International Journal of Hematology-Oncology and Stem Cell Research
Volume:3 Issue: 4, Oct 2009

Leptin is an adipocyte-derived hormone. Exogenous leptin allows the recovery of the reproductive function. In humans, leptin correlates positively with the body mass index (BMI). The aim of this study was to investigate the association of leptin with the toxic effects of iron overload. 219 Major Beta thalassemic patients (119 men, 100 women) and 137 non thalassemic individuals (86 men, 51 women) were investigated on the basis of a case control study. Data was gathered from six hospitals related to Tehran University during a seven month petiod (July 2006– January 2007). Blood samples of all major beta thalassemic patients who were admitted to these hospitals for recurrent blood transfusion were collected. Non thalassemic individuals were selected from outpatients who without significant medical problems, had come to these hospitals and had extra blood sample. The similarities of the two groups in age, gender and BMI also were considered. The serum leptin level median was 5.00 (interquartile range: 6.50) for major beta thalassemic patients and 6.10 (interquartile range: 7.00) for healthy individuals. Serum leptin level was significantly lower in thalassemic patients (P value <0.001). Major beta thalassemic men had significantly lower leptin level (median, interquartile range: 2.90, 3.60) than major beta thalassemic women (median, interquartile range: 6.45, 16.02; P value <0.001). This study confirmed that the adipocytes of major beta thalassemic patients are unable to maintain adequate leptin production. These results suggest that adipose tissue dysfunction can be considered one of the endocrinopathies affecting major beta thalassemic patients.

Dental pulp-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as a promising tool for use in regenerative medicine. The in vitro growth kinetic and culture requirement of the cells derived from human dental pulp, which is the subject of this present study, is poorly described. Stem cells were derived from human third molar and then characterized. The in vitro growth kinetics of the cells was examined by colonogenic assay and a determination of the population doubling number (PDN). Finally, the culture conditions were optimized for pulp stem cell maximum proliferation. Propagated dental pulp cells tended to differentiate into odontoblast, osteoblast, adipose and cartilage cells. Typically surface antigens were expressed as mesenchymal stem cells. The cells tended to be very proliferative with a PDN value of about 11. The colonogenic efficiency was about 60% and an average colony size was about 10.75±1.58 mm2. The best culture condition for enhanced proliferation was achieved when the cells were seeded at 100 cells/cm2 in a the presence of 20% FBS in a medium (P<0.05). Taken together, the optimal culture conditions for human dental pulp-derived MSCs were determined. This information is helpful with respect to cell in vitro propagation which is greatly needed prior to their transplantation.

About half of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) adult patients have no cytogenetic abnormalities as a main determinant of complete remission after treatment, so other markers are needed such as FLT3-ITD (Fms-like Tyrosine kinase3-internal tandem duplication) mutations in patients with normal karyotype. The objective of this study was assessing the frequency of FLT3-ITD mutations and its relation with complete remission in different FAB (French- American- British) and cytogenetic subgroups of AML patients who had been hospitalized at Tehran Imam Khomeini Hospital, hematology ward. The current study, was a cross sectional descriptive study which was performed during the years 2007-2008. Population frame were consecutive patients whose diseases were confirmed and who had been hospitalized in Tehran Imam Khomeini Hospital, hematology ward. Contemporary, flowcytometry, cytogenetic and chromosomal studies were performed for the cytogenetic subgroup assessment and to investigate the presence of FLT3-ITD mutation. Finally, complete remission achievement after induction chemotherapy were assessed. The obtained data was entered onto the information forms and analyzed by statistical tests. Out of 40 patients who participated in this study, 18 (45%) were female and 22 (55%) were male. The median age of the patients with mutation was 33 years of age, and the ones without mutation were 39.5. M1, M2 and M4 FAB subgroups, with respectively 60, 37.5 and 35.7%, had the most occurrence of mutation. There was no significant relationship between mutation and the FAB subgroups (P=0.45). Favorable, intermediate and adverse cytogenetic risk groups had respectively 10, 37 and 66.7% mutations and 69.2% of the patients were in the normal karyotype group. Seventeen (42.5%) of the 40 patients achieved complete remission. 17.6% of them had mutations. There was no relationship between mutation and complete remission (P=0.085). There was no relationship between the presence of FLT3-ITD mutation and complete remission achievement following chemotherapy.

A study was made conserning 142 patients who were suffering from gastrointestinal lymphoma, were seen at the department of Hematology and Oncology, Esfahan Medical School, during the period 1982-2002. All patients had laparotomy, and biopsy of the site lesion. Histopathological subtypes were done in the International Working Formulation. Stage groupings were done applying the Crowther and Blackledge staging system. The post-laparotomy was made depending on the patient''s general condition, the completeness of surgery and histological subtype. There were 52 cases of gastrointestinal lymphoma in the stomach, 49 in the small intestine, 12 in the ileocecal region, 22 in the rectosigmoid and in seven of the cases, multiple sites in the gastrointestinal tract were involved. The overall survival rate was 47.8% at 5 years. Early stage disease and high-grade lymphoma have a better prognosis if treated adequately. Patients who had complete surgical removal of primary tumour (befor any metastasis) had a longer survival.

This paper represents a novel use of artificial neural networks in medical science. The proposed technique involves training a Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) (a kind of artificial neural network) with a BP learning algorithm to recognize a pattern for the diagnosing and prediction of five blood disorders, through the results of blood tests from H1 machine. The blood test parameters and diagnosis of physician about the diseases of 450 patients from Taleghani Hospital in Kermanshah, Iran, are used in a supervised training method to update network parameters. This method was implemented to diagnose these disorder and cancer: Megaloblastic Anaemia, Thalassemia, Idiopathic thrombocytopenic pupura (ITP), Chronic myelogenous leukemia and Lymphoproliferative.

Colo-rectal cancer has 10% prevalence, among all of the cancer proportionally and also it is the third common cancer in the both sexes. Two recently introduced active drugs in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer (ACC) are irinotecan and oxaliplatin. The combinations of oxaliplatin (OXA) or irinotecan (IRI) with 5FU-LV have been accepted as standard treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer.Patients and fifty four patients with colo-rectal cancer who came to the Oncology Clinic of Kermanshah University were assessed over a period of 4 years (2005-2008). All cases in stage III were treated by FOLFOX, unlike the patients in Stage IV treated with FOLFOX during 8 cycles fallowed by FOLFIRI in the same cycles (Sequential method). the age average was less (49.1 years versus 55 years) than in other studies (6). A parallel analyzation of solid data, overall survival (OS), progression free survival (PFS) were 18 and 17.3 months, respectively. FOLFOX and FOLFIRI were administrated in 8 cycles each concomitantly (Sequential form) which provided considerable response with manageable complications. The result of the treatment in the study was correlated with other trials utilizing more modern procedures of medication like ‘Target therapies’ (OS; 18.4m for CT versus 19-20m for target therapies).

Gastric cancer is the second most common GI malignancy in Zahedan. This investigation was undertaken to define the demographic, clinicopathological, and prognostic factors relevant to patients with gastric adenocarcinoma We did a retrospective study of 100 patients with gastric cancer who had been at Ali Ebne Abitaleb Hospital and Khatam al Anbia Hospital in 2004-2006. Data analysis was done using the Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox proportional hazard model. The mean patient age at diagnosis was 50 years (range= 28-83 years), and 68% were male. The male-to-female ratio of patients was 2.1/1. Ninety-six percent of the patients were Iranian and in the Balouch ethnic group was presented more than the Sistani ethnic group, and 4% were Afghan. Five percent of the patients reported a family history of gastric cancer. 67 patients (67 %) presented with stages III or IV disease, whereas 33 patients, with stages I or II disease. Poorly differentiated lesions were present in 71%. In 16 patients, metastasis was seen. Common chief complaint was abdominal pain in epigastria (58 %). Survival data was available in 78 cases. The median survival was 8 months. Gastric cancer is the second most common GI malignancies in Zahedan. This pattern is different from other regions in Iran that gastric cancer is most common GI malignancies. This fact will need to be confirmed by a longer period of observation.

JAK2 is a tyrosine kinase that plays an important role in the signaling pathways of many hematopoietic growth factor receptors. A single acquired point mutation – V617F – in JAK2 occurs in the great majority of patients with polycythemia vera (PV) and approximately half of the patients with idiopathic myelofibrosis (IMF) or essential thrombocythemia (ET). In contrast, the JAK2-V617F mutation is only rarely found in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) but, recently, some authors have reported the coexistence of JAK2V617F and BCR/ABL+ in CML patients expressing the p210 BCR–ABL oncoprotein. Here, we report a CML patient with the expression of p210/b2a2 type BCR–ABL transcript and JAK2V617F mutation.