Outcome of COVID-19 in Egyptian living-donor kidney transplant recipients and relation to maintenance immunosuppressive drugs: a pilot study.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in kidney transplant recipients is a subject of much debate and became of interest to nephrologists amidst the pandemic. The main concerns are the influence of the chronic use of immunosuppressive drugs, the viral-related risk of acute rejection, and the long-term outcome of allograft function. This single-center prospective study included kidney transplant recipients with COVID-19 infection.

Impact of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition on the Immune Landscape in Breast Cancer.

The impact of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) signature on the immune infiltrate present in the breast cancer tumor microenvironment (TME) is still poorly understood. Since there is mounting interest in the use of immunotherapy for the treatment of subsets of breast cancer patients, it is of major importance to understand the fundamental tumor characteristics which dictate the inter-tumor heterogeneity in immune landscapes. We aimed to assess the impact of EMT-related markers on the nature and magnitude of the inflammatory infiltrate present in breast cancer TME and their association with the clinicopathological parameters.

MCM2, MCM4, and MCM6 in Breast Cancer: Clinical Utility in Diagnosis and Prognosis.

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease comprising the estrogen receptor (ER)-positive luminal subtype which is subdivided into luminal A and luminal B and ER-negative breast cancer which includes the triple-negative subtype. This study has four aims: 1) to examine whether Minichromosome Maintenance (MCM)2, MCM4, and MCM6 can be used as markers to differentiate between luminal A and luminal B subtypes; 2) to study whether MCM2, MCM4, and MCM6 are highly expressed in triple-negative breast cancer, as there is an urgent need to search for surrogate markers in this aggressive subtype, for drug development purposes; 3) to compare the prognostic values of these markers in predicting relapse-free survival; and 4) to compare the three approaches used for scoring the protein expression of these markers by immunohistochemistry (IHC). MCM2, MCM4, MCM6, and MKI67 mRNA expression was first studied using in silico analysis of available breast cancer datasets.

Association of genetic polymorphism of pre-microRNA-146a rs2910164 and serum high-mobility group box 1 with febrile seizures in Egyptian children.

Interaction between immune-inflammatory process and genetic factors might be implicated in the pathogenesis of febrile seizures. Pre-microRNA (miR)-146a rs2910164 polymorphism is postulated to modulate expression of miR-146a whose anti-inflammatory role involves regulation of high-mobility group box 1. Our aim is to examine whether rs2910164 polymorphism influences serum high-mobility group box 1 levels and whether an association exists between both and febrile seizures.

MEFV mutations in Egyptian children with systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Background And Objectives: Systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SoJIA) is a chronic auto-inflammatory disease of childhood, with a complex genetic trait, which is characterized by arthritis associated with systemic manifestations. Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is another auto-inflammatory disorder that is monogenic. There are speculations as to whether Mediterranean fever (MEFV) mutations are among the genetic determinants of SoJIA.

Is there a role for MDR1, EPHX1 and protein Z gene variants in modulation of warfarin dosage? a study on a cohort of the Egyptian population.

Background: There is considerable inter-individual variability in warfarin dosages necessary to achieve target therapeutic anticoagulation. Polymorphisms in genes, which master warfarin pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, might influence warfarin dose variation. Genes encoding drug transporters, such as human multidrug resistance (MDR1), as well as epoxide hydrolase 1 (EPHX1), which is a putative subunit of the vitamin K epoxide reductase, and Protein Z (PZ), which is a vitamin K-dependent plasma glycoprotein, are among those candidate genes.