ACE I/D Gene Polymorphism Can't Predict the Steroid Responsiveness in Asian Children with Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis

The results from the published studies on the association between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D) gene polymorphism and the treatment response to steroid in Asian children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS) is still conflicting. This meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the relation between ACE I/D gene polymorphism and treatment response to steroid in Asian children and to explore whether ACE D allele or DD genotype could become a predictive marker for steroid responsiveness. = 0.85; respectively), however, the result for the association of II genotype with SRNS risk was not stable.Our results indicate that D allele or DD homozygous can't become a significant genetic molecular marker to predict the treatment response to steroid in Asian children with INS

Association of lead concentration in colostrum, maternal and cord blood with newborn weight in polluted vs. non-polluted areas of Iran

Background: Lead poisoning has proven to be one of the most important environmental health problems among developing countries with both direct and indirect effects on human life. Lead is known to cross the blood-brain barrier and placenta, and accumulates in soft and hard tissues. Lead can be excreted in urine, stool, milk, sweat, nails and saliva. During pregnancy and lactation, lead is released from bones into the blood along with Ca2+. The toxic effects of lead on various human tissues have been studied extensively, but few studies have addressed its impact on fetal development during pregnancy. Blood levels of lead are higher in people living in lead-polluted regions. It has been reported that Tehran (central and southern parts) is the most problematic city in terms of lead poisoning.Methods: From 86 sets of mothers and newborns in a non-polluted area of rural Rasht, Iran, we examined specimens of maternal blood, cord blood and colostrum (86×3=258) and specimens from 85 sets of mothers and newborns in a polluted area of Tehran, Iran (85×3=255) for lead levels using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) and analyzed the results by t-test, SPSS, and linear regression.Results: The mean blood lead concentrations of mothers, cord blood of newborns and colostrum were 7.6±4.1, 5.9±3 and 4.2±2.5 μg/dl, respectively, in the non-polluted area and 9.1±8.4, 6.5±5.2 and 5.8±5.5 μg/dl, respectively, in the polluted area. The mean weights of the newborns in non-polluted and polluted areas were 3.2±0.5 kg and 3.2±4.5 kg, respectively.Conclusions: Our data revealed an association between mean concentrations in blood lead of mothers and newborns and between mean concentrations of colostrum lead and newborn blood lead in both areas (p=0.01). There was no association between mean blood lead concentration of mothers with the weight of their newborns (p=0.89)

POLYMORPHISM IN THE ANGIOTENSIN-CONVERTING ENZYME (ACE) GENE AND ACE ACTIVITY IN TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS

"nDiabetes mellitus is a multifactorial disease. It has recently been shown that an insertion (I)/deletion (D) polymorphism exists in the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene that can affect the serum ACE level. There are three genotypes: DD, DI, and II, with the ACE level being highest in DD, intermediate in DI, and lowest in II. In the present investigation, 170 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and 144 control subjects were studied. The ACE I/D polymorphism was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) utilizing specific primers. ACE activity was determined spectrophotometrically. Distribution of ACE gene (I/D) polymorphism and allele frequencies in patients with T2DM were significantly different from those in control (P < 0.001); D allele frequency was 51% in T2DM vs. 48% in controls. The level of ACE activity was significantly higher in the DD genotype (91.1 ± 23.18) than those in ID (60.6 ± 22.8) and in II genotypes (36.8 ± 6.9). There was a significant difference in genotype distribution between the two groups (P < 0.001). New normal ranges of serum ACE level were determined for each genotype. Moreover, we found test sensitivity to be 62.3%. Serum ACE activity was significantly associated with ACE (I/D) gene polymorphism

Association of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) Gene Polymorphism and Diabetic Nephropathy

Angiotensin I-converting Enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphism; genotype DD or D allele may be involved with an increased susceptibility to type 2 diabetes and diabetic nephropathy (DN). We examined the frequency of ACE gene polymorphism in 170 patients (85 type 2 diabetes with nephropathy and 85 without it) in Tehran, Iran. DNA was extracted from the white blood cells and the I/D polymorphism of the ACE gene was detected by PCR. The frequency of DD, ID and II genotypes in type 2 diabetic patients were 20%, 61.2% and 18.8%, and in patients with nephropathy 30.6%, 55.3%, 14.1%, respectively. The DD genotype of the DN group was higher than that of the type 2 diabetes patients (30.6% vs 20%, P=0.157, RR=1.3) and the control group (30.6% vs 14.3%, P=0.006, RR=2.9). The frequency of D allele in nephropathic patients was 58.2% as compared to the type 2 diabetic patients without nephropathy (50.5%) P=0.19, RR=1.16. The D allele frequency in the DN group was found slightly higher than of the type 2 diabetes (X2=0.684, OR=0.709, 95%CI: 0.313-1.606, P=0.408) which indicated the D allele was not associated with DN. It is suggested that DD genotype and D allele are not associated with diabetic nephropathy

Celiac disease microarray analysis based on System Biology Approach

Aim: Aim of this study is screen of the large numbers of related genes of CD to find the key ones. Background: Celiac disease (CD) is known as a gluten sensitive and immune system dependent disease. There are several high throughput investigations about CD but it is necessary to clarify new molecular aspects mechanism of celiac. Methods: Whole-genome profile (RNA) of the human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as Gene expression profile GSE113469 was retrieved Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The significant genes were selected and analyzed via proteinprotein interaction (PPI) network by Cytoscape software. The key genes were introduced and enriched via ClueGO to find the related biochemical pathways. Results: Among 250 significant genes 47 genes with expressed change above 2 fold change (FC) were interacted and the constructed network were analyzed. The network characterized by poor connections so it was promoted by addition 50 related nodes and 18 crucial nodes were introduced. Two clusters of biochemical pathways were identified and discussed. Conclusion: There is an obvious conflict between microarray finding and the well-known related genes of CD. This problem can be solve by more attention to the interpretation of PPI ntwork analysis results. © 2018 RIGLD, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases