Seroepidemiology of hepatitis E virus infection in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Patients undergoing regular hemodialysis (HD) are at an extreme risk of acquiring bloodstream infections compared to the general population. Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is an important emerging health issue in these patients. To date, numerous studies have investigated the seroprevalence of HEV among HD patients across the world; however, the data are conflicting. The present study aimed to measure the exposure rate of HD patients to HEV infection by estimating the overall seroprevalence of HEV in this high-risk group. A systematic literature search was carried out using five electronic databases from inception to January 10, 2020, with standard keywords. Pooled seroprevalence estimates with 95 confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random intercept logistic regression model. The seroprevalence of HEV increased from 6.6 between the years of 1994 and 2000 to 11.13 from 2016 to 2020. Blood transfusion was associated with a nearly 2-fold increase in the rate of HEV seropositivity (OR = 1.99; 95 CI: 1.50-2.63, P <.0001, I2 = 6.5). HEV seroprevalence among patients with HD for more than 60 months was significantly higher than those with HD for less than 60 months (27.69, 95 CI: 20.69-35.99 vs 15.78, 95CI: 8.85-26.57, respectively) (P =.06). Our results indicated increased exposure of HD patients with HEV infection over the last decade. We concluded that blood transfusion and duration of HD are considerable risk factors for acquiring HEV infection among HD patients. © 2020 International Society for Apheresis, Japanese Society for Apheresis, and Japanese Society for Dialysis Therap

Phylogenetic analysis of prevalent tuberculosis and non-Tuberculosis Mycobacteria in Isfahan, Iran, based on a 360 bp sequence of the rpoB gene

Background: Taxonomic and phylogenetic studies of Mycobacterium species have been based around the 16sRNA gene for many years. However, due to the high strain similarity between species in the Mycobacterium genus (94.3 - 100), defining a valid phylogenetic tree is difficult; consequently, its use in estimating the boundaries between species is limited. The sequence of the rpoB gene makes it an appropriate gene for phylogenetic analysis, especially in bacteria with limited variation. Objectives: In the present study, a 360bp sequence of rpoB was used for precise classification of Mycobacterium strains isolated in Isfahan, Iran. Materials and Methods: From February to October 2013, 57 clinical and environmental isolates were collected, subcultured, and identified by phenotypic methods. After DNA extraction, a 360bp fragment was PCR-amplified and sequenced. The phylogenetic tree was constructed based on consensus sequence data, using MEGA5 software. Results: Slow and fast-growing groups of the Mycobacterium strains were clearly differentiated based on the constructed tree of 56 common Mycobacterium isolates. Each species with a unique title in the tree was identified; in total, 13 nods with a bootstrap value of over 50 were supported. Among the slow-growing group was Mycobacterium kansasii, with M. tuberculosis in a cluster with a bootstrap value of 98 and M. gordonae in another cluster with a bootstrap value of 90. In the fast-growing group, one cluster with a bootstrap value of 89 was defined, including all fast-growing members present in this study. Conclusions: The results suggest that only the application of the rpoB gene sequence is sufficient for taxonomic categorization and definition of a new Mycobacterium species, due to its high resolution power and proper variation in its sequence (85 - 100); the resulting tree has high validity. � 2016, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences

Exosomal miRNAs: Novel players in viral infection

Exosomes are secreted nanovesicles that are able to transfer their cargo (such as miRNAs) between cells. To determine to what extent exosomes and exosomal miRNAs are involved in the pathogenesis, progression and diagnosis of viral infections. The scientific literature (PubMed and Google Scholar) was searched from 1970 to 2019. The complex biogenesis of exosomes and miRNAs was reviewed. Exosomes contain both viral and host miRNAs that can be used as diagnostic biomarkers for viral diseases. Viral proteins can alter miRNAs, and conversely miRNAs can alter the host response to viral infections in a positive or negative manner. It is expected that exosomal miRNAs will be increasingly used for diagnosis, monitoring and even treatment of viral infections. © 2020 Future Medicine Ltd

Prevalence and genotype distribution of genital human papillomavirus infection in female sex workers in the world: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Female sex workers (FSWs) are amongst the most susceptible groups to acquire human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and consequently, to develop cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancer. This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to provide estimates of the pooled prevalence of HPV infection and the distribution of HPV types among FSWs across the world. Methods: Five computerized databases were searched for relevant studies published since the inception date of databases to September 2019. The pooled HPV prevalence was calculated by the random effect model described by DerSimonian-Laird. Subgroup analysis was performed to identify the probable sources of heterogeneity. The meta-analysis was performed using the "Metaprop"function in the R package Meta. Results: Sixty-two studies involving 21,402 FSWs from 33 countries were included in this meta-analysis, and the pooled HPV prevalence was 42.6 (95 confidence interval (CI): 38.5-46.7). HPV-16 (10.1, 95 CI: 8.2-12.5), HPV-52 (7.9, 95 CI: 5.9-10.7), and HPV-53 (6.0, 95 CI: 4.4-8.1) were the most common high-risk HPV types identified among FSWs. The pooled estimated prevalence of HPV infection among FSWs before and after 2010 were slightly different, 43.6 (95 CI: 36.1-51.4) and 41.9 (95 CI: 37.2-46.8), respectively. Conclusion: Due to the high prevalence of HPV infection, particularly with high-risk types, FSWs have a great susceptibility to the development of cervical and vaginal cancers. Furthermore, they can transmit their infection to their clients, which may result in a high prevalence of HPV and the incidence of HPV-associated malignancies among the general population. © 2020 The Author(s)

Human papilloma virus and breast cancer: The role of inflammation and viral expressed proteins

Background: Breast cancer is currently the most common neoplasm diagnosed in women globally. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that human papillomavirus (HPV) infection may play a key role in invasiveness of breast cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of HPV in patients with breast cancer and its possible association with cancer progression. Methods: Breast specimens were collected from 72 patients with breast cancer and 31 healthy controls. The presence of HPV was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and genotyping was performed for positive cases. We also evaluated the viral factors such as E6, E2, and E7 in HPV positive cases. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA (and Real-time PCR techniques were used to measure the expression level of anti-carcinogenic genes, such as p53, retinoblastoma (RB), breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene (BRCA1, BRCA2) and inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB), and different interleukins ILs (IL-1,IL6, and IL-17). Results: The HPV DNA was detected in 48.6% of breast cancer samples, whereas only 16.1% of controls were positive for HPV. We observed statistically significant differences between breast cancer patients and HPV presence (P = 0.003). HPV type 18 was the most prevalent virus genotype in patients. The expression of P53, RB, BRCA1, and BRCA2 were decreased in patients with HPV-positive breast cancer as compared to HPV-negative breast cancer and healthy controls. (All P-values were less than 0.05). The presence of the HPV was associated with increased inflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-6, IL-17, TGF-β, TNF-α, and NF-kB) and tumor progression. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that HPV infection may implicate in the development of some types of breast cancer. © 2019 The Author(s)

Circular RNAs: New Epigenetic Signatures in Viral Infections

Covalent closed circular RNAs (circRNAs) can act as a bridge between non-coding RNAs and coding messenger RNAs. CircRNAs are generated by a back-splicing mechanism during post-transcriptional processing and are abundantly expressed in eukaryotic cells. CircRNAs can act via the modulation of RNA transcription and protein production, and by the sponging of microRNAs (miRNAs). CircRNAs are now thought to be involved in many different biological and pathological processes. Some studies have suggested that the expression of host circRNAs is dysregulated in several types of virus-infected cells, compared to control cells. It is highly likely that viruses can use these molecules for their own purposes. In addition, some viral genes are able to produce viral circRNAs (VcircRNA) by a back-splicing mechanism. However, the viral genes that encode VcircRNAs, and their functions, are poorly studied. In this review, we highlight some new findings about the interaction of host circRNAs and viral infection. Moreover, the potential of VcircRNAs derived from the virus itself, to act as biomarkers and therapeutic targets is summarized. © Copyright © 2020 Nahand, Jamshidi, Hamblin, Mahjoubin-Tehran, Vosough, Jamali, Khatami, Moghoofei, Baghi and Mirzaei

Human papilloma virus and breast cancer: The role of inflammation and viral expressed proteins

Background: Breast cancer is currently the most common neoplasm diagnosed in women globally. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that human papillomavirus (HPV) infection may play a key role in invasiveness of breast cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of HPV in patients with breast cancer and its possible association with cancer progression. Methods: Breast specimens were collected from 72 patients with breast cancer and 31 healthy controls. The presence of HPV was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and genotyping was performed for positive cases. We also evaluated the viral factors such as E6, E2, and E7 in HPV positive cases. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA (and Real-time PCR techniques were used to measure the expression level of anti-carcinogenic genes, such as p53, retinoblastoma (RB), breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene (BRCA1, BRCA2) and inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB), and different interleukins [ILs] (IL-1,IL6, and IL-17). Results: The HPV DNA was detected in 48.6% of breast cancer samples, whereas only 16.1% of controls were positive for HPV. We observed statistically significant differences between breast cancer patients and HPV presence (P = 0.003). HPV type 18 was the most prevalent virus genotype in patients. The expression of P53, RB, BRCA1, and BRCA2 were decreased in patients with HPV-positive breast cancer as compared to HPV-negative breast cancer and healthy controls. (All P-values were less than 0.05). The presence of the HPV was associated with increased inflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-6, IL-17, TGF-β, TNF-α, and NF-kB) and tumor progression. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that HPV infection may implicate in the development of some types of breast cance

The role of viral and bacterial infections in the pathogenesis of IPF: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic progressive lung disease. Several risk factors such as smoking, air pollution, inhaled toxins, high body mass index and infectious agents are involved in the pathogenesis of IPF. In the present study, this meta-analysis study investigates the prevalence of viral and bacterial infections in the IPF patients and any possible association between these infections with pathogenesis of IPF. Methods: The authors carried out this systematic literature review from different reliable databases such as PubMed, ISI Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar to December 2020.Keywords used were the following �Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis�, �Infection�, �Bacterial Infection� and �Viral Infection�, alone or combined together with the Boolean operators "OR�, �AND� and �NOT� in the Title/Abstract/Keywords field. Pooled proportion and its 95 CI were used to assess the prevalence of viral and bacterial infections in the IPF patients. Results: In this systematic review and meta-analyses, 32 studies were selected based on the exclusion/inclusion criteria. Geographical distribution of included studies was: eight studies in American people, 8; in European people, 15 in Asians, and one in Africans. The pooled prevalence for viral and bacterial infections w ere 53.72 (95 CI 38.1�69.1) and 31.21 (95 CI 19.9�43.7), respectively. The highest and lowest prevalence of viral infections was HSV (77.7 95 CI 38.48�99.32), EBV (72.02, 95 CI 44.65�90.79) and Influenza A (7.3, 95 CI 2.66�42.45), respectively. Whereas the highest and lowest prevalence in bacterial infections were related to Streptococcus sp. (99.49, 95 CI 96.44�99.9) and Raoultella (1.2, 95 CI 0.2�3.08), respectively. Conclusions: The results of this review were confirmed that the presence of viral and bacterial infections are the risk factors in the pathogenesis of IPF. In further analyses, which have never been shown in the previous studies, we revealed the geographic variations in the association strengths and emphasized other methodological parameters (e.g., detection method). Also, our study supports the hypothesis that respiratory infection could play a key role in the pathogenesis of IP. © 2021, The Author(s)

Association between human papillomavirus infection and prostate cancer: A global systematic review and meta-analysis

Although an increasing number of studies have been conducted to evaluate the association between human papillomavirus (HPV) infections and distribution of HPV types worldwide with the risk of prostate cancer (PC), the results remain inadequate. Hence, we investigated the association between HPV infection and PC risk using a meta-analysis. Relevant studies from January 1990 to December 2016 were searched in PubMed, Web of sciences, and Scopus databases. Pooled odds ratio (OR) and their corresponding 95 confidence interval (CI) were calculated to find the association between the prevalence of HPV and prostate cancer risk. To do so, data from 24 studies with 5546 prostate cancer cases were pooled in order to evaluate the heterogeneity of chief parameters including study region, specimen type, HPV DNA source, detection technique, publication calendar period, and Gleason score. All statistical analyses were performed using STATA 11 and MedCalc 13. A significant positive association was found between HPV infection and PC risk (OR = 1.281; P = 0.026). The genotype 16 was more frequently found in patients with PC which significantly increased the cancer risk (OR = 1.60; P < 0.001). Age 65 and older could significantly escalate PC risk (OR = 3.564; P < 0.001). Our results clearly favor the potential pathogenetic link between HPV infection and increased risk of PC affirming that HPV infections could play a part in the risk of PC. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Lt

Prevalence of influenza A infection in the Middle-East: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to determine the prevalence rate of influenza virus from different parts of Middle East region, and present an overall relative frequency (RF) for this region. Methods: The authors performed a systematic literature review from several reliable databases such as PubMed, ISI Web of Science and Scopus during 2000�2016. Furthermore, the keywords of this research were �Influenza�, �Subtype�, �Seroprevalence�, �Incidence�, �Seroepidemiology�, �H1N1�, �H3N2�, �H5N1�, �H9N2�, �Middle-East� and �Meta-analysis�. The reported data were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: The authors selected 71 studies out of 1147 for the present review. The overall estimation of the prevalence of influenza virus was 10.2 95% confidence interval (CI): 10.1%�10.3%. However, based on our records, the evident heterogeneity of influenza virus was observed among the studies (Cochran Q test, P value <.001 and I-squared = 100%). It should be noted that influenza virus infection's RF varied from 0.5% in Qatar to 70% in Syria. Conclusions: The results of this review are remarkable, they show that influenza infection RF is variable due to several factors. Thus, further researches should be taken to minimize the emergence and transmission of influenza virus. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Lt