Analysis of CD38 and ZAP70 mRNA expression among cytogenetic subgroups of Iranian chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia patients

Chromosomal abnormalities and ZAP70 expression profile are two major independent prognostic markers in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. We investigated a possible correlation between these two markers. ZAP70 expression using real-time RT-PCR was examined in 20 B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients with del13q14, 13 patients with del11q22, 15 patients with trisomy 12, and 16 patients with no detected chromosomal abnormalities. Molecular analysis revealed that ZAP70 expression in the del13q subgroup was the same as in the control group, while it increased 2.78-fold in the del11q subgroup and 2.95-fold in the trisomy 12 subgroup, compared to the 15 cases in the control group. Comparison of the mean and standard deviation of the ZAP70 expression profile within the subgroups showed it to be highly variable among the individuals of the del11q and trisomy 12 subgroups, versus tight clustering for the del13q subgroup. Therefore, there is a correlation between del13q aberration, which has good prognosis with normal levels of ZAP70 expression. Due to a high degree of variation, no conformity is seen for del11q and trisomy 12 subgroups, making this grouping poor for prognostic discrimination. As a result, neither of these markers can serve as sole discriminators to determine the course of the disease; the use of both markers improves prognostic assessment.     

An efficient in vitro refolding of recombinant bacterial laccase in Escherichia coli

Laccases (benzenediol oxygen oxidoreductases, EC 1.10.3.2) are important multicopper enzymes that are used in many biotechnological processes. A recombinant form of laccase from Bacillus sp. HR03 was overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL-21(DE3). Inclusion body (IB) formation happens quite often during recombinant protein production. Hence, developing a protocol for efficient refolding of proteins from inclusion bodies to provide large amounts of active protein could be advantageous for structural and functional studies. Here, we have tried to find an efficient method of refolding for this bacterial enzyme. Solubilization of inclusion bodies was carried out in phosphate buffer pH 7, containing 8 M urea and 4 mM β-mercaptoethanol and refolding was performed using the dilution method. The effect of different additives was investigated on the refolding procedure of denaturated laccase. Mix buffer (phosphate buffer and citrate buffer, 100 mM) containing 4 mM ZnSO₄ and 100 mM sorbitol was selected as an optimized refolding buffer. Also Kinetic parameters of soluble and refolded laccase were analyzed.     

Effects of magnetic field on cell dedifferentiation and callus induction derived from embryo culture in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum. L) genotypes

Current study was conducted to investigation of effect of magnetic field on cell dedifferentiation and follow it callus induction derived from mature embryo culture in bread wheat genotypes. For this purpose, a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design was carried out with two wheat genotypes and three level of magnetic field strength (0.0, 8.8 and 17.6 Tesla) in three replications. Callus growth rate (CGR), relative growth rate (RGR), callus relative growth rate (CRGR), percentage of callus water content and percentage of callus induction traits were measured. To sum up, the results showed that differences between wheat genotypes and level of magnetic field strength were significant for some studied treats related to callus induction. The effect of magnetic field levels on CGR (from 0.181 to 0.175), RGR (from 1.442 to 0.655) and CRGR (from 0.052 to 0.022) were decreased with increment of magnetic field intensity.     

Haplotype analysis of QTLs attributed to salinity tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum)

A diverse collection of wheat germplasm, consisting of 100 bread wheat lines with varying levels of salinity tolerance were evaluated based on incomplete block design (lattice) with two replications in field conditions. Plant material was screened for salinity tolerance under normal and saline field conditions. Subsequently in order to assess the haplotype diversity of QTLs attributed to salinity tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum), a collection of 30 extremes tolerant and sensitive genotypes among them were selected for genotyping on the basis of morphological, physiological and phenological traits. Genotyping was done using microsatellite markers which had been detected as the flanking regions of large effect QTLs attributed to salinity tolerance on chromosomes 2A, 4D and 3B. Combined analysis of saline and normal conditions revealed that genotypes showed highly significant responses. Association analysis of SSR markers with traits, showed markers Xcfa2121b, Xgwm10 and Xgwm296 on chromosome 2A and markers Xgwm194 and xgwm624 for chromosome 4D, had significant association with most of measured traits. Haplotype diversity analysis showed markers Xgwm10, Xgwm445, Xbarc353.2, Xgwm312, Xgwm515 and Xwmc296 on chromosome 2A as well as markers Xwmc326 and Xgwm345, Xbarc48.4 on chromosomes 3B and 4D were identified as the best markers attributed to salinity tolerance and they can be informative markers for improvement of salinity tolerance through marker-assisted selection programs.     

Melatonin: An important anticancer agent in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers among the elderly, which is also seen in the forms of hereditary syndromes occurring in younger individuals. Numerous studies have been conducted to understand the molecular and cellular pathobiology underlying colorectal cancer. These studies have found that cellular signaling pathways are at the core of colorectal cancer pathology. Because of this, new agents have been proposed as possible candidates to accompany routine therapy regimens. One of these agents is melatonin, a neuro-hormone known best for its essential role in upholding the circadian rhythm and orchestrating the many physiologic changes it accompanies. Melatonin is shown to be able to modulate many signaling pathways involved in many essential cell functions, which if deregulated cause an accelerated pace towards cancer. More so, melatonin is involved in the regulation of immune function, tumor microenvironment, and acts as an antioxidant agent. Many studies have focused on the beneficial effects of melatonin in colorectal cancers, such as induction of apoptosis, increased sensitivity to chemotherapy agents and radiotherapy, limiting cellular proliferation, migration, and invasion. The present review aims to illustrate the known significance of melatonin in colorectal cancer and to address possible clinical use.     

Cleveland Adolescent Sleepiness Questionnaire (CASQ): a translation and validation study of the Persian version

Sleep and Biological Rhythms - The purpose of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Cleveland Adolescent Sleepiness Questionnaire (CASQ) in Iranian...     

Evaluating Drug Resistant Mutations to HCV NS3 Protease Inhibitors in Iranian Naïve Patients

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important causative agent of acute and chronic hepatitis. The non-structural protein 3 (NS3) of HCV...     

Lack of PD-L1 Expression by iNKT Cells Improves the Course of Influenza A Infection

There is evidence indicating that invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) cells play an important role in defense against influenza A virus (IAV). However, the effect of inhibitory receptor, programmed death-1 (PD-1), and its ligands, programmed death ligand (PD-L) 1 and 2 on iNKT cells in protection against IAV remains to be elucidated. Here we investigated the effects of these co-stimulatory molecules on iNKT cells in the response to influenza. We discovered that compare to the wild type, PD-L1 deficient mice show reduced sensitivity to IAV infection as evident by reduced weight loss, decreased pulmonary inflammation and cellular infiltration. In contrast, PD-L2 deficient mice showed augmented weight loss, pulmonary inflammation and cellular infiltration compare to the wild type mice after influenza infection. Adoptive transfer of iNKT cells from wild type, PD-L1 or PD-L2 deficient mice into iNKT cell deficient mice recapitulated these findings. Interestingly, in our transfer system PD-L1^−/−-derived iNKT cells produced high levels of interferon-gamma whereas PD-L2^−/−-derived iNKT cells produced high amounts of interleukin-4 and 13 suggesting a role for these cytokines in sensitivity to influenza. We identified that PD-L1 negatively regulates the frequency of iNKT cell subsets in the lungs of IAV infected mice. Altogether, these results demonstrate that lack of PD-L1 expression by iNKT cells reduces the sensitivity to IAV and that the presence of PD-L2 is important for dampening the deleterious inflammatory responses after IAV infection. Our findings potentially have clinical implications for developing new therapies for influenza.     

Simultaneous and sensitive determination of a quaternary mixture of AA, DA, UA and Trp using a modified GCE by iron ion-doped natrolite zeolite-multiwall carbon nanotube

The evaluation of a novel modified glassy carbon electrode modified with iron ion-doped natrolite zeolite-multiwalled carbon nanotube for the simultaneous and sensitive determination of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA), uric acid (UA) and tryptophan (Trp) has been described. The measurements were carried out using cyclic voltammetry in buffer solution with pH 1. This modified electrode exhibits potent and persistent electroxidation behavior followed by well-separated oxidation peaks towards AA, DA, UA and Trp with increasing of the oxidation current. For the quaternary mixture containing AA, DA, UA and Trp, the 4 compounds can well separate from each other at the scan rate of 100 mVs(-1) with a potential difference of 270 mV, 150 mV and 260 mV for the oxidation peak potentials of AA-DA, DA-UA and UA-Trp, respectively, which was large enough to simultaneous determine AA, DA, UA and Trp. The catalytic peak current obtained, was linearly dependent on the AA, DA, UA and Trp concentrations in the range of 7.77-833 μM, 7.35-833 μM, 0.23-83.3 μM and 0.074-34.5 μM and the detection limits for AA, DA, UA and Trp were 1.11, 1.05, 0.033 and 0.011 μM, respectively. The analytical performance of this sensor has been evaluated for simultaneous detection of AA, DA, UA and Trp in human serum and urine samples.     

Effect of rhamnolipid biosurfactants on performance of coal and mineral flotation

The effect of a concentrated rhamnolipid biosurfactant (purity > 97%) produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa MA01 on flotation performance of coal and minerals was studied and compared with those from synthetic flotation reagents in both single and mixed systems. Results of phosphate flotation tests showed that phosphate content in the floated product decreased by rhamnolipid concentration. However, final recovery of phosphate at appropriate dosage of reagent was insignificant. This could be ascribed to the increase of iron recovery to final concentrate likely due to collecting action of rhamnolipid for iron minerals. In coal flotation, the increase of rhamnolipid concentration in mixture with pine oil reduced both ash content and coal yield of concentrates. In desulfurization of a sample iron concentrate using reverse flotation, rhamnolipid addition successfully decreased the sulfur content of the iron concentrate. The flotation responses of the studied sample ores showed that rhamnolipid can be used as a promising frother or co-frother in mineral processing practices.