Association Between Interleukin 16 Gene Polymorphisms (rs1131445, rs4072111) and Late Onset of Alzheimer’s Disease in Iranian Patients

Objectives: Alzheimer’s disease is the most common kind of dementia in the old age, and its incidence increases with age. Previous studies have shown that cytokines are proteins that play an important role in inflammation, and their level changes in inflammatory diseases. Since Alzheimer’s disease is an inflammatory disease, cytokines may influence the occurrence of this disease. IL16 is a cytokine whose role has been proved in many inflammatory diseases. This gene is one of the coding genes of cytokines of the inflammatory process. It may be responsible for inflammatory pathology seen around old age plaques in Alzheimer’s disease. It can also associate with the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 2 polymorphisms of gene IL16 (rs1131445 and rs4072111) on the risk of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the Iranian population. Methods & Materials: In this study, the intervention group consisted of 144 individuals who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease by psychologists based on a clinical test (DSM-IV), and the control group included 173 healthy individuals with no psychological disorders. DNA was extracted by salting out technique. The PCR response was conducted (for replicating the mentioned pieces) for any polymorphism in optimized conditions by using designed primers. The product of PCR was first checked for the confirmation of accurate function of PCR using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Next, the PCR product was dissected by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method with intended confining enzyme, and then the genotype of the samples was determined by PAGE. Individual genotypes were determined using the PCR-RFLP method. Statistical analyses were done using OpenEpi 2.3.1 and SPSS 11.5. Results: The study of allelic analysis between the control and intervention groups by considering the confidence interval (CI=90%) and significant level (0.05) for rs1131445 showed that the C allele had no significant association with Alzheimer’s disease (P=0.656). The TC genotype did not show any significant difference with TT genotype (P=0.614). However, the study of allelic analysis for rs4072111 polymorphism between 2 groups showed that the relationship of T allele with the disease is significant, and this allele has a protective role in creating the disease (P=0.008). In addition, TC genotype as a protective status showed a significant association with Alzheimer’s disease (P=0.007). Conclusion: The existence of polymorphism in some genes of the inflammatory pathway could make people susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease. The genetic changes in DNA sequence of gene IL16 could result in changes in cytokine product or its function. The association between rs4072111 and Alzheimer’s disease supports the presumptions and shows a probable role of this polymorphism in Alzheimer disease. Besides, the association between rs1131445 and Alzheimer disease cannot be proven due to the small number of samples (Power: 8.23%)

Assessment of the Effects of a Novel Herbal Immunomodulator Drug (IMOD) on Cytokine Profiles in Experimental Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis: a Preliminary Survey

Background: Cytokines play a fundamental role in the regulation of immune responses in remission and/or relapsing of leishmaniasis. Therefore, immunotherapy for the treatment of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) has represented a principle approach in control of the infection. The present research aimed to evaluating the immunotherapeutic potential of a novel herbal immunomodulator drug (IMOD) on CVL. Methods: Twelve mongrel dogs were intravenously infected with Iranian strain of L. infantum and randomly divided into three groups; 1: negative control (non-infected), 2: immunotherapy with IMOD and 3: positive control (non-treated). Cell proliferation and Th1-/Th2-type cytokines were measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) by cell proliferation kit I (MTT) and enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISpot) assays, respectively. Results : At the 60 days follow-up assessment, no adverse effects were observed in treated interventional group. Cellular proliferation assay indicated that PBMCs of IMOD group had higher stimulation index (SI) than positive control group (p <0.05). Enhancement of CD4+ T cells such as IL-2, IL-4 & IL-10 were detected in negative control group due to in vitro IMOD stimulation 30 days post-treatment. In accordance to decreasing trends of Th1 & Th2 cytokines in positive control group, the mean number of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4 and IL-10 spot forming cells (SFCs) down regulated for IMOD group during the study. Conclusion: These data indicate that IMOD had immunomodulatory potential but is not sufficient for total parasitic cure due to balance of Th1/Th2 cytokines. This is a preliminary study and we propose to undertake a series of experiments to evaluate the CVL due to in vitro modulatory effects of IMOD

Downregulation of E-cadherin expression in breast cancer by promoter hypermethylation and its relation with progression and prognosis of tumor

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women around the world, and novel prognosis strategies is needed to control more accurate and effective of this malignant disease. Among the latest prognostic markers is E-cadherin, which mediates cell-cell adhesion by associating with catenins. Loss of E-cadherin gene (CDH1) function by genetic or epigenetic alteration leads to tumorigenesis. The aim of our study was to investigate E-cadherin gene promoter methylation in breast cancer, and its correlation with E-cadherin protein expression. Fifty primary breast cancers tissue with ductal type and 50 normal breast sample from the same patients that was located adjacent to tumor region as controls were provided by Imam Reza-based referral and teaching hospital affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. CDH1 promoter region CpG sites methylation and E-cadherin protein expression were determined by bisulfitespecific polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis, and the resulting products were sequenced on an ABI automated sequencer for firm conclusion. CDH1 hypermethylation in breast tumor specimen (ductal type) was observed in 94 % (47 of 50) comparing with normal samples methylation, and the significant difference was (p = 0.000). Protein expression in tumor samples tends to diminish with the CDH1 promoter region methylation. In the group of 50 ductal carcinomas cases, most of the cases showing CDH1 hypermethylation correlated inversely with the reduced levels of expression of E-cadherin proteins (95 % of full-methylated tumor samples had no protein expression, and 4.5 % of them had weak expression levels). Possible association was observed between CDH1 methylation and its protein expression (p = 0.000). The results of methylation analysis in promoter region in ten CpG sites (863, 865, 873, 879, 887, 892, 901, 918, 920, and 940) suggested that abnormal CDH1 methylation occurs in high frequencies in ductal breast tumors probably sounds the process of carcinogenesis progression

Downregulation of E-cadherin expression in breast cancer by promoter hypermethylation and its relation with progression and prognosis of tumor

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women around the world, and novel prognosis strategies is needed to control more accurate and effective of this malignant disease. Among the latest prognostic markers is E-cadherin, which mediates cell-cell adhesion by associating with catenins. Loss of E-cadherin gene (CDH1) function by genetic or epigenetic alteration leads to tumorigenesis. The aim of our study was to investigate E-cadherin gene promoter methylation in breast cancer, and its correlation with E-cadherin protein expression. Fifty primary breast cancers tissue with ductal type and 50 normal breast sample from the same patients that was located adjacent to tumor region as controls were provided by Imam Reza-based referral and teaching hospital affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. CDH1 promoter region CpG sites methylation and E-cadherin protein expression were determined by bisulfitespecific polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis, and the resulting products were sequenced on an ABI automated sequencer for firm conclusion. CDH1 hypermethylation in breast tumor specimen (ductal type) was observed in 94 % (47 of 50) comparing with normal samples methylation, and the significant difference was (p = 0.000). Protein expression in tumor samples tends to diminish with the CDH1 promoter region methylation. In the group of 50 ductal carcinomas cases, most of the cases showing CDH1 hypermethylation correlated inversely with the reduced levels of expression of E-cadherin proteins (95 % of full-methylated tumor samples had no protein expression, and 4.5 % of them had weak expression levels). Possible association was observed between CDH1 methylation and its protein expression (p = 0.000). The results of methylation analysis in promoter region in ten CpG sites (863, 865, 873, 879, 887, 892, 901, 918, 920, and 940) suggested that abnormal CDH1 methylation occurs in high frequencies in ductal breast tumors probably sounds the process of carcinogenesis progression