Allele and haplotype frequencies for HLA-DQ in Iranian celiac disease patients

AIM: To assess the distribution of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ2 and -DQ8 in Iranian celiac disease (CD) patients and compare them to healthy Iranian controls. METHODS: To predict the HLA-DQA1 and -DQB1 genes, we used six previously reported HLA-tagging single nucleotide polymorphism to determine HLA genotypes in 59 Iranian patients with 'biopsy-confirmed' CD and in 151 healthy Iranian individuals. To test the transferability of the method, 50 cases and controls were also typed using a commercial kit that identifies individual carriers of DQ2, DQ7 and DQ8 alleles. RESULTS: In this pilot study 97% of CD cases (n = 57) and 58% of controls (n = 87) were carriers of HLA-DQ2 and/or HLA-DQ8 heterodimers, either in the homozygous or heterozygous state. The HLA-DQ pattern of these 57 CD patients: heterozygous DQ2.2 (n = 14) and homozygous DQ2.2 (n = 1), heterozygous DQ2.5 (n = 33) and homozygous DQ2.5 (n = 8), heterozygous DQ8 (n = 13) and homozygous DQ8 (n = 2). Two CD patients were negative for both DQ2 and DQ8 (3%). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of DQ8 in our CD population was higher than that reported in other populations (25.4%). As reported in other populations, our results underline the primary importance of HLA-DQ alleles in the Iranian population's susceptibility to CD. (C) 2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved

Ets1 gene (Ets Proto-Oncogene1) expression changes in patients with celiac disease under a gluten-free diet

Background. One of the effective genes in the pathogenesis of the celiac disease is the Ets1 gene, which encodes the transcription factor Ets1 and is highly conserved during evolution. The Ets1 gene inhibits the differentiation of T helper 17 (Th17) cells and the production of interleukin-17A (IL-17A) by these cells and decreased expression of the Ets1 gene can lead to autoimmune disorders. The aim of this study is to evaluate the changes in Ets1 gene expression in the blood samples of patients with celiac disease compared with the control group. Methods. Blood samples were collected from twenty patients with celiac disease under a gluten-free diet and also from twenty healthy people. After RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, a specific primer pair of the Ets1 gene was designed and its expression changes were examined by real-time PCR. Results. The expression of the Ets1 gene in patients with celiac disease on a gluten-free diet did not show a significant difference compared with healthy individuals (P-value= 0.54).. Conclusion. Failure to observe a significant difference between the patient and the control group can be due to the effect of the duration of the gluten-free diet and also the inadvertent entry of gluten from hidden sources into the diet of patients under treatment. Practical Implications. According to the results observed in this study, it is possible that if the gluten-free diet is followed more strictly and over a longer period of time by patients with celiac disease, the expression of the Ets1 gene will proceed as we expected. This issue needs to be evaluated in future studies with a larger community

Is liver fibrosis in association with opium addiction and intravenous drug abuse among hepatitis C virus-infected patients?

Introduction: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a prevalent etiology that leads to cirrhosis. Various factors affect liver fibrosis progression. In the current study, we aimed to assess the probable role of opium consumption and intravenous drug abuse(IVDU) on liver inflammation and fibrosis. Methods: This is a case-control study conducted on 58 patients with hepatitis C virus infection in 2012. Anti-HCV antibody and quantitative HCV-RNA burden were performed for all patients. Then, they underwent a liver biopsy for the determination of inflammation grading and liver fibrosis based on the Hepatic Activity Index(HAI). Regarding inflammation grade, patients were divided into two groups of 0-4 grade as controls and 5-18 as cases. Considering the fibrosis score, patients were divided into two groups of 0-2 score as controls and 3-6 score as cases. Results: This study was conducted on HCV positive patients; among them, 74.1% were smokers, and 53.4% were opium addicts. Regarding liver inflammation grading, 52.2% of cases and 25.7% of controls were IVDU and 65.2% versus 45.7% were opium addict (P-value=0.04 and 0.145, respectively). On the other hand, regarding fibrosis score, 60% of cases versus 50% of controls were opium addicts, while 30% of cases versus 39% of controls were IVDUs (P-value>0.05). Conclusion: Contrary to the previous studies, we found no association between opium addiction with either liver inflammation or fibrosis. Based on this study, IVDU was only associated with liver inflammation, but liver fibrosis

Seroprevalence of anti-helicobacter pylori antibodies in hepatitis B and C patients with cirrhosis: a case-control study

<strong>BACKGROUND</strong>: Cirrhosis is terminal stage of many chronic liver diseases like hepatitis C and hepatitis B. In some studies the role of helicobacter pylori has been demonstrated in progress of cirrhosis and its complications, but none of the previous studies has investigated the role of socioeconomic conditions of patients in childhood period in this issue.<br /> <strong>METHODS</strong>: In a case-control study, we examined 100 cirrhotic patients due to hepatitis (49 hepatitis B and 51 hepatitis C patients) and 101 socioeconomically matched healthy controls presenting to Taleghani Hospital for IgG antibody to helicobacter pylori.<br /> <strong>RESULTS</strong>: IgG antibody to helicobacter pylori was present in 73% of cirrhotic patients and 52% of control group (P<0.003). Odds ratio for the presence of IgG antibody to helicobacter pylori in cirrhotic men comparing with healthy men was 3.2 (95%CI: 1.4-7.4).<br /> <strong>CONCLUSIONS</strong>: The relative frequency of IgG antibody to helicobacter pylori found to be higher in cirrhotic patients than in controls with regard to socioeconomic condition in childhood.<br /> <strong>KEY WORDS</strong>: Cirrhosis, hepatitis C, hepatitis B, helicobacter pylori, liver disease

Pathological and Clinical Correlation between Celiac Disease and Helicobacter Pylori Infection; a Review of Controversial Reports

There are overwhelming reports and descriptions about celiac associated disorders. Although there is a clear genetic association between celiac disease (CD) and some gastrointestinal disorders, there are controversial reports claiming an association between CD and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. Different studies indicated the possible association between lymphocytic gastritis and both CD and H. pylori infection, although this evidence is not consistently accepted. Also it was shown that an increase in intraepithelial lymphocytes count is associated with both H. pylori infection and celiac disease. Therefore the following questions may raise: how far is this infection actually related to CD?, which are the underlying patho-mechanisms for these associations? what are the clinical implications? what is the management? and what would be the role of gluten free diet in treating these conditions? PubMed (PubMed Central), Ovid, ISI of web knowledge, and Google scholar were searched for full text articles published between 1985 and 2015. The associated keywords were used, and papers described particularly the impact of pathological and clinical correlation between CD and H. pylori infection were identified. In this review we tried to answer the above questions and discussed some of the recent developments in the pathological and clinical aspects of CD and H. pylori infection