Iraqi Journal of Cancer and Medical Genetics

A quinazoline ring possess interesting biological activities, we study the combined cytotoxic activity, induction of apoptosis and antioxidant enzyme modulation of new synthetic aquinazoline compound in several cancer cell lines. This compound is 3-amino-2-methylquinazolin-4(3H)-one (L), it was synthesized in the laboratories of Department of Applied Science - University of Technology – Iraq. Its showed potent cytotoxic and growth inhibition effect on all cancer cell lines tested. Cells death was due to the induction of apoptosis through modulation of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione S transferase (GST) and glutathione (glutathione L-glutamyl-L-cysteinylglycine, GSH). These results indicate that this compound has desirable drug-like properties; it’s of great significance to understand its full anti proliferative mechanism.

Spironolactone SPL stock solution was studied against two cancer cell lines Hep-2, and AMN-3. These cell lines were exposed to different concentrations of SPL ranged from 0.0019 to 1000 μg/ml for 24, 48 and 72 hours durations. The optical density was measured under wavelength 492 nm with micro-ELISA reader after their staining with crystal violet dye. The results revealed a clear cytotoxic activity of pure SPL with high significances in a two cancer cell lines during the three exposure time, suggesting that the cytotoxic effect of pure spironolactone is a dose and time dependant. The best cytotoxic activity was on AMN-3 and Hep-2 cell lines at the high concentrations 1000, 500, 250, 125μg/ml. The results also suggest that AMN-3 cell line is the most sensitive cancer cell line to pure SPL than Hep-2 cell line after 24 hr. of exposure to drug.

The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene in humans has an insertion-deletion (I/D) polymorphic which produce three allelic variants: II, ID & DD that associated with population relativity and relation with many genetic disease. The polymorphisms of ACE gene were investigated using polymerase chain reaction. The results showed a high frequency of the DD allele among the Iraqi Arab populations (50%), which is similar to those obtained from previous studies for Arab populations. More ever the distribution of ACE genotype among male and female (n= 100, 53male & 47 female) showed DD: 47.17%, II: 22.6% & ID: 30.19% in the male group and DD: 40.43%, II: 17.02% & ID42.55:% in the female group. Significant association of hypertension & diabetic with D allele of the ACE gene has been in Iraqi Arab population.

The oxidative stress and the status of erythrocyte glutathione defense system were studied in male patients with gastric carcinoma in order to elucidate their clinical importance in the diagnosis. The study included 60 male patients with gastric cancer (30 non-smokers and 30 smokers) and an equal number of age-matched healthy control subjects. The incidence of oxidative stress was determined by measurement of the oxidative stress marker-malondialdehyde (MDA) in the plasma. The status of glutathione defense system was determined by measuring the level of reduced glutathione, as well as the activity of the enzymes: superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), glutathione-S-transferase (GST) in the erythrocytes. After data analysis the following observations were obtained: plasma MDA level was significantly higher in smokers than non-smokers gastric cancer patients. The activities of erythrocyte SOD, CAT, GSH-Px, GST and reduced GSH levels were decreased in gastric cancer patients who were smokers as compared to non-smokers gastric cancer patients. In conclusion, smokers with gastric carcinoma are at high risk of oxidative stress, which in turn may result in initiating the promotion phase of carcinogenesis and generation of more cancerous cells. Moreover; plasma MDA and erythrocyte glutathione defense system may serve as a good auxiliary biochemical index in the diagnosis of patients with gastric carcinoma.

Background: Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL) and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma( NHL) are characterized by a profound disturbance of the cell cycle and apoptosis regulation., Ki-67 and P53 expression has been shown to be associated with adverse clinical outcome in a variety of malignant hematological disorders, including HL and NHL.
Aim: This study aimed to clarify Ki-67 expression level and its correlation with p53 expression in HL and NHL.
Material and methods: total of 28 newly diagnosed HL and NHL patients were investigated for Ki-67 expression and its correlation to p53 expression by immunohistochemical technique.
Results: Ki-67 expression was observed in 46.7 % of HL patients while 7.7% of NHL patients gave positive Ki-67 expression. A significant Association between thetype of lymphoma and Ki67 expression (p<0.05) noticed. The histopathologcal type appeared to be 57.1% mixed cellularity and 37.5% of them showed positive Ki67 expression, while 42.9 % were intermediate grade and only 16.7 % showed positive Ki67 expression. There were no significant correlation between the histopathologcal type and Ki67 expression. only 4 ( 14.3 %) of the cases were p53 negative, while the rest 24 cases were p53 positive, and the majority ( 66.7% ) were within score 2 . Eight cases ( 28.6 %) were positive for Ki-67 and p53, Ki-67 was negative in 71.4% cases, and four of them were negative for p53 and the rest 16 ( 80% )cases were p53 positive. A significant correlation was found between p53 and Ki-67 expression where( r=0.608,p=0.001).
conclusion: it is suggested that immunohistochemical studies of p53 and Ki-67 expression in tumor tissue including HL and NHL can help in monitoring of patients at risk, and the markers may aid in controlling the progression of lymphoma and detect the degree of aggressiveness of the disease to give suitable treatment and management of patients.

Background: Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is a pleiotropic cytokine with a range wide of physiologic and pathophysiology activities, in addition to its role as an immunomodulatory cytokine. IL-8 is thought to function as a growth and differentiation factor in human cancer, by modulating metastasis and angiogenesis.
Objectives: Determination of serum level of IL-8 in women with breast cancer, bengin tumor and healthy women and to assess, whether it correlates with the disease progression.
Subjects and Methods: In the current study, the IL-8 levels were measured in 41 women with breast cancer, 21 with bengin tumor and 20 healthy women. Serum concentrations of human IL-8 were determined by enzyme – linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA)
Results: The levels of serum IL-8 were increased significantly in breast cancer patients compared with bengin tumor and healthy women (P<0.05). Higher serum concentrations of IL-8 were seen in stage III of the disease compared to values obtained from stage II patients (P>0.05).
Conclusions: The present study indicates that elevated IL-8 serum concentrations are strongly associated with breast cancer and correlated with clinical stage of disease. These results suggest that serum IL-8 measurements may be useful in estimation of disease progression in women with breast cancer.

To find DNA markers associated with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) using RAPD-PCR (Random amplified polymorphic DNA-Polymerase Chain Reaction). Peripheral blood samples were collected from 12 unrelated Iraqis with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 10 apparently healthy individuals (control subjects). DNA was extracted and amplified using RAPD-PCR. Out of the 16 primers used, 3 did not produce amplification patterns. Seven primers produced monomorphic bands while 6 primers namely A10, A18, C5, D20, R3 and R4 produced polymorphic DNA profiles. The highest discriminatory power was produced by primers A18 and D20 reaching 25%. Primer D20 produced the highest number of bands (16) and largest molecular weight band 2.470Kb whilst primer A10 produced the lowest number of bands (3) and primer R4 the smallest molecular weight band of 0.296Kb. Furthermore a band of 1.056 Kb was produced by primer R4 with frequency of 100% in diabetic patients and total absence in control subjects. The total length of the genome screened was approximately 118.661Kb, 40% of which represent polymorphisms. In conclusion Polymorphisms between diabetic patients and control subjects can be detected by RAPD-PCR and DNA markers associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus can be found using the same technique.

In this study thirty healthy male mice (Swiss albino aged of eight week) were used and divided in five groups. Three groups were feed with bread made of flour containing spinach (three different percentage 10%, 20%, and 30% respectively) as source of iron, compare with group number four which was feed with bread made of flour fortified with premix (consist of FeSO4, Folic acid and Maize starch). It is add according to the information given by the supplier (200g/ 1000 kg flour). Group number five was the control (feed with bread made of unfortified flour). Same food was used during the time of the experiment (fourteen days). The study was designed to make anemia in all groups by injection with phenylhydrazine . Samples of blood were taken by bleeding through heart puncture to measure the hemoglobin (Hb) and the packed cell volume (PCV). At the end of the experiment, mice in all the groups were then sacrificed and slides from the tissues of heart, kidney, liver and spleen had been made to measure the histological effects of these sources of iron. Results showed that there were significant differences in weights, (Hb) and (PCV) between mice feed with bread containing (10%, 20% and 30%) spinach and that containing premix and the control. In the same time slides of harts, kidneys, livers and spleens did not showed any detectable effect.

The pristane oil induced mouse plasmacytoma (MPC) model is the most widely used and accepted model and has provided the most data on plasmacytomagenesis so far. Plasmacytoma were induced in Swiss mice by the intraperitoneal injection of pristane (2,6,10,14-tetra-methylpentadecane) after a latent period of 5-6 months where the mice developed ascites tumors. Aspirated cells were cultured in tissue culture flasks and kept under observation and further passaged to obtain continues cell line. Peritoneal exudate cells were prepared from pristane-treated and control uninjected mice during the course of a 6-month period, and these cell suspensions were studied by means of cytology, histology and Immunohistochemistry methods to identify the plasmacytoma specific markers and the genetic changes. Results showed induction of the tumor in 50% of injected mice and the new cultured cell line were negative for Retinoblastoma (RB) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).

This study was carried out to extract the phenolic compounds from tea leaves and pomegranate peel. It appeared that tea leaves contain 7 phenolic compounds: epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate, epigallocatechin, catechin, quercetin, myricitin, rutin, and gallic acid. Their concentrations were 8.9, 6.6, 2.4, 1.8, 1.4, 1.2, and 0.9 mg/g respectively. The total amount of phenolic compounds in tea leaves was 23.2 mg/g. The pomegranate peel contained 3 phenolic compounds: tannic acid, ellagic acid and gallic acid with a concentration of 2.0, 5.3, and 407 respectively. The total amount of phenolic compounds in pomegranate peel was 12.00 mg/g. Both tea leaves and pomegranate peel extracts inhibit the proliferation of two cancer cell lines, AMN3 and Hela with a concentration of 125, 250, and 500 ug/ml, and there was a positive concentration–effect relationship. The results were discussed according to the previously known biological effects of phenolic compounds.

The spawn of the oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus ( Jaq: Fr. ) was added to a sterilized and moist wheat straw
and incubated at 25 ± 2 ºC for one month then transferred to the growth room at 25 ± 2ºC and 80-90% humidity and
light was raised to 400 Lux.
The fruiting bodies were dried and used for water extract of oyster mushroom. The extract was added to the line of
cancer cells Hep-2 at the following concentration: 0.0 , 15.6 , 31.25 , 62.5 , 125 , 250 , 500 , 1000 micro gram / ml.The
Results showed that the water extract of the oyster mushroom inhibited the growth of cancer cells at the concentration
of 500 and 1000 microgram/ml after 24 hour of incubation at 37ºC. Increasing the incubation time to 48 hours increased
the inhibition
effect of the mushroom extract at all the concentrations used, while the growth of the untreated cells was not inhibited.
Our conclustion the extract have inhibition effect on cell growth depend up on the time of exposure and concentration.