Evaluation of Bone Mineral Density, Serum Osteocalcin, and Osteopontin Levels in Postmenopausal Women with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, with/without Osteoporosis.

OBJECTIVE: Osteoporosis (OP) is a worldwide ailment; we aim to establish new biomarkers in diagnosis by determining the levels of serum osteocalcin and osteopontin along with bone mineral density (BMD) and lumbar T-score, in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with or without OP. METHODS: This observational study included 160 postmenopausal women who were an attendee at outpatient clinics in Al-Hussein Hospital, Thi-Qar province; subdivided into 3 groups based on their T-score testing: Group I (n = 40) comprised postmenopausal women without T2DM as controls, Group II (n = 60) comprised postmenopausal women with T2DM but without OP, and Group III (n = 60) comprised postmenopausal women with T2DM with OP. The dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to measure the BMD (total body, lumbar spine, and femoral) and T-score for lumbar spine and femoral. Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting blood glucose (FBG), osteocalcin, and osteopontin levels were assessed in all three groups. RESULTS: Compared with controls, Group III demonstrated significantly lower BMD (total body, lumbar spine, and femoral), T-score for lumbar spine and femoral, serum osteocalcin, and osteopontin levels than Group II and Group I (P < 0.001). FBG and HbA1c levels were significantly higher in Group III than in Groups I and II (P < 0.001). A negative correlation was proved between HbA1c levels with BMD, osteocalcin levels, and osteopontin levels in the three groups. CONCLUSIONS: Iraqi postmenopausal women with T2DM had a significantly lower bone mineral density, serum osteocalcin, and osteopontin levels. These results may serve as adjuvants in screening for OP, particularly among diabetic patients.

Gene expression and apoptosis response in hepatocellular carcinoma cells induced by biocompatible polymer/magnetic nanoparticles containing 5-fluorouracil

BACKGROUND: Super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) contain a chemotherapeutic drug and are regarded as a promising technique for improving targeted delivery into cancer cells. RESULTS: In this study, the fabrication of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) was investigated with loaded Dextran (DEXSPION) using the co-precipitation technique and conjugated by folate (FA). These nanoparticles (NPs) were employed as carriers and anticancer compounds against liver cancer cells in vitro. Structural, magnetic, morphological characterization, size, and drug loading activities of the obtained FA-DEX-5-FUSPION NPs were checked using FTIR, VSM, FESEM, TEM, DLS, and zeta potential techniques. The cellular toxicity effect of FA-DEX-5-FU-SPION NPs was evaluated using the MTT test on liver cancer (SNU-423) and healthy cells (LO2). Furthermore, the apoptosis measurement and the expression levels of NF-1, Her-2/neu, c-Raf-1, and Wnt-1 genes were evaluated post-treatment using flow cytometry and RT-PCR, respectively. The obtained NPs were spherical with a suitable dispersity without noticeable aggregation. The size of the NPs, polydispersity, and zeta were 74 ± 13 nm, 0.080 and 45 mV, respectively. The results of the encapsulation efficiency of the nano-compound showed highly colloidal stability and proper drug maintenance. The results indicated that FA-DEX-5-FU-SPION demonstrated a sustained release profile of 5-FU in both phosphate and citrate buffer solutions separately, with higher cytotoxicity against SNU-423 cells than against other cells types. These findings suggest that FA-DEX-SPION NPs exert synergistic effects for targeting intracellular delivery of 5-FU, apoptosis induction, and gene expression stimulation. CONCLUSIONS: The findings proved that FA-DEX-5-FU-SPION presented remarkable antitumor properties; no adverse subsequences were revealed against normal cells.

Significance of Tumor necrosis factor α-308 (G/A) gene polymorphism in the development of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common noncutaneous cancer among men, accounting for 10 % of male cancer-related deaths worldwide. The etiology of PCa is largely unknown, although multiple environmental and lifestyle factors such as ultraviolet irradiation, smoking, and diet might increase the risk of the disease. Risk of disease varies most prominently with age, ethnicity, family history, and diet. The multifunctional cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) has an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory, autoimmune and malignant diseases. In this case control study 150 Prostate cancer patients and 150 age matched benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and equal number of healthy control groups were involved. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of TNF-α-308 (G/A) polymorphism on risk of prostate cancer on north Indian prostate cancer patients. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was utilized to genotype TNF-α-308 (G/A) polymorphism. The present study showed statistically significant increased risk of prostate cancer among individuals that carried the A allele of TNF-α-308 gene (OR = 1.81, 95 % CI 1.00-3.481, p = 0.03).

Impact of XPD gene polymorphism on risk of prostate cancer on north Indian population.

Prostate cancer is the second most diagnosed cancer in men next to skin cancer in the developed world. Risk of disease varies most prominently with age, ethnicity, family history, and diet. Genetic polymorphism of some genes has been implicated in increasing the risk. The XPD (Xeroderma pigmentosum group D) gene codes for a DNA helicase involved in transcription and nucleotide excision repair. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of XPD 751 Lys/Gln polymorphism on risk of prostate cancer on north Indian patients. Blood sample from 150 prostate cancer patients, 150 from Prostate Hyper Plasia and equal number of samples from healthy control groups was collected from North India. The polymerase chain reaction and restrictive fragment length polymorphism techniques were implemented. Statistically non-significant increase risk of prostate cancer was observed with patients having Gln/Gln genotype (OR 1.62, 95% CI).

Association of interleukin 4 VNTR polymorphism and HIV/AIDS in a north Indian seropositive patients.

Despite different efforts made to intervene with the deadly nature of HIV/AIDS, all attempts remained unsuccessful due to complexity of the viral host interactions. The solution to HIV-1 pandemic is still to come, thus to assist the efforts being made to intervene with the deadly nature of the virus, different factors responsible for the disease burdens have to be looked into a systematic manner. As a result, the present study aimed to find out the association of IL-4 VNTR polymorphism with HIV-1 susceptibility and rate of disease progression. Three hundred cases and an equal number of sex and age matched controls were included for this study. The polymerase chain reaction assay was utilized to genotype IL-4 VNTR. The results of this study showed statistically significant variation among cases and controls in the distribution of the Rp2/Rp2 genotype (OR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.18-0.69; P value = 0.0014) indicating, thereby, a possibility of reduced risk of HIV-1 susceptibility. Thus, Rp2/Rp2 genotype of the IL-4 might have a role to play in reducing risk of HIV-1 susceptibility among a north Indian population.

DNA repair genes polymorphism (XPG and XRCC1) and association of prostate cancer in a north Indian population.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men worldwide and is the second leading cause of cancer related mortality. Genetic background may account for the difference in susceptibility of individuals to different diseases and the relationship between genetic polymorphism and some diseases has been extensively studied. There are several common polymorphisms in genes encoding DNA repair enzymes, some of these polymorphisms are reported to result in subtle structural alterations of the repair enzyme and modulation of the repair capacity. The aim of the present study was to analyze the effect of XPG Asp 1104His and XRCC1 Arg309Gln polymorphisms on risk of prostate cancer in north Indian population. Statistically significant increased risk of prostate cancer was observed on individuals that posses His/His genotype of XPG (OR 2.53, 95% CI 0.99-6.56, P = 0.031). In this study 150 prostate cancer diagnosed patients, 150 healthy controls and 150 BPH (benign prostate hyper plasia) were recruited from north Indian population. Moreover, individuals that carried the Gln/Gln genotype of XRCC1 also showed statistically increased risk of prostate cancer (OR 2.06, 95% CI 1.07-4.00, P = 0.033). The Asp/Asp of XPG and Gln/Gln of XRCC1 in combination showed statistically increased risk of prostate cancer in cases (OR 3.29, 95% CI 1.09-10.16, P = 0.032).

Impact of ERCC2 gene polymorphism on HIV-1 disease progression to AIDS among North Indian HIV patients.

HIV/AIDS remains to be one of the killing diseases of mankind. Host genetic response is one of the factor which determine susceptibility to HIV and disease progression to AIDS. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of ERCC2 Lyc ( 751 ) Gln (excision repair cross complementing rodent repair deficiency, complementation group 2) polymorphism on HIV-1 susceptibility and disease progression to AIDS, as this gene has been reported to intervene in degrading retroviral cDNA before it integrates with the host DNA. This case control study included 300 HIV seropositive cases and an equal number of HIV seronegative controls. DNA was isolated from the blood samples of study subjects and genotyping of ERCC2 was conducted by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method. The Gln/Gln genotype showed a significant variation between cases and controls (P = 0.047, OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.00-2.93), indicating a possible role of susceptibility in reference to controls and disease progression when compared within cases.