RESUMO
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), one of the most prevalent leukemia types in adults, demonstrates great heterogeneity in molecular and clinical terms. Hence, there is a necessity to the mechanisms involved in AML generation in order to determine optimal treatment. This cross sectional study aimed to assess changes in BECN1 gene expression in with blood samples from 30 AML patients, compared with samples from 15 healthy persons. RNA was extracted and cDNA was synthesized and Real Time PCR applied to determine BECN1 gene expression. The results showed no significant differences in BECN1 gene expression between patients with AML and normal controls (P > 0.05). It appears that expression of BECN1 does not play a significant role in genesis of AML leukemia.
RESUMO
In this research, dried acetone:chloroform extract of aerial parts of E. denticulata as one of the endemic plants to Iran, afforded a number of triterpenes and steroids including: betulin, 24-methylene-cycloart-3-ol, cycloart-23Z-ene-3ß,25-diol, cycloart-23E-ene-3ß,25- diol, ergosta-8,24-dien-3-ol (obtusifoliol) and beta-sitosterol which were reported for the first time from this plant. The structure of these compounds was elucidated by NMR and mass spectroscopic methods. The MTS assay was used to determine the toxicity and antiviral activity of betulin and (3ß,23E)-cycloarta-23-ene-3,25-diol. Betulin showed anti-HSV-1 activity with EC50 value of 84.37±0.02 µg/mL, and toxicity on normal vero cells with CC50 value of 660.718±0.072 µg/mL. (3ß,23E)-Cycloarta-23-ene-3,25-diol showed antiviral effect with EC50 value of 86.63±0.03 µg/mL, and toxicity with CC50 value of 1089.21±0.25 µg/mL. The results revealed that these two compounds have the antiviral activity far below the CC50 value with selectivity index (CC50/EC50) values of 7.83, and 12.57, respectively.