Association of deletion polymorphism rs10573247 in the HMGA2 gene with the risk of breast cancer: bioinformatic and experimental analyses.

BACKGROUND: The high mobility group A2 (HMGA2) gene is expressed extensively during early embryonic development but is inactivated in adulthood, and it is also reactivated in various benign and malignant tumors, including breast cancer. We first assessed the potential functional significance of the unstudied deletion polymorphism rs10573247 at the 3'UTR of HMGA2 on miRNA binding using bioinformatic tools, and subsequently, the association between this polymorphism and breast cancer susceptibility was investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We applied the RNAhybrid tool to predict the functional effects of polymorphism rs10573247 located within the 3' UTR of the HMGA2 gene on miRNA binding. Then, following DNA extraction, 141 breast cancer patients and 123 healthy controls were genotyped for polymorphism rs10573247 using RFLP-PCR with the restriction enzyme Eam1104I. RESULTS: Our bioinformatic data have shown that polymorphism rs10573247 is located in the region that serves as a potential target site for eight miRNAs binding. Among them, miR-3125 exhibited decreased binding affinity for the allele delTT (MFE = -21.8) when compared to the allele TT (MFE = -23.9), but miR-4476 increased binding affinity for the allele delTT (MFE = -22.4) compared to the allele TT (MFE = -22.2). In addition, our results showed that the genotype TT/delTT (p = 0.005) and the genotype delTT/delTT (p = 0.029) were significantly associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer compared to the genotype TT/TT using RFLP-PCR. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that polymorphism rs10573247 may contribute to the risk of breast cancer through the functional effect of this polymorphism on miRNA binding.

Implications of ZNF334 gene in lymph node metastasis of lung SCC: potential bypassing of cellular senescence.

BACKGROUND: The primary goal of this work is to identify biomarkers associated with lung squamous cell carcinoma and assess their potential for early detection of lymph node metastasis. METHODS: This study investigated gene expression in lymph node metastasis of lung squamous cell carcinoma using data from the Cancer Genome Atlas and R software. Protein-protein interaction networks, hub genes, and enriched pathways were analyzed. ZNF334 and TINAGL1, two less explored genes, were further examined through in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo experiments to validate the findings from bioinformatics analyses. The role of ZNF334 and TINAGL1 in senescence induction was assessed after H2O2 and UV induced senescence phenotype determined using ß-galactosidase activity and cell cycle status assay. RESULTS: We identified a total of 611 up- and 339 down-regulated lung squamous cell carcinoma lymph node metastasis-associated genes (FDR < 0.05). Pathway enrichment analysis highlighted the central respiratory pathway within mitochondria for the subnet genes and the nuclear DNA-directed RNA polymerases for the hub genes. Significantly down regulation of ZNF334 gene was associated with malignancy lymph node progression and senescence induction has significantly altered ZNF334 expression (with consistency in bioinformatics, in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo results). Deregulation of TINAGL1 expression with inconsistency in bioinformatics, in vitro (different types of lung squamous cancer cell lines), ex vivo, and in vivo results, was also associated with malignancy lymph node progression and altered in senescence phenotype. CONCLUSIONS: ZNF334 is a highly generalizable gene to lymph node metastasis of lung squamous cell carcinoma and its expression alter certainly under senescence conditions.

SiRNA-Mediated Knockdown of ABCB1 Enhances the Efficacy of Doxorubicin and Vinorelbine in Breast Cancer Cells.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women, primarily attributed to the formidable challenge of multidrug resistance, often driven by the overexpression of the ABCB1 gene. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the synergistic effects of siRNA, doxorubicin, and vinorelbine on ABCB1 gene expression and cell viability in doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7/ADR breast cancer cells, with siRNA targeting ABCB1 to reduce its expression and doxorubicin/ vinorelbine to eradicate cancer cells. METHODS: Our methodology involved culturing MCF-7 and MCF-7/ADR cells in standard cell culture conditions. The synthesized siRNA sequences transfected cells with siRNA at final concentrations of 10, 20, and 30 nM and assessed cell viability using the MTT assay was performed. Real-time PCR was employed to quantify ABCB1 mRNA expression levels. RESULTS: Results indicated that MCF-7/ADR cells exhibited substantial resistance to vinorelbine and doxorubicin compared to MCF-7 cells, displaying resistance at 12.50 µM and 25.00 µM for vinorelbine and 6.25 µM and 25.00 µM for doxorubicin. Remarkably, siRNA treatment effectively reversed drug resistance in MCF-7/ADR cells across all concentrations of vinorelbine and doxorubicin tested. When combined, siRNA, doxorubicin, and vinorelbine yielded a significantly greater reduction in cell viability compared to individual drug treatments, particularly at a 20 µM siRNA concentration. This combination therapy also significantly suppressed ABCB1 gene expression by a factor of 41.48 in MCF-7 cells relative to MCF-7/ADR cells. CONCLUSION: these findings suggest that combining siRNA, doxorubicin, and vinorelbine holds promise as a therapeutic strategy to overcome ABCB1-mediated multidrug resistance in breast cancer. Further investigations and clinical trials are warranted to evaluate its clinical efficacy rigorously.

Integrative bioinformatics analysis reveals ECM and nicotine-related genes in both LUAD and LUSC, but different lung fibrosis-related genes are involved in LUAD and LUSC.

There are several bioinformatics studies related to lung cancer, but most of them have mainly focused on either microarray data or RNA-Seq data alone. In this study, we have combined both types of data to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) specific to lung cancer subtypes. We obtained six microarray datasets from the GEO and also the expression matrix of LUSC and LUAD from TCGA, which were analyzed by GEO2R tool and GEPIA2, respectively. Enrichment analyses of DEGs were performed using the Enrichr database. Protein module identification was done by MCODE plugin in cytoscape software. We identified 30 LUAD-specific, 17 LUSC-specific, and 17 DEGs shared between LUAD and LUSC. Enrichment analyses revealed that LUSC-specific DEGs are involved in lung fibrosis. In addition, DEGs shared between LUAD and LUSC are involved in extracellular matrix (ECM), nicotine metabolism, and lung fibrosis. We identified lung fibrosis-related genes, including SPP1, MMP9, and CXCL2, involved in both LUAD and LUSC, but SERPINA1 and PLAU genes involved only in LUSC. We also found an important module separately for LUAD-specific, LUSC-specific, and shared DEGs between LUSC and LUAD. S100P, GOLM, AGR2, AK1, TMEM125, SLC2A1, COL1A1, and GHR genes were significantly associated with survival. Our findings suggest that different lung fibrosis-related genes may play roles in LUSC and LUAD. Additionally, nicotine metabolism and ECM remodeling were found to be associated with both LUSC and LUAD, regardless of subtype, emphasizing the role of smoking in the development of lung cancer and ECM in the high aggressiveness and mortality of lung cancer.

Highlighting allelic variations at the interleukin-19 locus in term of preeclampsia predisposing factors and access to an accurate diagnostic/screening option.

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia is the main cause of preterm parturition and maternal-fetal complications. T helper 1 and T helper 2 cytokines balance is a requirement in normal pregnancy and aberrant in this immunologic balance, play an important role in the pathology of preeclampsia. In previous studies single nucleotide polymorphisms have been associated with the alteration of serum cytokine levels. OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed to discover association between interleukin-13 (rs20541, and rs56035208) and interleukin-19 (rs1028181 (T/C) and rs2243191(T/C)) polymorphisms with susceptibility to preeclampsia. METHODS: In this case-control study 300 women with and without preeclampsia (n = 150/each) who referred to Zeynabieh Hospital- Shiraz, Iran, from February 2021 to April 2022 were enrolled. For genotyping the interleukin-13 and interleukin-19 polymorphisms, the Allele-specific polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing method was carried out. RESULTS: Our statistical results revealed no significant differences in allele and genotype frequencies for interleukin-13 polymorphisms compared to controls. We found that the interleukin-13 polymorphisms are significantly associated with vulnerability to edema at rs20541 position and maternal drinking at rs56035208 position. But it was interesting to note that the differences of both the allele and genotype frequencies of interleukin-19 polymorphisms and their contribution to the risk of preeclampsia susceptibility were significant. CONCLUSIONS: No risk of preeclampsia was found in all comparisons for interleukin-13 polymorphisms. However, the interleukin-19 polymorphisms were found to confer the risk of preeclampsia in our population.

Spontaneous miscarriage driven by maternal genetic mutation at position of PAI-1-844G/A: shed light on a race-specific genetic polymorphism.

OBJECTIVE: Association between a genetic polymorphism and disease, either positively or negatively, within a population may not necessarily predict association in other race-ethnic populations. The aim of this study was to genotype well recognized thrombophilia associated polymorphisms as common risk factors for miscarriage and investigate their benefit to use as risk factors in southwest region of Iran females (Khuzestan) in the Arabs ethnic minority group with spontaneous miscarriage. We developed a Reverse Dot Blot Assay for the genotyping of four polymorphisms. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the genotype distribution and allelic frequencies of the MTHFR 1298 A > C, MTHFR 677 C > T, Factor V Leiden 1691 G > A, PAI-1-844G > A polymorphisms between the case and control groups. The MTHFR 1298 A > C, MTHFR 677 C > T and Factor V Leiden 1691 G > A polymorphisms were significantly associated with spontaneous miscarriage risk. Unlike some other race-ethnic populations, PAI-1-844G > A polymorphism was associated with risk of developing unplanned miscarriage in Iranian Arabs ethnic minority group females.

Crucial Role of Foxp3 Gene Expression and Mutation in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Inferred from Computational and Experimental Approaches.

The impaired suppressive function of regulatory T cells is well-understood in systemic lupus erythematosus. This is likely due to changes in Foxp3 expression that are crucial for regulatory T-cell stability and function. There are a few reports on the correlation between the Foxp3 altered expression level and single-nucleotide polymorphisms within the Foxp3 locus. Moreover, some studies showed the importance of Foxp3 expression in the same diseases. Therefore, to explore the possible effects of single-nucleotide polymorphisms, here, we evaluated the association of IVS9+459/rs2280883 (T>C) and -2383/rs3761549 (C>T) Foxp3 polymorphisms with systemic lupus erythematosus. Moreover, through machine-learning and deep-learning methods, we assessed the connection of the expression level of the gene with the disease. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms of Foxp3 (IVS9+459/rs2280883 (T>C) and -2383/rs3761549 (C>T)) were, respectively, genotyped using allele-specific PCR and direct sequencing and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism, in 199 systemic lupus erythematosus patients and 206 healthy age- and sex-matched controls. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 19 and Fisher's exact and chi-square tests were used to analyze the data. Moreover, six machine-learning models and two sequential deep-learning models were designed to classify patients from normal people in the E-MTAB-11191 dataset through the expression level of Foxp3 and its correlated genes. The allele and genotype frequencies of both polymorphisms in question were found to be significantly associated with an increased risk of systemic lupus erythematosus. Furthermore, both of the two single-nucleotide polymorphisms were associated with some systemic-lupus-erythematosus-related risk factors. Three SVM models and the logistic regression model showed an 81% accuracy in classification problems. In addition, the first deep-learning model showed an 83% and 89% accuracy for the training and validation data, respectively, while the second model had an 85% and 79% accuracy for the training and validation datasets. In this study, we are prompted to represent the predisposing loci for systemic lupus erythematosus pathogenesis and strived to provide evidence-based support to the application of machine learning for the identification of systemic lupus erythematosus. It is predicted that the recruiting of machine-learning algorithms with the simultaneous measurement of the applied single nucleotide polymorphisms will increased the diagnostic accuracy of systemic lupus erythematosus, which will be very helpful in providing sufficient predictive value about individual subjects with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Preeclampsia Susceptibility Assessment Based on Deep Learning Modeling and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Analysis.

The early diagnosis of preeclampsia, a key outlook in improving pregnancy outcomes, still remains elusive. The present study aimed to examine the interleukin-13 and interleukin-4 pathway potential in the early detection of preeclampsia as well as the relationship between interleukin-13 rs2069740(T/A) and rs34255686(C/A) polymorphisms and preeclampsia risk to present a combined model. This study utilized raw data from the GSE149440 microarray dataset, and an expression matrix was constructed using the RMA method and affy package. The genes related to the interleukin-13 and interleukin-4 pathway were extracted from the GSEA, and their expression levels were applied to design multilayer perceptron and PPI graph convolutional neural network models. Moreover, genotyping for the rs2069740(T/A) and rs34255686(C/A) polymorphisms of the interleukin-13 gene were tested using the amplification refractory mutation system PCR method. The outcomes revealed that the expression levels of interleukin-4 and interleukin-13 pathway genes could significantly differentiate early preeclampsia from normal pregnancy. Moreover, the present study's data suggested significant differences in the genotype distribution, the allelic frequencies and some of the risk markers of the study, in the position of rs34255686 and rs2069740 polymorphisms between the case and control groups. A combined test of two single nucleotide polymorphisms and an expression-based deep learning model could be designed for future preeclampsia diagnostic purposes.

Genes whose expressions in the primary lung squamous cell carcinoma are able to accurately predict the progression of metastasis through lymphatic system, inferred from a bioinformatics analyses.

Lymph node metastasis is the most important prognostic factor in patients with lung squamous cell carcinoma. The current findings show that lymph node metastatic tumor cells can arise by programming metastasis in primary tumor cells. Thereby, the genetic alterations responsible for the metastasis could be detected in the primary tumors. This bioinformatic study aimed to determine novel potential prognostic biomarkers shared between primary lung squamous cell tumors (without lymph node metastasis) and lymphatic metastasis, using the Cancer Genome Atlas database. Differentially expressed genes were screened by limma statistical package in R environment. Gene ontology and biological pathways analyses were performed using Enrichr for up-regulated and down-regulated genes. Also, we selected lymph node metastasis related genes among DEGs using correlation analysis between DEGs and suitable references genes for metastasis. Receiver operating characteristic curves was applied using pROC and R package ggplot2 to evaluate diagnostic value of differentially expressed genes. In addition, survival and drug resistance analyses were performed for differentially expressed genes. The miRNA-mRNA interaction networks were predicted by miRwalk and TargetScan databases and expression levels analysis of the miRNAs which were mainly targeting mRNAs was performed using UALCAN database. Protein-protein interaction network analysis and hub genes identification were performed using FunRich and Cytoscape plugin cytoHubba. In this study, a total of 397 genes were differentially expressed not only with a significant difference between N + vs. normal and N0 vs. normal but also with significant difference between N + vs. N0. Identified GO terms and biological pathways were consistent with DEGs role in the lung squamous cell carcinoma and lymph node metastasis. A significant correlation between 56 genes out of 397 differentially expressed genes with reference genes prompted them being considered for identifying lymph node metastasis of lung squamous cell carcinoma. In addition, SLC46A2, ZNF367, AC107214.1 and NCBP1 genes were identified as survival-related genes of patients with lung squamous cell carcinoma. Moreover, NEDD9, MRPL21, SNRPF, and SCLT1 genes were identified to be involved in lung squamous cell carcinoma drug sensitivity/resistance. We have identified several numbers of miRNAs and their related target genes which could emerge as potential diagnostic biomarkers. Finally, CDK1, PLK1, PCNA, ZWINT and NDC80 identified as hub genes for underlying molecular mechanisms of lung squamous cell carcinoma and lymphatic metastasis. Our study highlights new target genes according to their relation to lymph node metastasis, whose expressions in the primary lung squamous cell carcinoma are able to accurately assess the presence of lymphatic metastasis.

Predisposition to Myocardial Infarction Influenced by Interleukin 13 Gene Polymorphisms: A Case-Control Study.

BACKGROUND: Additional inflammatory responses and subsequent damage-arising from enhance transcriptional activity or forming the more active protein due to existence of polymorphic sites in the pro-inflammatory cytokines gene loci-give rise to myocardial infarction susceptibility. OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study was to explore whether two interleukin-13 gene polymorphisms (-1512A/C and +2044G/A) could serve as underpins genetic susceptibility of myocardial infarction. METHODS: The Iranian population that belong to the Parsis ethnic group was involved in the present study. A total 250 patients with definite myocardial infarction-meeting hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia, and coronary artery disease requirements-were recruited from the Shiraz urban hospitals. 250 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals without a history of cardiovascular disease and heart disease related risk factors constituted the control group. PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique applied to genotyping at -1512A/C and +2044G/A loci. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium test was performed (combined cases and controls). The differences of the genotype frequencies in cases and controls were analyzed using a chi-square test. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between the genotypes and most important risk factors for myocardial infarction. All statistical analyses were performed in SPSS Version 22.0. p-values below 0.05 were hailed as statistically significant. RESULTS: Deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was not significant in the -1512A/C locus. Statistically significant difference between our study groups was found in genotype frequency of the -1512A/C. This variant was found in associated with myocardial infarction risk factors. The +2044G/A polymorphism was not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and no significant difference observed in the distribution of +2044G/A genotype frequency among cases and controls. However, further analysis revealed that this genotype associated with an increased susceptibility to myocardial infarction risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of interleukin-13 -1512A/C and +2044G/A gene polymorphisms underpin myocardial infarction predisposition in the ethnic Parsis of the Iranian population.

Two Novel Mutations in LAMC2 Gene in Iranian Families Affected by Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa.

Background: Junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB) is an autosomal recessive skin disorder with defective adhesion of dermal- epidermal within the lamina lucida region of the basement membrane zone. The main characterization of JEB is blistering and fragile skin and mucous membrane. Laminins are noncollagenous part of basement membrane and classified as a family of extracellular matrix glycoprotein. Laminins contain three chains: Laminin α, Laminin ß and Laminin γ. LAMC2 (laminin subunit gamma 2) gene encodes γ subunit of laminin and its mutation contributes to JEB. Here, we report a disease-causing nonsense mutation and a large deletion mutation in LAMC2 gene in two families affected by JEB. Methods: Whole exome sequencing (WES) was carried out on the mother of patient in family I and the patient himself in family II to detect the underlying mutations. Then, sanger sequencing was performed to confirm the identified mutations. Results: Next generation sequencing (NGS) data analysis of the first family showed a novel, nonsense mutation in LAMC2 gene (LAMC2: NM_005562: exon14:c.C2143T: p.R715X). The heterozygous state of the mutation was confirmed by sanger sequencing in the parents and unaffected brother. In Family II, NGS data had no coverage in the large area of LAMC2 gene. Thus, to confirm the possible deletion sanger sequencing was done and blasting of sequence showed the deleted region of 9.4 kb (exon10-17) in LAMC2 gene. Conclusion: In summary, current study reported a novel disease-causing premature termination codon (PTC) mutation in LAMC2 gene and a large deletion mutation in patients affected by JEB.

Atomic insight into prion disorder: An intricate detail gained by 0.5 µs molecular dynamics simulation of preventive G127V and deleterious D178V mutation in prion protein.

In this study we are looking into two contradicting mutations found in prion protein (PrP) viz G127V and D178V, that are reportedly protective and pathogenic, respectively. Despite significant advances in comprehension of the role of pathogenic mutations, the role of protective mutation in amyloid fold inhibition still lacks a substantial basis. To understand the structural basis of protective mutation, molecular dynamics simulation coupled with protein-protein docking and molecular mechanics/Poisson-Boltzmann surface area analysis was used to understand the instant structural variability brought about by these mutations alone and in combination on PrP and prion-prion complex. Atomic-scale investigations successfully revealed that the binding pattern of prion-prion varies differentially in protective and pathogenic mutations with secondary structure showing distinct contrasting patterns, which could supposedly be a critical factor for differential prion behavior in protective and pathogenic mutations. Considering the reported role of an amyloid fold in prion-prion binding, the contrasting pattern has given us a lead in comprehending the role of these mutations and has been used in this study to look for small molecules that can inhibit amyloid fold for prion-prion interaction in pathogenic mutant carrying PrP.

Genetic association study of promoter variation rs3761549 in the FOXP3 gene of Iranian patients diagnosed with brain tumour.

Forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) gene (Gene ID: 50943, Xp11.23) is an X-linked gene that encodes FOXP3 protein, an essential transcription factor in CD4+ CD25+ FOXP3 regulatory T (Treg) cells. FOXP3 mutation has been linked with the pathogenesis of several tumours; however, little is known about the role of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in its promoter region and its correlation with brain tumour. In the present study, we have investigated the association between SNPs in the promoter region of FOXP3 gene, a promoter SNP, -2383 C/T (rs3761549) with susceptibility to brain cancer in a population of Iran. The distribution of case, control, age and sex was balanced and with rs3761549 C/T allele frequencies distribution also falling in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P = 0.053 and 0.062). The allele C of rs3761549 is lower in the brain tumour cases when compared with the controls (364 vs 392, P = 0.005). The frequency of combined T variant genotype (TT + CT) was significantly higher in the brain cancer cases compared with the controls (28 vs 8, P = 0.001), which was consistent with the T allele distribution. When we used the CC genotype as a reference, we found that both CT and TT genotypes were associated with a higher risk of developing brain tumour (odds ratio [OR], 0.3583; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.164-0.8197 and OR, 0; 95% CI, 0-0.4118, respectively).

CCL22 and CCR4 Gene Polymorphisms in Myocardial Infarction: Risk Assessment of rs4359426 and rs2228428 in Iranian Population.

BACKGROUND: Myocardial infarction (MI) is an irreversible damage of myocardial tissue caused by prolonged ischemia and hypoxia. A local hypoxia-induced inflammation causes recruitment of leukocytes to the inflammatory site to aid cardiac remodeling and tissue healing. Among various chemokines involved in the process, CCL22 plays an essential role in cardiac cell migrations. In this study, we evaluated the incidence of rs4359426 and rs2228428 SNPs in CCL22/CCR4 genes of MI patients and studied their association with the physiology of the disease. METHODS: Two hundred patients aged 30 - 70 years diagnosed with myocardial infarction along with 200 agematched healthy controls were registered in the study and their pathophysiological findings were recorded. Genotypic analysis of rs4359426 and rs2228428 in CCL22 and CCR4 genes, respectively, were carried out in patients using PCR-RFLP method and compared with the control group. Successively genotyped SNPs were reviewed for their possible association with the disease or physiological findings using Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: The frequency of CC genotypes atboth SNPs rs4359426 and rs2228428 in CCL22 and CCR4 genes was significantly higher in MI patients compared to other genotypes. CONCLUSIONS: Although we could not establish any direct association with the disease due to restricted population size, it is possible that CC genotypesin CCL22 and CCR4 could be considered as risk factors in myocardial infarction.

Program death 1 (PD1) haplotyping in patients with breast carcinoma.

Located on chromosome 2q37.3, the programmed death 1 (PD1) gene encodes for PD-1 (also known as CD279), a negative co-stimulator in the immune system. PD-1 renders potent inhibitory effects on T and B lymphocytes as well as monocyte responses. Expression of PD-1 ligands by tumor cells has been reported to contribute in immune system evasion. We aimed, in current study, to investigate the association of two single nucleotide polymorphisms in PD1 gene, +7146 G to A (PD-1.3) and +7785 C to T (PD-1.5 or +872), with susceptibility and/or progression of breast carcinoma. Four hundred forty-three women with breast cancer and 328 age-sex match healthy donors were recruited in present study. Genotyping was performed using Nested polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms. Arlequin software package was used to check for the Hardy-Weinberg equilibration and to determine the haplotypes. Results revealed no significant differences in the frequencies of genotypes and alleles at PD-1.3 (P=0.252 and 0.279 for genotypes and alleles, respectively) and PD-1.5 positions (P=0.522 and 0.278 for genotypes and alleles, respectively). Four haplotypes were observed among populations with no differences in the frequency between patients and controls. Our results also revealed no association between PD1 genotypes and tumor stage, tumor size, tumor grade, lymph node involvement, vascular invasion, distant metastasis, and Nottingham prognostic index. Present data do not confirm association of PD-1.3 (+7146) G/A and PD-1.5 (+7785 or +872) C/T genetic markers with susceptibility of Iranians to breast cancer.

Genetic variation in TGF-beta 1 gene promoter and risk of gestational trophoblastic disease.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship of transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) gene polymorphisms at promoter positions -509 (C/T) and -800 (G/A) with the risk of gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) as compared to normal controls STUDY DESIGN: Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism was performed on peripheral blood of 102 patients with GTD and 124 normal, healthy, pregnant women as the control group. RESULTS: In this study, TGF-beta 1 gene polymorphisms at positions -509 (C/T) and -800 (G/A) failed to correlate with GTD. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that promoter gene polymorphisms of TGF-beta 1 do not play major roles in GTD and may not be risk factors for this disease.

Interleukin-18 gene promoter and serum level in women with ovarian cancer.

IL-18, initially defined as a potent inducer of IFN- gamma production, is a systemic, multifunctional cytokine with both pro-cancerous and anti-cancer activities. The contribution of the IL-18 promoter polymorphisms at positions -607 (C/A) and -137 (G/C) to cancer development has been reported. We sought to examine IL-18 serum level and its polymorphisms in Iranian women with ovarian cancer. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at positions -607 (C/A) and -137 (G/C) were analyzed by allele-specific polymerase chain reaction in 85 women with ovarian cancer and 158 healthy controls. IL-18 serum level was determined using ELISA method. No significant association was found between the allele, genotype, and haplotype distributions of the SNPs and ovarian cancer. Mean IL-18 serum level was significantly higher in patients than in controls (P = 0.008). Comparing IL-18 serum levels with genotypes at positions -607 and -137 revealed no significant difference. No association was also found between IL-18 levels and the disease stage. In conclusion, our results indicate that IL-18 promoter polymorphisms at positions -607 (C/A) and -137 (G/C) appear not to confer susceptibility to ovarian cancer in Iranian population; however, IL-18 serum level increases in ovarian cancer patients.

Interleukin-18 gene promoter polymorphisms in women with gestational trophoblastic diseases.

OBJECTIVE: Gestational trophoblastic diseases (GTDs) consist of a spectrum of disorders characterized by an abnormal proliferation of trophoblastic tissue. IL-18 is a pleiotropic cytokine with a capacity for both ThI and Th2 polarization. Considering the association of IL-18 promoter polymorphisms at positions -607 (A/C) and -137 (C/G) with pregnancy events and some cancers, we sought to examine these polymorphisms in Iranian patients with GTD, their association with disease subtypes, and IL-18 serum level. STUDY DESIGN: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were analyzed by allele-specific polymerase chain reaction in 92 patients with GTDs and 103 healthy pregnant controls. IL-18 serum level was determined using ELISA method. RESULTS: No significant association was found between the allele, genotype, genotype combination and haplotype distribution of these SNPs and GTDs or its subgroups. Mean IL-18 serum level was significantly higher in patients with choriocarcinoma and pregnant controls compared with nonpregnant controls (p = 0.04, 0.04 and 0.001, respectively). -137 GG genotype pregnant controls had a significantly higher IL-18 serum level compared with CC genotype. CONCLUSION: IL-18 promoter polymorphisms do not confer susceptibility to GTDs or its variants; however, their functional significance is demonstrated in this study. Furthermore, IL-18 serum level increases in GTDs and in normal pregnancy.

Interleukin-18 gene promoter polymorphisms and recurrent spontaneous abortion.

BACKGROUND: IL-18 is a multifunctional cytokine capable of inducing either Th1 or Th2 polarization depending on the immunologic milieu. IL-18 is detected at the materno-fetal interface very soon in early pregnancy. Two polymorphisms in the promoter region of the IL-18 gene at positions of -607 and -137 appear to have functional impacts. OBJECTIVE: This study attempts to evaluate the frequency of these two polymorphisms in the IL-18 gene promoter in patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) and normal pregnant women. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One hundred and two RSA patients and 103 healthy pregnant women were enrolled in this study. Single nucleotide polymorphisms of the IL-18 gene at positions -607 (C/A) and -137 (G/C) were analyzed by the sequence-specific PCR method. RESULTS: There was no significant association between the allele, genotype, and haplotype frequencies of the two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IL-18 gene promoter and RSA. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that IL-18 gene promoter polymorphisms at positions -607 and -137 did not confer susceptibility to RSA in southern Iranian patients.