reza torshizi

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) is caused by human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV-1). HTLV-1 oncogenes can induce malignancy through controlled gene expression of cell cycle checkpoints in the host cell. HTLV-I genes play a pivotal role in overriding cell cycle checkpoints and deregulate cellular division. In this study, we aimed to determine and compare the HTLV-1 proviral load and the gene expression levels of cyclin-dependent kinase-2 (CDK2), CDK4, p53, and retinoblastoma (Rb) in ATLL and carriers groups. A total of twenty-five ATLL patients (12 females and 13 males) and 21 asymptomatic carriers (10 females and 11 males) were included in this study. TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction assay was used for evaluation of proviral load and gene expression levels of CDK2, CDK4, p53, and Rb. Statistical analysis was used to compare proviral load and gene expression levels between two groups, using SPSS version 18. The mean scores of the HTLV-1 proviral load in the ATLL patients and healthy carriers were 13067.20±6400.41 and 345.79±78.80 copies/104 cells, respectively (P=0.000). There was a significant correlation between the gene expression levels of CDK2 and CDK4 (P=0.01) in the ATLL group. Our findings demonstrated a significant difference between the ATLL patients and healthy carriers regarding the rate of proviral load and the gene expression levels of p53 and CDK4; accordingly, proviral load and expression levels of these genes may be useful in the assessment of disease progression and prediction of HTLV-1 infection outcomes.

Sarcosystosis is a cosmopolitan protozoan zoonotic infection and is caused by different species of sarcosystis. This parasite can cause contamination in many animals and cause a lot of hygienic and economic effects in society. This study was aimed to determine sarcosystis infection in slaughtered animals of Shahrekord using histhopathological method. In this deh1ive study 70 samples were obtained from healthy goats and 70 samples were obtained from healthy sheep during summer 2008 Esophagus thigh diaphragm and heart of each animal were macroscopically evaluated for having sarcosystis cysts. To prepare a pathology section for microscopic examinations hearts were kept in formalin and after providing tissue sections samples were studied using a microscope. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. In macroscopic evaluations of diaphragm of the sheep and goats sarcosystis cysts were detected 15.7% and 2.8% respectively. In addition 7.1% and 1.4% of esophagus from sheep and goats were also infected by sarcosystis respectively. We also performed microscopic investigations on healthy hearts and found that 80% of sheep’s hearts and 70% of goats’ hearts were infected by sarcocystis cysts. Considering the high prevalence of sarcocystis contamination in the world and Iran (up to 100%) more studies are needed to detect sensitivity and specificity of histhopathology method to confirm our findings. Finally looking at the our results it is likely that in healthy hearts some comments should be considered such as appropriate meat keeping sufficient cooking and moving from traditional animal husbandry into industrial husbandry in future.