Polymorphism analysis of the CTLA-4 gene in paracoccidioidomycosis patients

The CTLA-4 protein is expressed in activated T cells and plays an essential role in the immune response through its regulatory effect on T cell activation. Polymorphisms of the CTLA-4 gene have been correlated with autoimmune, neoplastic and infectious illnesses. This work aimed to verify possible associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CTLA-4, -318C/T in the promoter and +49A/G in exon 1 and paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) caused by Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. For this purpose, 66 chronic form PCM patients and 76 healthy controls had their allele, genotype and haplotype frequencies determined. The genetic admixture structure of the patients and controls was evaluated to eliminate ancestral bias. The comparison of frequencies indicated no significant differences between patients and controls that could link the SNPs to PCM. Groups were admixture matched with no difference observed in population ancestry inference, indicating that the absence of association between CTLA-4 polymorphisms and PCM could not be attributed to ancestral bias. This study showed that there was no association between the CTLA-4 SNPs -318 and +49 and the resistance or susceptibility to PCM.

Prognostic value of morphologic and clinical parameters in pT2 - pT3 prostate cancer

OBJECTIVES: Verify the efficacy of clinical and morphologic parameters currently applied, including an immunohistochemical panel, in the prognostic of prostate cancer, in specific stages of the disease MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the period from 2002 to 2005, 40 surgical specimens were selected from patients submitted to radical prostatectomy, with their respective diagnostic biopsies. Based on the pathological stage pT2 or pT3, the specimens were separated into two groups, each one with 20 specimens. The results were confronted with pre- and postoperative clinical data. Between the groups studied, the following was also analyzed: the profile of the expression of molecular markers such as PSA, E-caderin, chromogranin-A, synaptofisin, P53 and Ki-67, both in the material coming from the prostatic biopsy and from the surgical specimens of all patients RESULTS: Data showed that patients with prostate-confined disease (pT2) presented lower PSA and Gleason score rates, in relation to the group with extra-prostatic disease (pT3). Quantitative measures obtained for the percentage of positive fragments from the biopsy revealed that patients from the pT2 group presented a lower mean percentage when compared to the pT3 group. Positive margins of both groups influenced the need for complementary treatment before biochemical progression. The comparison of the molecular marker expression in both stages was not significantly different CONCLUSION: It is evident the need to improve new methods, predominantly morphologic and molecular, that are able to further exploit the study of the material from the prostatic biopsy. As to the profile of the molecular markers used in both studied groups, there was no significant difference in the sense of outlining an additional prognostic factor in the clinical practice.