Journal of Epigenetics
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Winter 2020

Breast cancer is considered to be the second most common type of cancer affecting the female population worldwide. It is estimated that more than 508 000 women died in 2011 as a result of breast cancer. The survival rates of breast cancer are lower in less developed countries mainly due to the absence of early detection methods resulting in a great percentage of women showing with late-stage disease. Early detection and medical diagnosis are known to be the most effective solution to minimize the risk of tumor development and progression.  There are different methods for Early detection of breast cancer which include screening tests and clinical breast exams performed by a well-trained health professional. Due to a lack of facilities and cost, many women in less developed countries may not be able to use the mentioned methods. The objective associated with this research was to achieve an affordable and cost-effective prediction model of breast cancer based on anthropometric data and parameters that can easily be collected in a routine and regular blood test.  For every one of the 166 individuals number of clinical features such as age, Body Mass Index (MBI), serum glucose levels, plasma levels of insulin, etc. were measured and observed. Various learning algorithms including Support Vector Machines (SVM), K-Nearest Neighbors (K-NN) and logistic regression(LR), etc. have been applied and compared with one another.   The result shows that SVM and K-NN models perform well and allow prediction of breast cancer in women with accuracy more than 78%, the sensitivity of 78% and 79%, and Specificity value is 77% and 79% respectively.

Vast numbers of studies on tomato breeding have been performed for resistance to environmental stresses and pests. In genetic investigation and breeding of tomato, it is tried to use tomato lines with the most variance on morphological and agronomical traits to obtain better results, like maximum heterosis on F1 hybrids. In this survey combining ability and heterosis of 7 inbred lines (ME, KaLN3, Fla, CT6, LA3770, R2-05, and DB) of tomato and their F1 hybrids were investigated for salinity tolerance during the seedling stage using the diallel-cross. Therefore, seed germination percentage, seedling emergence percent and rate under salt-stress, tested in a complete randomized design with four replications. Results show that the reciprocal effects and SCA  were significant for all traits on the probability of 1 %. Analysis of Wr-Vr regression also shown that seed germination percentage and seedling emergence percentage and rate under salt stress controlled by over-dominance effects. The best line for resistance to salt stress in juvenility was R205, which has the most GCA  for all three traits connected to salt resistance. It may be beneficial to combine this line as a parental line in breeding programs for increasing salinity tolerance of tomato during the seedling stage.

Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-associated fatality in the world. During the recent decade, nanoparticles have been used widely to reduce the severity and also the treatment of cancers. The current study was performed to transfer Oleuropein into AGS cancer cells using paramagnetic nano-particles and to evaluate their effects on the cancer cell line. 2)

  In this research, nine concentrations of magnetic nano-oleuropein (0, 0.15, ... 333.33 and 1000 µg/mL ) were applied against AGS cells in in-vitro condition with three replicates in the form of a completely randomized statistical design (CRD), and cell viability was investigated using MTT and Flow Cytometry assays. To determine the molecular mechanism of this effect, the relative expression of K-ras and cd82 genes were investigated using the Real-time PCR assay. 3)

Our results for inhibition of cancer cells by different concentrations of magnetic nano-oleuropein showed that the inhibition rate of AGS cancer cells was dependent on the concentration and exposure time of the drug. The relative expression of K-ras oncogene decreased at the concentrations higher than 4.12 μg/mL and increased at lower concentrations (p-value <0.01). Also, the expression of cd82 gene at the concentrations below IC50 (23.6 μg/mL) increased while at higher concentrations reduced significantly. 4)

Balancing the expression of K-ras and cd82 oncogenes through the p53 protein could be one of the molecular reasons for inhibiting the AGS cells by magnetic nano-oleuropein. Therefore, magnetic nano-oleuropein at IC50 concentration plays a key role in inhibiting gastric cancer cells by the creation of an expression balance between K-ras and cd82 genes.

It is not thoroughly clear that what is the exact etiology of pterygium. Recently, it has been illustrated that pterygium is a benign and destructive condition. The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between promoter hypermethylation of P15INK4band P16INK4a genes on progress of pterygium.

We extracted DNA from 81 primary pterygium and 75 normal conjunctiva tissues. Methylation specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) technique was used to analyze of promoter hypermethylation of P15INK4b and P16INK4a genes. The expression levels ofthesegenes were also assessed in mRNA from 23 pterygium and 18 normal conjunctiva tissue samples using real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR.  

The frequency of methylation for P15INK4b was 97.5% and 72% among cases and controls respectively. P16INK4 gene methylation at promoter was 69.1% and 33.3% for pterygium and normal conjunctiva tissue respectively. A statistically significant relationship was found for methylation of P15INK4b and P16INK4a genes between cases and controls (p

Systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with both genetic susceptibility and epigenetic modifications. Autoantibodies directly contribute to the destruction of some organs such as kidneys, joints, skin, lungs, central nervous system, and blood-forming (hematopoietic) system. The CTLA4 plays an important role in inhibition of the activity of T cells and preventing autoimmune disorders, for example; the lupus. We analyzed the promoter methylation, polymorphism, and expression status in CTLA4 gene in patients with lupus.

Genomic DNA was isolated from 50 individuals’ blood samples with SLE and 50 control participants. CTLA4 gene polymorphisms analysis in polymorphic site, -318(CT) and +49(AG), was done by Tetra-ARMS-PCR. Methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MS-PCR) was used to estimate promoter hyper methylation of the CTLA4 gene. The present paper also analyzed CTLA4 mRNA levels in 30 blood samples from the intended participants, and healthy control by real-time PCR.

Changes in promoter methylation of CTLA4 gene were remarkably different in patients with lupus than healthy controls (OR= 0.48; 95% CI= 0.1959, 1.202; P-value= 0.005). However, gene expression level of CTLA4 was not statistically different in patients than the healthy control group.

This epigenetic study gives us an overview of the role of CTLA4 promoter methylation in pathogenesis of SLE, which cause preventing its expression. As we know CTLA4 has the role in immune regulation and downregulates immune responses. In the future a comprehensive understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms contributing to SLE will likely enable development of new therapeutic agents and strategies that target the dysregulated genes or correct the aberrant epigenetic modifications (Epigenetic therapies for SLE).

Oral cancer refers to a subgroup of head and neck’s neoplasm. It is estimated that about 90% of oral cancer is composed of OSCC. It frequently influences adult men, in particular, consumers of alcohol and tobacco users. OXTR is known as a G-protein receptor with seven transmembrane domains. G-proteins phosphatidylinositol-calcium as second messenger accomplishes its activity. PKC pathway activates through the receptor, in which the pathway has a role in cell proliferation and contraction.

The present study was done to evaluate methylation, expression, and polymorphism of oxytocin receptor gene in both patients who suffer from OSCC and healthy samples. Promoter methylation status of the OXTR gene was evaluated in 163 samples using MSP-PCR. Also, OXTR mRNA expression profiles were also considered in 23 OSCC cases and 20 controls, by real-time PCR. The present study evaluated the association of the gene polymorphisms, rs2254298 and, rs53576, by using RFLP-PCR technique, with the risk of OSCC.

Promoter methylation assessment revealed a significant relationship between normal samples and patients. Our data showed that there is no significant linkage between occurrences of these single nucleotide polymorphisms and the risk of OSCC. Regarding allele frequency, no statistically significant differences were observed for A and G of rs2254298 and rs53576 genes between OSCC patients and healthy groups. The relative expression of OXTR mRNA in cases showed no significant differences compared to controls The main purpose of this research was to evaluate the correlation of OXTR gene polymorphisms rs53576 rs2254298 methylation, and expression pattern of this gene with the development of OSCC.

OXTR methylation gene has an important role in performing OSCC.