Indian J Med Res
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Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) signalling pathway has been reported to be involved in metastasis and at the same time has been considered compellingly an important mediator of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Besides, EMT process is maintained by zinc-finger E-box-binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) gene which is induced by TGF-β pathway. TGF-β has been shown to be associated with elevated microsatellite alterations at selected tetranucleotide repeats (EMAST) phenomenon, which is one of the prognostic biomarkers of colorectal cancer (CRC). This study was conducted to determine the link among ZEB1-induced TGF-β, EMAST status and metastasis. ⋯ Our results validated significant association between activated TGF-β signalling pathway and EMAST+ phenotype with higher expression of ZEB1 and higher level of metastasis.
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Various studies have suggested a correlation between Fas cell surface death receptor/Fas ligand (FAS/FASL) variants and multiple types of cancers. The present study aimed to investigate the association between FAS-670A/G and FASL-844C/T and the synergistic effects of both variants on the risk of gastric cancer (GC) in the Kurdish population of west of Iran. ⋯ So far, we believe this is the first study, the results of which suggest that FASL gene variation and its synergistic effects with FAS gene could be associated with the risk of GC in the Kurdish population in the west of Iran.
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Financing healthcare services through out-of-pocket payments is common in India. Household impoverishments due to health expenditure can be daunting, especially among the economically vulnerable households. This study investigated hospitalization and patient's health expenditure in Odisha State in India. ⋯ Our analysis indicated that predisposing factors such as age and marital status played an important role in hospitalization whereas, enabling factors likely determined the health expenditure. There is a need to recognize the unique vulnerabilities of older population, widowed and health financial mechanism for disability-related illness.
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Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is known to induce inflammation and activation of neutrophils causing the release of neutrophil elastase (NE), a pro-inflammatory proteinase. The activity of NE is regulated by endogenous inhibitors alpha1-antitrypsin (α1-AT) and alpha2-macroglobulin (α2-MG). Disrupted proteolytic homeostasis in T2DM patients is one of the causes for vascular complications. This study was carried out for evaluating the levels of plasma NE, α1-AT, α2-MG and NE-α1-AT complex to understand their roles in the pathophysiology of diabetic nephropathy (DN) and diabetic retinopathy (DR). ⋯ Homeostasis of NE, α1-AT and α2-MG is disrupted in T2DM, DN and DR. Strikingly reduced levels of α1-AT observed in DR are indicative of its possible role in the pathophysiology of retinopathy and emphasizes α1-AT as a plausible therapeutic target.
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Several studies have provided evidence that opioids may play a role in cancer recurrence and metastasis. Multiple research data indicate that morphine can act as a proliferative or suppressive agent on tumour cells depending on the applied concentration. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate whether the presence of clinically relevant concentrations of morphine has any effect on the efficacy of paclitaxel, a widely used chemotherapeutic drug, on the viability and apoptosis of human triple-negative breast cancer cell line. ⋯ Our data suggest that morphine promotes breast cancer cell viability at clinically relevant plasma concentrations and reduces the apoptotic effect of paclitaxel. This interaction may be very important in clinical settings; however, more studies are needed to explore the plausible mechanisms of interaction and to correlate such findings through in vivo animal studies as well as clinically.