Plasma metadherin mRNA expression in bladder cancer.

Urinary bladder cancer (BC) is the ninth most common cancer worldwide. At present, the clinical diagnosis of BC depends on self-reported symptoms, tissue biopsy specimens by cystoscopy and from voided urine cytology. However, cystoscopy is an invasive examination and voided urine cytology has low sensitivity, which might provoke misdiagnosis. The search for cancer biomarkers in blood is worthy of intense attention due to patients' comfort and ease of sampling. This work aimed to study expression of mRNA metadherin (MTDH) in plasma, serum BC specific antigen 1 (BLCA-1) and cystatin C as biomarkers of BC and their relation to different disease stages. This study included 59 BC patients, 11 patients with benign bladder lesion and 18 subjects as normal controls. MTDH expression was assessed by real time polymerase chain reaction, BLCA-1, and cystatin C by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The three biomarkers were elevated in BC patients than patients with benign bladder diseases and controls. Patients with BC grade 3 and 4 had higher cystatin C, BLCA-1 and MTDH in comparison to patients with grade 1 and grade 2 (p=0.000). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that BLCA-1 at a cutoff point of 32.5 ng/ml and area under the curve of 1.00, had 100% accuracy, 100% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% positive predictive values and 100% negative predictive value. In conclusion, BLCA-1 was a better biomarker than cystatin C and MTDH. Cystatin C, BLCA-1 and MTDH levels, can differentiate between benign bladder lesion and BC and correlated with tumor grades.especially with OL-HDF compared to HF-HD, with acceptable albumin loss in the dialysate.

Hepatitis E Virus Persistence and/or Replication in the Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Acute HEV-Infected Patients.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) causes about 14 million infections with 300,000 deaths and 5,200 stillbirths worldwide annually. Extrahepatic manifestations are reported with HEV infections, such as renal, neurological, and hematological disorders. Recently, we reported that stool-derived HEV-1 replicates efficiently in human monocytes and macrophages in vitro. However, another study reports the presence of viral RNA but no evidence of replication in the PBMCs of acute hepatitis E (AHE) patients. Therefore, the replication of HEV in PBMCs during AHE infection is not completely understood. METHODS: PBMCs were isolated from AHE patients (n = 17) enrolled in Assiut University Hospitals, Egypt. The viral load, positive (+) and negative (-) HEV RNA strands and viral protein were assessed. The gene expression profile of PBMCs from AHE patients was assessed. In addition, the level of cytokines was measured in the plasma of the patients. RESULTS: HEV RNA was detected in the PBMCs of AHE patients. The median HEV load in the PBMCs was 1.34 × 103 IU/ml. A negative HEV RNA strand and HEV open reading frame 2 protein were recorded in 4/17 (23.5%) of the PBMCs. Upregulation of inflammatory transcripts and increased plasma cytokines were recorded in the AHE patients compared with healthy individuals with significantly elevated transcripts and plasma cytokines in the AHE with detectable (+) and (-) RNA strands compared with the AHE with the detectable (+) RNA strand only. There was no significant difference in terms of age, sex, and liver function tests between AHE patients with detectable (+) and (-) RNA strands in the PBMCs and AHE patients with the (+) RNA strand only. CONCLUSION: Our study shows evidence for in vivo HEV persistence and replication in the PBMCs of AHE patients. The replication of HEV in the PBMCs was associated with an enhanced immune response, which could affect the pathogenesis of HEV.

Association of Interleukin-12B Polymorphism and Serum Level of Interleukin-12 in a Sample of Egyptian Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the common autoimmune diseases, which affected by genetic and environmental factors. IL-12 is important cytokine that play an effective role in the inflammatory reaction of RA. It regulates the balance between Th1 and Th2 cells. Gene polymorphism of cytokines may predispose to susceptibility and severity of RA. To assess the association between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in IL-12B gene (rs3212227 A/C) and serum level of IL-12 with the development and or activity of RA disease in Egyptian population. Sixty RA patients and thirty healthy individuals were studied for IL-12B gene (rs3212227 A/C) polymorphism using PCR-RFLP. Serum level of IL-12 was measured by ELISA. The frequency of genotype AC, CC, AC+CC and C allele were significantly higher in patients compared to control group (P < 0.02, 0.007, 0.02) respectively. Serum level of IL-12 was significantly higher in patients compared to control (P < 0.000). Patients who carry AC+CC genotypes had significantly higher DAS28, RF, ACCP and IL-12 compared to AA genotype patients (P < 0.05, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000) respectively. RA patients who carry AC, CC genotypes had more positive inflammatory markers (RF, ACCP) with P < 0.000, 0.05 respectively. Significant positive correlation was found between serum IL-12 and number of swollen joints, RF and ACCP. Present findings suggest that IL-12B gene (rs3212227 A/C) may be associated with development and activity of RA and that serum IL-12 can be used as predictor of activity of the disease.

Prevalence of Zinc Transporter 8 Auto Antibodies among Newly Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetic Cases Admitted to Assiut University Children Hospital.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) remains the most common form of diabetes in childhood. The incidence of type 1 diabetes is continuously increased. Zinc transporter protein 8 antibodies (ZnT8A) measurement can be helpful in detection of suspected new cases of type 1diabetes when other islet auto antibodies are negative. We evaluated the role of ZnT8A in diagnosis of new cases of T1DM in comparison to islet cell antibody (ICA), and assessed its prediction value among siblings. 31 of newly diagnosed T1DM patients and 55 age and sex matched healthy siblings were included. Measurements of ZnT8A and ICA was carried out by ELISA. ZnT8A had 45% sensitivity and 69% specificity while ICA had 64.5% sensitivity and 83.64% specificity. 22.6% of diabetic patients had high level of ZnT8A as compared to 20% of siblings (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). 28.6% of diabetic patients with high titer ZnT8A had positive ICA (P < 0.04) as compared to 63.6% in sibling group (P < 0.001). It is concluded that ZnT8A and ICA play an important role in diagnosis and prediction of T1DM cases.