Diagnostic value of total serum/free prostate specific antigen and prostate cancer antigen-3 levels in prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to compare serum total and free prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels and serum prostate cancer antigen-3 (PCA3) levels in patients with prostate cancer in 2018 and 2019. METHODS: This research was a prospective case-control study. The case group included all patients with suspected prostate cancer, and the control group included individuals without prostate disease who were referred to Ali Asghar and Nour Hospital in Isfahan, Iran, from October 2018 to October 2020. The serum total PSA, free PSA, and PCA3 levels in both groups were measured using the ELISA method with standard kits and compared between the groups. RESULTS: The two groups were matched in terms of age and body mass index (BMI). The results showed that the mean free PSA level in the control group was significantly higher than that in the case group (P<0.05). Conversely, the mean total PSA level in the case group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). However, no significant difference was observed in the mean PCA3 levels between the case and control groups. In addition, the total PSA variable with a cutoff of ≤3.14 exhibited 93% sensitivity and 82% specificity, demonstrating the highest diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing between prostate cancer and healthy individuals. Similarly, the PCA3 value with a cutoff of ≤3.5 had a sensitivity and specificity of 70% and 72%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Overall, the study results indicated that total PSA and PCA3 levels have higher diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing patients with suspected prostate cancer from healthy individuals.

Multicentricity in Different Molecular Subtypes of Breast Cancer: A Cross-sectional Study in Isfahan.

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer leading to death in women. Women with multicentric breast cancer were reported more likely to have poor prognosis. Here, we decided to study and compare the frequency distribution of multicentricity in different subtypes of breast cancer. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that was performed in 2019-20 on medical records and breast pathology reports of 250 patients who undergone mastectomy due to breast cancer. Demographic data of all patients including age, along with other medical data such as menstruation condition, breast cancer grade, multicentricity status, stage, and expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) receptors were collected from medical records. Samples were divided into four subtypes of Luminal B, Luminal A, HER2 expressing, and basal-like. Results: The mean age of patients was 50.21 ± 11.15 years. Ninety-five patients (38%) had multicentricity and HER2 expressing (48.5%) and Luminal A (41.4%) were most common in patients with multicentricity. In addition, basal-like group presented with least multicentricity (13.5%) among the subtypes (P = 0.008). We also showed significant increased chances of multicentricity in Luminal B (odds ratio [OR] = 3.782) (P = 0.033), Luminal A (OR = 5.164) (P = 0.002), and HER2-expressing group (OR = 5.393) (P = 0.011). Conclusions: Taken together, we showed significantly increased chances of multicentricity in patients with HER2-expression, Luminal A, and Luminal B groups compared to basal-like group or triple negative. These results were in line with most previous studies; however, we showed higher rates of multicentricity among our population compared to some previous reports.

Angiogenesis and Minimal Residual Disease in Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most prevalent acute leukemia in adults. Bone marrow angiogenesis is crucial for pathogenesis of leukemia, and increasing bone marrow Mean Vascular Density (MVD) and level of angiogenesis factors are seen in patients with AML. Higher level of bone marrow MVD is associated with poor prognosis of AML according to previous studies. The present study aimed to compare bone marrow MVD in AML patients and controls and evaluate the relation between bone marrow MVD and number of residual blast cells after AML treatment. Materials and Methods: This study is a longitudinal study on AML patients who were admitted to Omid hospital. The bone marrow biopsies of patients with AML and patients with normal diagnosis -as control group- were taken from archives of pathology laboratory. Immunohistochemistry staining was used for all specimens by using thrombomodulin markers for calculating MVD. Flow cytometry findings of AML patients were assessed for percent of minimal residual disease (MRD) after AML treatment in AML patients group. Results: In this study, 27 AML patients and 24 healthy individuals with mean age of 40.92±15.13 years were evaluated, of whom 56.86% were male. The mean bone marrow MVD was significantly higher in AML patients than controls. The mean bone marrow MVD was significantly higher in males and there was insignificant reverse correlation between bone marrow MVD and MRD. About 59.3% of AML patients had response to treatment and there was no significant relationship between MVD and response to treatment. Conclusion: Bone marrow MVD was higher in AML patients than controls and there was no remarkable relationship between bone marrow MVD and MRD and response to treatment.

Prolactin receptor expression as a novel prognostic biomarker for triple negative breast cancer patients.

Prolactin receptor (PRLR) is a novel emerging prognostic biomarker in different cancers, especially in breast cancer. However, there is limited information about the association of PRLR expression and triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) prognosis. In this study, 80 TNBC patients were evaluated for PRLR expression by immunohistochemistry. The correlation of PRLR expression with clinicopathological features, patient recurrence, and survival was investigated. PRLR expression was considered positive if >10% of tumor cells were stained. The Fisher's exact test was used to analyze PRLR expression relation with the clinicopathological parameters. Survival distribution was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Positive immunoreactivity for PRLR was observed in 50 out of 80 (62%) specimens. Although expression of PRLR was associated with TNBC patients' stage, no-correlation was observed between its expression and tumor size, grade, lymph node status, and Ki-67 expression. In addition, patients with positive expression of PRLR exhibited lower recurrence (P = 0.0027) and higher overall survival (P = 0.0285) in comparison with negative expression group. In multivariate analyses, positive expression of PRLR was an independent prognostic marker for lower recurrence (P < 0.001) and higher overall survival (P < 0.001). Therefore, PRLR plays a crucial role in TNBC and has to be considered as an independent prognostic biomarker for TNBC patients.

Evaluation of the Protective Effect of Cystone Against Cisplatin-induced Nephrotoxicity in Patients with Cancer: A Pilot Study.

INTRODUCTION: Cisplatin is a widely used anti-cancer drug that is commonly administered for the treatment of various cancers. However, nephrotoxicity is the most important side effect of this drug which limits its use. This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of Cystone against nephrotoxicity induced by Cisplatin in patients with cancer. METHODS: This pilot clinical trial study was conducted on 43 cancer patients treated with Cisplatin (75 mg/m2 for a period of six months). The subjects were divided into treatment group (receiving Cystone, two per 8 hours; n = 21) and control group (n = 22). The two groups were compared with each other in terms of demographic and laboratory variables. RESULTS: In the intervention group receiving Cystone, serum creatinine-based GFR level (P = 0.453) and 24-hour urine creatinine-based GFR level (P = 0.397) did not change significantly during the studied period, but in the control group, serum creatinine-based GFR level (P = 0.013) and 24-hour urine creatinine-based GFR level (P = 0.016) significantly changed. Serum creatinine-based GFR level increased by 2.3 units in the intervention group and 10.5 units in the control group (P = 0.005) in the six months of the study. At the end of the sixth month, 24-hour urine creatinine-based GFR level increased by 2.2 units in the intervention group and 0.8 unit in the control group (P = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: The use of Cystone resulted in more stable kidney function indices in the intervention group, as compared with the control group. Therefore, Cystone seems to have a protective effect against nephrotoxicity induced by Cisplatin in cancer patients.

Ectopic Thyroid in Stomach; a Case Report.

An ectopic thyroid is a form of thyroid dysgenesis in which an entire or parts of the thyroid gland may be located in another part of the body than what is the usual place. The most frequent location is the base of tongue. Although most cases are asymptomatic, symptoms related to tumor size and its relationship with surrounding tissues, hormonal dysfunction and seldom malignancy may also occur. Any disease affecting the thyroid gland may involve the ectopic thyroid, including malignancy.

Medicinal Plants, Effective Plant Compounds (Compositions) and their Effects on Stomach Cancer.

Medicinal plants have special importance around the world. Further, they have been noticed for nutrition and illness treatment such as preparation of anticancer new drugs. Therefore, a wide range of studies have been done on different plants, and their anticancer effects have been investigated. Nowadays, cancer is the most important factor of death rate in the developed and developing countries. Among them, stomach cancer is one of the most common malignancies around the world. At present, it is recognized as the fourth common cancer and the second factor of death rate due to cancer. So far, there has been wide range of effort for cancer treatment; however, in most cases, the response to the treatment has been very weak and often accompanied improper subsidiary effects. The present problems as a consequence of chemical treatment and radiotherapy and many subsidiary problems created due to their use for patients, and also, the resistance to the current treatment has motivated researchers to apply new medicines with more effect and less toxicity. The secondary metabolisms existent in the plants have an important role in the treatment of several diseases such as cancer. This study was conducted to investigate and collect scientific results for stomach cancer and to clarify the role of medicinal plants and secondary plant compounds on its treatment.

Polymorphism (rs16917496) at the miR-502 Binding Site of the Lysine Methyltransferase 5A (SET8) and Its Correlation with Colorectal Cancer in Iranians.

BACKGROUND: One of the gene expression regulatory mechanisms is mediated by small noncoding RNAs called microRNA (miRNA). They interact with a recognition sequence located mostly in 3'-untranslated regions (3'-UTRs) of mRNAs. Polymorphisms in miRNAs recognition sequences could affect gene expression which in turn may alter disease susceptibility. SET8, a member of the SET domain-containing methyltransferase, acts in a variety of biological processes such as genomic stability. Here, we report correlation of rs16917496 polymorphism, located in the recognition sequence of miR-502 within 3'-UTR of SET8, with colorectal cancer (CRC) in Iranians. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and seventy CRC patients and 170 noncancer counterparts were recruited in this case-control study. Genotyping of rs16917496 was performed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. RESULTS: There was no significant association of rs16917496 with CRC in population under study (P value for genotype and allele distribution were >0.05). However, stratification analysis based on smoking status revealed that TT+TC genotypes of SET8 rs16917496 are strongly associated with increased risk of CRC (odds ratio: 5.8, 95% confidence interval: 1.37-24.34, P - 0.005) in smoker subgroup. CONCLUSION: Correlation of rs16917496 T allele with CRC in smokers is emphasizing the importance of individuals' genotype in the recruitment of adverse health hazards of smoking more profoundly for certain people compared to others.

Preparation and evaluation of a hair wax containing propolis and Eruca sativa seed oil for hair growth.

BACKGROUND: Hair growth as a key consumer objective has important role in the hair care products researches. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of a hair wax containing propolis, a resinous mixture produced by honeybees in Eruca sativa seed oil base on hair growth. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The hair wax was designed and formulated compared with marketed brand hair wax and evaluated for pharmaceutical parameters including pH, homogeneity, consistency, spread ability, in vitro drug release, and stability. After selection of the best formulation containing 10% ethanolic extract of propolis and 10% E. sativa seed oil, the hair growth potential was evaluated by application of 1 g hair wax daily on 4 cm2 area of dorsal side of Wistar rats and compared with controls and standard medication (1 ml of 2% minoxidil). After 30 days treatment, the length and weight of hairs and percentage of hair follicles in different phases of growth in skin biopsies were assessed. RESULTS: The selected hair wax formulation was stable and easy to wash. The formulation significantly increased hair length on 10th, 20th, and 30th day compared control group (5.8 ± 0.3 vs. 2.6 ± 0.4, 11.4 ± 0.6 vs. 5.8 ± 0.4, and 17.5 ± 0.5 vs. 12.7 ± 0.4 mm, respectively) and also the weight of newly grown hairs on 30th day (0.056 ± 0.006 vs. 0.043 ± 0.005). It improved hair follicles percentages in anagen phase without any sensitivity reaction. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that the formulated hair wax containing of propolis and E. sativa seed oil could have significant effect on promoting hair growth.

Alteration of GLIS3 gene expression pattern in patients with breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: The GLIS family members are zinc fingers with transcriptional repression and activation function. GLIS3 is one of these family members, which aberrant expression of it revealed to be related to several different cancer types. Regarding to the role of GLIS3 in tumor genesis and its probable connection with ß-catenin signaling pathway, one of the pathways that involves in both normal development and tumor genesis of breast tissue, the aim of this study is investigating the alteration of GLIS3 mRNA expression level in breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Real-time polymerase chain reaction performed with GLIS3 and GAPDH genes primer on the RNA which extracted from 15 fresh frozen breast tumor tissue samples and also 15 normal samples with slight distance from site of tumor. RESULTS: The relative expression of GLIS3 in breast cancer tissues revealed a 4 times increase comparing normal breast tissues; with a significant difference between cancer and normal samples (P = 0.027) and in patients without lymph node involvement and tissues that had estrogen receptor (ER(-)) and progesterone receptor (PR(-)) statuses. We see no significant difference between cancer and normal tissues based on lobular or ductal origin of the tumor as well as the tumor grade. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggested a probable relationship between GLIS3 overexpression and breast cancer. Furthermore, detection of a probable association between GLIS3 overexpression and triple-negative breast cancer (ER(-)/PR(-)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(-)) might be useful for prognostic and diagnostic uses or as a probable target for treatment of these patients.

Validity of immunohistochemistry method in predicting HER-2 gene status and association of clinicopathological variables with it in invasive breast cancer patients.

Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 is an important and prognostic factors and one of the most targeted proteins in breast cancer's therapy. There is no globally accepted method for determining its status. Here, we aimed to evaluate the immunohistochemistry method validity in predicting HER-2 status by Fluorescence in situ hybridization method and investigate some clinicopathological variables association with HER-2 amplification. A total of 190 HER-2 2+ and 3+ by immunohistochemistry (IHC) invasive breast cancer cases were enrolled in this study. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed for these cases using FDA criteria and the association between clinicopathological variables and HER-2 status evaluated. Study consisted of 190 invasive breast cancer patients (160 HER-2 2+ and 30 HER-2 3+). HER-2 FISH amplification according to FDA criteria was found 27.5% (44/160 patients) in HER-2 2+ patients and 83.3% (25/30 patients) in HER-2 3+ patients. Tumors with HER-2 amplification were more likely to be ER-negative (51.0% vs 31.2%, p = 0.013) and PR-negative (52.9% vs 27.0%, p < 0.001). This study showed that immunohistochemistry is not a good method for evaluating HER-2 status and decision-making about trastuzumab therapy even with 3+ score patients. However, this result may not be too strong for IHC 3+ cases due to the limited number of these patients in this study.

Evaluation of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha Polymorphism Frequencies in Endometriosis.

BACKGROUND: The pro-inflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), is a pathogenic element for a number of disorders. Previous studies have reported that the -1031 T/C and -238 G/A polymorphisms in the promoter region of the TNF-α gene are important factors in reproductive-related disorders. One of the most common gynecological diseases of women during the reproductive years is endometriosis. This study aims to assess an association between the -1031 T/C, -238 G/A and -308 G/A polymorphisms of the TNF-α gene promoter region to endometriosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this case-control study, we enrolled 65 endometriosis patients and 65 matched healthy control women by simple sampling. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis was used to analyze -1031 T/C, -238 G/A and -308 G/A polymorphisms in the TNF-α gene promoter region. Statistical analysis was performed using the chi-square test. P values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: We found a strong association between the -1031 T/C polymorphism in the promoter region of the TNF-α gene with endometriosis (P=0.001). There were no significant associations between the -238 G/A (P=0.243) and -308 G/A (P=1) polymorphisms with endometriosis and again endometriosis stages have no association with these polymorphisms. CONCLUSION: The -1031 T/C polymorphism and CC genotype can be used as a relevant marker to identify women at risk of developing endometriosis.

Prevalence of hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus in patients with colorectal cancer and their median survival time: A cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension are worldwide epidemic. Association between DM and colon cancer was obtained in previous studies. Prevalence of DM and hypertension in the patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) has not been reported in Iran. The present study was aimed to investigate the prevalence of hypertension and type 2 DM and their effect on median survival time in patients with CRC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Overall, 2570 individual-year follow-ups were conducted for 1127 patients with CRC. For the diagnosis of type 2 DM, fasting blood sugar test and glycosylated hemoglobin test were used and for hypertension, blood pressure was measured in two turns. The descriptive indices were calculated, and the mean and median survival from CRC diagnosis time was calculated using survival analysis and a comparison among survival times was done through log-rank test. Stata software 12 (Stata Corp. 2011. Stata Statistical Software: Release 12. College Station, TX: Stata Corp LP) was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of hypertension and type 2 DM in the patients with CRC was respectively 13.38% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 11.1-15.8) and 8.69% (95% CI: 7-10.7). Median survival time in patients with hypertension and DM were 8.52 and 4.9 years. According to log-rank test, no significant difference was observed between the survival time of CRC patients suffering from hypertension and diabetes type 2. CONCLUSION: The obtained findings in this study indicate that survival time in patients with type 2 DM less than hypertension but two metabolic diseases have the same effect on survival rate of the patients with CRC. Understanding the risk factors for CRC may guide the development of strategies targeted toward its prevention.

Association between neutrophil geletinase-associated lipocalin and iron deficiency anemia in children on chronic dialysis.

BACKGROUND: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common and associated with higher risk of death. Neutrophil geletinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a small 25 kDa glycoprotein, a member of lipocalin superfamily that released at the response of cellular stress from different cells. In addition, NGAL was studied as an iron regulatory glycoprotein and regulator of iron related gene. The aim of the current study was to determine any association between serum NGAL and body iron status markers in children on chronic dialysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This correlation study was carried out between May 2012 and May 2013 and evaluated all dialysis patients less than 19 years in pediatric dialysis centers in Isfahan that didn't have exclusion criteria. They were 40 children, including 23 persons on hemodialysis (HD) and 17 persons dialyzed by peritoneal dialysis (PD). Furthermore, we selected 40 children as healthy controls. We examined the relationship between plasma NGAL levels and indices of anemia such as ferritin, transferrin saturation (TSAT) and serum iron (SI) in dialysis children. RESULTS: Serum NGAL level in children on chronic dialysis (group including both PD and HD patients) was significantly higher than healthy controls (P = 0.008). Furthermore, in this group Serum NGAL level had inverse correlation with TSAT (P = 0.04, r = -0.22), SI (P = 0.04, r = -0.2), white blood cells (P = 0.045, r = -0.26) and serum ferritin (P = 0.006, r = -0.3). In addition, HD patients had higher serum NGAL level than PD patients (P = 0.048). CONCLUSION: High serum NGAL level in low TSAT group demonstrated that NGAL probably has an important role in IDA in children on chronic dialysis; therefore, it can be a new marker for diagnosis of IDA in CKD.

A biochemical study on ameliorative effect of green tea (Camellia sinensis) extract against contrast media induced acute kidney injury.

INTRODUCTION: Reactive oxygen species have been shown to be mediators of kidney injury and green tea polyphenols are potent-free radical scavengers. OBJECTIVES: In this study we sought to examine whether green tea was able to protect renal toxicity induced by contrast media or not. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this experimental study 40 rats were randomly divided into four groups including: 1) control group 2) contrast media group 3) contrast media plus green tea 4) Green tea pretreatment and contrast media group. Blood urea Nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine were assessed for severity of kidney injury. RESULTS: Serum creatinine level was higher in group II than in other groups (p<0.001). Treatment (group 3) or pretreatment (group 4) with green tea significantly reduced blood creatinine level when compared with contrast media group (group 2). CONCLUSION: In this study, beneficial property of green tea, against renal toxicity of contrast media was observed. Green tea extract is an inexpensive, nontoxic, and effective treatment modality in individuals with a risk for acute kidney injury of contrast media.

Aggravation of immunoglobulin a nephropathy by hyperuricemia: a mini-review on current findings and new concepts.

Immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common form of primary glomerulopathy worldwide. Various investigations have addressed the clinical and morphological risk factors related to the risk of progression. Recently, much attention has been made toward the prognostic implication of serum uric acid in patients with IgAN. It has been observed that treatment of hyperuricemia with allopurinol in chronic kidney failure has resulted in a fall in blood pressure and inhibition of the progression of kidney injury. Recent studies have documented that hyperuricemia is an independent risk factor for IgAN, and appropriate treatment by allopurinol is a reasonable modality in these patient. We believe that allopurinol should routinely be included to the treatment of IgAN patients; however, this hypothesis requires further investigation. Clinical studies are suggested to better understand kidney protective properties of allopurinol in IgAN.

Clinicopathological correlations in lupus nephritis; a single center experience.

BACKGROUND: Renal biopsies play an important role in the diagnosis, management and prognosis of patients with lupus nephritis (LN). OBJECTIVES: To determine the correlation between the pathological features of LN and the demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted from 2008 to 2014 on all consecutive cases of biopsy-proven LN at a nephropathology laboratory in Iran. The demographic, clinical and laboratory data were obtained from patients(') files and the biopsy findings from the original biopsy request forms. RESULTS: Of the 84 patients enrolled, 69 (82.2%) were females and 15 (17.8%) males. The mean age was 32.7±12 years. The mean serum creatinine was 1.5±0.94 mg/dl and the mean 24-h proteinuria, 1.6±1.9 grams. The majority of cases belonged to classes III and IV. The extracapillary proliferation was found in 42.86% of biopsies and endocapillary proliferation in 66.67% of biopsies. Patients of class IV-LN had a higher mean serum value of creatinine in comparison to class III-LN (2.19±1.09 versus 1.2±0.56 mg/dl; p= 0.0001). There was no significant difference of 24-h proteinuria between the two classes (p= 0.882). A significant association of serum creatinine with 24-h proteinuria (p= 0.041) was seen. Serum creatinine had significant positive correlation with activity percent (p< 0.001), and chronicity percent (p= 0.006), and also with proportion of glomeruli with crescents (p < 0.001). While there was a significant relationship of proteinuria with chronicity percent (p= 0.001), this association for activity percent was not significant (p= 0.094). Furthermore, the association of proteinuria with totally sclerotic glomeruli and proportion of crescents was not statistically significant (p= 0.186 and p= 0.0145 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the results from our study on biopsy-proven cases of LN largely concur with the previously reported studies from Iran and other parts of the world.

New concepts in nutraceuticals as alternative for pharmaceuticals.

Nutraceuticals are products, which other than nutrition are also used as medicine. A nutraceutical product may be defined as a substance, which has physiological benefit or provides protection against chronic disease. Nutraceuticals may be used to improve health, delay the aging process, prevent chronic diseases, increase life expectancy, or support the structure or function of the body. Nowadays, nutraceuticals have received considerable interest due to potential nutritional, safety and therapeutic effects. Recent studies have shown promising results for these compounds in various complications. In the present review much effort has been devoted to present new concepts about nutraceuticals based on their diseases modifying indications. Emphasis has been made to present herbal nutraceuticals effective on hard curative disorders related to oxidative stress including allergy, alzheimer, cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes, eye, immune, inflammatory and Parkinson's diseases as well as obesity. The recently published papers about different aspects of nutraceuticals as alternative for pharmaceuticals were searched using scientific sites such as Medline, PubMed, and Google Scholar. The used terms included nutraceutical and allergy, alzheimer, cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes, eye, immune, inflammatory or Parkinson.