Evaluation of human papillomavirus type 16 viral load and genome physical status in Iranian women with cervical disease.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the viral load and physical status of the human papillomavirus 16 (HPV-16) genome in non-cancerous, precancerous and cancerous cervical lesions. METHODS: Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to determine HPV-16 E2 and E6 viral load in 132 cervical specimens. E2/E6 viral load ratio was used to determine the physical status of HPV-16 genome. RESULTS: E2 gene viral load was a significant (P < 0.001) predicting biomarker in differentiating non-cancerous from precancerous and cancerous samples. E6 gene viral load was significantly different between the groups (P < 0.001). The specificity and sensitivity of E2 and E6 in distinguishing SCC samples were 100% and 95% respectively. CONCLUSION: HPV-16 viral load measured through E2 and E6 genes is a reliable indicator of lesion type.

Retinal Pigment Epithelium Regeneration by Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells; Therapeutic and Modelling Approaches on Retinal Degenerative Diseases.

Retinal degenerative diseases (RDDs) are irreversible ocular damages categorized as retinopathies. RDDs affect about 0.05% of individuals worldwide. The degenerations of RPE cells are involved in inherited and age-related RDDs. After the invention of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) by Yamanaka, a promising avenue has been opened to regenerative medicine and disease modeling. Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) degeneration related-RDDs are also affected by iPSCs. IPSC-derived RPE cells created a novel method for treating the RPE degeneration related- RDDs and retinal diseases modeling to find a new therapeutic approach or drug development. There are various studies based on iPSC-derived RPE cells reporting the investigation of the role of a specific mutation, protein, signaling pathway, etc., responsible for a type of RDD. Furthermore, iPSC-based RPE therapy is expanded to include some clinical trials. Despite the incredible growth rate in iPSC-based studies on RPE-related diseases, there are some challenges, i.e., teratoma formation potential of iPSCs, an expensive procedure of iPSC-based regeneration of RPEs, lack of a universal protocol or cellular product applicable in all patients, etc. This article reviews the iPSC-based RPE generation and their therapeutic applications, studies on RPE-related molecular and cellular pathophysiologic features of RDD in the iPSC-based models, future perspectives, and the challenges ahead.