ABSTRACT
Due to many biological cell functions of vitamin D including regulation of cell survival, proliferation and differentiation, the metabolism of itself gains importance in the development of several types of cancer. This case-control study was designed to evaluate the risk of gastric cancer development in terms of VDR rs2228570 & rs731236, and VDBP rs7041 polymorphisms, and serum levels of vitamin D. The study consists of 77 gastric cancer patients and 84 healthy individuals. VDR and VDBP gene polymorphisms and vitamin D levels were determined by using PCR-RFLP and HPLC methods. The distribution of VDR or VDBP gene variants were not different in study groups. The serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D was significantly lower in gastric cancer patients versus controls (16 ± 6 â 11 ± 6 ng/ml) in which male patients have higher levels than females. Although the whole study population lacks normal levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, it was found that the risk of the development of gastric cancer was approximately fourfold higher in cases with severe vitamin D (< 10 ng/ml) deficiency. Our results indicate that VDR rs731236 & rs2228570 or VDBP rs7041 polymorphisms were not risk factors for the development of gastric cancer individually, however, lower serum levels of vitamin D may be a contributory risk for both predisposition and development of gastric cancer.
Subject(s)
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide , Receptors, Calcitriol/genetics , Stomach Neoplasms/pathology , Vitamin D-Binding Protein/genetics , Vitamin D/blood , Case-Control Studies , Female , Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Neoplasm Grading , Sex Characteristics , Stomach Neoplasms/blood , Stomach Neoplasms/geneticsABSTRACT
Pentraxin 3 (PTX3), a prototypical member of the long pentraxin subfamily, is a evolutionarily conserved multimeric pattern recognition receptor involved in the humoral component of the innate immune system. Pentraxin 3 is released when tissue is stressed or damaged, and interacts with many different ligands. Pentraxin 3 exerts a pivotal role both as a regulator and as an indicator of inflammatory response in the pathogenesis of many diseases such as sepsis, vasculitis and preeclampsia. Uncontrolled inflammatory response is considered a major cause of unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss (URPL). We determined the PTX3 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and protein expression levels in placentai tissues from 50 women with URPL, and made comparison with those in 50 age-matched control subjects. In quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry analyses, PTX3 mRNA and protein levels, respectively, were significantly increased in URPL patients compared with their respective controls (p = 0.0001). Although no significant correlations were identified between PTX3 expression levels and clinical parameters such as maternal age, numbers of previous pregnancy losses, and gestational age at miscarriage, PTX3 mRNA expression was significantly higher in patients with no live births than in women with previous live births (p = 0.0001). Our study suggests that tissue-specific expression of PTX3 is associated with URPL. Further larger studies are required to determine whether PTX3 expression can be used as a biomarker to manage URPL in routine clinical practice.
