production of harmful reactive substances and decreased levels of endogenous antioxidants. Metallothioneins (MTs) are a group of low molecular weight sulfhydryl-rich intracellular proteins, and several isoforms have been identified in humans. MT-1A is an inducible and important MT isoform, which is transcriptionally activated by a variety of stress stimuli, such as free radicals. Methods: MT-1 mRNA expression and protein levels in endobronchial biopsy samples from 24 sulfur mustard-exposed patients and 15 unexposed control cases were evaluated by semiquantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemistry. Results: mRNA- MT-1A expression levels in sulfur mustard-exposed patients were upregulated compared with normal samples. Protein expression was also markedly higher in controls than in sulfur mustard-exposed patients. Conclusion: Upregulation of MT-1A mRNA in patients who have been exposed to sulfur mustard seems to be due to oxidative stress, which is induced in an attempt to ameliorate this harmful situation by reestablishment of homeostasis, but depletion of its protein might be due to secondary consequences of sulfur mustard toxicity, which are as yet not understood.05/2011; -
Article: Correlations of sleep disorders with severity of obstructive airway disease in mustard gas-injured patients.
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ABSTRACT: Mustard gas has serious adverse effects on several organs and functions in humans. In this study, we analyzed potential correlations between obstructive airway disease and sleep disorders in Iranian mustard gas-injured patients. We enrolled 30 male mustard gas-injured veterans and civilians from the Chemical Warfare Exposure Clinic at Baqiyatallah Hospital, Tehran. All the subjects underwent comprehensive polysomnographic and spirometric evaluations for diagnosis of sleep disorders. Patients were categorized into three groups according to the severity of their obstructive airway disease based on the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria: group 1 (GOLD I and II), group 2 (GOLD III), and group 3 (GOLD IV). Patients with less severe obstructive airway disease had significantly higher rate of hypopnea (p = 0.05) and AHI (p = 0.05). The number of REM events was significantly higher in patients with less severe airway disease (p = 0.028). Stage 1 sleep among patients with higher FEV1 significantly constituted a higher proportion of sleep, and stage 4 sleep was significantly longer in patients with higher DLCO (p = 0.043, both). We found that sleep parameters in SM-exposed patients have some relations with spirometric parameters. Future studies with large patient populations are needed for confirmation of our results, and therapeutic interventions are needed to evaluate endeavors we can do to enhance health and quality of life in our mustard gas-injured population.Sleep And Breathing 05/2011; 16(2):443-51. · 1.84 Impact Factor -
Article: Sulfur mustard induces expression of metallothionein-1A in human airway epithelial cells.
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ABSTRACT: Sulfur mustard can cause several long-term complications in the organs of individuals exposed to this toxic gas, and among these, pulmonary sequelae are the most important. More than 25 years after the Iran-Iraq war, thousands of Iranians are suffering from the chronic respiratory complications of sulfur mustard. Currently, based on several clinical findings, bronchiolitis obliterans is confirmed as the major diagnosis in these patients. Numerous studies have revealed that this disorder is strongly associated with oxidative stress due to excessive production of harmful reactive substances and decreased levels of endogenous antioxidants. Metallothioneins (MTs) are a group of low molecular weight sulfhydryl-rich intra-cellular proteins, and several isoforms have been identified in humans. MT-1A is an inducible and important MT isoform, which is transcriptionally activated by a variety of stress stimuli, such as free radicals. MT-1 mRNA expression and protein levels in endobronchial biopsy samples from 24 sulfur mustard-exposed patients and 15 unexposed control cases were evaluated by semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemistry. mRNA- MT-1A expression levels in sulfur mustard-exposed patients were upregulated compared with normal samples. Protein expression was also markedly higher in controls than in sulfur mustard-exposed patients. Upregulation of MT-1A mRNA in patients who have been exposed to sulfur mustard seems to be due to oxidative stress, which is induced in an attempt to ameliorate this harmful situation by reestablishment of homeostasis, but depletion of its protein might be due to secondary consequences of sulfur mustard toxicity, which are as yet not understood.International Journal of General Medicine 01/2011; 4:413-9.
