Research in Molecular Medicine
Volume:7 Issue: 2, May 2019

The non-structural (NS) genomic segment of influenza A virus expresses two proteins (NS1 and NS2) responsible for virulence and pathogenicity. Here, we characterize the NS gene of H1N1 influenza viruses isolated from Iranian patients during the 2015 and 2017 outbreaks.

Influenza A positive specimens with high viral load were selected for virus amplification on MDCK (Madin-Darby canine kidney) cells to obtain sufficient viral RNA for RT-PCR. The NS segments were amplified and sequenced from randomly selected samples. Genetic characterization, phylogenetic, and protein modeling analyses were carried out using Bioedit, MEGA7 software, and Muster, Modweb, Modfold, Tm-align web servers. Reference sequences from other geographic regions were available on GenBank.

Phylogenetic analysis on the NS gene of A/H1N1 isolates revealed that all Iranian isolates, except the A/Tehran/SMO08/2015, were close to strains from Continental countries of Asia and North America, with 99% identity. Meanwhile the mentioned exception was clustered with some strains from Iran, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, and Jordan. Overall six substitutions were observed through the deduced Iranian NS1 and NS2 amino acid sequences. One of the mutations (the E96D mutation from the isolate A/Tehran/A7106/2017) was first observed in the present project. Prediction of three-dimensional structure of the Iranian NS1 and NS2 proteins in comparison with counterpart references available in PDB showed a slight deviation in the functional domains. However, the high similarity of the Iranian NS gene with those from other countries indicate no significant changes in the molecular features of the NS genes.

The severity of the symptoms does not seem to be caused by the observed mutations. Molecular analysis of other alleles is needed to explain the high pathogenic feature of the 2015 isolates.

SSalmonella is the most important source of food-borne infections around the world. Human salmonellosis is also caused by the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetable salads contaminated with Salmonella spp. We aimed to detect Salmonella spp. in hamburgers, vegetable salads, and cream-filled pastries from various sources in Mazandaran and assess their pathogenicity and antimicrobial resistance.

A total of 90 samples, i.e., hamburgers, vegetable salads, and cream-filled pastries (30 samples of each), were randomly collected. Biochemical and serological tests were performed to detect the Salmonella spp. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were performed by the disc diffusion method and the virulent genes were examined using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). All the examined Salmonella serovars in this study showed positive amplification for the virulence genes invA, spv, and viaB.

Salmonella spp. were detected in 54 of the 90 samples based on biochemical tests. Of these, 46 isolates (85.2%) were recovered by the 16S-23S rRNA PCR test, of which 19 (41.4%) represented the S. typhimurium serotype, 15 (32.7%) represented the S. enteritidis serotype, and 2 (4.4%) represented the S. typhi serotype. These Salmonella serotypes (19 S. typhimurium, 15 S. enteritidis, and 2 S. typhi; 36 in total) were sensitive to all the tested antibiotics: Ampicillin, 22/36 (61.11%); Streptomycin 22/36 (61.11%); Cefotaxime 23/36 (63.88); Gentamycin 36/36 (100%), and Tetracycline 36/36 (100%). However, a few of these serotypes exhibited slight resistance to ampicillin (4/36; 11.11%) and cefotaxime 2/36 (5.55%).

These results would greatly help in understanding the prevalence of virulence genes and antibiotic sensitivity among Salmonella serovars in hamburgers, vegetable salads, and cream-filled pastries.

 Lead (Pb) is an important environmental pollutants that play a significant role in increasing the stability of some other pollutants by changing the microbial profile of the soil.  Bacillus subtilis WPI is an abundant bacteria existing in wastewater. Because of laccase enzyme in this bacterium, the decomposition process of aromatic pollutants in wastewaters can be facilitated. We aimed to investigate the effect of different Pb concentrations on B. subtilis growth and biological activity of laccase enzyme in B. subtilis WPI.

B. subtilis WPI was isolated from the paper mill industrial wastewater of Hormozgan, Iran, from March to August 2017. After purification, the growth trend of B. subtilis WPI as well as the activity of laccase enzyme in different concentrations of Pb was investigated based on kinetic method.

Bacterial growth at Pb concentration of 400 mg/L reduced in a dose-dependent manner, and this decrease was significant at concentrations of 300 and 400 mg/L (P < 0.001). The level of laccase enzyme activity in the lead concentration range of 20-160 mg/L also reduced in a dose-dependent manner, which implied that the highest decrease was observed at lead concentration of 160 mg/L (P < 0.01). Our findings showed that there was no significant change in bacterial growth in lead concentration range of 20-200 mg/L, while a significant change was observed in the activity of laccase enzyme in the mentioned concentration range.

Therefore, it seems that this reduction in enzyme activity can indirectly increase the stability of aromatic oil pollutants in the environment.

Bovine leukaemia virus (BLV) is the cause of enzootic bovine leukaemia which belongs to retroviruses including Human T-cell leukaemia virus and simian T-lymphotropic virus. Due to this familiarity, the possibility of virus (BLV) transfer from animal production to humans may exist.

In the present study, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded and fresh human lymphomas tissues were used for detecting the BLV Tax genome and BLV Tax expression using nested-PCR and RT-nested-PCR.

Nested-PCR evaluation showed that 9 of 41 samples contained Tax region of BLV genome, of which eight samples belonged to high grade diffuse large cell lymphoma (B-cell type). Also, the results of RT-nested-PCR showed the BLV Tax expression in 2 of 5 high grade diffuse large cell lymphoma (B-cell type) samples.

These findings explain the possible relation between BLV infection and the occurrence of some types of human lymphomas for the first time.

Prostate cancer is a biologically heterogeneous disease which has become the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men worldwide. Interleukins (ILs) display required inflammation moderator. IL-2 and IL-7 play significant roles in regulating cancer-immune system interactions. So, the purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the expression level of IL-2 and IL-7 in prostate cancer patients and healthy subjects.

In this case-control study, expression of IL-2 and IL-7 was examined in peripheral blood of 40 prostate cancer patients and 40 healthy subjects by reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Our findings showed that IL-7 has highly elevated expression in patients with prostate cancer compared to healthy subjects (p-value = 0.0001). In contrast, no significant difference was observed in the expression of the IL-2 between the two study groups (p-value = 0.12).

Based on the results, IL-7 may be used as a prospective biomarker or as a molecular target in designing new prostate cancer control strategies. However, the findings of this investigation revealed no association between IL-2 expression and prostate cancer. Nevertheless, more studies should be included to appraise the exact relevance of this gene to prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the second most prevalent cancer among men all over the world. Over the past 10 years, prostate cancer prevalence has increased in Iran. Growth factors have an important role in the regulation and growth of malignant and normal prostate cells. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation is to examine the association of the expression profile of IGF1, EGF, and FGF2 with prostate cancer in an Iranian male population.

In this investigation, the quantitative real-time RT-PCR technique was applied to evaluate the expression profiles of IGF, EGF, and FGF2 in the peripheral blood samples of 40 patients with prostate cancer and 40 healthy individuals. Moreover, the relative expressions of IGF1, EGF, and FGF2 in various stages of disease were evaluated.

Our obtained data indicated a significant increase in the expression of EGF and FGF2 in patients with prostate cancer compared with the healthy subjects (P=0.02 and P=0.009, respectively). In contrast, the expression level of IGF1 was not significantly different between the patients and controls (P=0.052), but the expression level of IGF1 was lower in the patients’ group. Additionally, it has been observed that IGF1, EGF, and FGF2 expression were directly associated with the stage of disease.

Our results suggest that EGF and FGF2 probably have important role in prostate cancer and were consistent with what had previously been reported. On the other hand, our data revealed no association between the expression of IGF1 and prostate cancer in the population studied.