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Background: Vibrio cholerae is a gram-negative bacterial pathogen that causes diarrheal disease cholera. One of the most pathogenic factors of Vibrio cholera is pili. Pili plays an important role in colonization and persistence of bacteria in small intestine. Materials and Methods: In this study, pili A (tcpA) gene was amplified by Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method and sub-cloned into expression vectors such as pGEX4T-1. Escherichia coli competent cells were transformed by recombinant plasmids and the expression of protein with IPTG. The recombinant proteins were purified by affinity chromatography (GST) and immunoblot analysis was used for evaluation of new recombinant proteins antigenicity. The concentration of recombinant proteins was measured according to Bradford assay. Results: The results of this study indicated that recombinant proteins were expressed successfully in competent cell of E. coli, such as E. coli BL21 (DH3). The recombinant protein was purified by affinity chromatography (GST). The immunoreactivity pattern of anti-Tcp antibody with recombinant proteins of TcPA showed that the recombinant proteins had antigenic properties. Conclusion: Because these recombinant proteins are antigenic, these proteins may be considered as tentative candidates for designing cholera vaccine.

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Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a serious problem of pregnancy and its etiology is still unknown. The inheritance of preeclampsia is one of the theories regarding to the etiology of preeclampsia. Methylenetetrahydrofolatereductase (MTHFR) is a key enzyme in folate metabolism and the C677T polymorphism of the MTHFR gene is associated with decrease MTHFR activity, and therefore cause higher blood levels of homocysteine and leads to vascular disease that can be the reason of preeclampsia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between MTHFR gene C677T polymorphism with PE development in south-west of Iran.

Materials and Methods: This case-control study was performed in 129 preeclamptic pregnant women and 125 control individuals.The C677T polymorphism of the MTHFR gene was determined by PCR-RFLP method.

Results: The CC, CT and TT genotypes frequency of C677T polymorphism of MTHFR gene were 57.4, 38.8 and 3.9 percent in preeclamptic women and 53.6, 40 and 6.4 percent in control group. They were not significantly different (p=0.614). However, the frequency of TT genotype was higher in control group (p=0.36). There was not any significant difference in T allele distribution between preeclamptic women (23.3%) and control group (26.4%).

Conclusion: Our results showed that there was not any correlation between the C677T polymorphism and PE but the TT genotype of C677T polymorphism seems to be a protective factor for preeclampsia.