ABSTRACT
Objective: Considerable research shows that long non-coding RNAs, those longer than 200 nucleotides, are involved in several human diseases such as various cancers and cardiovascular diseases. Their significant role in regulating the function of endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, macrophages, vascular inflammation, and metabolism indicates the possible effects of lncRNAs on the progression of atherosclerosis which is the most common underlying pathological process responsible for coronary artery disease [CAD]. The aim of present study was to assess whether the expression of the lnc RNA H19 was associated with a susceptibility to CAD by evaluating the expression level of H19 in the peripheral blood
Materials and Methods: A case-control study of 50 CAD patients and 50 age and sex-matched healthy controls was undertaken to investigate whether the H19 lncRNA expression level is associated with a CAD using Taqman Real-Time polymerase chain reaction [PCR]
Results: The subsequent result indicated that the H19 lncRNA was over-expressed in CAD patients in comparison with the controls. However, it was not statistically significant. This overexpression may be involved in coronary artery disease progression
Conclusion: We report here, the up-regulation of H19 lncRNA in the whole blood of CAD patients and suggest a possible role for H19 in the atherosclerosis process and its consideration as novel biomarker for CAD
ABSTRACT
Background: Telomeres are evolutionary, specialized terminal structures at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes containing TTAGGG repeats in human. Several human diseases have been known to be associated with dramatic changes in telomere length. The aim of the present study was to assess the correlation between the relative leukocyte telomere length [LTL] and infertility in a group of Iranian azoospermic males
Methods: In this casecontrol pilot study, relative telomere length [RTL] of peripheral blood leukocytes from a total of 30 idiopathic nonobstructive azoospermic males and 30 healthy fertile males was evaluated using real-time PCR. RTL was calculated as T [telomere]/S [single copy gene] ratio and compared between infertile and fertile groups
Results: Patients with azoospermia showed significantly shorter RTL than fertile males [0.54 vs. 0.84, p < 0.05]. The area under the receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curve was estimated to be 99.8%, suggesting LTL as a potential marker for the diagnosis of azoospermia
Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated a probable association between telomere shortening and azoospermia in a population of Iranian infertile men affected by idiopathic azoospermia