فهرست مطالب r. yaghobi

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous, 18-22 nucleotide non-coding RNA molecules. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a ubiquitous and particular herpes virus that encodes miRNAs, which increases gradually in the presence of infection. One of the important viral miRNAs is HCMV-miRUL-148D, which plays a role in establishing and maintaining viral latency.

The current study aimed to evaluate the expression levels of HCMV-miRUL-148D in active and inactive HCMV infected transplant patient groups compared to healthy individuals.

Total RNA was extracted from blood samples of 60 solid organ transplant patients and 30 healthy controls. In-house SYBR Green Real-Time PCR evaluated the expression levels of studied miRNA and gene.

The expression level of the UL-148D gene was significantly higher in the active HCMV infected patients (p=0.001) compared to other groups. While the miRUL-148D expression level significantly increased in the inactive HCMV-infected patients (p<0.001) compared to other groups.

Increased miRUL-148D expression level in the inactive HCMV-infected transplant patients indicates the potential role of this miRUL-148D as a biomarker of the HCMV latent stage.

Cytokines have regulatory crosstalk with CMV infection leading to manage of post-liver transplantation virus-related outcomes.

To investigate the link between IL-21, IL-23 and IL-27 mRNA and protein level with active CMV infection, which was evaluated in reactivated and non-reactivated liver transplant recipients.

Two groups of liver transplant recipients were enrolled in this study—54 without and 15 with active CMV infection. 3 EDTA-treated blood samples were taken on day 1, 4, and 7 post-liver transplantation. Plasma and buffy coats of all samples were separated. All samples were analyzed for CMV reactivation using antigenemia technique. The separated plasma of positive samples was used for viral DNA extraction and protein evaluation. For evaluating the mRNA expression level by real-time PCR, RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were done for all samples. Also, the protein level of studied genes was estimated by ELISA.

The expression level of IL-21, IL-23A and IL-27A cytokine genes was increased in CMV reactivated liver transplant recipients in comparison with CMV non-reactivated ones; IL-27A expression pattern was significant (p=0.001) at all sampling times. IL-21 significantly increased on the 2nd and 3rd (p=0.028 and 0.01, respectively) sampling days in CMV reactivated compared with non-reactivated patients. The expression level of IL-23A cytokine significantly increased on the 3rd (p=0.017) sampling day in CMV reactivated compared with non-reactivated liver transplant recipients.

Elevation in the expression level of IL-21, IL-23A and IL-27A mRNA and protein level in CMV reactivated patien

Dysregulated expression of co-stimulatory molecules is one of the immune escape mechanisms employed in hematologic malignancies like acute myeloid leukemia (AML). To evaluate the expression of the CD28 and CTLA-4 molecules in 62 adults with de novo AML and its correlation with the development of acute graft vs host disease (GVHD) after hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation. The relative expression of CD28 and CTLA-4 was measured by quantitative SYBR Green real-time PCR method in a group of patients and controls as well as different risk groups (high, intermediate and favorite risk), M3 vs non-M3 and GVHD vs non-GVHD patients. The mRNA expression of CD28 (7.9-fold) and CTLA-4 (5.7-fold) was significantly increased in AML patients compared with healthy controls (p=0.006 and 0.02, respectively). Although the mean expression of both CD28 and CTLA-4 was increased in high-risk group compared with low-risk and intermediate- risk groups, the difference was not statistically significant. Also, the mean expression of the CTLA-4, but not CD28, was significantly higher in M3 patients compared with non-M3 ones (p<0.001). The expression of CD28 was upregulated in GVHD patients, while the expression of CTLA-4 was slightly lower in GVHD patients compared with non-GVHD patients, though the difference was not statistically significant. There was no significant correlation between the expression of CD28 and CTLA-4 and laboratory parameters like white blood cells and platelets counts, and hemoglobin and lactate dehydrogenase level in AML patients. CD28 and CTLA-4 molecules are aberrantly expressed in peripheral blood leukocytes of AML patients and might contribute to the development of aGVHD after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Inroduction &

Pancreatic Islets are endocrine part of the pancreas responsible for several hormone secretions, which regulates blood glucose and involves in metabolism of energy. Islet β cell responsible for secretion of insulin in response to glucose changes. The first step of this process includes glucose entry into the cell using GluT2 transporter followed by glucose phosphorylation by glucokinase as an intra cellular glucose sensor. Therefore, the aim of this study was the analysis of GluT2 and glucokinase gene expression in pancreatic islets in comparison with whole pancreas tissue.

This study was performed on a pancreatic tissue received from a brain death person. Islets were purified from a total pancreas. To investigate the successful isolation of the islets, the gene expression of Ptf1a, as a marker of the exocrine part of the pancreas, was investigated.Then, gene expression of GluT2 and glucokinase was investigated in both islets and total pancreatic tissue.

The lack of expression of the Ptf1a in the pancreatic islets indicates successful separation and high purity of isolated islets. Moreover, GluT2 and glucokinase genes were highly expressed in pancreatic islets. Furthermore, statistical analysis revealed that gene expression of GluT2 and glucokinase was significantly higher in pancreatic islets than in complete tissue.

The results indicate the high expression and importance of GluT2 and glucokinase genes in the endocrine part of the pancreas as a glucose transporter and sensor, respectively in the process of glucose-stimulated insulin-secretion. In addition, the method used in this study is very efficient for purification of islets from pancreatic tissue.

Cytokines are important factors determining the outcome of transplantation. The host ability in cytokine production may be affected by cytokine genes polymorphisms. To investigate the effect of IL-12 and TNF-α gene polymorphisms on outcome of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. 90 bone marrow transplant recipients were included in this study. 30 (33%) of 90 recipients experienced graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). IL-12 and TNF-α gene polymorphisms were evaluated by PCR-RFLP and ARMS-PCR method, respectively. No significant difference in the distribution of IL-12 (rs3212227 +1188 A/C) and TNF-α (rs 1800629 -308 G/A) genotypes and alleles was observed between those with and without GVHD. There was no significant association between the distribution of genotypes and the recipient sex. IL-12 (rs3212227 +1188 A/C) and TNF-α (rs 1800629-308 G/A) genotypes and alleles were not risk factors for development of GVHD.