ABSTRACT
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of men cancer-related death. Cancer immunotherapy has been investigated as a treatment which might be instituted at the point of detection of androgen-independent metastatic disease. To investigate the expression and humoral response against NYESO-1 in patients with prostate cancer [PC] and to analyze the relationship between expression of NY-ESO-1 and clinicopathological features. NY-ESO-1 mRNA in surgically resected PC and benign prostatic hyperplasia [BPH] were examined by reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction. The antibody response to NY-ESO-1 was examined by enzyme-linked Elisa assay using recombinant NYESO-1 protein. NY-ESO-1 mRNA was detected in 9 of 23 [39%] PC patients. Antibodies against NY-ESO-1 protein were detected in 12 of 23 [52%] sera of PC patients and in 5 of 9 [55%] of NY-ESO-1 expressing tumors. However, no mRNA copy or NY-ESO-1 antibodies were detected in all BPH patients tested. The present study has demonstrated the expression of NY-ESO-1mRNA in prostate Cancer patients and NY-ESO-1 antibody production. Our data suggest that NY-ESO-1 could be used as a tumor marker and constitute a good candidate for vaccine-based immunotherapy for hormonal resistant prostate cancer patients
ABSTRACT
The incidence of obesity has dramatically increased in overall the world. It is a consequence of imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. Leptin is a fat derived adipokine that has emerged over the past decade as a key hormone in the regulation of food intake and energy expenditure. Elevated leptin levels are found in obese humans, suggesting a role of leptin in regulating body weight and adiposity. The aim of this study was to investigate the change of leptin mRNA expression level and its correlation with obesity and several metabolic variables in Tunisian patients. Real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction [QPCR] analysis was carried out among two groups who underwent an abdominal surgery: controls [n=9] and obese patients [n=7]. Leptin mRNA expression in subcutaneous adipose tissue was markedly increased in obese patients [p<0.01]. It was positively correlated with measures of obesity waist circumference [WC] [r=0, 71, p<0.01] and body mass index [BMI] [r=0, 68, p<0.01]. Interestingly, leptin gene expression was also correlated to insulin resistance index [r=0, 72, p<0.01]. The present study is the first investigation of leptin regulation in subcutaneous adipose tissue of Tunisian population. Our data showed that leptin levels are higher in obese subjects than in control subjects. This indicates that the subcutaneous adipose plays an important role in impaired adipokine regulation, and consequently in developing metabolic disorder
ABSTRACT
Our aim is to determine different therapeutic response profiles in Tunisian HIV- 1 infected patients, to identify those with therapeutic failure and to compare the results of the genotypic resistance test used in Tunisia [INNO LiPA Test] with those of automatic sequencing to evaluate its efficacy. The retrospective survey concerns 392 infected patients enrolled from January 2001 to December 2006. Evaluation of HIV INNO LiPA test was performed by comparing these test results with those of automatic sequencing in 36 plasmatic samples for 13 infected patients with therapeutic failure. on the basis of the HIV viral load evolution, 57.55% of patients present a good therapeutic response and 42.44% a bad one. Patients with therapeutic failure require genotypic resistance test. A comparison of HIV INNO LiPA test and direct sequencing showed a strong concordance between the two tests results either for reverse transcriptase gene or protease gene. However, the uninterruptible results obtained by INNO LiPA test [8.79% of analysed codons] and the limited number of analysed codons were the defaults of INNO LiPA technique .the contribution of INNO LiPA technique in the knowledge of the epidemiological HIV resistance profiles of virus strains of HIV infected individuals failing therapy was considerable. However, due to INNO LiPA technique limitations, sequence analysis must be considered a more complete assay for the monitoring of antiretroviral resistance of HIV infected patients