A fires novel report of exosomal electrochemical sensor for sensing micro RNAs by using multi covalent attachment p19 with high sensitivity.

Exosomes are natural spherical phospholipids vesicles derived from cells. Dropping MCF-7 exosome (with high biomarkers as exosomal case) covalently onto the SCPE-GNP causes the sensor to be stable due to the electrochemical induction of positive charges of different biomarkers with [Fe(CN)6] -3/-4 reactions. In the following, the covalent p19 connection with the biomarkers of exosome turns off the sensor. After adding the hybrid of miR21-probe, its tight coupling to p19 has reestablished the system. As a result, this sensor has been able to detect miR21 with high sensitivity and specificity. For the first time, the exosomal electrochemical properties were proven as the electrochemical amplifier bed. The limit of detection (LOD) was 1 a.M. due to the existence of various biomarkers for connecting covalent to p19. Electrochemical impedance (EIS) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) are used for miR sensing on the MCF-7 exosome-p19 composite. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Ultraviolet Visible (UV) spectroscopic techniques are used to understand the interactions between each layer. These vesicles can be used as a natural source for biocompatible devices that are used in transfection using an electrochemical method at a cost-effective and high-performance basis.

Co-infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Pneumocystis jirovecii in the Iranian Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

BACKGROUND: Based on the authors' knowledge, there is no study on the co-infection of opportunistic agents such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Pneumocystis jirovecii in the lungs of Iranian patients with immunosuppression. OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to show the rate of co-infection of M. tuberculosis and P. jirovecii in patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-five pulmonary samples were collected from 30 patients with HIV who also infected with Tuberculosis and Pneumonia. All of the patients were admitted to two university hospitals of Mycobacteriology and the Iranian HIV/AIDS research centers. DNA of P. jirovecii was detected using nested-Polymerase Chain Reaction (nested-PCR) assay. RESULTS: All of the patients were male with the mean age of 32.95 ± 7.15 years. The mean of CD4 cell count was 109.25 cell/mm(3). Of 30 patients with HIV, three (10%) were co-infected with M. tuberculosis and P. jirovecii. No other causes of pneumonia were found in those three patients and CD4 cell counts less than 50 cell/mm(3) was reported. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the current study showed a high rate of co-infection of M. tuberculosis and P. jirovecii in the Iranian patients with HIV. As the immune system condition worsened, the probability of occurrence of Pneumocystis Pneumonia (PCP) increased. Therefore, more specific, most rapid and sensitive tests should be utilized for diagnosis of PCP in this group of patients.

Dihydropteroate synthase gene mutation rates in Pneumocystis jirovecii strains obtained from Iranian HIV-positive and non-HIV-positive patients.

The dihydropteroate sulfate (DHPS) gene is associated with resistance to sulfa/sulfone drugs in Pneumocystis jirovecii. We investigated the DHPS mutation rate in three groups of Iranian HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients by polymerase chain reaction-restricted fragment length polymorphism analysis. Furthermore, an association between P. jirovecii DHPS mutations and strain typing was investigated based on direct sequencing of internal transcribed spacer region 1 (ITS1) and ITS2. The overall P. jirovecii DHPS mutation rate was (5/34; 14.7%), the lowest rate identified was in HIV-positive patients (1/16; 6.25%) and the highest rate was in malignancies patients (3/11; 27.3%). A moderate rate of mutation was detected in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients (1/7; 14.3%). Most of the isolates were wild type (29/34; 85.3%). Double mutations in DHPS were detected in patients with malignancies, whereas single mutations at codons 55 and 57 were identified in the HIV-positive and COPD patients, respectively. In this study, two new and rare haplotypes were identified with DHPS mutations. Additionally, a positive relationship between P. jirovecii strain genotypes and DHPS mutations was identified. In contrast, no DHPS mutations were detected in the predominant (Eg) haplotype. This should be regarded as a warning of an increasing incidence of drug-resistant P. jirovecii strains.

Typing of Pneumocystis jirovecii isolates from Iranian immunosuppressed patients based on the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region of the rRNA gene.

Since there have been no published molecular studies of Pneumocystis jirovecii isolates from Iranian patients, we investigated the genotypes of such isolates recovered from HIV-infected patients, those undergoing cancer chemotherapy and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). P. jirovecii typing, based on ITS1 and ITS2 sequence analysis, was performed on 34 isolates from Iranian immunosuppressed patients. In total, 44 genotypes were detected of which relative to ITS1, eight known genotypes (A, B, C, E, G, H, N and O) and one novel sequence were noted. Eight known genotypes (b, c, e, g, h, i, j and n) were also found with ITS2. The most frequent ITS1 and ITS2 genotypes were E (21/44, 47.7%) and g (22/44, 50%), respectively. From determined haplotypes, the four most frequent ones were Eg (11/44, 25%), Gg (5/44, 11.3%), Gi (4/44, 9.1%), Ei (3/44, 6.8%), and Hg (3/44, 6.8%). Two novel haplotypes (Hb and Hi) were also identified, along with mixed infections as seven (20.5%) patients were found to have more than one haplotype. It is suggested that novel haplotypes in Iranian patients may be generated through sexual recombination within the host.