Mahzad Erami, Mahmood Saffari, Seyeid Ali Pourbakhsh, Seyeid Jamal Hashemi,
Volume 14, Issue 2 (5-2011)
Abstract
Background: Food contamination with fungi and the production of mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin, allow the toxins to enter human body. Continuous contamination with low doses of these agents can act as a major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma. Thus the present study was carried out to evaluate the detection of contamination in eggs with aflatoxin by PCR method.
Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, a total of 144 suspicious and 211 intake eggs were collected and three samples of fungi including aspergillus niger, penicillium expansum, and fusarium verticillioides as negative controls and 14 samples of aspergillus flavus as positive controls were selected and examined using TLC and PCR. The results were analyzed through SPSS software.
Results: By PCR, neither aflR, omt-A, and ver-1, nor-1 was detected in intake eggs by PCR. Of the suspected eggs, four samples with nor-1, two samples with aflR, and two samples with omt-A could be detected. Three samples of the 14 strains of aspergillus flavus were shown to be positive through the use of TLC and the four primers. One strain of aspergillus flavus was positive with all of the four primers however, it was negative in TLC.
Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that PCR is a sensitive, fast, and specialized technique, but it cannot detect the presence of the fungi before the appearance of colonization. Thus for indicating toxcification, other complementary tests are also required.
Reza Hashemi, Maryam Peymani, Kamran Ghaedi, Hana Saffar,
Volume 25, Issue 1 (April & May- 2022)
Abstract
Background and Aim PBK is a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPKK) among MEK1/2 and MEK7 and can phosphorylate P38, JNK, and ERK in many cellular functions. The E2F transcription factor family also belongs to a class of cellular regulators acting as oncogenes and tumor suppressors. This study aims to investigate the expression of PBK and E2F7 in the early stages of colorectal cancer (CRC) compared to advanced stages based on the experimental and TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) database.
Methods & Materials A total of 32 tissue samples of patients with CRC with the approval of a pathobiologist were collected according to the examination and criteria reported from different stages. After RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, the RT-qPCR technique was used to evaluate the expression of the desired genes in the study groups. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was also used to determine the ability of each of the selected genes to differentiate the two populations: stage I+II and stage III+IV.
Ethical Considerations In all stages of this research, codes of ethics of research and publication were observed.
Results In this study, it was shown that the expression of PBK and E2F7 significantly increased in stage I+II samples compared to stage III+IV. These data were confirmed by laboratory results and information extracted from the TCGA database. Also, based on the area under curve obtained from the ROC curves, these two genes are significantly distinguishable between stage I+II and III+IV populations in CRC.
Conclusion According to the results of this study, PBK and E2F7 genes are good markers in the diagnosis of CRC.
