[Association between human papillomavirus [HPV] and breast cancer in Iranian patients]

Viruses, such as human Papillomavirus [HPV], have been detected in benign breast tissues and breast tumors and are considered to be involved in the etiology of breast cancer, but there are controversial data on the meaning of viral induction of breast cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of human Papillomavirus [HPV] in Iranian patients with breast carcinoma. In this case- control study, paraffin-embedded sections from 64 female patients with breast carcinoma and 53 breast tissues from patients with fibrocystic disease, as control, were analyzed for presence of HPV DNA. Real-Time PCR was used to amplify consensus GP5+/GP6+ HPV sequences. HPV DNA sequences were detected in 3 of the 53 benign breast tissue samples, but none of the breast carcinoma samples was identified. Our analysis could not confirm a role of HPV in breast cancer

[Detection of murine tissues that express opticin]

The LRR [leucine rich proteoglycans] is a molecular recognition motif found in proteins with some roles in cell adhesion, signal transduction, DNA repair and RNA processing. Opticin is a member of this family. Takanosu et al [2001] detected messenger RNA expression of mouse opticin in the eye, heart, brain, testis, thyroid and epididymis by dot blot hybridization. In this study, expression levels of mRNA and protein of opticin was investigated by two monoclonal antibodies which were raised against opticin peptides. By this method structure of opticin in human and mouse has been studied. Mouse tissues including, kidney, testis, liver, lung, heart, brain, muscle, spleen and eye were isolated. Opticin expression was identified at mRNA and protein levels by RTPCR and Western blot. PCR analysis revealed that opticin mRNA is expressed in all the tissues studied except for the lung. However, opticin protein was detected in all tissues analyzed. Expression of opticin in the adult murine tissues may suggest functions other than that of putative regulation of vitreous collagen fibrillogenesis for this molecule

[Analysis of gene and protein expression of opticin in human cancer cell lines]

Opticin, as a member of small leucine rich proteoglycans [SLRPs], mainly expressed in human eyes. It is also expressed in human brain, ligament, liver and skin, but at lower levels than the eyes. In the present study, expression of opticin was studied in a variety of human cancer cell lines. In this basic study, human cancer cell lines including, A-172 [brain cancer], T47D [mammary gland carcinoma], Paca-2 [pancreas carcinoma], Ej-138 [bladder carcinoma], Calu6 [lung carcinoma], ACHN [kidney cancer], SKOV3 [ovarian cancer], LS-180 [colon carcinoma], A-375 [skin cancer], PC3 [prostate adenocarcinoma], CLL-CII [chronic lymphocytic leukemia] were cultured under standard conditions. Opticin expression in the cell lines was detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. All cancer cell lines, except A-172, expressed opticin at both mRNA and protein levels. In the current study, human cancer cell lines were shown to express opticin whereas previous studies did not detect opticin in normal tissues. This finding may represent opticin as a novel tumor marker in a wide variety of cancers and future studies can be performed to evaluate function of this protein in carcinogenesis