Increased transforming growth factor-β and interleukin-17 transcripts in peripheral blood of breast cancer patients with different clinical stages

Background: Currently, cancer as major problem around the world threatens human health and has a high incidence in developing countries. Many reports have showed that there is a dysfunction in the immune system of cancer patients. Interleukin-17 (IL-17) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) are increased in the generated through cancers, and IL-17 is considered as a pro-inflammatory cytokine; IL-17 is an angiogenic factor and promotes tumor growth. Materials and Methods: In this study TGF-β and IL-17, mRNA gene expression has been measured in peripheral blood of 35 breast cancer patients and 35 normal age-matched women using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction method with master mix reaction containing SYBER Green. β-actin gene was used as housekeeping gene. Results: Our data demonstrated a significant upregulation of TGF-β and IL-17 gene expression (P < 0.05) in patient's peripheral blood compared to normal healthy control. Levels of genes expression were higher in the breast cancer group compared to the control group. Conclusion: TGF-β and IL-17 expression could be used as a diagnostic marker for detecting breast cancer

Association of sFas and sFas ligand with progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Basrah province

Objective: This study aimed to assess the role of Fas/Fas ligand (FasL) system in the progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Materials and Methods: This study included 100 participants – 30 persons as a control group and 70 patients with T2DM (35 males and 35 females) and their ages were ranged from 40 to 70 years. The patients were distributed into two groups according to gender and duration of the disease: newly diagnosed group for short duration ≤5 years and chronic diagnosed group for long duration> 5 years. Serum sFas and sFasL levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique, and also, lipid and glucose profile were measured by COBAS analyzer. Results: The results revealed a significant (P ≤ 0.05) decrement in the levels of FasL in T2DM than controls while the levels of Fas were increasing significantly (P ≤ 0.05) in T2DM than controls. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and fasting blood glucose were negatively correlated with FasL, while high-density lipoprotein was positively correlated with it, and whereas HbA1c positively correlated with Fas, the gender and duration of disease did not show any correlation with the disease. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that hyperglycemia causes increase in Fas levels which lead to dysfunction of pancreatic β-cell in T2DM