The Clinical and Molecular Assessment of Iranian Families with Severe Congenital Neutropenia, Identification of HYOU1 and SHOC2 as Potential Novel Gene Defects.

Neutropenia congenita grave (SCN) is a rare disease with a genetically and clinically heterogeneous nature, usually diagnosed in childhood, with an elevated risk of infections such as otitis, skin infections, pneumonia, deep abscesses, and septicemia. Patients with SCN also have an increased risk of leukemia, and mutations in the ELANE and the HAX1 genes have been observed in those patients. This study was conducted to genetically screen six Iranian families with SCN who have at least one affected person.

Identification of a Novel Homozygous Mutation in Gene in an Iranian Family with Bardet-Biedl Syndrome.

Background: Bardet-Biedl Syndrome (BBS) is a rare pleiotropic autosomal recessive disease related to ciliopathies with approximately 25 causative genes. BBS is a multisystemic disorder with wide spectrum of manifestations including truncal obesity, retinal dystrophy, male hypogenitalism, postaxial polydactyly, learning difficulties, and renal abnormalities.

Methods: A consanguineous Iranian family with a 28-year-old daughter affected with BBS, resulting from a first cousin marriage, was examined.

Healing Influence of Herbal Extract on Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in C57BL/6 Mice.

The present study was designed to primarily examine the therapeutic potential of the herbal extract of for the treatment of multiple sclerosis in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of the disease. The animal model was induced in C57BL/6 female mice, and then the herbal extract was intraperitoneally administered for a total of 21 days after the first day of post-immunization. The phenotypic signs, a gene expression profile of inflammatory cytokines, antioxidant state, and pathological hallmarks of the disease in the corpus callosum were evaluated.

A mutation in identified as a probable cause for autosomal recessive Peters anomaly in a consanguineous family.

Purpose: Peters anomaly (PA) is a heterogeneous developmental disorder characterized by central corneal opacity and iridocorneal or corneolenticular adhesions. Although many causative genes have been identified, most screened patients do not have mutations in the known genes. We aimed to identify the genetic cause of Peters anomaly in a pedigree with three affected individuals.

Clinical spectrum in multiple families with primary COQ deficiency.

Coenzyme Q COQ , an essential cofactor in the electron-transport chain is involved in ATP production. Primary COQ deficiency is clinically and genetically a heterogeneous group of mitochondrial disorders caused by defects in the COQ synthesis pathway. Its mode of inheritance is autosomal recessive and it is characterized by metabolic abnormalities and multisystem involvement including neurological features.

Giant axonal neuropathy: The first Iranian case with a variation in the gigaxonin gene and a glance to the other cases.

Giant axonal neuropathy (GAN) is a very rare fatal neurodegenerative disorder with clinical and allelic heterogeneity. The disease is caused by mutations in the GAN (gigaxonin) gene. Herein, we reported the clinical presentations and results of genetic analysis of the first Iranian GAN case.

Identification of PROS1 as a Novel Candidate Gene for Juvenile Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Homozygous mutations of PROS1, encoding vitamin K-dependent protein S (PS), have been reported so far to be associated with purpura fulminans, a characteristic fatal venous thromboembolic disorder. The current work for the first time reports the clinical phenotype in patients with juvenile retinitis pigmentosa harboring a novel likely pathogenic variant in thePROS1 gene. Whole-exome sequencing was performed on probands of a cohort with inherited retinal disease.

Novel Bi-allelic PDE6C Variant Leads to Congenital Achromatopsia.

Background: The clinical phenotyping of patients with achromatopsia harboring variants in phosphordiesterase 6C (PDE6C) has poorly been described in the literature. PDE6C encodes the catalytic subunit of the cone phosphodiesterase, which hydrolyzes the cyclic guanosine monophosphate that proceeds with the hyperpolarization of photoreceptor cell membranes, as the final step of the phototransduction cascade.

Methods: In the current study, two patients from a consanguineous family underwent full ophthalmologic examination and molecular investigations including WES.

Mutation in ALOX12B likely cause of POI and also ichthyosis in a large Iranian pedigree.

Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) is a clinically and etiologically heterogeneous disorder characterized by menstrual irregularities and elevated levels of FSH before age of 40 years. Genetic anomalies are among the recognized causes of POI. Here, we aimed to identify the genetic cause of POI in an inbred pedigree with nine POI and two ichthyosis-affected members.

Ellis-van Creveld syndrome: Report of a case and recurrent variant.

Background: Ellis-van Creveld syndrome (EvCS) is a rare autosomal recessive skeletal dysplasia that is characterized by short stature, short limbs, short ribs, polydactyly and structural heart defect. Despite locus heterogeneity, in the majority of the cases, the disorder segregates with mutations in the EVC and EVC2 genes, notably mutations with truncating protein as a final sequence. In the present study, we report the prenatal findings and genetic analysis of a terminated pregnancy affected by severe thoracic and skeletal dysplasia.

RPE65 and retinal dystrophy: Report of new and recurrent mutations.

Bachground: Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) is a severe and congenital or early onset form of inherited retinitis pigmentosa (RP). To date, approximately 25 genes have been introduced in relation to LCA. In this regard, retinal pigment epithelium-specific 65 kDa (RPE65) is a well-known gene mutation that plays a role in the pathogenesis of 5-10% of LCA cases.

The second mutation of SYCE1 gene associated with autosomal recessive nonobstructive azoospermia.

Purpose: It is estimated that 40-50% of infertility among human couples is due to male infertility. Azoospermia is estimated to occur in 1% of all men and to be the cause of 10-20% of male infertility. Genetic defects, including single gene effects, maybe cause of azoospermia in 20-30% of affected males.

Curcumin ameliorates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in a C57BL/6 mouse model.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Although the exact etiology of the disease is largely unknown, it is identified that cytokines may play an important role in the pathogenesis of MS. In this study, the effects of curcumin has been investigated on the expression levels of selected cytokine coding genes as well as the extent of demyelination in the corpus callosum of C57BL/6 experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of MS.

MFSD8 gene mutations; evidence for phenotypic heterogeneity.

Background: Cone-rod dystrophies are a group of genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous inherited degenerative retinal diseases primarily affecting macular and cone system function. MFSD8 loss-of-function variants are mainly related to the variant late-infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses which present with progressive motor and mental regression in combination with seizures, ataxia, and visual impairment.

Material And Methods: Clinical examination and genomic DNA extraction were collected from two unrelated Iranian families presenting with autosomal recessive cone-rod dystrophy.

Triploidy and Routine Combined First Trimester Pregnancy Screening.

Background: This report is about a pregnancy with a triploid fetus and underscores the potential of first trimester combined screening to detect this devastating chromosomal aberration earlier in pregnancy. This report is about a pregnancy with a triploid fetus identified from the first trimester combined screening and confirmed by amniocentesis.

Methods: A 28 year old, G5P2AB2 woman was referred to our clinic at 15 weeks of gestation due to a remarkable decrease of her first trimester double biochemical markers and therefore in the high-risk range for trisomy 13 and 18.

Prenatal Diagnosis of Mosaic Tetrasomy 18p in a Case without Sonographic Abnormalities.

Small supernumerary marker chromosomes (sSMC) are still a major problem in clinical cytogenetics as they cannot be identified or characterized unambiguously by conventional cytogenetics alone. On the other hand, and perhaps more importantly in prenatal settings, there is a challenging situation for counseling how to predict the risk for an abnormal phenotype, especially in cases with a sSMC. Here we report on the prenatal diagnosis of a mosaic tetrasomy 18p due to presence of an sSMC in a fetus without abnormal sonographic signs.

Report of a Triploid Fetus Identified in a Pregnancy with Oligohydramnios.

This report describes a pregnancy with a triploid fetus identified from a scan for anomalies at 18 weeks and confirmed by amniocentesis. A 29-year-old, primigravida woman was referred to our clinic for genetic counseling at 18 weeks of gestation because of a mild oligohydramnios due to amniotic fluid index (AFI) less than the fifth percentile in her 18th week. The woman underwent amniocentesis, which revealed a karyotype of 69,XXX.

Lack of Altered BECN1 Gene Expression in Iranian Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), one of the most prevalent leukemia types in adults, demonstrates great heterogeneity in molecular and clinical terms. Hence, there is a necessity to the mechanisms involved in AML generation in order to determine optimal treatment. This cross sectional study aimed to assess changes in BECN1 gene expression in with blood samples from 30 AML patients, compared with samples from 15 healthy persons.

A Clone with 5, 17 and 18 Monosomies as Stemline in a Patient with De novo Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

In brief, we present a case of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with 5, 17 and 18 monosomies as stemline clonal abnormality in his cytogenetic analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of such a chromosomal abnormality as a clonal aberration in AML with M0 French-American-British (FAB) type. It seems that this monosomal karyotype imposed adverse prognosis on this patient and could be related to the rapid and malignant course of the disease as seen.

Valproic acid may exerts its cytotoxic effect through rassf1a expression induction in acute myeloid leukemia.

In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), despite the acceptance of standard intensive chemotherapy as an optimal induction regimen for all age groups, in the elderly patients, the best treatment should meet the challenge of multiple factors like age, comorbidities, and cytogenetics, making them ineligible for standard induction chemotherapy. Using the current low-intensity therapies like decitabine, azacitidine, and low-dose cytarabine as a single arm, outcomes for these patients remain poor. As a histone deacetylase inhibitor valproic acid (VPA) exhibit anticancer activity by triggering apoptosis, the mechanism of which is not yet completely clarified.

Bioinformatics prioritization of SNPs perturbing microRNA regulation of hematological malignancy-implicated genes.

The contribution of microRNAs (miRNAs) to cancer has been extensively investigated and it became obvious that a strict regulation of miRNA-mRNA regulatory network is crucial for safeguarding cell health. Apart from the direct impact of miRNA dysregulation in cancer pathogenesis, genetic variations in miRNAs are likely to disrupt miRNA-target interaction. Indeed, many evidences suggested that SNPs within miRNA regulome are associated with the development of different hematological malignancies.

A mutational and expressional analysis of DNMT3A in acute myeloid leukemia cytogenetic subgroups.

Objectives: Despite numerous studies in order to determine the allele frequency and clinical impact of DNA methyltransferase 3 A (DNMT3A) gene mutations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), reports about the expression analysis of this gene are rare and between the available, differences are evident.

Methods: In this study, we decided to investigate DNMT3A possible expression changes with regard to their mutation and cytogenetic status in a series of 96 AML patients.

Results: Mutations were founded in 17 of the 96 patients (17.

Are so-called cancer-testis genes expressed only in testis?

Cancer-testis (CT) antigens are a group of tumor-associated antigens with restricted expression in normal tissues except for testis and expression in a wide variety of tumor tissues. This pattern of expression makes them suitable targets for immunotherapy as well as potential biomarkers for early detection of cancer. However, some genes attributed to this family are now known to be expressed in other normal tissues which put their potential applications in immunotherapy and cancer detection under question.

The expression analysis of LATS2 gene in de novo AML patients.

Acute myeloid leukemia is a heterogeneous disease with respect to presentation and clinical outcome. Acquired genetic alterations along with epigenetic changes in hematopoietic progenitor cells are associated with the disease development. LATS2, as a tumor suppressor, has been indicated to have expression variations in different cancers.