Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin b down-regulates the expression of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) signaling transducers in human glioblastoma

Background: It has been revealed that Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B (SEB) may feature anti-cancer and anti-metastatic advantages due to its ability to modify cell immunity processes and signaling pathways. Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive human cancers; it has a high mortality nature, which makes it an attractive area for the development of novel therapies. Objectives: We examined whether the SEB could exert its growth inhibitory effects on glioblastoma cells partially through the manipulation of a key tumor growth factor termed transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β). Materials and Methods: A human primary glioblastoma cell line, U87, was treated with different concentrations of SEB. The cell quantity was measured by the MTT assay at different exposure times. For molecular assessments, total ribonucleic acid (RNA) was extracted from either non-treated or SEB-treated cells. Subsequently, the gene expression of TGF-β transducers, smad2/3, at the messenger RNA (mRNA) level, was analyzed via a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) using the SYBR Green method. Significant differences between cell viability and gene expression levels were determined (Prism 5.0 software) using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. Results: We reported that SEB could effectively down-regulate smad2/3 expression in glioblastoma cells at concentrations as quantity as 1 µg/mL and 2 µg/mL (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively). The SEB concentrations effective at regulating smad2/3 expression were correlated with those used to inhibit the proliferation of glioblastoma cells. Our results also showed that SEB was able to decrease smad2/3 expression at the mRNA level in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Conclusions: We suggested that SEB could represent an agent that can significantly decrease smad2/3 expression in glioblastoma cells, leading to moderate TGF-β growth signaling and the reduction of tumor cell proliferation. © 2016, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences

Bariatric surgery in morbidly obese patients with inflammatory bowel disease: A systematic review

Backgrounds With increased prevalence of obesity, the number of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients suffering from morbid obesity has raised. It is not clear yet if bariatric surgery is a safe and effective option in this population. Objectives Our systematic review aims to summarize the available literature on the safety and efficacy of bariatric surgery in morbidly obese patients with IBD. Setting University hospital, Iran. Methods A PubMed/MEDLINE search was performed to identify studies reporting the outcome of morbidly obese IBD patients. Postoperative outcome of IBD patients after bariatric surgery were pooled for early and late complications, change of IBD status, and medication alteration. Results A total of 7 studies reported post-bariatric surgery outcomes of 43 morbidly obese IBD patients (31 females, 11 males) with an age ranging from 30 to 64 years and a body mass index from 35.7 to 71 kg/m2. Of these, 25 suffered Crohn’s disease (CD) (58.2%) and 18 were ulcerative colitis (UC) patients (41.8%). The small bowel was the most common involved gastrointestinal segment in 27.3% of patients. CD patients more commonly underwent sleeve gastrectomy (72%), while UC patients similarly underwent sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (44.4%). After a follow-up of 8 to 77 months, IBD patients lost up to 71.4%±5.9% of excess weight and 14.3 kg/m2±5.7 kg/m2 of body mass index. There were 9 early (21.4%) and 10 late (23.8%) postoperative complications related to the bariatric procedure. IBD remitted in 20 patients (47.6%), improved in 2 patients (4.8%), but exacerbated in 7 patients (16.7%). Conclusions Although available data on morbidly obese patients with IBD is scarce, bariatric surgery seems to be a safe and effective option for these patients with no added morbidity or mortality. Further studies are necessary to confirm this data

Salivary biomarkers in cancer detection

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the USA. Its symptoms are often not specific and absent, until the tumors have already metastasized. Therefore, there is an urgent demand for developing rapid, highly accurate and noninvasive tools for cancer screening, early detection, diagnostics, staging and prognostics. Saliva as a multi-constituent oral fluid comprises secretions from the major and minor salivary glands, extensively supplied by blood. Molecules such as DNAs, RNAs, proteins, metabolites, and microbiota, present in blood, could be also found in saliva. Recently, salivary diagnostics has drawn significant attention for the detection of specific biomarkers, since the sample collection and processing are simple, cost-effective, and precise and do not cause patient discomfort. Here, we review recent salivary candidate biomarkers for systemic cancers by dividing them according to their origin into: genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic and microbial types