Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology 1735-1502 12 2 2013 06 15 144 152 EN Monireh Sadat Mirzamani Genomics Division, Systems Biology Institute, Chemical Injury Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran AND Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran Mohammad Reza Nourani Genomics Division, Systems Biology Institute, Chemical Injury Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Abbas Ali Imani Fooladi Applied Microbiology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Samad Zare Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran Majid Ebrahimi Genomics Division, Systems Biology Institute, Chemical Injury Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran AND Department of Organ Anatomy, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Japan Samaneh Yazdani Genomics Division, Systems Biology Institute, Chemical Injury Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran AND Department of Pathology, Tohoku University GraduateSchool of Medicine, Sendai, Japan Mostafa Ghanei Genomics Division, Systems Biology Institute, Chemical Injury Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Hassan Karimfar Department of Anatomy, Medical School, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran 2015 10 16 The widespread use of sulfur mustard  (SM) as a chemical warfare agent in the  past century has proved its long-lasting toxic effects. Despite a lot of research over the past decades on Iranian veterans, there are still major gaps in the SM literature. Transforming growth  factor  (TGF-β),  a  cytokine  that  affects  many  different  cell processes,  has  an important role in the lungs of patients with some of chronic airway diseases, especially with respect to airway remodeling in mustard lung. Primary airway fibroblasts from epibronchial biopsies were cultured, and gene expression of TGF-β1, TGF-β2, TbR-I and TbR-II in fibroblasts of SM injured patients and controls were investigated. Expression of TGF-βs and receptors was measured by RT-PCR. Protein level of TGF-β1was surveyed by western blot. Our  findings revealed that expression levels of TGF-β1,  TGF-β2,  TbR-I and TbR-II were upregulated in the  airway fibroblasts of  SM exposed patients  in comparison  with control samples. TGF-β1 expression was shown to be markedly increased in primary lung fibroblasts of chemically injured patients. Our  novel data, suggested that  over-expression of TGF-β  molecule and receptors  in primary airway fibroblasts of mustard gas injured patients may be involved in progression of airway remodeling of these patients. https://ijaai.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijaai/article/view/520 https://ijaai.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijaai/article/download/520/500