Background: Infertility is described as not receiving pregnancy despite unprotected and regular sexual intercourse in a 1 yr period. It is detected by 15% of the couples. Male and female factor in the etiology may be detected in similar rates. Objective: The present study aims to investigate ion channel gene expression in semen samples of infertile male compared with fertile men. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 men who applied to the urology clinic due to infertility were divided into five equal groups: asthenozoospermia, oligozoospermia, oligoasthenoteratozoospermia, teratozoospermia, and normozoospermia (control). All paticipants were evaluated with Cation Channel Spermia (CatSper) 1, 2, 3, 4, Proton Voltage Gated Ion Channel1 (Hv1), Potassium Channel Subfamily U1 (KCNU1), and transmembrane protein (TMEM16A) gene expression in semen samples. Results: “ CatSper1, 4, HV1, KCNU1, and TMEM16A gene expression were detected higher in the oligozoospermia group compared to the controls. CatSper1, 2, 3, 4, KCNU1, and TMEM16A gene expression in the asthenozoospermia group and CatSper1, 2, 3, 4, KCNU1, and TMEM16A gene expression in the teratozoospermia group were detected lower compared to the controls. CatSper1, 4, HV1, and TMEM16A gen expression were higher in the oligoasthenoteratozoospermia men than the controls while CatSper3 gen expression was detected as lower. ” Conclusion: It was detected that these ion channels have an effect on sperm progressive motility and morphology. It may be considered that mutations in these ion channels may result in infertility.

The response to glucocorticoids (GCs) therapy classifies severe refractory asthma (SRA) and mild asthma, so the glucocorticoid receptors (GCRs) gene expression may be involved in SRA pathogenesis. Thus, it is aimed to compare the expression levels of two GCR isoforms (GCRα and GCRβ) in SRA, mild asthmatics, and healthy controls. Total RNA was isolated from the peripheral blood mononuclear lymphocytes of 13 SRA patients, 14 mild asthma patients and 30healthy volunteers. The expression levels of GCR isoforms were evaluated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The expression level of GCR isoforms did not show any significant difference between the cases/control groups. However, the relative expression analysis between asthma/control, SRA/control and SRA/asthma groups was in the order of 0.933, 0.768 and 0.823 for GCRα and 0.697, 1.014 and 1.454 for GCRβ, respectively. Also, the expression fold change of GCRα/GCRb in asthma, SRA and control groups was 786.88, 445.72 and 588.13, respectively. The GCRα and GCRβ isoforms did not show any correlation in SRA; but they had significant correlation in both healthy volunteers (r=0.490, P=0.007) and mild asthmatics (r=0.786, P=0.001). Also, the GCRα expression level had significant inverse correlation with age in SRA (r=-0.709, P=0.007). Glucocorticoid receptors are related to, but not directly responsible for GC resistance. Since the GCRa/GCRb expression ratio decreased in SRA, studies are needed to assess its value in diagnosing GC resistance.

Objective: Vitrification of the ovarian tissue is one of the techniques recommended for preserving the fertility of women who are dealing with infertility. Despite its benefits, our information about the molecular aspects of ovarian follicles vitrification is somehow ambiguous. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the expression pattern of DNA repair genes in vitrified preantral follicles. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, the isolated preantral follicles (n=906) from 14-16 days old mice (n=12) were divided into three groups: fresh, toxic and vitrified which were cultured in vitro for 12 days. Preantral follicles were vitrified using cryotop followed by exposure to equilibration solution for five minutes and vitrification solution (VS) for 30 seconds. In the toxic group, preantral follicles were only placed in equilibration and vitrification media and they were then placed in the warming solutions without exposure to liquid nitrogen. On the second and sixth days of the culture period, real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was carried out to evaluate expression of the selected genes involved in DNA repair, including Msh6 (MutS homolog 6), Mre11 (Meiotic recombination 11), Brca1 (Breast cancer type 1), Rad51 (RAD51 recombinase), Pcna (Proliferating cell nuclear antigen) and Atm (ATM serine/threonine kinase). In addition, developmental parameters including growth, survival rate, antrum cavity formation and ovulation were analyzed. Results: The relative mRNA expression of Msh6, Mre11, Brca1, Rad51, Pcna and Atm on the second and sixth days of the culture period in vitrified group was significantly higher than those of the control and toxic groups, but there was no significant difference between the toxic and control groups. In addition, developmental parameters of follicles were similar in both toxic and control groups, while both were significantly higher than that of vitrified group. Conclusion: Vitrification changes the expression pattern of DNA repair genes of the mouse preantral follicles.

Background: TYK2 is a member of the JAK family and is known to mediate signals of multiple cytokines that play a crucial role in immune and inflammatory signaling. Activation of TYK2 in tumor cells has been linked to promote cell survival, growth, and invasion. This study aimed to investigate the expression of tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) in colorectal cancer (CRC) and adjacent control tissues. Materials and Methods: Quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR) method was elaborated to examine the expression levels of TYK2 in 100 colorectal tumor tissues and adjacent tissues as a control. Furthermore, we analyzed the diagnostic power of the mentioned TYK2 by plotting the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results: Our results revealed that the expression level of TYK2 was significantly up-regulated in CRC patients sample compared to the adjacent sample of the control group. Analysis of patient’s clinic pathological features shows that expressions TYK2 were differently associated with lymph vascular invasion and TMN stage (P < 0. 0001, P < 0. 0006). Conclusion: These results indicated that TYK2 levels potential biomarkers for diagnosing colorectal cancer may be identified.

Background: Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death after lungcancer. Discovering molecular biomarkers is necessary for disease management thatincludes prognosis prediction and preventive treatment. The aim of this study is toevaluate the expression value of p53 and PTEN as molecular biomarkers of breast cancerand their relation with clinicopathological characteristics. Methods: In this study, 100 breast cancer and 20 normal samples were subjectedto investigation. Total RNA was isolated and we measured RNA expression by realtimeRT-PCR. Data were analyzed by REST 2009 and SPSS. Results: Gene expression results showed up-regulation of P53 in 53 breast cancersubjects and PTEN in 52 breast cancer subjects compared with normal controls. However, there was lower P53 expression in 25 breast cancer samples compared tonormal tissues. PTEN expression was lower in 26 breast cancer samples than normaltissues. p53 showed a significant relationship to HER2 receptor (P=0. 024) andmenopausal status (P=0. 013); no significant relationships existed with other clinicopathologicalparameters (P>0. 05). PTEN had the only significant correlation withlymphatic invasion (P=0. 046) without any relation with other clinicopathologicalfeatures (P>0. 05). PTEN expression had no significant association with p53 expressionin the studied population (P=0. 074). Conclusion: Combined detection of PTEN and p53 may have the potential toestimate the pathobiological behavior and prognosis of breast cancer. Due to theheterogeneous nature of cancer and the presence of different factors involved in theclinical situation of breast cancer, we suggest a study of a larger population and morebiomarkers.

The DNA microarray is an important technique that allows researchers to analyze many gene expression data in parallel. Although the data can be more significant if they come out of separate experiments, one of the most challenging phases in the microarray context is the integration of separate expression level datasets that have gathered through different techniques.In this paper, we present a general novel method for the integration of any collected data whose distributions have been linearly transformed. The new method is based on the information theory concepts. More than that, this article presents a new approach for checking of the linearity between two distributions as a validation technique. The validation technique assists in taking the feature reduction process in effect prior to the integration phase. The time complexity of the proposed algorithm is low and the new presented methods show good functionality. The experimental results are presented at the end of the paper.

Objectives: Parkinson disease (PD) is characterized by protein aggregations in the cytoplasm of the dopaminergic neurons due to cellular stresses. In response to these stresses, autophagy is a conservative mechanism, and dysregulation of it results in protein aggregation. Despite the accepted prominent role of it in PD, autophagy associated-gene expression dysregulation involved in the autophagosome formation has remained largely unknown. In this study, the autophagy-related gene expressions in the rat model of PD were investigated. Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into control, sham and PD experimental model groups. By injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the striatum, the rat model of PD was induced. The apomorphine-induced rotation test was done 1 week before (baseline) and 4 weeks after surgery and also Nissl staining was performed for the brain sections. Then, rat substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) was extracted and RT-PCR was performed to detect the expression of FOXO3A gene and the autophagy-related genes (ATG). Furthermore, using Western blotting, we investigated the protein levels of ATG101. Results: Apomorphine-induced rotation test indicated significant contralateral rotations in the rat model group. Using RT-PCR, in the induction group, ATG101 was not expressed and ATG13, ATG14L, and VPS34 genes were downregulated in comparison with the control groups. Furthermore, Western blotting showed that ATG101 protein was not expressed in the model group. Conclusions: The results showed that deregulation of ATG101 expression, as a factor involved in the initial stages of the autophagy, occurs in the rat model of PD.

Objective: Chimeric animal exhibits less viability and more fetal and placental abnormalities than normal animal. This study was aimed to determine the impact of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) injection into the mouse embryos on H3K9me3 and H3K4me3 and cell lineage gene expressions in chimeric blastocysts. Materials and Methods: In our experiment, at the first step, incorporation of the GFP positive mESCs (GFP-mESCs) 129/Sv into the inner cell mass (ICM) of pre-compacted and compacted morula stage embryos was compared. At the second and third steps, H3K4me3 and H3K9me3 status as well as the expression of Oct4, Nanog, Tead4, and Cdx2 genes were determined in the following groups: i. In vitro blastocyst derived from in vivo morula subjected to mESCs injection (blast/chimeric), ii. In vivo derived blastocyst (blast/in vivo), iii. In vitro blastocyst derived from culture of morula in vivo (blast/morula), and iv. In vitro blastocyst derived from morula in vivo subjected to sham injection (blast/sham). Results: Subzonal injection of GFP-mESCs at the pre-compacted embryos produced more chimeric blastocysts than compacted embryos (P<0. 05). The number of trophectoderm (TE), ICM, ICM/TE and total cells in chimeric blastocysts were less than the corresponding numbers in blastocysts derived from other groups (P<0. 05). In ICM and TE of chimeric blastocysts, the levels of H3K4me3 and H3K9me3 were respectively decreased and increased compared to the blastocysts of the other groups (P<0. 05). Expressions of Oct4, Nanog and Tead4 were decreased in chimeric blastocysts compared to the blastocysts of the other groups (P<0. 05), while this was not observed for Cdx2. Conclusion: In the present study, embryo compaction significantly reduced the rate of incorporation of injected mESCs into the ICM. Moreover, in chimeric blastocysts, the levels of H3K9me3 and H3K4me3 were altered. In addition, the expressions of pluripotency and cell fate genes were decreased compared to blastocysts of the other groups.