Journal of Epigenetics
Year:2019 | Volume:1 | Issue:2|Papers Count:7

Background: Pterygium is a benign legion and is observed as aggressive growth of conjunctiva fibro-vascular tissue on the cornea. The alkylating agents are observed as considerable threats for human health because alkylated lesions lead to cytotoxic, teratogenic and cancerizing effects. MGMT is one of the repair proteins of DNA which repairs the alkylated lesions. Expression and activity of MGMT is controlled by epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation in the promoter regions like transcription factors which are connected to MGMT promoter and lead to positive or negative induction of that activity, protein-protein interactions, and negative regulation. 2) Materials and methods: In order to study methylation, DNA samples of 43 patients and 40 healthy individuals were extracted, bisulfited and then were studied. Also in order to study the expression, RNA was extracted from 15 other patients and 15 other healthy individuals; and then, the technique of Real-time PCR was used. 3) Results: analysis of promoter methylation of MGTM gene showed that there is no significant relationship in the situation of promoter methylation between the patients and control individuals (P value = 0. 43; 95%Cl = 0. 66-2. 40; OR = 1. 52). However, analysis of MGMT gene expression showed significant difference between the patients and control individuals (Mean ± SD: 1. 25 ± 0. 10 and 1. 52 ± 2. 91, respectively; P value = 0. 009). 4) Conclusion: since there are no significant changes of promoter methylation of MGMT gene, there seems to be other unknown procedures that regulate this gene’ s expression levels. In this respect, expression of MGMT gene in the pterygium increases through unknown procedures. In order to approve this data, further studies are suggested in more populations with bigger sample sizes by the use of advanced molecular techniques.

Circadian clock refers to a biological cycle that fluctuates in a period of ~24 hours. These cycles are supported by a molecular clock and provide a temporal timerelated matrix that ensures the collocation of homeostasis processes with the course of environmental changes. Here in this mini-review, we are going to summarize all recent finding from the last five years till date in the field of circadian and evolutionary clock research in approach to rheumatoid arthritis as the world’ s most prevalence autoimmune disease with rate of over 76 million in world population and prevalence of near 0. 6% of US which is almost 1. 29 million people in the year 2015. Rheumatoid arthritis shows a verity of symptoms besides morning stiffness and increased joint pain in the early morning. This morning joint and stiffness aca correlate to an elevated level of pro-inflammatory cytokines include interleukin-6. The circadian clock has a regulatory role in activity and expression of proteins and their gene which comes under cycle which takes part in autoimmune disease expression and progression, such as fat-derived adipokines and few nuclear receptors. Based on current knowledge which expanding each and every moment we know the pathways that how inflammatory responses regulated base on that working in a new age in the treatment of autoimmune disease especially rheumatoid arthritis.

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy that its incidence has continuously increased in recent decades all over the world. Thyroid cancer in Iran is the seventh most common cancer in women and the 14th in men and the 11th most common cancer in both genders. The study on the methylation status of RASSF1A gene promoter has shown that this gene is methylated in 35% of benign and malignant thyroid tumors. Hypermethylation of the RASSF1A gene use for the differentiation of benign tumors from malignant of thyroid gland. The aim of this study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of DNA methylation of RASSF1A gene in the differential diagnosis of benign tumors from papillary thyroid carcinoma. 160 samples of patients with malignant thyroid tumors (80 samples) and benign thyroid (80 samples) were entered into this study from all patients referring to Ahwaz medical centers. The Hypermethylation of the gene after DNA extraction was done by COBRA method. Finally, for calculating sensitivity and specificity of the two tests were done by epidemiological calculations. The sensitivity and specificity of Hypermethylation of the RASSF1A gene test were 91. 25% and 15% respectively. Hypermethylation of the promoter of the RASSF1A gene as a diagnosis test is more sensitive to differential diagnosis of benign tumors from papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Background: In vitro fertilization (IVF) is offered as a treatment for infertility in women. . The Cell free DNA in plasma/follicles were suggested as a biomarker for embryo quality in IVF. Higher the levels of Cell-free DNA indicate poorer embryo quality in the follicular fluid during IVF. Therefore, this study was designed to examine the cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in plasma and Fluid-follicle of women undergoing IVF-embryo transfer. 2) Methods: The study examined 100 women undergoing IVF treatment in an IVF unit in Yas Hospital of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran-Iran. Cell-free DNA was extracted from plasma and follicular fluid of patients using the NucleoSpin® Extraction Kit. The total cfDNA was examined by qPCR for ALBUMIN and GAPDH genes. 3) Results: we did not find a statistically significant association among the variables such as CT-plasma, CT-follicular fluid, delta-CT and average of these data between two groups (including patients who had a successful IVF cycle and those who had a failed IVF cycle). 4) Conclusion: Plasma and follicular fluid cfDNA may reflect the presence of factors which interfere with embryo implantation. Further research is required to determine the usefulness of cfDNA as a biomarker of IVF outcome and to examine the underlying pathologies as potential sources for increased plasma/follicular fluid cfDNA concentrations.

Recognition and prediction of biological function of proteins based on amino acid sequences is a simple method employed in so many software and operators. However, the sequence similarity does not always imply to similarity of biological function. The aim of this study was to determine the semantic similarity of gene ontology (GO) of six pluripotency factors, Oct4, Sox2, C-Myc, Klf-4, Lin28 and Nanog in six species and evaluate their conformity with their protein sequence similarity and phylogenetic distance. C-myc factor exhibited a significant correlation between phylogenetic distance and protein similarity. The other factors like Sox2, Klf-4 and Lin-28 showed the correct changes of phylogenetic distance and protein similarity, but Nanog and Oct4 factors did not display a correct correlation between two indices because, the increase of protein similarity was not followed with the decrease of phylogenetic distance. Following the study, the protein or nucleotide similarity was assumed as dependent variable and GO similarity in three categories of biological process (BP), molecular function (MF) and, cell component (CC) were expected as the independent variables. With this assumption, regression analysis was accomplished to determine the best model for protein and nucleotide similarity estimation. The protein or nucleotide similarity also displayed a significant regression with GO similarity for C-myc factor and category of BP and CC were selected to estimate protein or nucleotide similarity by model, but a significant regression was not observed for other pluripotency factors for estimation of protein or nucleotide similarity. It means that except of C-myc, GO similarity of other studied pluripotency factors didn’ t reflect the protein or nucleotide similarity. It is suggested that related data for five pluripotency factors, including Oct-4, Sox2, Klf4, Lin28 and Nanog in the six studied species should be reviewed.

Background: Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) is responsible for 70-90% of urinary tract infections. On the other hand, E. coli producing Shiga toxin (STEC), the so-called Verotoxinproducing E. coli (VTEC), has two stx1 and stx2 genes (Producing Stx1 and Stx2 toxins). Since these genes are plasmidal and can be transmitted between E. coli strains, it is likely that stx1 and stx2 genes are also found in the Uropathogenic E. coli. Studies in different parts of the world indicate some cases of dangerous syndromes such as Haemolytic-Uraemic Syndrome (HUS) following urinary tract infections. Also, the incidence of urinary tract infections caused by Verotoxigenic E. coli strains is increasing. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the presence of verotoxin genes in Uropathogenic E. coli; 2) Methods: A total of 180 clinical specimens were collected during five months. After diagnostic tests and differential biochemistry tests, 100 samples were confirmed as E. coli and the presence of stx2 and stx1 genes was investigated by Muliplex-PCR; 3) Results: The results showed that the prevalence rates of stx1 and stx2 genes were 15% and 13%, respectively, in UPEC samples examined in this study, which is in agreement with the results of few similar studies in Iran; and 4) Conclusions: It seems that the frequency of verotoxin genes in E. coli causing urinary tract infections in Kermanshah is more than the other parts of Iran. Therefore, the potential risks of these bacteria could not be ignored.