Prediction of Blood miRNA-mRNA Regulatory Network in Gastric Cancer.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to suggest a high specific and sensitive blood biomarker for early GC diagnosis. METHODS: the expression data of miRNAs and mRNAs were collected from the blood samples of the GC patients based on literature mining. Bioinformatics tools and databases (PANTHER, TargetScan, miRTarBase, miRDB, STRING, and Cytoscape) were used to predict the regulatory relationship. Subsequently, expression level of the selected miRNA was evaluated in the blood samples of gastritis patients to recognize the common miRNA between the GC and gastritis patients. RESULTS: Analysis of 40 target genes by MCODE (installed in Cytoscape software) indicated 4 hub genes (WWP1, SKP2, KLHL42, and FBXO11) as a significant cluster in the PPI network related to miR-21, with Node Score Cutoff: 0.2, Degree Cutoff: 2 and K-Core: 2. In addition, the miRNA RT-qPCR results showed that, the expression level of miR-21 was significantly higher in gastritis group compared to the healthy group (p< 0.05). CONCLUSION: the present study clearly demonstrated the increasing level of blood miR-21 among the gastritis patients infected by H. pylori. Therefore, the altered miRNAs, especially overexpression of onco-miRs, may identify a potential link between miRNAs and pathogenesis of the H. pylori-related complications.

A mucinous cystadenoma in rectal cuff of a patient with familial adenomatous polyposis.

INTRODUCTION: Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) may be associated with some extracolonic manifestations which in this vein, it is known as Gardner's syndrome. To our knowledge, so far, there is no report of mucinous cystadenoma in association with FAP. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a 31-year-old woman with FAP who underwent total proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis 5 years earlier. During endoscopic surveillance, she was found to have a submucosal lesion in rectal cuff. RESULTS: Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) revealed a round submucosal anechoic lesion measuring about 3 cm originating from the second layer of the rectal cuff. Surgical resection was performed and a cystic tumor was removed. Histologic examination was consistent with mucinous cystadenoma. CONCLUSION: FAP can be associated with mucinous cystadenoma.

Recurrence and Five -Year Survival in Colorectal Cancer Patients After Surgery.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignancyworldwide and its outcome is most closely related to the extent of disease at presentation. Early diagnosis of an asymptomatic recurrence increases the likelihood of a complete surgical resection. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of colorectal cancer recurrence and survival rate within 5 years, after surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS: During the 9-year period since 21st Mar, 2004 to 20th Mar, 2013, patients whose primary colorectal cancer were resected in Taleghani hospital, Tehran, Iran were selected in a historical cohort. The necessary data such as demographic, age, gender, family history of CRC, site and size of tumor, stage of tumor, operation details, histological results, treatment method, histopathologic, etc. were collected. Then the recurrence and survival of colorectal cancer within 5 years after operation and their risk factors were evaluated. P value less than 0.05 were considered significant. All analysis was done using SPSS software. RESULTS: A total of 107 patients underwent resection for colorectal cancer during the study period, with mean age of 53.50 ± 12.68 years (range 24 - 76 years), survival rate of 73.8% (rectum 70.0% and colon 75.9%), and mean survival time of 142.17 ± 21.60 month. The recurrence rate of CRC patients, during five years after surgery was 5.7%. Regional lymph nodes, Distance metastasis and Adjuvant therapy were significant prognosis factors of survival after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of recurrence in Iranian patients was low, which could be due to improvement of exactness and expertise of surgeons or better adjuvant therapy. The significant association between survival and adjuvant therapy clarifies this finding. Early diagnosis and primary detection could increase the rate of survival.

Evaluation of endoscopic characteristics of upper gastrointestinal polyps in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis.

BACKGROUND: Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a disease inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion. Most FAP patients develop upper gastrointestinal polyps; especially those in the antrum and duodenum are usually neoplastic. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of gastroduodenal polyps in Iranian FAP patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 28 patients affected by FAP underwent front-view and side-view endoscopy. Papillary biopsies were performed in all patients. Location of polyps, their number and size, pathology study, patient general information (gender, age, family history of FAP or colorectal cancer and gastroduodenal polyps) were analyzed. RESULTS: Gastric polyps were seen in 39.3 % of patients. Some 72.7% of the affected individuals had fundic gland polyps and 36.36% had hyperplastic polyps. Duodenal adenoma was observed in 25% of patients. While 57% of patients had tubular adenoma with low grade dysplasia, 42.8% showed tubulovillous adenoma with low grade dysplasia. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this study indicated that the prevalence of gastroduodenal polyps in FAP patients is high and dysplasia may be evident in duodenal polyps. Therefore, it appears that routine gastroduodenal endoscopy in FAP patients is necessary.

The effect of the treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection on the glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

AIM: To evaluate the possible long-term effects of Helicobacter pylori infection on Hemoglobin A1c and fasting blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori causes the gastrointestinal tract inflammation, which it plays an important role in distortion of glucose and lipids absorption that altered lipid metabolism and energy harvesting and develops type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and has been linked to impaired blood glucose. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this clinical trial, patients with type 2 diabetes and confirmed Helicobacter pylori infection were recruited from the endocrinology clinic of the Shahid Beheshti University Tehran, Iran. Before and after 3 months of eradication therapy fasting blood samples were taken and glycalated hemoglobin levels and fasting blood sugar levels were measured. RESULTS: 85 (27 male 31.8%, 58 female 68.2%) patients with the mean age of 52.±4.7 years were recruited. 52 (62%) had successful Helicobacter pylori eradication (16 male, 30.8% and 36 female, 69.2%). The mean glycalated haemoglobin levels before successful treatment was 8.7±1.1 and after treatment was 8.3±0.9 and difference was significant (p<0.001). Mean IgG level of serology was 3.3±1.1 and the correlation with glycalated haemoglobin was significant (p=0.02) (r=0.4). CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the Helicobacter pylori treatment can improve the mean glycalated haemoglobin in patients with type 2 diabetes. More investigations will be required to evaluate the effects of Helicobacter pylori eradication among different age groups and in relation to obesity status, diabetes and other disease, and it may be beneficial for patients at risk of diabetes to be checked for the presence of Helicobacter pylori infection.

Association of co-stimulatory human B-lymphocyte antigen B7-2 (CD86) gene polymorphism with colorectal cancer risk.

AIM: This study investigated the role of CD86 +237 G/C polymorphism in intensifying the risk of CRC development. BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a multi-factorial diseases. Genetic background could affect the susceptibility of individuals to CRC development. CD86 is a co-stimulatory factor on antigen-presenting cells that plays key roles in several cancer related mechanisms such as autoimmunity, transplantation and tumor immunity. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 300 individuals, 150 known CRC patients and 150 healthy control individuals, were subjected for the study. CD86 rs17281995 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was genotyped using Allelic Discrimination method. RESULTS: A statistically significant difference was found among CD86 gene polymorphism (rs17281995) and risk of CRC development. The frequency of GG, GC and CC in control subjects was determined as 38%, 57.3% and 4.7% respectively and in CRC subjects were determined as 42%, 85% and 23% respectively. The data shows a significant association between CC genotype (P = 0.007) and C allele (P = 0.017) of the studied polymorphism and risk of CRC. CC genotype and C allele are also more frequent in female patients when the data is stratified according to gender status. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that CD86 gene alteration could affect the individual's risk for developing CRC among Iranian population and could be used as an important prognostic factor associated with risk of CRC.

The effect of 5'untranslated region polymorphism in EGF gene, rs4444903, on colorectal cancer.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of rs4444903 (EGF+61A/G) SNP genotype with colorectal cancer and tumor stage in an Iranian population. BACKGROUND: Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is one of the important proteins that determine survival of cells. EGF binds to its receptor on the cell surface and then activates some of the cell signaling pathway networks within cells that lead to activation or deactivation of factors which are responsible for growth and apoptosis of cells. In this study we assessed the association in EGF polymorphism rs4444903 with colorectal cancer (CRC) in Iranian population. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted case-control study to investigate the association of polymorphism rs4444903 in EGF, with colorectal cancer risk in Iranian population. Analyzed Polymorphism of EGF rs4444903 with restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) among two groups of subjects consisting of including 220 cases with colorectal cancer and 220 healthy individuals as controls. Mutations were confirmed in 10% of the samples by direct sequencing. RESULTS: The frequencies of AA, AG and GG genotypes among cases with colorectal cancer were 28.2, 46.8, and 25.0 % respectively and in controls genotype frequencies were 23.2, 56.4, and 20.5 %, respectively. Frequency of A allele among case group was 51.6% and for control group was 51.4%. The frequency of G allele in case and control was, respectively 48.4% and 48.6% (OR= 1.009, 95% CI= 0.775-1.315; P= 0.946). The percentage of Stage 0, I, II, III, IV were 5%, 9.35%, 38.84%, 30.21% and 16.54%, respectively, among the cases. However, no significant association between this polymorphism and CRC stage was observed (p=0.626). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest a SNP rs4444903 may not represent a risk factor in the development and progression of CRC among Iranian population.

Four years incidence rate of colorectal cancer in Iran: a survey of national cancer registry data - implications for screening.

INTRODUCTION: Design and implementation of screening programs in each country must be based on epidemiological data. Despite the relatively high incidence of CRC, there is no nationwide comprehensive program for screening in Iran. This study was designed to investigate national CRC data and help to determine guidelines for screening. METHODS: Incidence data used in this study were obtained from Iranian annual of National Cancer Registration report. Age standardized rates (ASR)were calculated using world standard population and were categorized by age, sex, anatomic subsite and morphology of tumor. Data were analyzed using SPSS.V.13 and Open Source Epidemiologic Statistics for Public Health software (OpenEpi v.2.3.1). RESULTS: A quarter of cases were less than 50 years of age. The majority of tumors were detected in the colon. The overall ASR in the four years period was 38.0 per 100000 and was higher for men compared women (P<0.05). Incidence rate of colorectal cancer increased with age. CONCLUSION: Results of present study indicated that incidence of colorectal cancer is relatively high in Iran. Incidence of CRC in people under 50 years and in rectum were reported higher than other countries that related etiologic factors should be investigate in further studies. According to the increasing of ASR after age 50 years, it seems that onset of screening at age 50 would be appropriate.

Association of polymorphisms in microRNA-binding sites and colorectal cancer in an Iranian population.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are agents of post-transcriptional gene expression, and they can affect many functions of an individual cell or tissue from extracellular matrix production to inflammatory processes and tumor development. We aimed to determine the possible role of miRNA-binding site polymorphisms located in five cancer-related genes: IL-16, CDKN2A (p16), RAF1, PTGER4, and ITGB4 in colorectal cancer (CRC) risk modification in an Iranian population. This study was performed on 643 individuals (249 CRC cases and 394 healthy controls). We selected five cancer-related genes (IL-16, CDKN2A (p16), RAF1, PTGER4, and ITGB4) and investigated the genotypes of the 3' untranslated region miRNA-binding site polymorphisms in these genes in our study population. The restriction fragment length polymorphism results were confirmed by a direct sequencing method. We found a statistically significant difference between the rs1131445 polymorphism of the IL-16 gene and CRC. The frequencies of the genotypes TT, CT, and CC in controls were 51%, 40.4%, and 8.6%, respectively, and in cases were 41.4%, 44.1%, and 14.5%, respectively, which shows a significant association between the CC genotype of the rs1131445 polymorphism and CRC (P = 0.004). The frequency of the C allele in the CRC group was higher than in the controls, and the C allele of the rs1131445 polymorphism was found to be in association with CRC (P = 0.009). These associations remained significant after Bonferroni's correction for multiple testing. We found that the AA genotype of the rs743554 polymorphism in the ITGB4 gene and the T allele of the rs1051208 polymorphism of the RAF1 gene were associated with the risk of CRC in females; however, after Bonferroni's correction we found that they were non-significant. Finally, we can conclude that a significant relationship exists between the miRNA-binding site polymorphism of the IL-16 gene and CRC risk in the Iranian population.

Evaluation of antibody frequency against HBV, HCV and HTLV-1.

AIM: This study was designed to evaluate the frequency of antibody against these viruses in individuals attending the endoscopy ward of Taleghani hospital Tehran, Iran. BACKGROUND: Blood-borne viruses such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus and HTLV-1 virus are among the world's public health problems. Hepatitis viruses cause liver problems and HTLV-1 infection can lead to adult T-Cell lymphoma (ATL). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Blood samples of 219 individuals attending the endoscopy ward of Taleghani hospital between years 2009-2011 were collected. A questionnaire containing demographic data was completed for each subject. Blood samples were tested for antibody against HTLV-1, HCV and HBc by ELISA (Dia.pro Italy). In case of positive results for anti-HBc, samples were also tested for HBs Ag antigen. RESULTS: Ninety two subjects were male and 127 were female. Mean age of the population was 39.87 ± 16.47. None of the subjects had anti-HCV antibody, while 4 of them had anti-HTLV-1 antibody and 26 anti-HBc antibody; which only two of these individuals had HBs Antibody. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that frequency of anti-HCV and anti-HTLV-1 antibodies are very low, while the frequency of anti-HBc was higher in the population. Since HTLV-1 is the causative agent of a type of blood cancer, it seems that screening of donated bloods in this region should be considered.

Duodenal adenocarcinoma might be the cause of intractable nausea and vomiting in patient with coeliac disease.

Coeliac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disorder which leads to chronic inflammation of the gut. Untreated CD is associated with upper gastrointestinal malignancies, Small-bowel lymphoma and adenocarcinoma are recognized complications of untreated coeliac disease (CD). We report the case of a 43-year-old male suffering from CD who was treated with a gluten-free diet one year, presenting with complaints of intractable nausea and vomiting. After several studies, He underwent push enteroscopy, which identified one large mass lesion in the third part of duodenum. However, histopathological examination showed adenocarcinoma. Subsequently, a duodenal segment resection was performed. After surgery, the patient recovered well and left our hospital in good condition. Clinicians should take into small bowel adenocarcinoma is rare but associated with CD particularly in CD patients with worrying symptoms such as nausea and vomiting unresponsiveness to treatment and these patients should be screened for long term complications like malignancy.

Multivariate analysis of prognostic factors in gastric cancer patients using additive hazards regression models.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide and is the most common type of cancer in Iran. The objective of this paper is to apply the additive hazards models to the study of survival of patients with gastric cancer and to compare results obtained by the additive hazards models and the Cox model. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 213 patients with gastric cancer who were registered in one referral cancer registry center in Tehran, Iran. Age at diagnosis, sex, presence of metastasis, tumor size, histology type, lymph node metastasis, and pathologic stages were entered into analysis using the Cox model and additive hazard models. To visualize a covariate effect over time, the estimated cumulative regression function by the Aalen's model is examined. RESULTS: The five-year survival rate and the median life expectancy in the studied patients were 14.6% and 29.6 months, respectively. Multivariate Cox and Additive hazards models analysis identified that age at diagnosis, tumor size and pathologic stage were independent prognostic factors for the survival of patients with gastric cancer (P<0.05). Moreover, pathologic stage has a late or delayed effect according to the Aalen's plot. Other clinicopathological characteristics were not statistically significant (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Since Cox and additive models give different aspects of the association between risk factors and the study outcome, it seems desirable to use together to give a more comprehensive understanding of data. Our results also suggest that early detection of patients at younger age and in primary stages is important to increase survival of patients with gastric cancer.

Interleukin-16 (IL-16) gene polymorphisms in Iranian patients with colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A number of theories have been put forward to clarify the etiology of colorectal cancer (CRC), such as genetic alterations and cytokine production. A combination of inflammatory cytokines has an important role in cancer development. The aim of our study was to screen for alterations located in promoter and exons of IL-16 gene sequence, to determine the distribution of genotypes in individuals with CRC and healthy controls in a sample of Iranian population. METHODS: The case group consisted of 260 individuals with colorectal cancer and the control group included 405 healthy individuals. Three IL-16 gene polymorphisms (rs4072111, rs11556218, rs4778889) were genotyped using PCR-RFLP method. RFLP results were confirmed by direct sequencing. RESULTS: A significant association between rs11556218 SNP in the IL-16 gene and the risk of CRC was found. The TG genotype of rs11556218 T/G polymorphism showed significant association with a 1.75 fold increased risk of CRC (P=0.005; adjusted OR: 1.759; 95% CI: 1.191-2.598). In addition a significant association between CC genotype of rs4778889 T/C polymorphism and decreased risk of CRC in male subjects (P=0.045; adjusted OR: 0.192; 95% CI: 0.038-0.967) was determined. CONCLUSION: This study is the first report of IL-16 gene polymorphisms among CRC patients from Iran. Our results suggest an influence of rs11556218 T > G and rs4778889 T/C polymorphisms on the altered risk of CRC.

Patterns of survival for anatomical sites of colorectal cancer with shift to advanced lesions in Iran.

BACKGROUND: With a background of disparities in colorectal cancer (CRC) incidences/mortality across countries due to differences in exposure to various prognostic factors, this study aimed to evaluate the site-specific pattern for the survival of colon and rectal patients. METHODS: A total of 1,283 patients with CRC diagnosis according to the pathology report of cancer registry of RCGLD from 1 January 2002 to 1 October 2007, were entered into the study. Data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate competing risk survival analysis. RESULTS: Survival proportion of patients showed a significant trend for 1, 3 and 5 year survival in colon cancer (P< 0.001) but this wasn't significant for rectal cancer (P=0.078). Tumor grade and pathologic stage were the most important factors predicting the survival in colon and rectal cancers with stronger hazard in the rectal site for grade and stronger hazard in the colon site for stage. For colon site, in the well and moderate categories of tumor grade, shifting from early to advance stage and also shifting in tumor grade from well and moderate categories to poor tumor grade had a considerable effect in hazard ratios. For rectum site, well to moderate shifting in tumor grade increased the hazard of death and shifting from early to advance stage increased the hazard equal to 2.54 and 4.36 times within the well and moderate tumor differentiation, respectively. In shifting to advance CRC, colon site had generally worse hazard than the rectum. CONCLUSION: Due to the worse conditions of CRC patients as shifting to advance cancer, to improve the effectiveness of treatment and hence the survival of Iranian patients, we should pay more attention to early detection, in particular by implementing population based screening programmes.

Multivariate analysis of prognostic factors in gastric cancer patients using additive hazards regression models.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide and is the most common type of cancer in Iran. The objective of this research was to apply additive hazards models to the study of survival of patients with gastric cancer and to compare with results obtained using the Cox model. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 213 patients with gastric cancer who were registered in one referral cancer registry center in Tehran, Iran. Age at diagnosis, sex, presence of metastasis, tumor size, histology type, lymph node metastasis, and pathologic stages were entered into analysis using the Cox model and additive hazard models. To visualize a covariate effect over time, the estimated cumulative regression function by the Aalen's model was examined. RESULTS: The five-year survival rate and the median life expectancy in the studied patients were 14.6% and 29.6 months, respectively. Multivariate Cox and Additive hazards models analysis identified age at diagnosis, tumor size and pathologic stage as independent prognostic factors for the survival of patients with gastric cancer. Moreover, pathologic stage had a late or delayed effect according to the Aalen's plot. Other clinicopathological characteristics were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Since Cox and Aalen models give different aspects of the association between risk factors and the study outcome, it seems desirable to use then together to give a more comprehensive understanding of data. Our results also suggest that early detection of patients at younger age and in primary stages is important to increase survival of patients with gastric cancer.

Start codon FokI and intron 8 BsmI variants in the vitamin D receptor gene and susceptibility to colorectal cancer.

Epidemiological evidence suggests the protective effect of vitamin D against colorectal cancer (CRC) and the polymorphisms in vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene may influence the development of CRC. In this study the possible association of VDR FokI and BsmI gene polymorphisms with CRC risk was examined. A total of 904 subjects, including 452 cases with CRC and 452 controls were enrolled in this study. All 904 subjects were genotyped for VDR FokI and BsmI gene polymorphisms by PCR-RFLP method. We observed no significant difference in genotype and allele frequencies between the cases with CRC and controls for the both FokI and BsmI polymorphisms either before or after adjustment for confounding factors including age, BMI, sex, and smoking status. Furthermore, no evidence for effect modification of the association VDR gene FokI and BsmI variants and CRC by BMI, sex, or tumor site was observed. In addition, there was no significant difference in genotype and allele frequencies between the normal weight (BMI <25 kg/m(2)) cases with CRC and overweight/obese (BMI ≥25 kg/m(2)) cases with CRC for the two SNPs. Our results do not lend support to the hypothesis that VDR gene FokI and BsmI polymorphisms are associated with the risk of CRC. However, further studies are required to confirm this finding.

Profile and frequency of p53 gene alterations in gastritis lesions from Iran.

BACKGROUND: It has been frequently shown that p53 alterations have an important role in the development of gastric cancers but there is no data on p53 alteration in gastric cancer and its precancerous lesions from Iran although this country experiences one of the highest gastric cancer incidence and mortality rates in the world. The purpose of this study was to do a comprehensive assessment of p53 alterations in the Iranian population of gastritis patients and to evaluate the association between p53 alterations, microsatellite status and clinicopathological aspects. METHODS: After DNA extraction, PCR sequencing was done for exons 2-7. Also microsatellite status was evaluated using five microsatellite markers: NR-27, NR-21, NR-24, BAT-25 and BAT-26. RESULTS: The highest rate of alteration was seen in codons 72 (85.6%, SNP) and 248 (30.9%, mutation). Also, we found 2 new mutations in codons 9 and 146. In contrast with previous work, transition at the CpG codons was relatively rare. Nucleotide alterations were more prevalent in the Helicobacter pylori-positive group but not significantly. Neither nuclear staining for p53 protein nor microsatellite instability was seen in gastritis lesions. CONCLUSION: p53 alterations might contribute to the pathogenesis of gastritis and perhaps gastric cancer in Iran. However, the different spectrum seen here implies other mechanism(s) in gastritis and gastric cancer development in the Iranian population.

The role of kras mutations and MSI status in diagnosis of colorectal cancer.

AIM: The aim of the current investigation was to examine the profile of Kras mutations accompanied with MSI (microsattelite instability) status in polyps and colorectal carcinoma tissues in an Iranian population. BACKGROUND: Kras mutations in colorectal cancer cause resistance to anti-Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR). So it can be considered as a true indicator of EGFR pathway activation status. Kras mutations can be detected in approximately 30% to 40% of all patients with colorectal cancer. The most hot spot of the gene is located in exons 2 and 3. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study we examined exons 2 and 3 Kras gene using polymerase chain reactions and subsequent sequencing of the exons in 95 patients with sporadic colorectal cancer including 48 tumors and 47 polyps. This study was performed using biopsy samples from the patients. We sequenced the Kras gene in a panel of human colorectal tumors and polyps in addition to detecting MSI status using fluorescent technique. RESULTS: We could detect 6 mutations in tumors including 5 mutations in codon 12 and one mutation in codon 13. Moreover, in polyps 2 mutations were determined in codon 13 and one in codon 12. Microsatellite instability assay revealed the presence of 5 and 6 MSI in tumors and polyps, respectively. Among the MSI mononucleotide markers, NR-21 marker demonstrated the most frequency (60%) in the both groups. CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that probably the profile of mutations in tumors is not entirely compatible with the pattern of mutations in polyps. However, just one of the mutations, Gly12Asp, was similar in both groups.

Association of leptin receptor gene Gln223Arg polymorphism with susceptibility to colorectal cancer.

AIM: Leptin is a 16 kDa polypeptide hormone which secreted by adipose tissue and has an important role in energy balance, insulin pathway and inflammation, because of that it may play an important role in colorectal cancer (CRC). Leptin exerts its effect through the leptin receptor (LEPR) a member of the class I cytokine receptor family. BACKGROUND: We have investigated whether glutamine to arginine substitution (Gln223Arg) in exon 6 of the leptin receptor gene, has implications for susceptibility to CRC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction enzyme digestion (RFLP) was performed to evaluate the association between the Gln223Arg polymorphism of the LEPR and CRC risk in a case-control study in 346 subjects involving 173 cases with CRC and 173 controls. RESULTS: There was no statistically evidence of significant difference in genotype and allele frequencies between the cases with CRC and controls for the Gln223Arg polymorphism of LEPR, before or after adjusting for confounders (age, BMI, sex, and smoking status). Furthermore, no significant difference was observed between the CRC cases and controls by BMI, sex and smoking status. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the LEPR Gln223Arg polymorphism is not associated with the risk of CRC in Iranian population.

Does the prognosis of colorectal cancer vary with tumor site?

AIM: The aim of this study was to compare prognostic factors between colon and rectal cancers. BACKGROUND: Prognosis of Colorectal Cancer (CRC) may depend on the anatomical site. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 1219 patients with CRC diagnosis according to the pathology report of RCGLD cancer registry, from 1 January 2002 to 1 October 2007, were entered into the study. Demographic and clinico-pathological factors were analyzed using survival analysis. RESULTS: From age at diagnosis, colon cancer had significantly better survival than rectal cancer (Multivariate Hazard Ratio (MVHR)=0.24; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) =(0.074-0.77)). Other factors, including marital status (MVHR =1.78; 95% CI =(0.33-9.62)), body mass index (BMI) (MVHR =1.21 and 1.54; 95% CI =(.30-4.85) and (.44-5.4) respectively for < 18.5 and >30 BMI groups), pathologic stage (MVHR =.64; 95% CI =(.21-1.98)) and alcohol history (MVHR =4.86; 95% CI =(.67-35.14)) were not significantly different between the two patient group but suggested a possible effect upon prognosis. Overall survival in rectum was better than that of colon. CONCLUSION: Our findings support this hypothesis that prognosis of CRC varies with tumor site.