Assessment of galectins -1, -3, -4, -8, and -9 expression in ovarian carcinoma patients with clinical implications.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Galectins have been recently tackled by many researchers in the field of cancer due to their role in tumorigenesis, disease progression, and metastasis. Thus, they are currently involved in biomarkers research on several types of cancer. In ovarian cancers, few studies were carried out to evaluate galectins expression profiling. Hence, our present study was executed to evaluate the mRNA expression of galectins -1, -3, -4, -8, and -9 in epithelial ovarian cancers. METHODS: Fifty-six tumor samples of ovarian carcinomas were analyzed for mRNA expression using qRT-PCR, and fold-changes were calculated in comparison to tissue samples of 26 women with normal ovaries. RESULTS: The results of the present paper emphasize the importance of galectins as predictors for targeted therapy. LGALS1, LGALS3, LGALS4, LGALS8, and LGALS9 were found to be mostly overexpressed in ovarian carcinoma patients with the following percentage: 78.6%, 92.9%, 66.1%, 87.5%, and 85.7% respectively. Moreover, galectins -3 and -9 were found to be significantly elevated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.044 and p = 0.011). Also, upregulation of galectin-1 and -9 were statistically significant in stages IIB, IIC, and IIIB (p = 0.002) in FIGO staging. CA19.9 is positively correlated to galectin-4 expression (p = 0.039). CONCLUSION: Our findings strengthen the role of galectins in carcinogenesis, disease progression, and lymphnode metastasis in ovarian carcinomas. And since these galectins are mostly overexpressed, they could be promising markers for targeted therapy to reduce disease progression and metastasis process.

Magnetic resonance imaging markers of disability in Egyptian multiple sclerosis patients.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this work was to identify the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of disability in Egyptian multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This retrospective observational study included 673 patients recruited from the registry of the MS unit at Ain Shams University hospitals. At the time when the MRI scans of the brain and spinal cord were done (with and without gadolinium enhancement), clinical disability was rated using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) during the patient's first visit. RESULTS: Females represented 72.5%, all types of MS were included, the mean age of onset was 26.1 ±â€¯7.7(SD) years, mean duration of illness was 8.3 ±â€¯5.5(SD) years. The mean EDSS of the patients was 3.5 ±â€¯2.1. The study population was divided into three groups according to the EDSS score; mild from 0-3 (56.6%), moderate from 3.5-6 (34.9%) and severe more than 6 (8.5%). The number and types of MRI lesions (T2, T1 black holes, T1 contrast and confluent lesions) in the different anatomical locations (periventricular, juxtacortical, infratentorial and spinal) were correlated with the clinical and demographic data of the patients as well as with the EDSS score. The presence of confluent brain lesions (P Ë‚ 0.001), brain T1 hypointense lesions (P = 0.009), and infratentorial T2 lesions (from 1 to 3 lesions (P = 0.04), from 4 to 10 (P ˂ 0.001) and more than 10 (P ˂ 0.001)), were significantly correlated to high EDSS scores after linear regression analysis. CONCLUSION: This is the first Egyptian study to show that infratentorial lesions, confluent brain lesions and T1 hypointense lesions are conventional MRI parameters that correlate with the degree of disability in Egyptian MS patients.

Can Porphyromonas gingivalis be a novel aetiology for recurrent miscarriage?

OBJECTIVE: To study the association between Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) infection and recurrent miscarriage. METHODS: This case control study included women with early pregnancy failure admitted for surgical evacuation of retained products of conception. Cases (group 1) included 50 women with unexplained recurrent early miscarriage whereas the control group (group 2) consisted of 50 women with no such history. The evacuated products of conception, subgingival plaques, cervicovaginal secretions and saliva of all participants were examined to detect P. gingivalis deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) using a polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: The prevalence of P. gingivalis DNA in the chorionic villous tissue samples of group 1 was significantly higher than in group 2 (8 [16%] vs. 1 [2%], respectively; p = 0.036, odds ratio [OR]: 9.3, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1-76.9). The prevalence of P. gingivalis DNA was significantly higher in cervicovaginal secretions of group 1 than in group 2 (9 [18%] vs. 1 [2%], respectively; p = 0.02, OR: 10.8, 95% CI: 1.3-88.5). On the contrary, P. gingivalis DNA could not be detected in subgingival plaques and saliva samples of either group. CONCLUSION: The current study found an association between P. gingivalis infection of the female genital tract and the occurrence of recurrent miscarriage.