[Comparison of BAX expression in papillary carcinoma and papillary microcarcinoma of thyroid and its relationship with prognostic factors]

Background and Aim: thyroid papillary carcinoma [PTC] is the most common thyroid cancer. BAX gene is the first known pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 protein family. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between BAX expression and some nprognostic factors in PTC and papillary microcarcinoma [PMC]

Materials and Methods: in this cross-sectional, descriptive - analytical study, we obtained data from the records of 105 patients who had undergone thyroidectomy with a final diagnosis PMC and PTC, in Mostafa-Khomeini Hospital, from 2012 to 2014. The data included age, gender, tumor size and lymph node involvement. We investigated BAX expression by immunohistochemistry staining and capsular invasion by hematoxylin - eosin staining. Considering the percentage of positive tumor cells, BAX grading was done. Data were analyzed by Fischer's ,Chi-Square and T tests

Result: in this study, 87.5% of patients were female. 81.9 % of patients had no lymph node involvement. There was only a significant association between the type of tumor and lymph node involvement [P= 0.02]. We found no significant difference between papillary and micropapillary carcinoma in regard to BAX expression. Different grades of BAX expression had significant relationship with tumor size, lymph node involvement, and capsular invasion [P<0.001]. Age [P< 0.02], BAX gene expression [P=0.001] and tumor size [P<0.001] showed significant statistical relationships with one another

Conclusion: BAX expression is associated with lymph node involvement, capsular invasion and mean tumor size; and can be used to estimate the prognosis of PMC and PTC

[ effect of aquae extract of Aloe vera on synaptophysin expression after spinal cord compression in adult rats]

Spinal cord compression is one of causes for disability. Nowadays to minimize these complication is a goal. The effect of aquae extract of Aloe vera on motoneuron death and chemical neurotransmitter for cell signaling in paralysed rats. We used 32 female rats from Razi institute. They were randomized divided to 4 groups: 1- control 2- treated with Aloe vera 3- treated with Aloe vera + spinal cord compression by clips aneurysm 4- control +spinal cord compression by clips aneurysm. Perituneal injection continued for 4 weeks [every day]. We used 2.5 mg/kg aquae extract of Aloe vera. Compression has caused, motoneuron in ventral horn decreases with cavitation. In second group these changes are less [p

Phytobiological characteristics of Rosa hemisphaerica Herrm. extract

Roses are one of the most important groups of ornamental plants referred to as the queen of flowers and their fruits and flowers are used in a wide variety of food, nutritional products and different traditional medicines. A large diversity is expected to be found in Iranian Damask rose landraces with different biological properties. The antibacterial, antioxidant and cytotoxicity of methanolic and aqueous extracts of Rosa hemisphaerica Herrm. were studied. Methods: The agar disc diffusion method was employed for the determination of antimicrobial activities. Total phenol contents of both extracts were estimated. Antioxidative properties of the extracts were determined by bleaching of beta carotene or 2, 20-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl [DPPH]. The Ferric-Reducing Antioxidant Power [FRAP] was expressed as gallic acid equivalents. Cytooxicity of the extracts were tested using Hela and human healthy peripheral blood cells. of various microorganisms tested, only S. aureus was found susceptible. The total phenol contents of the methanolic and aqueous extracts were 138.33 +/- 11.37and 129.67 +/- 4.51 micro g Gallic acid equivalent/mg sample respectively. DPPH scavenging and lipid peroxidation inhibition effects were higher than those of the synthetic antioxidants. Ferric-reducing antioxidant power [FRAP] of the methanolic and aqueous extracts were determined as 96.134 +/4.25 mg/g and 98.63 +/- 2.51 mg/g respectively. The 50% cytotoxic concentrations were found to be 0.327 mg/ml 0.177 mg/ml for Hela cells and human lymphocytes respectively. It can be concluded from the above results that R. hemisphaerica extract exhibited antimicrobial activity only against S. aureus. The extracts provided better antioxidative activity as compared with synthetic antioxidants. The extracts were toxic to the Hela cells as well as human lymphocytes. Hence, the R. hemisphaerica extract may be exploited as a natural antioxidant and health promoting agent

Epidermal growth factor receptor gene in prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy

The aim of this study was to evaluate over expression of epidermal growth factor receptor [EGFR] gene in localized prostate cancers and determine its relation with clinical and pathological factors affecting the progression of the disease. In the tissue samples of the patients with prostate cancer undergoing radical prostatectomy, EGFR expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry technique. Those with scores 2 and 3 were considered to be positive for the expression. The relation between gene expression and grade was evaluated by chi-square test. Of 100 tissue samples evaluated, 80 and 20 had Gleason score [GS] < 7 and >/= 7, respectively. Also, 68 and 32 had PSA level 10, respectively. A total of 59 samples were positive for EGFR expression, of whom, 46 had GS < 7 and 13 had GS > 7 [P-value = 0.39]. Forty patients had PSA < 10 and 19 had PSA > 10 [P-value = 0.5]. Fifty-nine percent of the patients with localized prostate cancer undergoing radical prostatectomy were EGFR positive. No significant relation was found between EGFR and grading [GS] or PSA

[Expression of Bcl-2 gene in primary breast cancer and its correlation with some prognostic factors]

The breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women. Bcl-2 expression has been determined in more than half of the cases of breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine the expression of bcl-2 gene in primary breast cancer and its correlation with grade, stage and axillary lymph node involvement. The study was a cross-sectional one that was performed on 75 patients with breast cancer admitted to Mostafa Khomeini hospital [2000-2005]. After preparing the samples, a tissue section from each sample was obtained. One of the tumoral sections and one of the lymph node sections were stained using H and E. We determined the type of the tumor, the number of lymph nodes, the stage and the grade of the tumor. We studied Bcl-2 with polyclonal antibody by IHC. Our study showed that 69.3% of patients had hymph node involvment. In addition, 41.3% of samples were positive for Bcl-2, 58.7% of samples were in stage II and many patients [42.7%] were in grade III. In this study, we didn't find any relationship between bcl-2 and stage and lymph node involvment. We also found a significant association between bcl-2 and grade [P<0.006]. Also, high bcl-2 expression was more frequent in high-grade tumor. According to the results obtained from earlier studies and our study, it seems that bcl2 is a prognostic factor in breast cancer. But further investigations with more specimens and long-time follow-up are required to clarify the exact role of Bcl-2 in the prognosis of breast cancer

[ cytotoxic effects a of ACA1 on human melanoma cell line]

Different methods such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy and immunotherapy are used for treatment of melanoma cancer. Unfortunately they don't always have desirable results and they may have unfavorable side effects. Researchers try to find new, more effective drugs with low side effects. In this study we evaluated the cytotoxic effect of ACA-1, a water extract of a traditional Iranian medicinal herbs on a melanoma cell line SKMEL-3. The SKMEL3 cell line was obtained from Pasture institute, Tehran, Iran and cultured in RPMI media supplemented with 10% FBS. Equal number of cells were added to a 96 well microplate and were incubated with various doses of ACA1 [5,2,1,0.2,0.1,0.05,0.02 and 0.01 mg/ml] for 24, 48 and 72 hours in parallel. The cytotoxic effects of the drug was evaluated using MTT assay. The Results showed that ACA1 has significant cytotoxic effects with dose and time dependent manner on SKMEL3. The optimum dose [5 mg/ml] showed 47% cytotoxicity in 24 h, 65% cytotoxicity in 48 h and 71% cytotoxicity in 72 h. Based on the results of this research, ACA1 is a suitable candidate for chemotherapy of melanoma patients. Further studies are necessary in order to find effective drugs, their effects on other cell lines and approved in vivo models and clinical trials

Correlation between apoptosis and histological grade of transitional cell carcinoma of urinary bladder

To evaluate the relationship between histological grade and apoptotic index [AI] in transitional cell carcinoma [TCC] of urinary bladder. Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from 75 patients with TCC, who undergone transurethral resection [TUR] were studied. One 3-micron section was provided from each TUR samples. In one section after hematoxylin and eosin [H and E] staining, tumor grade was determined according to World Health Organization/International Society of Urology and Pathology [WHO/ISUP] criteria. The apoptotic cells were determined using a terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase [TdT] mediated dUTP biotin nick end labeling [TUNEL] technique. Apoptotic index was then obtained as the percent of TUNEL positive cells from observations of at least 1000 cells in each section. Forty-nine patients were men and 26 were women. Mean age was 56.34 +/- 9 years. Mean AI was 2.30 +/- 0.50. The relationship between grade and AI was significant [p=0.000, r=0.551]; a higher grade was associated with a higher AI. Apoptosis index has a positive correlation with bladder TCC's grade. Further studies are needed to better determine the effect of apoptosis index on prognosis