Epistatic interaction between adiponectin and survivin gene polymorphisms in endometrial carcinoma

Adiponectin appears to play an important role in the development and progression of several obesity-related malignancies. Also, overexpression of survivin, an inhibitor of apoptosis protein, is associated with increased risk of cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between two polymorphisms in the adiponectin gene and endometrial cancer (EC) risk. We also investigated whether epistasis between surviving and adiponectin gene polymorphisms are associated with EC risk in an Iranian population.The samples comprised formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections obtained from the archive of the pathology department, Imam-Khomeini Hospital and Firouzgar hospital. After DNA extraction the genotyping was performed using PCR-RFLP technique.Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in adiponectin (rs1063539, rs2241766) and survivin (rs9904341) gene were evaluated in the study. The increased frequency of ADIPOQ rs1063539C allele (CC. +. CG genotype) was associated with decreased EC risk OR: 0.39(0.17-0.90). Survivin rs9904341C allele (CC. +. CG genotype) was associated with increased EC risk crude OR: 2.75(1.27-5.95), adjusted OR: 2.93(1.27-6.76). We observed an epistatic interaction between survivin rs9904341 CC. +. CG genotype and ADIPOQ rs1063539 GG genotype increasing the risk of EC compared to those with other genotypes OR: 4.86(1.88-12.54), P=0.001.Our findings indicate that adiponectin might have a modulatory effect on survivin role and function in EC, which requires further investigation. © 2014 Elsevier GmbH

Computational Cancer Biology: An Evolutionary Perspective

ISSN:1553-734XISSN:1553-735

Grey literature as Valuable Resources in National Library of Iran: From Organizing to Digitization

Grey literature is an important source of information due to the uniqueness of the content that gets published. Because commercial publishers are looking to make a profit on the materials they publish, they often overlook niche research areas that serve smaller populations. Grey literature is one way to search for information in emerging or less popular research areas. It seems that it reinforce research and accelerate continuous movement towards having a scientific society. Any source of information that has not been released to the market after printing is considered as grey literature. Grey literature is a special resource that is created for a specific purpose and audience and is replicated finitely. It is impermanent and invisible, and cannot be seen in the directory of publishers, bookshops and libraries. The National Library of Iran was founded in 1937. The main goal of this organization is collecting, preserving, organizing and disseminating information about printed and non-printed works in Iran, and taking measures and making decisions to guarantee the accuracy, ease and speed of research and study in all fields to promote national culture. In order to achieve these goals, and according to the law, all private and public publishers are required to submit a copy of their publications (book and non -book materials) to the National Library of Iran . There are more than 900 thousand issues in the grey literature group at the National Library, over 240,000 issues of which are digitized. After being collected, these resources are organized and made available to users. Report, research project, standard and dissertations are among the most important sources of the National Library of Iran ’s grey literature, used by many researchers daily.In this research, the process of collecting, organizing and disseminating of information of these sources in the National Library of Iran will be expressed as a successful practical experience. Besides, it will be shown how the National Library of Iran has dealt with the problems it faced with

K-Ras 4A Transcript variant is up-regulated in eutopic endometrium of endometriosis patients during proliferative phase of menstrual cycle

Aims: K-Ras transcripts comprise two main isoforms: K-Ras 4A and K-Ras 4B, which act differently. The expression of both isoforms was reported in many human tissues. However, K-Ras 4B was the major expressed transcript variant. An increased expression of K-Ras 4B mRNA was reported in eutopic endometrium of endometriosis patients. In this way, we aimed to study the expression of K-Ras 4A transcript in eutopic endometrium related to endometriosis. Methods: Employing exon4-flanking primers, K-Ras isoforms were simultaneously amplified in a RT-PCR reaction. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed using GAPDH as an internal control. K-Ras 4A transcript expression in eutopic endometrium was analyzed by ��CT method. Results: We identified existence of both of K-Ras 4A and K-Ras 4B in eutopic endometrium of patients and controls. Quantitative real-time analysis demonstrated that K-Ras 4A expression was 2.7-fold higher in endometriosis than non-endometriosis eutopic samples. Interestingly, this overexpression mainly occurs through the proliferative phase of menstrual cycle. Conclusion: The findings bring to light the eminent role of K-Ras 4A in endometriosis. This splice variant which is known for promoting apoptosis could be an effective factor in balance between proliferation and death of eutopic endometrial cells. © 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Association of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) Gene polymorphisms and expression with the risk of endometriosis: a case�control study

Endometriosis is a polygenic and multifactorial gynecology situation which might be associated with angiogenesis. In the current study we assess the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) � 2578 A/C, and + 936 C/T polymorphisms in susceptibility to endometriosis and checking the expression of VEGF mRNA in eutopic tissue of endometrium with and without endometriosis. The study was comprised of 300 patients who underwent laparascopic or laparotomy surgery with 100 cases who had confirmed histological diagnosis of endometriosis, and 200 controls with no histological diagnosis of disease. The genotyping of VEGF polymorphisms was done by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR�RFLP) technique and the gene expression in tissue was determined using Real-Time PCR assay. There was no important difference of allele distribution of the � 2578 A/C (P = 0.7) and + 936 C/T (P = 0.5) polymorphisms among endometriosis cases and controls. Study of VEGF expression during the menstrual cycle, showed that endometrial tissue in cases group expressed more VEGF mRNA at the secretory phase compared to the proliferative phase (P = 0.03). Our results suggest that � 2578 A/C and + 936 C/T polymorphisms of VEGF did not seem to have impact on endometriosis predisposition in our study population. Also we did not find any link between VEGF mRNA expression and risk of endometriosis. © 2019, Springer Nature B.V

Association of pulp stones with coronary artery stenosis

Background: Dental pulp stones are discrete calcifications in the pulp chamber which are often seen in deciduous and permanent teeth. It has been hypothesised that atherosclerosis can be associated with their development. Objective: To determine whether a higher prevalence of dental pulp stones is correlated with coronary artery stenosis. Clinical setting: Sixty-one patients aged 20-55 years referred to Afshar Heart Center for invasive coronary angiography were invited to undergo panoramic dental radiography. The panoramic radiographs were independently examined for the presence of pulp stones. Results: Pulp stones were present in 82% (31/38) of patients with at least one clinically significant coronary artery stenosis and in 48% (11/23) of patients with normal coronary angiography. They were present in 13% of the teeth in the former group and in 5% of the teeth in the latter. The findings show a statistically significant association between coronary artery stenosis and presence of pulp stones (odds ratio 4.83, 95% confidence interval 1.5-15.4). Conclusion: Coronary artery stenosis and dental pulp calcification are significantly associated. Dental radiography has the potential to be used as a rapid screening method for the early detection of coronary artery stenosis

Neuropilin 1 expression correlates with differentiation status of epidermal cells and cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas.

Neuropilins (NRPs) are cell surface receptors for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and SEMA3 (class 3 semaphorin) family members. The role of NRPs in neurons and endothelial cells has been investigated, but the expression and role of NRPs in epithelial cells is much less clear. Herein, the expression and localization of NRP1 was investigated in human and mouse skin and squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs). Results indicated that NRP1 mRNA and protein was expressed in the suprabasal epithelial layers of the skin sections. NRP1 staining did not overlap with that of keratin 14 (K14) or proliferating cell nuclear antigen, but did co-localize with staining for keratin 1, indicating that differentiated keratinocytes express NRP1. Similar to the expression of NRP1, VEGF-A was expressed in suprabasal epithelial cells, whereas Nrp2 and VEGFR2 were not detectable in the epidermis. The expression of NRP1 correlated with a high degree of differentiation in human SCC specimens, human SCC xenografts, and mouse K14-HPV16 transgenic SCC. UVB irradiation of mouse skin induced Nrp1 upregulation. In vitro, Nrp1 was upregulated in primary keratinocytes in response to differentiating media or epidermal growth factor-family growth factors. In conclusion, the expression of NRP1 is regulated in the skin and is selectively produced in differentiated epithelial cells. NRP1 may function as a reservoir to sequester VEGF ligand within the epithelial compartment, thereby modulating its bioactivity