Metformin as a potential agent for modulating the faulty endometriotic mesenchymal stem cells: A case-control study

Background: According to stem cell theory, it seems that the proliferation/differentiation imbalance in endometrial mesenchymal stem cells (enMSCs) is the leading cause of endometriosis, so targeting them to modulate stemness-relevant factors seems to be a wise choice for endometriosis treatment. Objective: We aimed to investigate the effects of metformin on stemness properties of enMSCs by evaluating the expression profile of stemness-related genes and microRNAs (miRNAs). Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, MSCs were isolated from the eutopic endometrium of 3 endometriotic and 3 healthy women. After their characterization and culture, they were treated with 0.1, 1, and 10 mM metformin for 72 hr. Finally, the expression of octamer-binding transcription factor (OCT) 4A, OCT4B, OCT4B1, sex determining region Y-Box transcription factor 2, nanog homeobox, microRNA-200b, microRNA-145, and lethal-7b were analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Results: Metformin modulated the expression of stemness-related genes and miRNAs, OCT4A, OCT4B, OCT4B1, sex determining region Y-Box transcription factor 2, nanog homeobox, microRNA-200b, microRNA-145, and lethal-7b in enMSCs, especially at 1 and 10 mM concentration. Notably, metformin had a paradoxical effect on normal enMSCs. Conclusion: We showed that metformin could modulate the expression of deregulated genes and miRNAs in faulty enMSCs, and restore their skewed selfrenewal/ differentiation balance. It might be a promising drug for endometriosis treatment. The paradoxical effect of metformin on enMSCs and normal enMSCs might be because of their different metabolic patterns. This drug requires further investigation to illustrate. Key words: Endometriosis, Mesenchymal stem cells, Metformin

Novel Single Base Pair Deletion in ATM Cause Ataxia Telangiectasia in an Iranian Proband

Ataxia-telangiectasia is a rare disorder with neurological manifestations and caused by mutations in ATM gene. This gene produce a serine/threonine protein kinase, an activator of the DNA damage response in the face of DNA DSBs, which phosphorylates downstream substrates integrating with DNA repair procedure. Most ATM mutations are private mutations and, there is no mutational hotspots in the ATM gene. We unveiled a new mutation in this gene in an 8 years old A-T patient. This mutation led to fundamental alterations in ATM protein structure and representation of AT lastly.

A Mutational Hotspot in The LAMP2 Gene: Unravelling Intrafamilial Phenotypic Variation and Global Distribution of The c.877C>T Variant: A Descriptive Study

Objective: Danon disease is defined by a clinical trio of cardiomyopathy, skeletal myopathy, and cognitive impairment.It results from the lysosomal-associated membrane protein-2 (LAMP2) gene variants. The aim of study is determinationof genotype and phenotype of a newly diagnosed Iranian family with a unique phenotype due to a pathogenic variantof the LAMP2 gene along with a phenotypic comparison of all reported patients.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, we evaluated the demographic data, clinical features, managementprocedures, as well as genetic analysis of both patients in this newly diagnosed family. Whole genome sequencing(WGS) and in silico structural and functional predictions were applied. A comprehensive search of the c.877C>T variantin LAMP2 was conducted using the PubMed, Google Scholar, VarSome, ClinVar, Human Gene Mutation Database(HGMD), and Franklin databases to identify any genotype-phenotype correlations.Results: Nine patients were carriers of the c.877C>T variant. All patients were male, and displayed variable degreesof left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) that ranged from mild to severe. All patients exhibited typical cardiac conductionabnormalities consistent with Danon disease. Four underwent heart transplants and survived. Skeletal muscleinvolvement and cognitive impairment were observed in four patients each. The mean age of onset was 14 years. Theproband in this study exhibited an earlier onset of cardiac symptoms.Conclusion: Genetic analysis is the preferred diagnosis approach for Danon disease and can assist families inmanaging affected patients, identify carriers, and assist with future family planning. This study highlights the intrafamilialphenotypic variability of Danon disease. It is possible that variants of this gene may be frequent in Iran

The Role of Pomalidomide-Based Epigenetic Effect on DNMT Genes Expression in Myeloma Cell Line

Multiple myeloma (MM) is clonal B-cell malignancy characterized by the progressive proliferation of malignant plasma cells and accumulation of monoclonal immunoglobulin (M-spike) in blood and urine. Pomalidomide is an immunomodulatory agent which has potentially suppressed myeloma cell progression, especially in drug-resistant cases. As epigenetic modifications have an important role in gene regulation and because of the revealing role of DNA-Methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) overexpression in myeloma pathogenesis, in this study DNMT1, 3a and 3b genes expression of U266 myeloma cell line treated with pomalidomide have been evaluated. In this study after treatment of U266 cells with 1 μM pomalidomide for 48 hours, total RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis was performed. Gene expression of DNMT1, 3a and 3b has been evaluated using real time PCR technique. The result of this study show that pomalidomide can downregulate the expression of DNMT1, 3a, and 3b in 48 hours of treatment as 0.049, 0.058 and 0.055, respectively as comparing with untreated control (P<0.05). Based on these results we conclude that pomalidomide has desired effect on epigenetic modification by downregulation of DNMTs genes expression and has been considered as an effective drug for inhibition of myeloma proliferation

Methylation Analysis of 5&apos;UTR Promoter Region of DBC2 as a Biomarker in the Peripheral Bloods of Some Iranian Women with Sporadic Breast Cancer

ABSTRAC

Lovastatin Reduces Stemness via Epigenetic Reprograming of BMP2 and GATA2 in Human Endometrium and Endometriosis

Objective The stem cell theory in the endometriosis provides an advanced avenue of targeting these cells as a novel therapy to eliminate endometriosis. In this regard, studies showed that lovastatin alters the cells from a stem-like state to more differentiated condition and reduces stemness. The aim of this study was to investigate whether lovastatin treatment could influence expression and methylation patterns of genes regulating differentiation of endometrial mesenchymal stem cells (eMSCs) such as BMP2, GATA2 and RUNX2 as well as eMSCs markers. Materials and Methods In this experimental investigation, MSCs were isolated from endometrial and endometriotic tissues and treated with lovastatin and decitabin. To investigate the osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation of eMSCs treated with the different concentration of lovastatin and decitabin, BMP2, RUNX2 and GATA2 expressions were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). To determine involvement of DNA methylation in BMP2 and GATA2 gene regulations of eMSCs, we used quantitative Methylation Specific PCR (qMSP) for evaluation of the BMP2 promoter status and differentially methylated region of GATA2 exon 4. Results In the present study, treatment with lovastatin increased expression of BMP2 and RUNX2 and induced BMP2 promoter demethylation. We also demonstrated that lovastatin treatment down-regulated GATA2 expression via inducing methylation. In addition, the results indicated that CD146 cell marker was decreased to 53% in response to lovastatin treatment compared to untreated group. Conclusion These findings indicated that lovastatin treatment could increase the differentiation of eMSCs toward osteogenic and adiogenic lineages, while it decreased expression of eMSCs markers and subsequently reduced the stemness

Genetic Study of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in Iranian children: The Role of a De novo Variant

Background and Objectives: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a common cardiac disease diagnosed in young adults and rarely detectable in childhood. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy exhibits considerable diversity in its clinical and genetic characteristics. To date, mutations in multiple genes associated with HCM have been discovered, with the most common ones being MYBPC3 and MYH7 genes. The present study aimed to utilize whole exome sequencing for conducting a genetic analysis of Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in four children belonging to Iranian families. Materials and Methods: Patients underwent medical evaluation, including clinical assessment, electrocardiography, and echocardiography. Genetic testing was performed after DNA extraction using whole exome sequencing to identify genetic alterations that may be responsible for this disease. In addition, bioinformatic analysis of the genetic changes was carried out using software tools for alignment, variant calling, and interpretation. Finally, the Sanger sequencing method was employed to confirm the genetic variations in the affected individual's family members. Results: The patients were children presenting with initial symptoms, such as syncope and palpitations. They were diagnosed with Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy type 3 and 4 based on the results of electrocardiography and echocardiography. The genetic testing results revealed a pathogenic de novo mutation (c.1208G>A, p.Arg403Gln) in the MYH7 gene. In addition, another disease-causing homozygous nonsense genetic variation (c.3811C>T, p.Arg1271Ter) was identified in the MYBPC3 gene, resulting in the production of a premature protein. Conclusion: This study not only expanded the spectrum of genetic variations associated with Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy disease and aided in genetic counseling for families affected by it but also presented the first variations of the sarcomere gene in Iranian children

miR-31 and miR-145 as potential non-invasive regulatory biomarkers in patients with endometriosis

Objective Endometriosis is a prevalent gynecologic disease affecting 10% of women in reproductive age. Endometriosis is diagnosed by laparoscopy that was followed by histologic confirmation. Early diagnosis will lead to a more effective treatment with much less morbidity. As miR-31 and miR-145 are shown to be directly or indirectly correlated to biological processes involved in endometriosis, the aim of this study was to examine the association of miR-31 and miR-145 expression in plasma with the presence of endometriosis. Materials and Methods In this case control study, the plasma samples of 55 patients with endometriosis and 23 women without endometriosis were collected, extracted and analyzed by real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for the expression of miR-145 and miR-31. Results Our findings showed that miR-31 expression levels in stage 3 or 4 and stage 1 or 2 were significantly down- regulated (less than 0.01-fold, P<0.05), while the expression level of miR-145 was significantly up-regulated in women with endometriosis in stage 1 or 2. Conclusion Different cellular biological processes, such as differentiation, proliferation, mitochondrial function, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, invasion and decidualization, are deregulated in endometriosis. miR-31 and miR-145 are microRNAs (miRNAs) with potential roles, as shown in pathologies like cancers. We found that miR- 31 was under-expressed in patients with endometriosis, while miR-145 was over-expressed in stage 1 or 2, indicating that they were relatively down-regulated in the more severe forms. Our findings suggested that these two miRNAs may be considered as potential biomarkers with probable implications in early diagnosis and even follow-up of patients with endometriosis

Common Polymorphism’s Analysis of Thiopurine S-Methyltransferase (TPMT) in Iranian Population

Objective: Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) catalyses the S-methylation of thiopurinedrugs. Low activity phenotypes are correlated with several mutations in the TPMTgene and adverse drug reactions. The molecular basis for dissimilar enzymatic activityof TPMT has been established in Caucasians, African-Americans and Southwest Asians,but it remains to be elucidated in Iranian population. Until present, no study on Iranianpopulation has been performed on the known alleles of TPMT. The aim of this study wasto investigate the frequencies of four of the most common variants of this gene.Materials and Methods: This study was conducted during 2007 at the Department of Hematology,Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. Using PCR-RFLP and allele specificPCR techniques, allelic variants of the TPMT gene TPMT*2(G238C), TPMT*3B (G460A),TPMT*3C (A719G) and TPMT*3A (G460A and A719G) were genotyped in a normal populationof 127 Iranians.Results: In this study TPMT*2 showed a prevalence of 7.08%. TPMT*3C and *3A werefound in 2.47% and 2.18% of the samples, respectively. TPMT*3B variant was not detectedin Iranian subjects. 112 out of 127 participants showed homozygote wild type allele.Conclusion: This study is the first to analyze TPMT allele frequencies in a sample ofIranian population and indicates that TPMT*2 is the most common allele (7.08%) in thispopulation. These results can help to organize national pretreatment strategies in patientswith acute lympho blastic leukemia (ALL) or other diseases requiring thiopurine medicationin their standard therapy

Kleefstra Syndrome: The First Case Report From Iran

Kleefstra Syndrome is characterized by severe mental retardation, brachycephaly, microcephaly, epileptic seizures, distinct facial features, and infantile weak muscle tone and heart defects. Deletion of EHMT1 is the main player in 75% of cases. Because of blurriness in genotype-phenotype correlation through clinical and molecular features of both 9q34.3 microdeletion patients and those with an intragenic EHMT1 mutation in Kleefstra Syndrome, genetic characterization of patients with clinical symptoms of such spectrum is desirable. We report the first Kleefstra Syndrome patient in Iran characterized through genetic approaches. Our report could improve KS diagnosis in Iran and prepare PND and PGs options for involved families