Systemic Interleukin-6 Response after Intravesical Instillation of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin and Mitomycin C in Superficial Bladder Cancer.

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is proposed to play a significant role in pathogenesis of urinary bladder cancer (UBC). This role may be influenced by chemotherapy (mitomycin C; MMC) or immunotherapy (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin; BCG). A case-control study was conducted to determine IL-6 levels in serum of newly diagnosed cases (NDC) of superficial UBC, as well as in patients treated with MMC or BCG intravesical instillation. A total sample of 111 patients (36 NDC, 45 MMC and 30 BCG) was included, as well as a control group of 107 healthy controls (HC). IL-6 was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results revealed that median levels of IL-6 were significantly elevated in NDC group (15.8 pg/mL; P<0.001) compared to MMC and BCG groups (7.5 and 5.3 pg/mL, respectively) or HC (4.4 pg/mL); while, there were no significant differences between the latter three groups (MMC, BCG and HC). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that IL-6 is a very good predictor of UBC in NDC group versus HC (area under the curve=0.885; 95% confidence interval=0.828-0.942; P<0.001; cut-off value=10.5 pg/mL; Youden index=0.62; sensitivity=80.6%; specificity=81.3%). Logistic regression analysis confirmed this significance and IL-6 was associated with a higher risk of UBC (odds ratio=1.18; 95% confidence interval=1.11-1.26; P<0.001). In conclusion, this study indicated that IL-6 level was upregulated in serum of NDC of UBC. Further, IL-6 level was restored to normal levels after intravesical instillation of MMC or BCG.

Significance of Lipid Profile Parameters in Predicting Pre-Diabetes.

In prediabetes, blood glucose levels are higher than normal; however, they remain below the diabetes threshold. Studies conducted on biomarkers for this disease result in controlling diabetes mellitus (DM) or reducing the risk of developing complications. Lipid profile parameters are considered important predictors of DM. Therefore, this study was conducted on three groups of normoglycemic (n=30), pre-diabetics (n=125), and diabetics (n=30) to recognize the predictive role of lipid parameters in the transition from pre-diabetes to diabetes. In this experiment, in addition to total cholesterol and triglycerides, very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), triglyceride/HDL ratio, and fasting triglyceride-fasting blood glucose (FBG) index were measured. Based on the results, medians for total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, LDL/HDL ratio, cholesterol/HDL ratio, and LDL/HDL ratio did not differ significantly across the groups of normoglycemia, prediabetes, and diabetes. For triglyceride, the medians were significantly higher in pre-diabetes and also diabetes, compared to normoglycemia (i.e., 127.9 and 129.1 vs. 94.5 mg/dL, respectively [P<0.001]). Moreover, the same results were observed in the case of VLDL (i.e., 25.6 and 30.9 vs. 18.9 mg/dL, respectively). The triglyceride/HDL ratio significantly increased pre-diabetics and diabetics, compared to normoglycemic (2.72 and 2.67 vs. 2.18, respectively). Moreover, the median of the triglyceride-FBG index significantly had an increase in pre-diabetics and diabetics, compared to normoglycemic (8.89 and 9.38 vs. 8.22, respectively). The importance of triglyceride, VLDL, triglyceride/HDL ratio, and triglyceride-FBG index in distinguishing between pre-diabetes and normoglycemia was verified by a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of the results. Logistic regression analysis confirmed the risk effects of the four parameters on pre-diabetes and diabetes. Therefore, triglyceride, VLDL, triglyceride-FBG index, and triglyceride/HDL ratio are considered promising biomarkers used to predict pre-diabetes and DM in the general population.

HLA antigens and inflammatory bowel disease in a sample of Iraqi patients

This study investigated the association between HLA antigens and inflammatory bowel disease in 65 Iraqi patients [50 ulcerative colitis, 15 Crohn disease] compared with 67 matched controls. At HLA class I region, the patients showed significantly increased frequencies of A9 and B41 and a decrease of A11. Similar results were found when the clinical types were considered separately, except for A11, which was not significant. At HLA class II region, DR8 was significantly increased in the total patients, but the association was not maintained for ulcerative colitis or Crohn disease patients; instead Crohn disease was positively associated with DQ1. Comparing the clinical types revealed a significant difference in the antigen B16, suggesting that B16 is a differentiating marker in the disease

Complement components C2, C3, and C4 (C4A and C4B) and BF polymorphisms in populations of the Indian subcontinent.

Genetic polymorphisms of the complement components (five loci: C2, C3, C4A, C4B, and BF) have been investigated in the Telugu-speaking Hindu population of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, and the Bangali-speaking Muslim population of Dacca, Bangladesh. The available data are compared to understand the genetic variation of complement components in populations of the Indian subcontinent. The C3*F and BF*F alleles show wide frequency variations in different ethnic groups of India. The range of variation in the C3*F allele is intermediate between European whites and southeast Asian populations, whereas the BF*F allele places the Indian frequencies between European whites and African blacks. This is the first population study to investigate the C2 and C4 (C4A and C4B) polymorphisms in two distinct groups of the Indian subcontinent. For the C2 polymorphism only the C2*B variant allele was observed, and its frequency was slightly higher than in European populations. In both populations the C4A and C4B loci were highly polymorphic, with a high frequency of the null alleles C4A*QO and C4B*QO, which may account for the greater susceptibility to certain autoimmune diseases in populations of South Asia.

Allotypes of complement components C4, C3, C2 and BF in the populations of Tasmania and northeast England.

The distribution of four serum complement component polymorphisms (BF, C2, C3 and C4) were examined in two geographically separated populations, one from Tasmania (Australia) and the other from northeast England. The differences in genotypic frequencies between them at all 4 loci are not statistically significant (p > 0.05). When C4 haplotypes were investigated, only one (C4A4-C4B2) exhibited significant linkage disequilibrium (p = 0.0006 after correction, p = 0.01), and this was only observed in Tasmanians. The English population exhibited a larger number of alleles across the four loci used in this study than the Tasmanian, and this may well reflect a bottle-neck effect and the greater relative isolation of the population of the island State of Australia. Overall, the findings confirm the close relationship between immigrants from the British Isles to Tasmania.