Assessment of oxidative stress in patients with sickle cell disease: The glutathione system and the oxidant-antioxidant status.

Continuous reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) may alter their overall redox status and cause tissue damage. The aim of this study was to evaluate oxidative stress in patients with SCD using two new assays, FORT (free oxygen radical test) and FORD (free oxygen radical defense) along with assessment of glutathione system including superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities, vitamins A, C and E, malondialdehyde (MDA), non-transferrin bound iron (NTBI) and nitric oxide (NO) concentrations. A total of 40 patients with SCD and 25 apparently healthy volunteers (control group) were enrolled in the study.

Real-time quantification of CK-19 mRNA-positive cells in peripheral blood of breast cancer patients using the lightcycler system.

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to develop a quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for CK19-mRNA and evaluate its clinical potential for the molecular detection of occult carcinoma cells in the peripheral blood of breast cancer patients.

Experimental Design: The method is based on real-time monitoring during PCR of fluorescently labeled specific hybridization probes for CK19-mRNA. The breast cancer cell line MCF-7 was used for the development and analytical evaluation of the assay.