Iranian Biomedical Journal
Volume:25 Issue: 2, Mar 2021

Characterization and extraction of plant secondary metabolites are important in agriculture, pharmaceutical, and food industry. In this regard, the applied analytical methods are mostly costly and time-consuming; therefore, choosing a suitable approach is essential for optimum results and economic suitability. One of the recently considered methods used to characterize new types of materials is MIPs. Among the various applications of MIPs is the identification and separation of various plant-derived compounds, such as secondary metabolites, chemical residues, and pesticides. The present review describes the application of MIPs as a tool in medicinal plant material analysis, focusing on plant secondary metabolism.

One of the main challenges with conventional scaffold fabrication methods is the inability to control scaffold architecture. Recently, scaffolds with controlled shape and architecture have been fabricated using three-dimensional printing (3DP). Herein, we aimed to determine whether the much tighter control of microstructure of 3DP poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid/β-tricalcium phosphate (PLGA/β-TCP) scaffolds is more effective in promoting osteogenesis than porous scaffolds produced by solvent casting/porogen leaching.

Physical and mechanical properties of porous and 3DP scaffolds were studied. The response of pre-osteoblasts to the scaffolds was analyzed after 14 days.

The 3DP scaffolds had a smoother surface (Ra: 22 ± 3 µm) relative to the highly rough surface of porous scaffolds (Ra: 110 ± 15 µm). Water contact angle was 112 ± 4° on porous and 76 ± 6° on 3DP scaffolds. Porous and 3DP scaffolds had the pore size of 408 ± 90 and 315 ± 17 µm and porosity of 85 ± 5% and 39 ± 7%, respectively. Compressive strength of 3DP scaffolds (4.0 ± 0.3 MPa) was higher than porous scaffolds (1.7 ± 0.2 MPa). Collagenous matrix deposition was similar on both scaffolds. Cells proliferated from day 1 to day 14 by fourfold in porous and by 3.8-fold in 3DP scaffolds. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was 21-fold higher in 3DP scaffolds than porous scaffolds.

The 3DP scaffolds show enhanced mechanical properties and ALP activity compared to porous scaffolds in vitro, suggesting that 3DP PLGA/β-TCP scaffolds are possibly more favorable for bone formation.

TNF-α and IL-6 are both pleiotropic cytokines playing major roles in cancer-associated cytokine networks. They have previously been investigated for their function in skin malignancies, mostly melanomas, and studies on non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) patients are relatively rara. In this study, we aimed to investigate the associations of serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-α with NMSCs and its clinicopathological features.

This cases-control study was carried out to assess the serum levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in 70 NMSC patients, in comparison with 30 healthy individuals, by means of flow cytometric bead-based immuneoassay.

Serum levels of both TNF-α and IL-6 were significantly higher in NMSC patients (6.470 vs. 4.355 pg/ml; p = 0.0468, respectively), compared to healthy individuals (3.205 vs. 0.000 pg/ml; p = 0.0126, respectively). In the subgroup analysis, squamous cell carcinomas patients had higher serum levels of IL-6 compared to healthy individuals (3.445 vs. 0.000 pg/ml; p = 0.0432). No other significant differences were observed in the serum levels of these two cytokines among different clinicopathological subgroups of the patients.

The increased levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in NMSC patients can be introduced as an epiphenomenon of a complex cancer-induced cytokine cascade.

LncRNAs are considered as novel biological regulators and potential cancer biomarkers. LncRNAs MVIH and AK058003 are associated with microvascular invasion in HCC. In BC, upregulated MVIH and AK058003 expression levels have been shown to promote cell proliferation, though LncRNA-AK058003 acts as a tumor suppressor in HCC.

Blood samples were collected from 30 healthy women and 30 female BC patients. RNA was extracted from the blood of both groups, and cDNA was then synthesized. Real-time PCR was used to measure the expression level of LncRNA-AK058003 and MVIH.

The expression level of two LncRNAs in the blood samples of BC patients increased significantly compared with healthy individuals. The levels of AK058003 and MVIH were not associated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.402 and p = 0.39), tumor size (p = 0.76 and p = 0.461), and TNM stage (p = 0.574 and p = 0.711), respectively.

As per our findings, LncRNA-AK058003 could serve as a suitable indicator for low stage of BC. In addition, the increased level of LncRNA-MVIH could be considered as a biomarker for BC, which needs more evaluation in the future.

Human embryonic stem cell-mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (hESCs-MSCs) open a new insight into future cell therapy applications, due to their unique characteristics, including immunomodulatory features, proliferation, and differentiation.

Herein, hESCs-MSCs were characterized by immunofluorescence technique with CD105 and FIBRONECTIN as markers and FIBRONECTIN, VIMENTIN, CD10, CD105, and CD14 genes using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction technique. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting was performed for CD44, CD73, CD90, and CD105 markers. Moreover, these fibroblast-like cells, due to multipotent characteristics, differentiated to the osteoblast.

MSCs were derived from diploid and triploid hESC lines using sequential three dimensional and two dimensional cultures and characterized with the specific markers. Immunofluorescence showed the expression of FIBRONECTIN and CD105 in hESCs-MSCs. Flow cytometry data indicated no significant difference in the expression of MSC markers after 6 and 13 passages. Interestingly, gene expression profiles revealed slight differences between MSCs from diploid and triploid hESCs. hESCs-MSCs displayed osteogenic differentiation capacity, which was confirmed by Alizarin red staining.

Our findings reveal that both diploid and triploid hESC lines are capable of forming MSCs; however, there are some differences in their gene expression profiles. Generation of MSCs from hESCs, as a non-invasive procedure in large scale, will lend itself for the future cell-based therapeutic applications.

To study the anticancer activity of Plantago major, we assessed the effect of ethanolic, methanolic and acetonic extracts of this plant on HCT-116, SW-480, and HEK-293 cell lines as control.

The cytotoxic activity, biocompatibility, and toxicity were evaluated by MTT assay, hemolysis, and Artemia salina-LD50 (on mice) tests, respectively. The analysis of the extracts of compounds was performed by GC-MS analysis.

The results showed that all the extracts had the most antiproliferative properties on the HCT-116 cell line. The root extract of P. major was more effective than the aerial parts, and IC50 values of ethanolic, methanolic and acetonic root extracts were 405.59, 470.16, and 82.26 µg/mL, respectively on HCT-116 cell line at 72 h. Hemolysis degree of the ethanolic extract of P. major aerial and root parts were approximately 1% at 400 μg/mL. No significant interference of the RBC was observed. The ethanolic extracts, the Artemia survived every concentration used, and no toxicity was observed. One week after the oral administration of different parts of P. major extracts, none of the mice died, even those were preserved with 2000 mg/kg. These results of GC/MS analysis showed that P. major extracts contain potential anticancer compounds, such as stearic acid (8.61%) in aerial parts of methanolic extract and 1,2- Benzenedicarboxylic acid, mono(2-ethylhexyl)ester (88.07% and 40.63%) in aerial and root parts of acetonic extract of P. major.

Our findings suggest that the P. major is a source of important pharmaceutical compounds with antiproliferative properties.

The significance of cTfh cells and their subsets in atherosclerosis is not well understood. We measured the frequency of cTfh subsets in patients with different degrees of stenosis using flow-cytometry.

Participants included high (≥50%; n = 12) and low (<50%; n = 12) stenosis groups, as well as healthy controls (n = 6).

The frequency of CCR7loPD-1hiefficient-cTfh was significantly higher in patients with high stenosis compared to healthy controls (p = 0.003) and correlated with low-density lipoprotein (LDL; p = 0.043), cholesterol (p = 0.043), triglyceride (p = 0.019), neutrophil count (p = 0.032), platelet count (p = 0.024), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR; p = 0.046), and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR; p = 0.025) in high stenosis group. The frequency of CCR7hiPD-1lo quiescent-cTfh was higher in healthy controls compared to the high-stenosis group (p = 0.001) and positively correlated with high-density lipoprotein (p = 0.046). The frequency of efficient-cTfh cells was correlated with platelet count (p = 0.043), NLR (p = 0.036), and PLR (p P = 0.035) in low-stenosis group, while that of quiescent-cTfh cells was negatively correlated with LDL (p = 0.034), cholesterol (p = 0.047), platelet count (p = 0.032), and PLR (p = 0.041).

High percentages of cTfh and efficient-cTfh cells in patients with advanced atherosclerosis and their correlation with dyslipidemia and white blood cell counts suggest an ongoing cTfh subset deviation, towards efficient phenotype in the milieu of inflammation and altered lipid profile. Efficient cTfh cells have an effector phenotype and could in turn contribute to atherosclerosis progression.

Cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis (CTX) is a rare congenital lipid-storage disorder, leading to a progressive multisystem disease. CTX with autosomal recessive inheritance is caused by a defect in the CYP27A1 gene. Chronic diarrhea, tendon xanthomas, neurologic impairment, and bilateral cataracts are common symptoms of the disease.

Three affected siblings with an initial diagnosis of non-syndromic intellectual disability were recruited for further molecular investigations. To identify the possible genetic cause(s), whole exome sequencing was performed on the proband. Sanger sequencing was applied to confirm the final variant. The clinical and molecular genetic features of the three siblings from the new CTX family and other patients with the same mutations, as previously reported, were analyzed. The CYP27A1 gene was also studied for the number of pathogenic variants and their location.

We found a homozygous splicing mutation, NM_000784: exon6: c.1184+1G>A, in CYP27A1 gene, which was confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Among the detected pathogenic variants, the splice site mutation had the highest prevalence, and the mutations were mostly found in exon 4.

This study is the first to report the c.1184+1G>A mutation in Iran. Our findings highlight the other feature of the disease, which is the lack of relationship between phenotype and genotype. Due to nonspecific symptoms and delay in diagnosis, CYP27A1 genetic analysis should be the definitive method for CTX diagnosis.