Letter to editor - observation on the article titled "Vaccine-Induced Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (VITT): first report from India".

The first case of Vaccine-Induced Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (VITT) was reported in the letter-to-editor submission in the journal of Indian Journal of Hematology and Blood Transfusion which was published online on 29th Sep 2021. Whereas, an article published in your journal on 04th Mar 2022 has been titled as first report of VITT from India which is a very conflicting statistic. The former article under reference has been diagnosed by a confirmatory functional assay as per the recommended guidelines and is thus genuinely the first case reported in this country.

Robust expression of LINE-1 retrotransposon encoded proteins in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) results from a series of genetic alteration in squamous cells. This particular type of cancer considers one of the most aggressive malignancies to control because of its frequent local invasions to the regional lymph node. Although several biomarkers have been reported, the key marker used to predict the behavior of the disease is largely unknown. Here we report Long INterpersed Element-1 (LINE1 or L1) retrotransposon activity in post-operative oral cancer samples. L1 is the only active retrotransposon occupying around 17% of the human genome with an estimated 500,000 copies. An active L1 encodes two proteins (L1ORF1p and L1ORF2p); both of which are critical in the process of retrotransposition. Several studies report that the L1 retrotransposon is highly active in many cancers. L1 activity is generally determined by assaying L1ORF1p because of its high expression and availability of the antibody. However, due to its lower expression and unavailability of a robust antibody, detection of L1ORF2p has been limited. L1ORF2p is the crucial protein in the process of retrotransposition as it provides endonuclease and reverse transcriptase (RT) activity. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting were performed on the post-operative oral cancer samples and murine tissues. RESULTS: Using in house novel antibodies against both the L1 proteins (L1ORF1p and L1ORF2p), we found L1 retrotransposon is extremely active in post-operative oral cancer tissues. Here, we report a novel human L1ORF2p antibody generated using an 80-amino-acid stretch from the RT domain, which is highly conserved among different species. The antibody detects significant L1ORF2p expression in human oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) samples and murine germ tissues. CONCLUSIONS: We report exceptionally high L1ORF1p and L1ORF2p expression in post-operative oral cancer samples. The novel L1ORF2p antibody reported in this study will serve as a useful tool to understand why L1 activity is deregulated in OSCC and how it contributes to the progression of this particular cancer. Cross-species reactivity of L1ORF2p antibody due to the conserved epitope will be useful to study the retrotransposon biology in mice and rat germ tissues.

Coomb's negative cold agglutinin disease: A rare report of an incidentally detected case.

Cold agglutinin disease (CAD) is a rare type of autoimmune hemolytic anemia which usually results due to production of immunoglobulin M-type autoantibody against the I/i and H antigens on red blood cell membrane. They can be idiopathic or may be due to underlying lymphoproliferative disorders or atypical infections. It can have a varied presentation ranging from being incidentally detected to being totally transfusion dependent for a longer or shorter duration. Several factors play a role in determining the ability of cold agglutinins in inducing hemolysis such as antibody concentration and temperature. Here, we present a 54-year-old patient, a known case of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who was admitted to our hospital in the winter months as a case of alcohol withdrawal syndrome. During the course of the stay, the patient developed respiratory insufficiency and went into Type II respiratory failure and hematological investigations revealed features of CAD.