Current Applications and Future Perspectives of CRISPR-Cas9 for the Treatment of Lung Cancer.

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and CRISPR-associated proteins are referred to as CRISPR-Cas9. Bacteria and archaea have an adaptive (acquired) immune system. As a result, developing the best single regulated RNA and Cas9 endonuclease proteins and implementing the method in clinical practice would aid in the treatment of diseases of various origins, including lung cancers. This seminar aims to provide an overview of CRISPR-Cas9 technology, as well as current and potential applications and perspectives for the method, as well as its mechanism of action in lung cancer therapy. This technology can be used to treat lung cancer in two different ways. The first approach involves creating single directed RNA and Cas9 proteins and then distributing them to cancer cells using suitable methods. Single directed RNA looks directly at the lung's mutated epidermal growth factor receptor and makes a complementary match, which is then cleaved with Cas9 protein, slowing cancer progression. The second method is to manipulate the expression of ligand-receptors on immune lymphocytic cells. For example, if the CRISPR-Cas9 system disables the expression of cancer receptors on lymphocytes, it decreases the contact between the tumor cell and its ligand-receptor, thus slowing cancer progression.

Evaluation of Hookworm Diagnosis Techniques from Patients in Debre Elias and Sanja Districts of the Amhara Region, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Inappropriate diagnosis could intimidate the prevention and control of hookworm infection. Thus, this study was aimed at evaluating the performance of hookworm diagnosis methods. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from patients in Debre Elias and Sanja districts of the Amhara region, Ethiopia, from November 2019 to January 2020. The study subjects were selected conveniently. After the data was entered into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, test accuracy, and agreement of the different hookworm diagnosis methods, namely, test tube flotation technique (TFT), McMaster (MM), formol-ether concentration (FEC), Kato-Katz (KK), and direct wet mount microscopy (DWMM), were calculated by using SPSS software. The composite reference standard (CRS) was used as the gold standard method. The kappa (κ) test was used to measure the level of agreement between diagnosis tests. RESULT: A total of 389 stool samples were collected from patients in the study. The overall prevalence of hookworm was 63.24%. The test tube flotation technique (TFT) was found to be the highest both in terms of sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy (100%). McMaster (MM) was the second most sensitive test (68.7%), followed by FEC (44.3%) and KK (38.2%). On the other hand, DWMM had the lowest sensitivity (37.4%), and its diagnostic accuracy was also the least (60%). Only TFT had a perfect agreement (agreement = 100%, kappa = 1) with the CRS. The sensitivity of DWMM, KK, and FEC showed a kind of linear function with the intensity of infection, but TFT and MM methods were not affected by the infection intensity. CONCLUSION: Hookworm is still a public health problem in the study area. TFT is by far more sensitive than MM, FEC, KK, and DWMM techniques.

Genetic Polymorphism of Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha, Interferon-Gamma and Interleukin-10 and Association With Risk of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Infection.

BACKGROUND: Mycobacterium tuberculosis has become the leading cause of morbidity and death in humans worldwide. Thus, genetic variability of the host plays a major role in human susceptibility to the pathogen, among others. Therefore, the objective of this finding was to assess the association of genetic polymorphisms of cytokines with tuberculosis infection. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted between January and May 2018. Five ml of whole blood was collected and extracted the genomic DNA through simple salting out method. The patterns of genetic polymorphism were determined by amplification refractory method PCR using specific primers. Finally, the PCR run on electrophoresis of agarose gel and the band was visualized under UV light. A logistical regression model has been adapted to assess the association of genetic polymorphisms with tubercular infection. In order to determine the association between the explanatory and outcome variable, the odds ratio with 95% CI was calculated. P < 0.05 is a statistically significant value. RESULT: In present study, the frequency of TNF-α -308 G allele and GG genotype OR (95% CI)= 0.20 (0.11-0.37), and OR (95% CI)= 0.29 (0.18-0.46)), respectively) and IFN-γ +874 A allele and AA genotype OR (95% CI)= 3.80 (2.11-6.86) and (OR (95% CI)= 1.61(1.13-2.28), respectively) were significantly associated with tuberculosis incidence. In contrast, there is no significant correlation between IL-10 -1082 A and AA of allele and genotype, respectively in tuberculosis patients (p > 0.05) was evident. CONCLUSION: From our finding, the genetic variability of TNF-α -308 A and IFN-γ +874 alleles are the potent host genetic risk factors associated with tuberculosis infection.

HIV Co-Infection Among Presumptive Tuberculosis Cases and Asthmatic Patients at University of Gondar Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) have been closely linked since the emergence of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Several studies have suggested an increased incidence of asthma among HIV positive individuals. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and HIV infection among presumptive tuberculosis cases and asthmatic patients. METHODS: A hospital-based, cross-sectional study was conducted on 424 study participants from October 2018 - June 2019. Sociodemographic data and sputum samples were collected and investigated by Ziehl-Neelsen microscopy, Gene Xpert MTB/RIF assay, and culture. The nutritional status of the patients was assessed by body mass index. Finally, data was entered, cleared, and checked using Epi-info version 7 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Logistic regression was used for statistical association. p-value < 0.05 at 95% CI was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of MTB and HIV infection was 3.86% and 5.4%, respectively. The prevalence of MTB infection among presumptive tuberculosis (TB) cases was 4.4%, but none among asthmatic patients. The prevalence of HIV infection among presumptive TB cases and asthmatic patients was 5.2% and 6.6%, respectively. The overall prevalence of malnutrition was 30%. The prevalence of malnutrition among culture-positive TB patients was 31.25% and that of HIV positive cases was 43.5%. The proportion of MTB infection among HIV positive patients was 12.5%. Marital status of the study subjects significantly associated with culture positive MTB infection. Occupation and previous history of tuberculosis infection had a statistically significant association with HIV infection. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed a high prevalence of HIV among asthmatic patients compared to presumptive TB cases. So, regular large-scale surveys should be conducted to assess the burden and intervene accordingly.