Up-Regulation of miR-21, miR-25, miR-93, and miR-106b in Gastric Cancer

Background:

Differential expression profile of microRNAs (miRNAs) could be a diagnosis signature for monitoring gastric cancer (GC) progression. In this study, we focus on the comparison of expression levels of miR-21, miR-25, miR-93, miR-106b, and miR-375 during the sequential pattern of GC development, including normal gastric, gastric dysplasia, and GC sample.

Methods:

We used SYBR Green-based quantitative-PCR to quantify miRNAs expression.

Results:

Our analysis revealed the increased expression levels of miR-21 (p = 0.034), miR-25 (p = 0.0003), miR-93 (p = 0.0406), and miR-106b (p = 0.023) in GC samples. In addition, GC patients with positive lymph node metastasis showed the up-regulation of miR-25, miR-93, and miR-106b (p < 0.05).

Conclusion:

Our findings suggested that the expression of miR-21, miR-25, miR-93, and miR-106b altered in GC, and some of them may be further investigated as biomarkers for GC early detection and prognosis prediction.

Quantitation of Colonic Cells as Severity Markers in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Background:

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common gastrointestinal syndrome. Routine histopathology and immunohistochemistry (IHC) evaluations have shown an increase in the number of different inflammatory cells in the colon of IBS patients. In this study, we have compared the number of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs), eosinophils, mast cells and CD3+ T cells, in IBS patients and normal subjects.

Materials and Methods:

In 2016, seventynine patients with IBS and seventy-nine healthy subjects who underwent colonoscopy for other non-specific causes and with no pathologic findings, were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Biopsy specimens obtained from the colon were stained, using IHC methods to determine the number of IELs, eosinophils, mast cells and CD3+ T cells. Quantitative and qualitative variables were compared between the two groups, using a Chi-square test and Student’s t-test.

Results:

Seventy-nine patients with IBS, 79.7% females with a mean age of 42.5±14.6 years, were recruited, as the case group, and seventy-nine individuals, 51.9% females with a mean age of 39.7±18.9 years, were enrolled as controls. The average number of IELs per high power fields (hpf) was found to be higher in the IBS group, and this difference was statistically significant (32.8±11.8 vs. 28.6±12.9; P=0.034). Also, the mean count/hpf of CD3+ T lymphocytes (23.1±7.9 vs. 20.2±8.1; P=0.024) and mast cells (7.6±3.1 vs. 6.6±3.0; P=0.041) were significantly higher in the IBS group, compared to the control group. The number of eosinophils was higher in the IBS group, but the differences were not statistically significant (P=0.066).

Conclusion:

According to the results, we suggest that analysis of immune cells and IELs in intestinal biopsies might be an appropriate method for diagnosis of IBS.

The immunomodulatory effects of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells-conditioned medium in chronic colitis

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as a chronic recurrent disorder is characterized by mucosal immune response dysregulation, which is more prevalent in the youth. Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) are the multipotent cells that can be effective in immune response regulation via cell-cell interaction and their secretions. In this study, the effects of ADMSCs and mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned medium (MSC-CM) were evaluated on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice. Chronic colitis was induced in female C57BL/6 mice using 2% DSS in drinking water for three cycles; there were 4 days of DSS-water administration that was followed by 7 days of DSS-free water, in a cycle. ADMSCs, 10⁶ cells per mouse, were injected intraperitoneally (IP), whereas the MSC-CM injection was also performed six times from the last day of DSS in Cycle 1. Clinical symptoms were recorded daily. The colon pathological changes, cytokine levels, and regulatory T (Treg) cell percentages were then analyzed. After receiving ADMSCs and MSC-CM in colitis mice, the clinical symptoms and disease activity index were improved and the survival rate was increased. The histopathological examination also showed tissue healing in comparison with the nontreated group. In addition, the increased level of transforming growth factor beta, increased percentage of Treg cells, increased level of interleukin (IL)-10, and decreased level of IL-17 were observed after the treatment. This study showed the regulatory effects of ADMSCs and MSC-CM on inflammatory responses. Therefore, the use of ADMSCs and MSC-CM can be introduced as a new and effective therapeutic approach for patients with colitis.

Transcultural Adaptation and Validation of Persian Version of Celiac Disease Questionnaire (CDQ); A Specific Questionnaire to Measure Quality of Life of Iranian Patients

Background

The assessment of health-related quality of life has become an important primary or secondary outcome measure in clinical and epidemiologic studies. The aim of this study was to validate a Persian version of Celiac Disease Questionnaire (CDQ) for Celiac disease (CD) among Iranian patients.

Materials and Methods

The English version of the CDQ adapted to the Persian language by a forward-backward translation by 3 professional bilingual translators (1 medical, 2 nonmedical). The content validity of translated questionnaire were studied by 5 experts who complete the validity form regarding the questionnaire. Then in a pilot study, translated CDQ completed by 81 CD patients who referred to Taleghani Hospital, Tehran. For assessing the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha coefficient have been done, using Lisrel and SPSS software.

Results

Of 81 CD patients entered to this study with mean age of 30.54 years old, 71.6% were female. Also, 56.8% were married and 45.7% were high educated. The mean of CDQ total score was 119.18±34. The calculated Cronbach's alpha coefficient for CDQ questionnaire was 0.9. Also, for each subgroups the Cronbach's alpha coefficient were calculated as the following; emotion: 0.92, Social: 0.89, Worries: 0.73, Gastrointestinal: 0.78. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that all questions could be remain in questionnaire respectively.

Conclusion

The reliability of the Persian version of CDQ was excellent with Cronbach's alpha coefficients and Persian version of CDQ retains the psychometric properties of the original instrument and should be useful to assess outcome in studies and clinical trials involving Iranian patients with CD.

Contributions of HLA haplotypes, IL8 level and Toxoplasma gondii infection in defining celiac disease's phenotypes

Background

It is not clear why some patients with coeliac disease (CD) present with severe symptoms and small intestinal mucosal damages while others present with milder symptoms and no frank enteropathy. There is no study to assess the associated factors with mild/severe symptoms and enteropathy. The terminologies like latent, silent and potential are difficult to use and are unrepresentative. In the present study we describe coeliac disease’s phenotypes based on HLA haplotypes, IL8 production and past infection with Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection.

Methods

In this case-control study, sera originating from 150 healthy subjects and 150 patients diagnosed with CD during the years 2013–14 were analyzed for the presence of antibodies specific T. gondii of the IgG and IgM subclasses. The level of IL8 were measured and HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8 alleles were genotyped. The correlation between these parameters and the damages in intestinal mucosal were assessed using an accepted histopathological classification.

Results

High levels of IgG antibodies against T. gondii were found in the sera of control group compared to the CD group (52.6% vs. 39.4%, P = 0.02). Mean serum levels of IL8 was significantly higher in CD patients compared with control (P ≤ 0.05). By comparing the level of anti- T. gondii IgG and mucosal damage in celiac disease, we found a significant relationship between the severity of mucosal damages and anti- T. gondii IgG level (P = 0.02). No correlation was detected between Toxoplasma gondii infection and types of HLA (P > 0.05). However, patients with severely abnormal histology carried HLA-DQ2 risk alleles (92 patients (61%)) more often than the controls and those with mild histological abnormalities.

Conclusions

CD patients with severe histological changes had more often Toxoplasma gondii infection than those affected with mild histological features. This suggests that CD’s phenotypes are correlated to additional factors like infections and to particular HLA DQ2 alleles that may need additional investigations and potentially will require additional treatment.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12876-018-0796-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Measuring the Entrepreneurial Orientation of Public Research Centers

This paper presents the initial results of a project to investigate the organizational antecedents of entrepreneurship at public research and technology institutions (RTIs) in Iran. In line with the policies of the government to increase the role of publicly funded R&D in solving the problems of domestic industry, the research centers within public RTIs are encouraged to direct their research efforts towards practical applications, thus creating value from their R&D efforts. We chose to utilize a widely-used construct from corporate entrepreneurship literature (Entrepreneurial Orientation, EO) to explain undeniable differences among these research centers in their success in academic entrepreneurship. Noting that EO is a context-sensitive construct, the items to measure EO in research centers were generated by in-depth interviews; and the relationship between the contextualized EO and financial performances of research centers was investigated. The results confirmed a notable association between the EO level of research centers and their financial performance.

Promoter hypermethylation of RAR-β tumor suppressor gene in gastric carcinoma: Association with histological type and clinical outcomes

BACKGROUND

While gastric cancer is a common cancer in the world and Iran, its molecular mechanisms are not fully understood as yet. Epigenetic modifications can lead to alteration of gene expression and development of tumorigenesis mechanisms.

METHODS

To clarify the difference in DNA methylation pattern of histological types in gastric carcinoma, CpG islands in the promoters of retinoic acid receptor β gene (RAR-β) was studied using methylation-specific PCR.

RESULTS

In gastric cancer tissues, hypermethylation frequency of RAR-β gene was respectively 61 and 33% for diffuse and intestinal type. In diffuse type, hypermethylation of RAR-β has been significantly associated with invasion (P= 0.007), differentiation (P= 0.033) and location (P= 0.012) of the tumor. However, hypermethylation of RAR-β correlated only with tumor size (P= 0.029) in intestinal type. For adjacent non-tumor samples, hypermethylation of RAR-β was not detected and there was no significant association between age of diagnosis and hypermethylation of RAR-β in both types of gastric cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

These results support previous findings denoting a distinct profile of promoter hypermethylation status in the development of the intestinal and diffuse type of gastric carcinoma and the process of the tumorigenesis in these subtypes of gastric cancer is different from each other.

Epinephrine in the Prevention of Post-Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography Pancreatitis: A Preliminary Study

Background

Acute pancreatitis is the most common complication of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). The incidence of post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP) ranges between 15 and 20% among patients at high risk of developing PEP. The efficacy of indomethacin administration in the prevention of PEP is rather debatable. In the present randomized trial study, we evaluated whether or not the combination of indomethacin and epinephrine in comparison to the single administration of indomethacin differs in the pathogenesis and prevention of post-ERCP pancreatitis.

Patients and Methods

One hundred and ninety-two patients were randomized in a double-blinded manner into 3 groups: the epinephrine group (group A), the indomethacin group (group B), and the combined epinephrine and indomethacin group (group C). After the procedure, patients were evaluated for the PEP development.

Results

During the procedure, 66 patients were randomized to the epinephrine group (group A), 68 cases to the indomethacin group (group B), and 58 individuals to the indomethacin-epinephrine group (group C). The mean age of patients in the epinephrine group was 59.59 ± 15.680 years, in the indomethacin group it was 58.06 ± 17.125 years, and in the combination group it was 59.62 ± 15.369 years. In the present study, we did not observe a significant difference between the 3 groups in sex, age, pre-ERCP amylase, lipase, and patient and procedure risk factors including pancreatic duct (PD) dilation (p = 0.404), PD cannulation (p = 0.329), and difficult cannulation (p = 0.076) among others. PEP developed in 7 of the 192 individuals (3.6%), 6 PEP cases occurred in the indomethacin group and 1 in the epinephrine group (p = 0.016). Univariate analysis of risk factors for PEP in patients with and without pancreatitis revealed no significant difference between the pancreatitis group and the non-pancreatitis group.

Conclusion

In comparison to the administration of indomethacin alone, a single application of epinephrine and the combination of epinephrine and indomethacin seem to be effective in reducing the cases of PEP. A further randomized clinical trial with a larger sample size is required to confirm the efficacy of our medication in the prevention of pancreatitis after ERCP.

The Application of Gene Expression Profiling in Predictions of Occult Lymph Node Metastasis in Colorectal Cancer Patients

A key factor in determining the likely outcome for a patient with colorectal cancer is whether or not the tumour has metastasised to the lymph nodes-information which is also important in assessing any possibilities of lymph node resection so as to improve survival. In this review we perform a wide-range assessment of literature relating to recent developments in gene expression profiling (GEP) of the primary tumour, to determine their utility in assessing node status. A set of characteristic genes seems to be involved in the prediction of lymph node metastasis (LNM) in colorectal patients. Hence, GEP is applicable in personalised/individualised/tailored therapies and provides insights into developing novel therapeutic targets. Not only is GEP useful in prediction of LNM, but it also allows classification based on differences such as sample size, target gene expression, and examination method.

Genetic diversity and functional analysis of oipA gene in association with other virulence factors among Helicobacter pylori isolates from Iranian patients with different gastric diseases

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is one of the most genetically diverse bacterial pathogens that persistently colonizes the human gastric epithelium. This remarkable genomic plasticity may act as a driving force for successful adaptation and persistence of the bacteria in the harsh gastric environment. Outer inflammatory protein A (OipA) encoded by oipA gene (HP0638/hopH) is a member of the outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of H. pylori involved in induction of IL-8 secretion and is associated with development of peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. Expression of OipA is regulated by phase variation within a CT dinucleotide repeat motif of the oipA gene. In this study we carried out direct DNA sequence analysis of 53 amplified fragments to investigate the oipA "On/Off" status among Iranian H. pylori isolates from patients with various gastric diseases. The prevalence of cagL, cagA, EPIYA motifs, vacA alleles, babA2 and sabA genotypes as well as cagPAI integrity of the isolates were determined by PCR. Our results demonstrated a high prevalence of strains with functional oipA status (79%) and significant associations were found between functional oipA and cagA (P = 0.027) and vacA s1m1 (P = 0.022) genotypes. The vacA s1m2 genotype was also found to be statistically associated with PUD (P = 0.0001). Interestingly, we showed that H. pylori strains with intact cagPAI co-expressed oipA gene in a significant synergistic relationship (P < 0.01). However, no significant association was observed between the functional oipA status and clinical outcomes (P > 0.05). In conclusion, our findings denotes great diversity in the number and pattern of CT dinucleotide repeats of oipA among Iranian H. pylori strains. The synergistic link between functional oipA and other important virulence factors is proposed to be critical in the pathogenesis of H. pylori, which needs further studies with a larger number of samples.

A rare presentation of simple renal cyst: gastrointestinal obstruction

Simple renal cysts are one of the most common lesions in elderly. These cysts are usually asymptomatic but when the size of these cysts increase, we would see symptoms such as hypertension, hematuria, flank pain or urinary obstruction. In this study, we explore a case of small bowel obstruction that presented with nausea, repeated vomiting that causes hematemesis, and a submucosal obstructive lesion that was seen in Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). After endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) evaluation, we detected a large simple renal cyst and approved our diagnosis with CT scan. We planned a medical treatment for this patient that consist consuming small size meals, 5 to 6 times a day, and high calorie liquids in small volumes. We conclude that simple renal cyst can be one of the cause of extrinsic intestinal obstruction and EUS is affective for differentiation of intrinsic submucosal lesion from extrinsic compression.

Barrett's esophagus transits to a cancer condition via potential biomarkers

AIM

In this study, the transcriptome profile of Barrett's esophagus (BE) was examined for identification potential related biomarkers in view of interacting charactering.

BACKGROUND

Since BE is known as a precursor of esophageal cancer, the molecular studies of this condition could be essential.

METHODS

Gene expression data of BE in comparison with normal cases, GSE34619 was retrieved from Gene Expression Omnibus. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were determined applying GEO2R online software. The DEGs then were analyzed in terms of centrality properties via constructing an interaction network.

RESULTS

The data indicate that there are two sets of hub-bottlenecks panels with distinguishable values in BE. The first group shows that BE is very susceptible to develop cancer, and the second one implied on central characteristic of some DEGs as previously were also reported for BE pathogenicity. In addition, these genes are also implicated in cancer shift from certain conditions.

CONCLUSION

On the whole, taking together these findings explain and support the cancerous origin of BE and introduced a panel of nominated biomarkers that could be more specific for BE rather than other types of esophageal problems. However, a complementary study to support this claim is suggested.

Protein-protein interaction analysis of Alzheimer`s disease and NAFLD based on systems biology methods unhide common ancestor pathways

AIM

Analysis reconstruction networks from two diseases, NAFLD and Alzheimer`s diseases and their relationship based on systems biology methods.

BACKGROUND

NAFLD and Alzheimer`s diseases are two complex diseases, with progressive prevalence and high cost for countries. There are some reports on relation and same spreading pathways of these two diseases. In addition, they have some similar risk factors, exclusively lifestyle such as feeding, exercises and so on. Therefore, systems biology approach can help to discover their relationship.

METHODS

DisGeNET and STRING databases were sources of disease genes and constructing networks. Three plugins of Cytoscape software, including ClusterONE, ClueGO and CluePedia, were used to analyze and cluster networks and enrichment of pathways. An R package used to define best centrality method. Finally, based on degree and Betweenness, hubs and bottleneck nodes were defined.

RESULTS

Common genes between NAFLD and Alzheimer`s disease were 190 genes that used construct a network with STRING database. The resulting network contained 182 nodes and 2591 edges and comprises from four clusters. Enrichment of these clusters separately lead to carbohydrate metabolism, long chain fatty acid and regulation of JAK-STAT and IL-17 signaling pathways, respectively. Also seven genes selected as hub-bottleneck include: IL6, AKT1, TP53, TNF, JUN, VEGFA and PPARG. Enrichment of these proteins and their first neighbors in network by OMIM database lead to diabetes and obesity as ancestors of NAFLD and AD.

CONCLUSION

Systems biology methods, specifically PPI networks, can be useful for analyzing complicated related diseases. Finding Hub and bottleneck proteins should be the goal of drug designing and introducing disease markers.

A rapid and sensitive assay to identify HLA-DQ2/8 risk alleles for celiac disease using real-time PCR method

AIM

To perform a simple, rapid and sensitive Real-time PCR based SYBR Green method to determine the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ 2/8 alleles in celiac disease (CD) patients.

BACKGROUND

Many molecular techniques are available to determine the HLA-DQ2 and DQ8 alleles, but they are too expensive and have many steps that make them difficult to use.

METHODS

To determine the HLA-DQ 2/8 alleles we have developed a new real-time PCR assay, using SYBR Green technique with melting curve analysis on genomic DNA isolated from 75 CD patients and 94 healthy controls. The specific primers to examine HLA-DQA1*05, HLA-DQB1*02 and HLA-DQB1*0302 alleles were used and results were compared with commercially available kits.

RESULTS

Using this method, the presence of HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8 alleles were determined with sensitivity and specificity 80% and 100% respectively and compared to low resolution commercially available kits, the results of this method were more efficient. The frequency of DQ2 and DQ8 in patients was 76% and 29%, respectively and overall 96% of patients were carries DQ2 and/or DQ8 alleles.

CONCLUSION

The result of this study showed that Real-time PCR using SYBR Green method with melting curve analysis has good efficiency to identify the HLA-DQ2/8 risk alleles.

Barrett's esophagus network analysis revealed that arginine, alanine, aspartate, glutamate, valine, leucine and isoleucine can be biomarkers

AIM

Identification of crucial genes and possible biomarkers which are involved in Barrett's esophagus (BE) disease was aim of this study.

BACKGROUND

BE is diagnosed by endoscopy and biopsy and is characterized by esophageal columnar metaplastic epithelium. BE can convert into dysplasia that finally results cancer condition.

METHODS

Gene expression profiles of BE and normal gastric cardia which are characterized by GSE34619 and GPL6244 platform (1) were retrieved from gene expression omnibus (GEO). The significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed via protein-protein interaction network (PPI) analysis. The nodes of network were enriched via gene ontology (GO) to find biological terms. Action map of network elements was provided.

RESULTS

Among 250 top DEGs, 100 ones were included in PPI network and KIT, CFTR, IMPDH2, MYB, FLT1, ATP4A, and CPS1 were recognized as prominent genes related to BE. Seven amino acids including arginine, alanine, aspartate, glutamate, valine, leucine and isoleucine which are related to BE were highlighted.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion five central DEGs; KIT, CFTR, IMPDH2, MYB, and FLT1 were proposed as possible biomarkers for BE. However, validation and more experimental information is require to finalize the findings.

Prevalence of celiac disease in Iranian patients with rheumatologic disorders

AIM

Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), and Fibromyalgia (FM) may have underlying non-diagnosed celiac disease (CD).

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of CD in patients with these underlying diseases in Iran.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was performed among 300 consecutive patients with SLE, RA, and FM (each group 100 patients) since 2015 to 2017. The blood samples were collected and serum IgA anti-tissue trans-glutaminase (Anti-tTG) level was assessed for all patients. The seropositive patients underwent endoscopy and duodenal/jejunal biopsy according to the Marsh classification.

RESULTS

Out of 300 investigated patients with mean age of 41.2 years old, 92% of patients with SLE, RA and fibromyalgia were women. Among 100 patients with SLE, only 1 subject (1%), out of 100 patients with RA 3 subjects (3%), and none of the patients with fibromyalgia were seropositive for CD (with overall prevalence 1.4). All four patients were female and categorized as Marsh III.

CONCLUSION

The results of the study indicated that patients with lupus have the same prevalence, but subjects with RA had three times higher prevalence rate than normal population for CD. Therefore, CD investigation in these individuals can improve their quality of life.

Small-scale risk assessment of transmission of parasites from wastewater treatment plant to downstream vegetable farms

AIM

The aim of the present study was to simultaneously investigate parasitic contamination of treated wastewater and downstream vegetable farms that are irrigated with treated sewage, during a year.

BACKGROUND

(Oo) Cysts and eggs of parasites are resistant to most of routine wastewater treatment process. Irrigation of vegetables farms with either treated wastewater or illegally use of raw wastewaters enhances the risk of contamination with enteric pathogens.

METHODS

The treated wastewater samples were taken after chlorination from a wastewater treatment plant located at the south of Tehran. In addition, 60 vegetable samples (5 samples from each farm) were collected from the selected downstream farms that routinely used treated wastewater for irrigation of crops. Parasitological tests were performed using Ziehl-Neelsen, conventional lugol's iodine staining and direct microscopical examination.

RESULTS

Parasites including free living larvae, eggs of Toxoascaris leonina, egg of Toxocara sp. Trichuris sp, Trichostrongylus sp and amoeboid trophozoite were seen in 5/12 (41.7%) of vegetable samples gathered during a year. There was no statistically significant correlation between the season and parasitic contamination of the vegetables (P= 1). Furthermore, parasitic contamination was observed in 7/12 (53.8%) of treated wastewater samples. The correlation between season and parasitic contamination of treated wastewater was evaluated that the results showed a higher contamination of treated wastewater in spring and autumn (P<0.05). Fisher's exact test also showed that there was no significant correlation between parasitic contaminations of vegetable samples and treated wastewater according to seasonal change.

CONCLUSION

The results showed parasites in both treated wastewater plant and downstream crops farms that suggests the public health importance of the quality of water resources that routinely used for irrigation of vegetable farms.

Hepatic regulation of VLDL receptor by PPARβ/δ and FGF21 modulates non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Objective

The very low-density lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR) plays an important role in the development of hepatic steatosis. In this study, we investigated the role of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor (PPAR)β/δ and fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) in hepatic VLDLR regulation.

Methods

Studies were conducted in wild-type and Pparβ/δ-null mice, primary mouse hepatocytes, human Huh-7 hepatocytes, and liver biopsies from control subjects and patients with moderate and severe hepatic steatosis.

Results

Increased VLDLR levels were observed in liver of Pparβ/δ-null mice and in Pparβ/δ-knocked down mouse primary hepatocytes through mechanisms involving the heme-regulated eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α) kinase (HRI), activating transcription factor (ATF) 4 and the oxidative stress-induced nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) pathways. Moreover, by using a neutralizing antibody against FGF21, Fgf21-null mice and by treating mice with recombinant FGF21, we show that FGF21 may protect against hepatic steatosis by attenuating endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced VLDLR upregulation. Finally, in liver biopsies from patients with moderate and severe hepatic steatosis, we observed an increase in VLDLR levels that was accompanied by a reduction in PPARβ/δ mRNA abundance and DNA-binding activity compared with control subjects.

Conclusions

Overall, these findings provide new mechanisms by which PPARβ/δ and FGF21 regulate VLDLR levels and influence hepatic steatosis development.

•

PPARβ/δ deficiency leads to increased levels of hepatic VLDLR levels.

•

FGF21 protects against hepatic steatosis by attenuating ER stress-induced VLDLR upregulation.

•

Human hepatic steatosis is accompanied by increased levels of VLDLR and reduced expression of PPARβ/δ.

•

PPARβ/δ and FGF21 may influence NAFLD development by regulating VLDLR levels.

Comparison of Basic and Ensemble Data Mining Methods in Predicting 5-Year Survival of Colorectal Cancer Patients

INTRODUCTION

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies and cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Given the importance of predicting the survival of CRC patients and the growing use of data mining methods, this study aims to compare the performance of models for predicting 5-year survival of CRC patients using variety of basic and ensemble data mining methods.

METHODS

The CRC dataset from The Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences Research Center for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases were used for prediction and comparative study of the base and ensemble data mining techniques. Feature selection methods were used to select predictor attributes for classification. The WEKA toolkit and MedCalc software were respectively utilized for creating and comparing the models.

RESULTS

The obtained results showed that the predictive performance of developed models was altogether high (all greater than 90%). Overall, the performance of ensemble models was higher than that of basic classifiers and the best result achieved by ensemble voting model in terms of area under the ROC curve (AUC= 0.96).

CONCLUSION

AUC Comparison of models showed that the ensemble voting method significantly outperformed all models except for two methods of Random Forest (RF) and Bayesian Network (BN) considered the overlapping 95% confidence intervals. This result may indicate high predictive power of these two methods along with ensemble voting for predicting 5-year survival of CRC patients.

Study the effects of mesenchymal stem cell conditioned medium injection in mouse model of acute colitis

BACKGROUND AND AIM

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an autoimmune-inflammatory disorder that results in inflammatory responses in individuals who are genetically susceptible. Uncontrolled inflammation in Crohn's disease (CD) or Ulcerative colitis (UC) affects the patient quality of life. Current therapies are not completely effective while cell therapy, especially the treatment with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) absorb lots of attention due to its immunomodulatory properties. So, we examined the effects of mesenchymal stem cells-conditioned medium (MSC-CM) in the experimental model of acute colitis.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

MSC-CM was isolated from C57Bl/6 male mice and stored. The acute colitis induction in C57BL/6 mice was performed by dissolving dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) in drinking water and then CM injected intraperitoneally. During the study body weight changes, bleeding, stool consistency, disease activity index (DAI), mortality rate, weight and length of the colon and histopathological analysis were recorded as well as changes in the percentage of Treg cells. The level of IL-17, IL-10, and TGF-β were measured, too. Data were reported as mean±SD and analyzed by One-Way ANOVA test.

RESULTS

Based on the results it is recognized CM inhibited the weight loss and bleeding and improved fecal consistency and DAI. Macroscopic examination of the colon showed that after infusion, colon inflammation was reduced and histopathological analysis showed a decrease in mucosal degeneration. The percentage of Treg cells, secretion of IL-10 and TGF-β was increased while the IL-17 level was reduced.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that mesenchymal stem cell secretion with immunomodulatory properties has the potential to reduce inflammatory responses.