Serum mannan-binding lectin in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis: Its lack of a relationship to the disease and response to treatment.

Background: Lectin pathway mediates complement activation, which is activated by many microorganisms. This study aimed at determining the serum levels of mannose-binding lectin (MBL) in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, assessing its relationship to antiuberculosis treatment response, and comparing them with a control group. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with pulmonary tuberculosis during 2012 and 2013 in South West of Iran. PPD-ST-negative individuals were selected as controls from healthy relatives of patients. Serum MBL levels were measured using ELISA kit (Human MBL HK323, Hycultbiotech Company, Netherlands). All patients were followed- up for response to treatment. We applied Mann-Whitney and Fisher's exact tests and used SPSS Version 17 software for statistical analysis. Results: The study included 62 patients as the case group and 63 noninfected TB patients as the control group. The MBL (ng/mL) in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (median = 1012) was significantly (p= 0.037) higher than that of the control group (median= 296.2). No significant difference was found in the MBL level (ng/mL) between patients with response to antituberculosis treatment (median= 1012) and patients with treatment failure (median= 798.9) (p= 0.84). Conclusion: MBL may be involved in the pathogenesis of tuberculosis and in the low values that are protective against tuberculosis, and it seems that it has no effect on the antituberculosis treatment response.

Study of toxoplasmosis in type 2 diabetic patients using ELISA and B1 nested-PCR methods.

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a ubiquitous, opportunistic organism, which actually infects all warmblooded animals. Diabetes is a silent, irritating metabolic disorder among which type 2 diabetes includes over 90% of cases globally. This case-control study was aimed to detect T. gondii infection in type 2 diabetic patients in Khuzestan province, southwest of Iran. Serological enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method targeting B1 gene were employed to comparatively detect the parasitic infection among 377 diabetic patients and 200 non-diabetic subjects during 2016-2018. Considerably higher anti-T. gondii antibodies were determined in case group 44.29% (167/377), than in control group 19% (38/200) (P<0.05). Among diabetic patients, 153 (40.58%) were seropositive for IgG and 14 (3.71%) were seropositive for IgM, while 35 (17.5%) and 3 (1.5%) healthy people were seropositive regarding IgG and IgM, respectively (P<0.05). By nested PCR, B1 gene was identified in 36 out of 167 (21.55%) and 5 out of 38 (13.15%) of the seropositive samples of case and control groups, respectively. The prevalence of anti-T. gondii antibodies and DNA in diabetic patients was significantly higher than in non-diabetic patients. Thus, it could be recommended to routinely evaluate the chronicity of the infection in diabetic patients.

Utilization of Whole Exome Sequencing in Non-Syndromic Premature Ovarian Failure: Ficolin-3 Gene Mutation in an Iranian Family

Background: Premature ovarian failure is a heterogeneous disorder, leading to early menopause. Several genes have been identified as the cause of non-syndromic premature ovarian failure (POF). Our aim was to explore the genetic defects in Iranian patients with POF. Methods: We studied a family with three females exhibiting non-syndromic POF. WES was performed for one of the affected individuals after ruling out the presence of CGG repeat expansion at fragile X mental retardation 1 gene in the family. Sanger sequencing was used to confirm the candidate sequence variants in the proband, and screening of the detected mutation was performed for the other affected and unaffected members of the family. Results: A homozygous frameshift mutation, c.349delC, was identified in ficolin-3 (FCN3) gene in the proband and two other patients. The parents and two healthy brothers were heterozygous for the mutation, and an unaffected sister was homozygous for wild type. Conclusion: This is the first report of a mutation in FCN3 gene in a family with POF. Our findings can lead to the enhancement of genetic databases of patients with POF, specifically for families with high-risk background.

Moderating effects of crocin on some stress oxidative markers in rat brain following demyelination with ethidium bromide.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Crocin on oxidative markers (GPx, SOD, MDA) in animal model of demyelination with Ethidium bromide (EB). METHODS: Female Wistar rats were assigned in to 4 groups; Sham, with no receiving any agent (Sham), Sham Operated group with injection of EB into the brain received no agent (SO), Sham Treatment group with injection of EB and receiving PBS as vehicle and Treatment group with injection of EB and receiving Crocin (100 mg/kg). Demyelination was induced by single dose injection of 10 µl of EB 0.1% into the Cisterna magna of the brain. Crocin was diluted and applied to each animal for 21 days, once per day gavage. The levels of oxidative markers (GPx, SOD and MDA) were measured by related standard kits. Data were analyzed by paired t-test and ANOVA with post hoc test. RESULTS: The results showed that crocin decreases the levels of GPx and SOD significantly as well as MDA level after 21 days (α ≤ 0.05). In addition, results showed that there were significant differences in the GPx, SOD and MDA levels between all groups at post treatment phase (α ≤ 0.05). CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that crocin can moderate the level of oxidative markers after demyelination of the brain cells in MS cases. Due to this effect, crocin can be considered as an effective anti-oxidant in management of degenerative nervous system diseases.

Effects of saffron on homocysteine, and antioxidant and inflammatory biomarkers levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized double-blind clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is one of the most common health problems worldwide. Studies have shown that saffron and its derivatives may have therapeutic potentials in T2DM through reducing plasma glucose. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of saffron extract on serum anti-inflammatory and antioxidant variables in T2DM patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a double-blind randomized clinical trial conducted on 64 T2DM patients. Participants received either 15 mg of saffron or placebo capsules (two pills per day) for 3 months. Anthropometric indices, homocysteine, serum anti-inflammatory and antioxidant variables and dietary intake were assessed pre- and post-intervention. RESULTS: After 3 months of treatment, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) increased significantly in both group (p<0.05). No significant differences were observed for total antioxidant capacity (TAC), malondialdehyde (MDA), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and interleukin 10(IL-10) after the treatment period (p>0.05). Homocysteine decteased significantly in control group (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results showed no improvement in homocystein levels, antioxidant status and inflammatory biomarkers in T2DM patients after treatment with saffron.

A serological screening assay of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 antibodies based on recombinant protein p24-gp41 as a fusion protein expressed in Escherichia coli.

The objective of this study was expression of a recombinant fusion protein p24-gp41 to gain a proper folding pattern of the proteins which could be recognized by specific antibodies against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) for development of a reliable serodiagnostic kit. Serodiagnostic method using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with the expressed recombinant fusion protein p24-gp41 was carried out to test the sensitivity and specificity of the protein using human sera and various reference panels from Boston Biomedica Inc. (BBI). The level of the expression was determined to be 30% and the final recovery from fermentation and purification process was calculated as 80 mg/L with more than 98% purity. The developed ELISA assay was demonstrated to have 100 and 99.5% sensitivity and specificity, respectively, detecting anti-HIV-1 antibody using 900 positive and 10,000 negative human sera. The developed assay showed reliable results in comparison with other reference HIV ELISA kits using various BBI panels as well. In conclusion, the recombinant fusion protein p24-gp41 was expressed and used to develop a serodiagnostic kit for screening of the HIV-1 with high sensitivity (100%) and specificity (99.5%) which could be useful for screening large groups of blood donors.

Allele frequencies of two polymorphisms associated with the factor IX gene in Iranian population.

Indirect genetic diagnosis using polymorphic DNA markers can be useful in large-scale screening programs, which is technically simpler, more rapid and amenable. The main objective of this study was to test the informativeness of two common intragenic markers (TaqI and XmnI) in Iranian haemophilia B families to detect the carriers by using a strategy that would be accurate and informative, yet less expensive compared to direct mutation analysis. The efficacy of these sites has been examined in 50 unrelated Iranian haemophilia B families and 50 normal females. The method used was polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR/RFLP), which is economical and the enzymes XmnI and TaqI are cheap enough to be accessible in most of laboratories in developing countries. Our results show that 25% of X-chromosomes had the restriction site for TaqI enzyme. The XmnI site was 21%. The heterozygosity rates for TaqI and XmnI polymorphisms were 37% and 38%, respectively. Using the two polymorphisms together, the informative rate reached 46%. Taking advantage of TaqI and XmnI polymorphisms, carrier detection was performed for seven females with unknown status in five haemophilia B families (including one large extended family) with positive history. Six of the girls were normal and one was haemophilia B carrier. Therefore, carrier detection might be possible for informative Iranian haemophilia B families in the familial cases. Additionally, similarities in term of heterozygosity rates for these two polymorphic sites were seen between some European and Iranian populations.