Iranian Journal Of Pathology
Volume:4 Issue: 1, winter 2009

Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death indeveloped countries. In addition to traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease, nowadays,accumulating evidence indicates that a variety of infections contribute to pathogenesis ofatherosclerosis, (We investigated whether Helicobacter pylori infection is related to Prpevalenceof coronary heart disease) there is controversy concerning the impact of H.pylori infections inatherosclerosis. This case-control study was carried out on 130 subjects who underwentcoronary angiography in the School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran, fromOct 2006 to Oct 2007. According to angiography findings, the patients were grouped into cases(n=70) with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), and normal control group (n=60). Then, using ELISAmethod, specific anti H.pylori IgGs were measured in all subjects. The connection between CAD andH.pylori infection was studied. Among the 130 patients, anti-H.pylori IgGs were detected in 80% of cases and 65%of control subjects (P=0.05). The investigation shows that CAD correlated significantly withhypertension, diabetes, and smoking (P<0.05) although there was no associations between thesetraditional risk factors, and H.pylori infection. These findings raise the possibility that exposure to H.pylori may lead to an increasedrisk of coronary artery disease independent of other risk factors.

Preterm labor is a serious problem in obstetrics, accounting for70% of perinatal mortality. High sensitive C - reactive protein (HS-CRP) is a sensitive marker ofInflammation. Our aim in this study was to determine Amniotic fluid hs-CRP concentration and itscorrelation with pre-Term delivery. This prospective study was conducted on 90 pregnant women whounderwent genetic amniocentesis between the 15th and 20th weeks of gestation. All patients werefollowed until delivery. Pateints with abnormal karyotype and iatrogenic preterm delivery for fetaland maternal indications were excluded. The samples were carried immediately to the laboratoryof Imam Khomaini Hospital Complex, Tehran, Iran for cytogenetic examination and tested for HSCRPby turbidimetric method. Non parametric tests and receiver-operating characteristics curveanalysis were used for statistical purpose. The study showed no correlation between amniotic fluid HS-CRP concentrations withpreterm delivery. Maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels were higher in patients deliveredpreterm compared with term deliveries (P=0.036). Our results implicated that HS-CRP like other acute phase response markers wasnot as a possible risk marker of preterm delivery.

Presence of steroid hormone receptors (estrogen and progesterone)in the tumor tissues of various organs correlates with response to therapy and prognosis. Sincetheir role in ovarian cancer is still controversial, in this study we investigated the expression andprognostic value of the estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) in ovarian papillaryserous carcinoma (PSC). In this retrospective study we determined the expression of tissue receptorsincluding tissue samples from 36 patients with stage III ovarian PSC by Immunohistochemistrymethod. Then ER and PR expression correlated with clinicopathological parameters and possibleprognostic impact on ovarian PSC were investigated. The correlation between age and survey of patients with ovarian PSC and expressionof steroid receptor was not significant. Although correlation between severity of expression of PRand mortality rate was not meaningful, the relationship between severity of ER expression andmortality rate was significant (P=0.02) The determination of steroid receptor status may offer additional prognosticinformation in ovarian carcinoma (PSC).

Antisense peptide nucleic acids (PNA) that target growth essentialgenes show potent bactericidal properties without cell lysis. We considered the possibility thatwhether PNA treatment influence the bacteria total nucleic acids content and apply approach todevelop a new delivery system to Dendritic cells (DCs). DCs are the most potent antigen presentingcells in the immune systems. Since the uptake of bacteria by DC is a necessary step for generationof effective DNA vaccine, we studied the uptake efficiency of PNA treated bacteria by DCs. Total nucleic acids of anti- acyl carrier protein (acpP) peptide-PNA treatedEscherichia coli Hb101 containing plasmid have been isolated. In addition, peripheral bloodmonocytes have been purified using mouse anti- cluster of differentiated (CD14) coated magneticbeads and then culture in presence of growth factors. Generated DCs have been assessed for theirability of uptake of flurescein isothiocyanate (FITC) - labeled peptide-PNA treated bacteria andheat inactivated by flow cytometry. The preparation of total nucleic acid from peptide-PNA treated showed five distinctbands which correspond to chromosomal DNA, plasmid DNA, 23S ribosomal RNA (rRNA), 16SrRNA and mixture of small RNA. DCs incubated with FITC- labeled peptide-PNA treated and heatinactivated bacteria showed almost equal fluoresence intensity. Peptide–PNA treatment bacteria are intact and do not appear to alter cell barriersand nucleic acid content. They can be taken up by DCs efficiently. These finding may confirm newapplication for peptide-PNA in immunology and DNA vaccine.

Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is an autosomaldominant cancer predisposition syndrome caused by germ-line mutations in DNA mismatch repairgenes. Tumors arising as a result of these mutations display instability in a sequence area knownas microsatellites. Studies have shown that some Bethesda markers (BAT25, BAT26) are moreefficient than others in identifying Microsatellite Instability (MSI) in tumors of HNPCC patients.The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible benefits of two MSI markers BAT25 and BAT26to identifying microsatellite instability in tumor tissues from HNPCC patients. We used 49 cases gathered from north-east Iran. Microsatellite Instabilityanalysis was performed using fluorescent-labeled primers. Statistical analysis was achieved usingSPSS software. 24/5% (12/49) and 34.7% (17/49) of the cases showed MSI in BAT25 and BAT26,respectively. None of tumor sample was MSI positive for both markers. MSI frequency is considerably lower, compared to other findings. This might be dueto the fact that environment and Race has great influence on MSI frequency.

Approximately half of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphomaare cured with current chemotherapy regimens. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Bax andBcl2 expression and their relationship with the response to chemotherapy. This study was a prospective analysis on 44 patients with diffuse largeB-cell lymphoma. Their specimens were stained with immunohistochemistery method for Bax andBcl2. The relationship between Bax/Bcl2 expression and the response to chemotherapy as well assome other prognostic factors were assessed. Out of 44 patients, 29 were Bax+ and 15 Bax-, 31 Bcl2+ and 13 Bcl2-. We found astatistically significant relationship between IPI score and the response to chemotherapy (P = 0.002).The response rates were relatively better (but not significant) in cases with Bax + compared to Baxandin patients with Bcl2- compared to Bcl2 + tumors. The combination of immunohistochemisteryresults for Bcl2 and Bax could predict relatively higher response rates in a way that those with Bax+Bcl2- had a higher response compared to Bax- Bcl2+ (57%% VS.22%, P=0.15). Although we found a relatively higher responses in our cases with Bax+vs. Bax- and inthose with Bcl2- vs. Bcl2 +, the differences were not statistically significant. We suggest further studiesto confirm whether the Bcl2 and Bax expressions have any effect on the response to chemotherapyand whether they could be considered as predictor factors for chemotherapy response.

Bone marrow necrosis (BMN) is a rare and ominous complicationof wide variety of diseases including hematologic malignancy. This study was performed to identifyfrequency and the underlying associated diseases of marrow necrosis. In this descriptive study, totally 850 bone marrow trephine biopsiesrelated to living patients at the Pathology Department of Urmia Imam Hospital from March 1998 toJanuary 2008, were retrospectively reviewed. The reviews included clinical and laboratory findingsfrom files of the patients. Eight cases of bone marrow necrosis were found. Frequency was 0.94 percent. Ages ofthe patients were between 18 and 85 years, and four of them were female. Prominent symptoms ofthe patients were bone pain, fever, fatigue, and jaundice. The most common laboratory findingswere anemia, cytopenia, elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP).Underlying diseases of bone marrow necrosis in our patients includes systemic lupus erythematosus,multiple myeloma, metastatic gastric cancer, acute myeloid leukemia (M4), hairy cell leukemia,lymphoma, chronic myeloid leukemia and sepsis. Our findings suggest that the conditions associated with BMN are varied andmalignancy remains common. In cases presented with pyrexia, bone pain, pancytopenia, elevatedLDH and ALK, marrow necrosis must be thought. Although prognosis is very bad, supplementarytherapy, in addition to the underlying disease must be performed.