mohammad khalaj-kondori

People with autism frequently exhibit poor social skills, communication difficulties, and repetitive and stereotyped behaviors. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are potential and promised targets in developing of new treatment strategies for autism.This study aimed to assess the relative expression of miR-124a, miR-34a-3p, miR-545-3p, miR-153, and BDNF in the blood samples of autistic children.

The children autism rating scale (CARS) was used to determine the severity of autism and to confirm the diagnosis. Blood samples were obtained from 50 patients and 40 age-/sex-matched healthy controls. Expressions of miR-545-3p, miR-34a-3p, miR-124a, and BDNF were evaluated using qRT-PCR. Pearson's correlation coefficient and regression analysis were used to check correlations between relative expressions of the miRNAs and BDNF. Biomarker potencies were assessed by ROC curve analysis.

 qRT-PCR analysis showed that the relative expressions of miR-545-3p, miR-34a-3p, miR-124a, and BDNF were significantly higher in the patients' group than the healthy controls. However, the relative expression of miR-153 was significantly lower in the case group than the control group. The relative expression of miR-124a was positively correlated with those of miR-545-3p and BDNF among the patients group. Also, the relative expressions of miR-545-3p and BDNF were positively correlated with each other. The ROC curve data also indicated that miR-124a, miR-34a-3p, miR-545-3p, miR-153, and BDNF could be possible diagnostic biomarker for CARS diagnosis (AUC=0.8328, AUC=0.8354, AUC=0.6727, AUC=0.8518 and AUC=0.8214, respectively).

Deregulation of miR-124a, miR-454-3p and BDNF might be considered as potential biomarkers for severity of autism.

Inflammation contributes to cancer pathobiology through different mechanisms. Higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines can lead to hyperinflammation and promote cancer development and metastasis. For cancer treatment, Doxorubicin (DOX) can be encapsulated into the poly-lactic-glycolic acid (PLGA) nanoparticles. This study aimed to investigate the impact of doxorubicin-loaded PLGA nanoparticles (DOX-PLGA NP) on the expression of pro-inflammatory genes TNF-α, IL-6, iNOS, and IL-1β in the MCF-7 cells.

The DOX-PLGA NP was prepared by loading doxorubicin into PLGA and characterized using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The cytotoxic effect of the nanoparticles was determined by the MTT assay, and their impacts on the expression of pro-inflammatory genes were assessed by qRT-PCR.

The encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity were 60±1.5 and 1.13±0.21 percent, respectively. The zeta potential and mean DOX-PLGA nanoparticle size were -18±0.550 mV and 172±55.6 nm, respectively. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of the DOX-PLGA NP on MCF-7 cell viability was 24.55 µg/mL after 72 hours of treatment. The qRT-PCR results revealed that the 20 µg/mL concentration of the DOX-PLGA NP significantly suppressed the expression of the pro-inflammatory genes TNF-α, IL-6, iNOS, and IL-1β compared to DOX alone (20 µg/mL). Additionally, the suppression effect of DOX-PLGA NP on the expression of these pro-inflammatory genes was dose-dependent.

These results show that DOX-PLGA NP efficiently suppressed the expression of pro-inflammatory genes. Furthermore, encapsulation of DOX into PLGA nanoparticles significantly improved the effectiveness of DOX in suppressing pro-inflammatory genes in MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

Pro-inflammatory cytokines play critical roles in cancer pathobiology and have been considered potential targets for cancer management and therapy. Understanding the impact of cancer therapeutics such as 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on their expression might shed light on development of novel combinational therapies. This study aimed to  encapsulate 5-FU into PLGA  and evaluate their effects on the expression of pro-inflammatory genes IL-9, IL-17-A, IL-23, and IFN-γ in the HT-29 cells.

PLGA-5-FU NPs were constructed and characterized by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The cytotoxicity was evaluated by MTT test and, the IC50 was identified. HT-29 cells were treated with different concentrations of the PLGA-5-FU NPs for 48 hours and, gene expression levels were analyzed by qRT-PCR.

DLS and AFM analysis revealed that the prepared PLGA-5-FU NPs were negatively charged spherical-shaped particles with a mean size of 215.9 ± 43.3 nm. PLGA-5-FU NPs impacted the viability of HT-29 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The qRT-PCR results revealed a dose-dependent decrease in the expression of IL-9, IL-17A, IL-23 and IFN-γ genes, and their expressions were significantly different in both 10 and 20 µg/mL treated groups compared to the control. However, although the treatment of HT-29 cells with 20 µg/mL free 5-FU resulted in decreased expression of the studied genes, the differences were not statistically significant compared to the control group.

PLGA-5-FU NPs significantly suppressed expression of the IL-9, IL-17A, IL-23 and IFN-γ genes, and the encapsulation of 5-FU into PLGA improved considerably impact of the 5-FU on the HT-29 cells.

Breast cancer is identified as the most common malignancy and cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Compared with healthy controls, this study evaluated the expression level and diagnostic power of lncRNA plasma TINCR in breast cancer patients.

Fifty-eight women diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma and fifty healthy age-matched controls were included in the study. TRIzol® LS regent was used to isolate the total RNA from the whole plasma. Total RNA was converted to cDNA using Prime ScriptTM RT reagent kit and the expression levels of TINCR were quantified by qRT-PCR.

Low levels of TINCR lncRNA were observed in the plasma of breast cancer patients compared with control subjects. Plasma TINCR level was also positively correlated with the diagnostic age of breast cancer patients.

A low level of plasma TINCR could discriminate breast cancer patients from healthy control subjects.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third mostcommoncancer that frequently spreads to other parts of thebody, with a low chance of recovery and a high mortality rate. Long non-coding RNAsare considered significant prognostic and diagnostic indicators because they are dysregulated in various cancers and have distinctive expression patterns and high tissue- and cell-specificity. VLDLR-AS1 lncRNA deregulation has been associated with several malignancies.

This study aimed to evaluate the expression levels of VLDLR-AS1 in CRC. It was the first time this assessment was conducted.

We studied 188 samples, including 94 tumor samples and 94 paired adjacent non-tumor tissues. Total RNA was extracted, and its quantity and purity were assessed. TaKaRa PrimeScript 1st Strand cDNA Synthesis Kit (Kusatsu, Japan) was used for the reaction. The StepOnePlus Real-Time PCR System (Applied Biosystems) was set up to assess the relative expression of VLDLR-AS1.

According to the qRT-PCR data, the VLDLR-AS1 expression levels in CRC tissues were significantly lower than in tumor margins (P < 0.0001). In addition, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated that VLDLR-AS1 expression can discriminate between tumor and non-tumor samples with the sensitivity and specificity of 72.34% and 51.06%, respectively (P = 0.03, AUC = 0.6274). However, no significant association was found between the expression levels of VLDLR-AS1 and clinicopathological features in CRC patients.

The results of this study indicated that VLDLR-AS1 lncRNA is significantly downregulated in the tumor tissues of CRC patients compared to healthy tumor margin tissues. This evidence shows the potential of this gene as a promising biomarker for the early detection of CRC development.

Radiotherapy (RT) has been commonly applied to treat advanced local cancers. In radiation therapy, high doses of radiation are utilized to trigger cell death. Radiation often leads to DNA double-strand breakages (DSB), which causes the activation of downstream genes including those for non-coding RNAs (ncRNA) such as long non-coding and RNAsmicro RNAs. The consequence of RT significantly relies on the radiosensitivity of cancer cells, which is affected by multiple factors, including some proteins and cellular processes. Activation of these genes can cause cell cytotoxicity and indirectly damages the cells. Recent studies have shown that non-coding RNAs can play as radiosensitivity or radioinhibitory regulators in cancers by mechanisms such as cell cycle arrest or affecting the DNA damage repair systems. ncRNAs are also known to function as tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes in colorectal cancer and therefore are considered potential diagnostic biomarkers in disease detection. For example, the investigations have shown that miR-29a and miR-224 can be informative biomarkers for early detection or screening of CRC via a noninvasive method such as liquid biopsy. Here, we discuss ncRNAs involved in the radioresistance and radiosensitivity of CRC and highlight their predictive clinical value in response to RT. Accordingly, this review represents a principal guide in the context of three major types of ncRNAs with potential roles in the pathway of radiosensitivity and radioresistance, including miRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs which can be considered a precious archivement in organizing additional studies and broadening views in this area. Our findings can also assist radiotherapists in predicting CRC patients’ response and, therefore, prognosis to radiation therapy, although, to achieve our goals in the clinic, we certainly need further studies.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have recently emerged as effective regulatory agents in biological processes as well as in the formation of tumors. LncRNAs are important regulators of cell transformation and cancer progression. LncRNA NEAT1 is one of the most important lncRNAs, and its deregulation has been reported in a variety of human cancers. Ovarian cancer has an inverse relationship with the number of reported pregnancies and deliveries, while it has a direct relationship with infertility. This study aimed to investigate NEAT1 expression in ovarian cancer. A total of 140 tissue samples, including 70 ovarian tumors and 70 marginal samples, were included in the study. Total RNA was extracted using the RNXplus solution. The quality and quantity of the extracted RNAs were determined using gel electrophoresis and a NanoDrop device. The complementary DNA was synthesized by the reverse transcriptase enzyme, and quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR was used to quantify the expression of NEAT1. A comparison between the mean expression of NEAT1 in ovarian tumors and marginal samples showed an increase in NEAT1 expression in tumor tissue that was not statistically significant (P-value = 0.2). ROC curve analysis also showed that NEAT1 expression level might not be an informative biomarker for ovarian cancer.

Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) is the most common complication of pregnancy that refers to two or more miscarriages before the 20th week of pregnancy. HLA-G immunoglobulin molecule plays an important role in protecting the fetus against mother's immune system. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between rs1632943 and rs1736932 polymorphisms with recurrent spontaneous abortion in Northwest of Iran.

This case-control study included 100 women with history of RSA as our case group and 80 healthy women with one or more than one children as the control group. Genomic DNA was purified from their peripheral blood samples and their genotypes were determined by PCR-sequencing method. Using SPSS 16, statistical analysis was performed by chi-square test.

In rs1632943 polymorphism the frequency of CC, CA and AA genotypes were 8%, 33% and 59% in the patient group and 16.25%, 43.75% and % 40 in the control group, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that AA genotype was associated with the recurrent spontaneous abortion (P = 0.005). In the rs1736932 polymorphism, the frequency of CC, CG and GG genotypes were 8%, 32% and 60% in the patient group and 17.5%, 41.25% and 41.25% in the control group, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that GG genotype was associated with the recurrent miscarriage (P = 0.005). Also, haplotype analysis showed that H1 haplotype (GA) is associated with the disorder.

Results of the study showed that rs1632943 and ra1736932 polymorphisms

Breast cancer is the most important cause of cancer mortality among women, therefore the study of its causative or aggravating factors seems necessary. In this study, the mRNA levels of the PHB2 gene were evaluated in tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues of 50 women diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

RNX-Plus solution was used to isolate total RNA from tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues of breast cancer patients. Thereafter, total RNA was converted to cDNA using PrimeScriptTM RT reagent kit. The mRNA levels of PHB2 were quantified by qRT-PCR and data were analyzed with a paired-samples t test. Furthermore, ROC curve analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic capacity of PHB2 expression in breast cancer tumor tissues.

A significantly lower level of PHB2 mRNA was observed in tumor tissues of breast cancer patients compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues (P<0.0001). PHB2 mRNA levels showed an approximately 2.5-fold reduction in tumor tissues compared with normal tissues (P = 0.001). Roc cure analysis showed that PHB2 mRNA level can discriminate tumors from non-tumor tissues with 91.3% specificity and 64.3% sensitivity (AUC=0.712, P<0.001).

Downregulation of PHB2 in breast cancer patients shows that its mRNA levels can possibly discriminate tumors from non-tumor tissues.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial disorder that its progress and development are related to various genetic and environmental factors. The disease onset is affected by both genetic and environmental factors such as oxidative stress, inflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction, and is remarkably related to age progress. Aluminum, a neurotoxic environmental factor, impairs memory performance and can cause neurodegenerative diseases such as AD. On the other hand, the regulatory RNA-binding product of Fragile X mental retardation (FMR1) gene exerts a translational inhibitory effect on the expression of amyloid precursor protein (APP), the main culprit in AD development. In the present study, we treated AlCl3-induced Alzheimer’s disease model rats with Frankincense and investigated its protective and therapeutic effects on the AlCl3-induced memory disturbance by behavioral and molecular assays. Also, Rivastigmine was used as a standard control. Morris Water Maze (MWM) was used to assay special memory working of the rats and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was applied to investigate the expression profile of the FMR1 gene in the hippocampus of the treated rats. MWM behavioral tests indicated that both Frankincense and Rivastigmine not only may prevent AlCl3-induced memory impairment but also may alleviate the memory declines induced by AlCl3 in the rats. Expression analysis showed significant upregulation of the FMR1 gene in response to both Frankincense and Rivastigmin treatments. Further, qRT-PCR results revealed that the AlCl3-induced downregulation of the FMR1 gene expression could significantly be reversed by both Frankincense and Rivastigmine, though Rivastigmine was more effective than Frankincense. In conclusion, our results highlighted that Frankincense might be effective both in the prevention and treatment of memory impairments, to some extent, by affecting the FMR1 gene expression.

 Recurrent Pregnancy Loss (RPL) is a multifactorial disease that affects 1-3% of couples. Since Human Leukocyte Antigen-G (HLA-G) gene is involved in fetal maternal immune tolerance, mutations in the HLA-G gene can affect the success rate of pregnancy.

 The present study aims to investigate the haplotype effect of rs1736933 and rs2735022 polymorphisms found in the HLA-G gene on the RPL.Methods In this case-control study, participants were 100 women with RPL and 80 women with normal fertility in northwestern Iran. The HLA-G gene promoter was amplified by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method and sequenced. The genotype and allele frequencies of the two polymorphisms were compared between the two groups by using t-test in SPSS software version 22. Haplotype analysis was performed using PHASE 2.1 and Haploview 4.2 applications

 C allele and CC genotype in rs2735022 polymorphism and the G allele and GG genotype in rs1736933 polymorphism showed a significant association with the RPL (P<0.05). Frequency of haplotypes AA, AC, GA, GC were 0.72, 0.23, 0.01, 0.03 in patients and 0.39, 0.01, 0.02, 0.59 in the control group (P<0.05). The linkage disequilibrium score was 94.

 Analysis of GC haplotype in rs2735022 and rs1736933 polymorphisms of the HLA-G gene can be helpful in genetic studies of women with RPL.

Patients with ovarian cancer are mostly diagnosed at advanced stages which leads to poor prognosis and high mortality rate. Deregulation of lncRNA HOXD-AS1 expression associates with cancer development and metastasis. However, the expression level of this lncRNA in ovarian cancer is not determined.50paired ovarian tumors and their adjusted normal tissues were included in the study. Total RNA was extracted by TRIzol® Reagent and reverse-transcribed to cDNA using PrimeScript II cDNA synthesis kit. The expression levels of HOXD-AS1 were quantified by qRT-PCR and compared. The Roc curve analysis was used to evaluate the capacity of HOXD-AS1 as a biomarker for ovarian cancer. We observed that lncRNA HOXD-AS1 was significantly upregulated in ovarian tumors compared to their adjusted normal tissues (p <0.003). Moreover, the ROC curve analysis revealed that the lncRNA HOXD-AS1 expression level could discriminate tumoral and non-tumoral tissues with 85% sensitivity and 88% specificity. The lncRNA HOXD-AS1 expression level might be considered as a potential biomarker for ovarian cancer development.

Genetic polymorphisms are one of the possible causes of recurrent abortion with unknown cause. This study was performed with aim to investigate the association and frequency of rs2249863 and rs1233334 polymorphisms of the upstream region of HLA-G gene with the recurrent spontaneous abortion in women from Northwest of Iran.

This case-control study was performed on 160 women from Northwest of Iran referring to the Madar infertility clinic of Tabriz between 2018 and 2019. Among them, 80 women with a history of recurrent spontaneous abortion (at least 2 abortions) were considered as case group and 80 women with at least one child and without any history of miscarriage as control group. After collecting blood samples, genome DNA was extracted and the polymorphisms were evaluated by PCR and sequencing technique. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 22) and Fisher test. P <0.05 was considered statistically significant.    

The frequencies of allele G and genotype GG in the rs2249863 polymorphism were significantly different between the case and control groups (P<0.05). In the rs1233334 polymorphism, although the frequencies of allele C and genotype CC were different between the case and control groups, but the differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05). Moreover, haplotype analysis identified the CG as the commonest haplotype that its frequency was significantly different between the case and control groups (P<0.05).

The rs2249863 polymorphism and CG haplotype of the rs2249863 and rs1233334 polymorphisms are associated with the recurrent spontaneous abortion in the studied population and they could be considered as potential risk factors for the disease.

The requirement of varying doses of warfarin for different individuals can be explained by environmental and genetic factors. We evaluated the frequency of vitamin K epoxide reductase complex subunit 1 (VKORC1) and cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) variants together with patientdemographic characteristics and investigated their association with warfarin dose requirement with the objective to suggest a warfarin dosing algorithm. In this study, 185 patients with heart valve replacement from West Azerbaijan, Iran were genotyped for VKORC1 (-1639 G>A) and CYP2C9 (*2 and *3 alleles) by PCR-RFLP. Multiple linear regression was performed to create a new warfarin dosing algorithm. The frequency of variants in studied subjects was 12% for CYP2C9 *2, 25.8% for CYP2C9 *3, and 60% for -1639A. The patients who carried the A allele at position -1639 VKORC1 and the variants CYP2C9 *2 and *3 required a significantly lower daily mean warfarin dosage (P = 0.001). Statistical analysis also indicated a significant relationship between the daily maintenance dose of warfarin with age and blood pressure among the studied patients’ cohort (P < 0.001). This study showed that in the heart valve replacement patients considering VKORC1 and CYP2C9 polymorphisms beside demographic characteristics such as age will be helpful in pre-treatment dosing of warfarin which in turn reduces the complications associated with inappropriate warfarin dosing.

Beta-boswellic acid (βBA) may play central roles in neural plasticity. Neural plasticity has significant implications for learning and memory which are governed by strict memoryrelated molecular pathways. To gain insight into the molecular mechanism by which βBA affects these pathways this study analyzed the expression patterns of Camk2α and Camk4 genes in PC12 cells treated with βBA.

The cytotoxic effects of different βBA concentrations on PC12 cells were examined by MTT assay. For gene expression analysis, cells were treated with concentrations of 1 and 10 µM of βBA for 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours. Total RNA was purified by RNX-Plus solution and reverse transcribed into cDNA using Thermo Scientific Reverse Transcription reagents. The expression patterns of Camk2α and Camk4 genes were quantified by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).

MTT assay indicated that βBA reduced PC12 cell viability in a time- and concentrationdependent manner. The 50% inhibitory concentrations for the 48 and 72 hours time points were 35 and 26 µM, respectively; while, the βBA concentrations up to 100 µM failed to kill 50% of the cells after 24 hours. According to the qRT-PCR data, the Camk2α variant is not expressed in either βBA-treated or untreated PC12 cells. However, a significant upregulation was observed in Camk4 after 12 hours of treatment with βBA, which followed by a significant downregulation after 24 hours and a persistent expression equal to the control until 72 hours.

these findings indicate that PC12 cells not only does not express Camk2α but also its expression cannot be induced by βBA. However, βBA does modulate the expression of Camk4. This result provides further insight into the molecular mechanism by which βBA affects memory.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in old people. AD is a progressive and irreversible neurodegenerative brain disorder. Sortilin receptor 1 (SORL1) is involved in cellular trafficking of amyloid precursor protein and plays an essential role in amyloid-beta peptide generation in the AD. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the association of SORL1 rs2282649 and rs12285364 polymorphism with AD in Azeri population in the northwest of Iran.

This case- control study included 100 Alzheimer’s disease patients as our case and 83 healthy subjects as our control group. Genotypes were determined by (PCR- RFLP) technique.

In rs2282649 SNP the frequency of homozygous CC genotype was 36% in the case and 38.55% % in the control groups (P= 0.70). The frequencies of TT genotype were 12% and 7.23% in the case and control groups respectively (P = 0.25). The frequency of heterozygote CT genotype was 52% in the cases and 54.22% in the control group (P = 0.75). Also, in rs12285364 polymorphism the frequencies of homozygous CC genotype in the cases and the control groups were 93% and 90.36 % respectively (P= 0.5). The frequency of TT genotype was 0% in both case and control groups (P = 0.00). The frequencies of heterozygote CT genotype were 7% in the case and 9.64% in the control groups (P = 0.49).            

No statistically significant difference was observed between the case and control groups in regard to the frequencies of the genotypes. Therefore we can conclude that these polymorphisms are not associated with Alzheimer’s disease among the people in the northwest of Iran.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, causes structural and functional brain disruption. MS4A6A, TREM2, and CD33 gene polymorphisms loci have been found to be associated with the pathobiology of late-onset AD (LOAD). In the present study, we tested the hypothesis of association of LOAD with rs983392, rs75932628, and rs3865444 polymorphisms in MS4A6A, TREM2, CD33 genes, respectively.

In the present study, 113 LOAD patients and 100 healthy unrelated age- and gendermatched controls were selected. DNA was extracted from blood samples by the salting-out method and the genotyping was performed by RFLP-PCR. Electrophoresis was carried out on agarose gel. Sequencing was thereafter utilized for the confirmation of the results.

Only CD33 rs3865444 polymorphism revealed a significant difference in the genotypic frequencies of GG (P=0.001) and GT (P=0.001), and allelic frequencies of G (P=0.033) and T (P=0.03) between LOAD patients and controls.

The evidence from the present study suggests that T allele of CD33 rs3865444 polymorphism is associated with LOAD in the studied Iranian population.

Physiological studies confirm improvement of memory by Olibanum, a resin from Boswellia species, while little is known about the molecular mechanism by which it affects memory performance. Two master transcription factors, CREB-1 and CREB-2, regulate downstream memory-related genes expression, leading to the long-term memory potentiation. This study addresses the effects of Beta-boswellic acid (β-BA), the main ingredient of Olibanum, and ethanolic extract of the resin from Boswellia serrata on the expression of CREB-1 and CREB-2 genes in B65 cell line. B65 cells were treated with β-BA) or ethanolic extract of Olibanum in different dose and time intervals and the cell viability/toxicity was measured by MTT assay. Total RNA was extracted from the treated and untreated control cells and cDNA was synthesized. The expression levels of CREB-1 and CREB-2 genes were quantified by Real-time PCR. MTT assays revealed 50% inhibitory concentrations of 42.05, 29.63 and 21.78 μg/ml for ethanolic extract of Olibanum and 89.54, 44.05 and 21.12 µM for β-BA at 24, 48 and 72h time intervals respectively. Both β-BA and ethanolic extract of Olibanum altered CREB-1 and CREB-2 genes expression levels in time-dependent but not in dose-dependent way. However, β-BA showed stronger and more stable effects. The expression levels of the both genes followed an alternate upregulation and downregulation pattern, but in opposite directions, in response to the both solutions with the progress of time. These results suggest that Olibanum possibly improves memory performance, at least partially, by regulating the levels of CREB-1 and CREB-2 transcription factors via positive/negative-feedback loops.

The most important effects of Frankincense on memory are included prevention and relative treatment of Alzheimer disease, as well as memory enhancement of off springs of the rats that had received Frankincense during their pregnancy and lactation period. Considerably, Camk4, one of the important memory genes, induces downstream memory genes expression through phosphorylation and activation of transcription factors. Here, we aimed to study the effects of aqueous extract of Frankincense on the Camk4 gene expression in PC12 and B65 cell lines.
The effect of extract on the cell viability was evaluated by cell treatment in two time intervals with six concentrations of extract and 50% inhibition concentration was obtained. In this way, for gene expression studies, cells were treated by two concentrations of extract in two time points. RNA was extracted and converted to cDNA and qPCR was performed to investigate the expression of Camk4 gene.
The aqueous extract of Frankincense decreased the cell viability in a time and concentration dependent pattern. However, the extract was more toxic for B65 cell line than PC12. Also, it significantly increased the expression of Camk4 gene in the cells. Nevertheless, the increase was dependent to the extract concentration and the cell type. The low concentration of the extract was more effective to the expression of Camk4 gene than the high concentration as well as to its expression in the PC12 cell line than B65.
This study showed that Frankincense could regulate the expression of Camk4 gene in a concentration dependent pattern. However, further studies are needed to identify the mechanisms of Frankincense action in different cells.

Aim & Frankincense is a herbal product that has diverse therapeutic effects. Beta-boswellic acid, the main ingredient of frankincense, is poorly soluble in water and its bioavailability is very low. The aim of present study was to evaluate the effect of loading of beta-boswellic acid in dendrosomal nanoparticles on its bioavailability and cell uptake by MTT assay.
For MTT assay, B65 cells were treated with different doses of nave beta-boswellic acid or dendrosomal beta-boswelic acid for 24, 48 and 72 hours. After adding MTT, colorimetery was done using ELISA reader and IC50 was then calculated. The data was analyzed with One Way Anova program using SPSS v.16 software.
The IC50 for nave beta-boswellic acid and dendrosomal beta-boswellic acid was 88/09 and 58/42 µM in 24h, 58/37 and 44/87 µM in 48h and 21/09 and 16/69 µM in 72h respectively.
The results showed that loading of beta-boswellic acid in dendrosomal nanoparticles increases the cell toxicity effect of beta-boswellic acid. This observation might be due to the increased cell uptake of beta-boswellic acid in the presence of dendrosomal nanoparticles.

Targeting transgene carriers and vectors to individual cells and tissues is one of the most important goals of gene therapy. Bacteriophages are of appropriate transgene carriers and there are different methods for their targeting to target cells. Present study reports preparation of targeted M13-based bacteriophage particles by a chemical coupling strategy.

First, the pCMV-Script-GFP construct was produced via in vivo excision protocol from GFP Phage particles using ExAssist helper phage and XLOLR as specific host. Then, M13 phage particles bearing GFP (M13-GFP) were obtained by single stranded rescue using R408 helper phage. The human holotransferrin molecules were then coupled to the surface of phage particles by reductive amination chemistry. Transferrin molecules bind to the surface of phage particles were studied by phage-ELISA.

Phage-ELISA tests showed that holotransferrin molecules were coupled to the surface of M13 phage particles in a correct way and the transferrin-targgeted M13 phage particles were prepared. Further analysis showed that about 485 transferrin molecules coupled per phage particle.

The results show that chemical coupling might be considered as a suitable strategy for targeting of M13 particles via coupling of targeting molecules in high density to the phage surface.

Gene delivery might be affected by several tribulations based on carrier/vector applied. Bacteriophages lambda and M13 have different genome conformations; linear double-stranded and circular single-stranded respectively. Therefore, it might be expected that these two common classes of gene delivery vehicles will have different capacity for gene delivery and expression in eukaryote cells. To address the possible effects of linear double-stranded and circular single-stranded genome conformations of bacteriophages lambda and M13 on the transgene expression, the transfection efficacy of two vectors based on lambda and M13 were compared in AGS cell line. The GFP encoding sequence was inserted into the Lambda ZAP-CMV XR vector which resulted in λ-ZAP-CMV-GFP construct. The construct was then in vitro packaged using Gigapack® III Gold packaging extract and λ-GFP phage particles were obtained. The λ-GFP phage particles were then used for in vivo excisioning which resulted in M13-CMV-Script-GFP construct. 1011 copy of λ-ZAP-CMV-GFP or M13-CMV-Script-GFP constructs were transfected into AGS cells using lipofectamine 2000. Transfection efficiencies were analyzed by FACS. Results showed that linear double-stranded λ-ZAP-CMV-GFP was efficient than single-stranded form of M13-CMV-Script-GFP while its double-stranded form was efficient than the linear double-stranded λ-ZAP-CMV-GFP construct for transgene delivery and expression. Moreover the GFP signals resulted from transfections by single-stranded form of M13-CMV-Script-GFP construct faded more quickly in comparison to others. These findings highlight that genome conformation of gene carriers might be an important factor when seeking for an appropriate gene carrier/vehicle.

Regulation of protein synthesis in the early stage of translation depends on the function of eIF4E factor especially in the form of eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF4F). Overexpression of eIF4E in multiple cancer types, including malignancies of the prostate, breast, colon, lung, and the hematopoietic system is indicative of the role of this factor in tumorogenesis and promotion of the cancers. In this study we investigated the expression pattern of eIF4E as a new molecular marker in thyroid tumors and their marginal normal tissues. We used semi-quantitative RT-PCR technique to examine the expression of eIF4E in 21 papillary carcinoma tissue specimens and 14 specimens of corresponding marginal normal tissue adjacent to the malignant lesions. ß2m gene was considered as an internal control. Rate of expression of eIF4E in different groups were compared with one another by use of SPSS software and data were analyzed by one way ANOVA and t-test. Our data revealed significant expression of eIF4E in all tumor samples compared to non-tumor lesions and normal tissues (P<0.05). Moreover the expression level was notably increased in malignant tumor samples compared to marginal tissues of the tumors (P<0.05). The rate of expression was more in tumor samples than non-malignant samples. The results of this study indicated that the rate of expression of eIF4E gene is associated with kind of tumor and grade of malignancy. Also this study confirmed the role of eIF4E gene in tumor progression and development of thyroid tumors. Therefore eIF4E gene expression can be an appropriate indicator for diagnosis of tumors and can be used as a guide for grading of thyroid tumors. This prognostic and diagnostic factor can be considered as a promising therapeutic target for treatment of cancers.