The importance of alpha-1 antitrypsin (alpha1-AT) and neopterin serum levels in the evaluation of non-small cell lung and prostate cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: Increased serum levels of alpha-1 antitrypsin (alpha1-AT) and neopterin were observed in many diseases including different types of cancer. The aim of this work is to determine alpha1-AT and neopterin serum levels in newly diagnosed untreated non-small cell lung and prostate cancer patients and to test their relation to cancer staging. METHODS: Radial Immunodiffusion and ELISA methods were used to determine alpha1-AT and neopterin serum levels, consequently. RESULTS: alpha1-AT and neopterin mean serum levels were found to be elevated in non-small-cell lung and prostate cancer patients. In non-small cell lung cancer patients alpha1-AT was 454.5+/-129.2 mg/dL (p<0.0005) and neopterin was 7.9+/-4.2 ng/mL (p<0.0005). In prostate cancer patients alpha1-AT was 462.7+/-116.9 mg/dL (p<0.0005) and neopterin was 8.1+/-3.1 ng/mL (p<0.0005). These elevated levels were significantly correlated with the stage of cancer. The mean serum level of alpha1-AT in stages I, II, III, and IV among non-small cell lung cancer patients were 305.1, 453.6, 490.3 and 616.0 mg/dL respectively, and the mean serum levels for neopterin were 4.0, 7.0, 8.1 and 14.9 ng/mL, correspondingly. The mean serum level of alpha1-AT in stages A, B, C, and D among prostate cancer patients were 342.9, 418.5, 467.8 and 593.5 mg/dL respectively and the mean serum levels for neopterin were 4.9, 6.6, 8.7 and 11.6 ng/mL, correspondingly. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the above mentioned findings alpha1-AT and neopterin serum levels should be considered in the follow up as well as in the prognosis of cancer patients.

The rs2236609 Polymorphism Is Related to Increased Risk Susceptibility of Atrial Fibrillation.

INTRODUCTION: Genetic variations in the slow component of the delayed rectifier potassium channels (IKs) are reported to contribute to an increased susceptibility to arrhythmias. This study aims to investigate the frequency and the possible association of the rs2236609 polymorphism in the KCNE1 gene and the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS: This was a case-control study that recruited 100 patients suffering from AF (mean age 49.4 ± 15.1 years), and a control group of 95 healthy participants older than 55 years (mean age 59.8 ± 4.1 years) with no history of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, or diabetes. Genomic DNA was extracted from whole peripheral blood, and the desired fragment was amplified using polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction digestion with the NspI restriction enzyme. RESULTS: The results showed a significant difference between the single-nucle-otide polymorphism variations in AF patients and controls (p < 0.022). The risk of AF in the GG genotype was significantly decreased (odds ratio [OR] 0.42; 95% confidence interval [Cl] 0.23-0.79). The risk of AF in the GA (OR 2.12; 95% Cl 1.11-4.06) and AA (OR 2.28, 95% Cl 0.57-9.1) genotypes was significantly increased. The odds of developing AF according to A allele counting was significantly increased (OR 2.1; 95% Cl 1.2608-3.638; p = 0.0048). CONCLUSION: Our results showed a significant increase in AF risk in people carrying the A allele, while the G allele might be considered as a protective allele.

Heat Shock Protein Association with Clinico-Pathological Characteristics of Gastric Cancer in Jordan : HSP70 is Predictive of Poor Prognosis.

Gastric cancer (GC) is a major health problem worldwide and is one of the ten most commonly diagnosed cancers in Jordan. GC is usually diagnosed at late aggressive stages in which treatment options are limited. Recently, heat shock proteins (HSPs) found to be overexpressed in a wide range of malignancies have been considered as promising candidate biomarkers for GC. The aim of this study was to investigate pathogenic roles of a panel of cytosolic HSPs including HSP90, HSP70, HSP60 and HSP27 in GC. Immunohistochemistry was used to assess the level of expression of these proteins in archived tumor samples (N=87) representing various pathological characteristics of GC. HSP90, HSP60 and HSP27 were expressed abundantly in gastric tumors. On the other hand, HSP70 was reduced significantly and was also found to be associated with Helicobacter pylori infection in tissues collected from GC patients. Furthermore, HSP27 was found to be associated with the level of differentiation. Our findings indicate a role of HSP70 as a potential prognostic biomarker, patients harboring positive HSP70 expression displaying worse disease free survival than those with negative HSP70 expression. Differential expression of HSPs may play crucial roles in the initiation and progression of GC, and could be exploited as future therapeutic targets.

Associations of variants in MTHFR and MTRR genes with male infertility in the Jordanian population.

Folate pathway is expected to play an important role in spermatogenesis since it is involved in DNA synthesis, repair and methylation. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between male infertility and the MTHFR (C677T and A1298C) and MTRR (A66G) polymorphisms. A group of 300 males was recruited in this study from different Jordanian infertility clinics. Of these, 150 cases of infertile men that included oligozoospermia cases (n=45), severe oligozoospermia (n=71) and azoospermia (n=34) were studied. The other 150 males were age matched fertile controls. Genotyping of MTHFR and MTRR polymorphisms was performed using PCR-RFLP technique. The results showed an association between MTHFR 677TT genotype and male infertility (P<0.05). However, the distribution of MTHFR A1298C and MTRR A66G genotypes were not different between the fertile and infertile groups (P>0.05). In addition, none of the examined polymorphisms was related to any of the semen parameters in the infertile group. In conclusion, this study showed that MTHFR C677T polymorphism is associated with male infertility in Jordanians.

Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Blood Levels as Indicator for the Efficacy of Cancer Treatment.

BACKGROUND: Alpha-1 antitrypsin (α1-AT) is a member of the serine protease inhibitors (serpins) family. Liver cells are the major source of synthesis and secretion of (α1-AT) into the blood. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that α1-AT is expressed and secreted by many types of malignant cells. Studies have indicated that serum levels of (α1-AT) increase in a good number of malignant diseases. In addition, a significant correlation between serum levels and cancer stage has also been reported. In this work we aimed to test how α1-AT levels behave at the third week after treatment with chemotherapy. METHODS: The α1-AT blood levels were measured using commercially available radial immunodiffusion kit (Kent Laboratory Inc, Bellinham, Washigton) following manufacturer instructions. RESULTS: The α1-AT blood levels were significantly decreased after treatment compared with those before the treatment started. The mean difference (before - after) treatment was 127.82 and 137.37 mg/dL with 95% CI of difference 109.06 - 146.57 and 116.08 - 158.65 mg/dL in lung and prostate cancer respectively. When we compared these levels according to the stage of cancer, we found that the mean difference (before - after) treatment was also highly significant as indicated by P-value and the 95% CI of these differences. CONCLUSION: Obtained data strongly indicate the value of testing α1-AT blood levels as one of the important indicators for the efficacy of cancer treatment.