Apolipoprotein E Gene Polymorphism, Serum Lipids, and Risk of Superficial Fungal Infections in Egyptian Patients - A Preliminary Case-Controlled Study.

Background: Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene isoforms have been found to affect the risk of superficial fungal infections (SFIs). However, the data only cover a few ethnicities. Aims: The present work intended to investigate the association of APOE gene polymorphism and serum lipids with the susceptibility of SFIs among a group of Egyptian patients. Materials and Methods: Standard laboratory methods were used to estimate the serum lipid profile, and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism was used to detect APOE gene polymorphism in deoxyribonucleic acid extracted from 150 SFI patients and an equal number of apparently healthy matched controls. Results: Serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly higher in the studied patients than in controls. The APOE gene ε2, ε4 alleles, and ε3/4 and ε3/2 genotypes were significantly distributed in the patients than in the controls. APOE ε3/3 genotype was predominant in dermatophytosis and tinea versicolour patients, and ε3/4 genotype was predominant in candidiasis. Conclusions: ApoE alleles ε2 and ε4, and genotypes ε2/3 and ε3/4 are linked to SFI and may be risk factors, whereas allele ε3 and genotype ε3/3 may be protective for SFI in the Egyptian population studied. The lipid profile results suggest that hyperlipidemia may provide evidence for SFI pathogenesis. However; further large-scale studies are still needed to validate our results.

Serum miR-122 and miR-192 as biomarkers of intrinsic and idiosyncratic acute hepatotoxicity: A quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction study in adult albino rats.

miR-122 and miR-192 were investigated as indicators of toxic liver injury caused by acetaminophen, but their role in idiosyncratic toxic liver injury remains controversial. So, this work aimed to assess and compare the expressions of miR-122 and miR-192 in two different types of toxic liver injury (intrinsic [acetaminophen] and idiosyncratic [diclofenac]). Forty male adult Wistar albino rats were divided into equal five groups, in which serum liver enzymes; microRNAs (miRNAs) expressions (miR-122 and miR-192) and histopathological findings were studied. The present study showed that (1) miR-122 and miR-192 are good serum biomarkers of toxic liver injury whatever its etiology, as their serum levels exhibited a significantly earlier increase and earlier return to normal baseline levels as compared to serum aminotransferase levels; (2) miR-122 is more specific than miR-192; and (3) both serum levels of miR-122 and miR-192 showed non-significant differences in relation to the type of toxic liver injury.