Analysis of poliovirus receptor, CD155 expression in different human colorectal cancer cell lines: Implications for poliovirus virotherapy

Context: Poliovirus (PV) receptor (CD155) is expressed on several kinds of cells and exerts diverse functions. Various investigations have confirmed that changes in CD155 expression in cancer cell lines affect metastasis, proliferation, and migration. Aims: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the CD155 transcript and protein expression in human colon adenocarcinoma cell lines in comparison to normal fetal human colon (FHC) cells. Materials and Methods: The CD155 expression level in four human adenocarcinoma cell lines and normal colon cell line were assessed using the SYBR green quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and flowcytometry. Results: The results of real-time PCR indicated that CD155 was significantly overexpressed in all human adenocarcinoma cell lines (P = 0.000). The highest and the lowest expression level of CD155 messenger RNA was observed in SW480 and HT29 cell lines by 491.14, and 12.04 fold changes, respectively, in comparison with the human normal cell line (FHC). Results of flowcytometry indicate that protein was strongly expressed in cancer cell lines. SW480 cells showed the highest CD155 protein expression level of 98.1%, whereas this protein expression was 1.3% in human normal colon cell line (FHC). Totally, these data indicate that CD155 expression is significantly elevated in cancer cell lines. Conclusions: The preferential expression of CD155 on cancer cell lines rather than on normal cell line suggests that CD155 could be targeted for future PV virotherapy

Prevalence of human papillomavirus genotypes in women with normal and abnormal cervical cytology in Iran.

INTRODUCTION: HPV infection has a prime etiologic role in development and progression of cervical cancer, one of the most frequent forms of cancer among women in developing countries. This study was designed to determine the most prevalent HPV genotypes in women with normal and abnormal cervical cytology in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Samples from134 patients, including 127 who attended gynecology clinics and 7 with solid cervical tumors were used. All 127 patients underwent routine Pap tests for cytological evaluation and at the same visit a sample of cervical epithelial cells was obtained by scraping the cervix osteum. In each case HPV infection was primarily evaluated by PCR using GP 5/6 primers and then subtyping was performed in proved infected samples with specific primers for HPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 11 and 6. After cytological evaluation, 50 patients with abnormal Pap tests were categorized as the abnormal group and the remaining 77 patients as the normal group. RESULTS: In the normal group, HPV infection was established in 10 cases (13% infection rate), while 30 HPV positive cases were discovered in the abnormal group (60% infected). The most prevalent genotypes among the infected samples were HPV 16 (76%), HPV18 (12.7%) and HPV11/6 (8.5%). Moreover, all 7 tumor samples were positive for HPV general primers of which, 5 samples were infected with HPV 16, two were co-infected with HPV16,18 and HPV16,31 genotypes and one was infected with HPV 18. CONCLUSIONS: Infection with HPV 16 was found to be significantly higher in abnormal group in comparison with normal group (42% vs. 11.6%, P value <0.005), likewise HPV18 genotypes were proved to be more prevalent in abnormal group (8% vs. 0%, P value <0.05). No significant relation between other HPV genotypes and pathologic cervical changes was obtained. According to our study high rates of infection with HPV genotypes in sexually active Iranian women makes molecular investigation for HPV16 and 18 very essential in clinical approaches to patients with proven dysplasia in their screening tests and also for those patients with borderline (i.e. ASCUS) or incongruous pathology reports. Larger studies are required to determine the most appropriate vaccine with highest protection in Iranian women.

Combining mammaglobin and carcinoembryonic mRNA markers for early detection of micrometastases from breast cancers--a molecular study of 59 patients.

INTRODUCTION: As many as 30% of node-negative breast cancer patients relapse within five years, suggesting that current histological detection methods are inadequate for identifying metastatic disease. Detecting small number of cancer cells in the breast tissue or lymph node by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays using a combination of tissue and cancer specific markers might be very useful in the early detection or monitoring of the treatment. Mammaglobin is a member of the uteroglobin gene family and appears to be expressed only in breast tissue. Carcinoembryonic antigen has been the preferred molecular marker for detection of micro metastases in lymph nodes in almost all carcinomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Samples were collected from randomly chosen breast cancer patients undergoing modified mastectomy or breast conserving surgery between September 2003 and July 2004. RT-PCR was applied to study the expression of MMG and CEA markers. Breast cancer micrometastases in axillary lymph nodes were also assessed. RESULTS: The MMG marker was positive in 9/10 normal breast tissues, 3/3 breast fibroadenomas and 37/39 of breast carcinoma tissues, giving an overall sensitivity of 94%. The sensitivity was 80% for metastatic lymph node samples. On the other hand CEA showed 95% sensitivity for malignant breast tumors and 100% sensitivity for metastatic lymph nodes. CONCLUSIONS: RT-PCR using a combination of MMG and CEA markers is a powerful tool to complement current routine histopathology techniques for detection of breast cancer metastasis in axillary nodes.