Publications by authors named "Mehran Erfani"

Article Synopsis
  • Cholesterol and the Wnt/β-catenin pathway contribute to cancer cell behavior, affecting factors like growth, survival, and drug resistance.
  • This study focuses on the roles of LDLR and LRP6 proteins in cholesterol uptake and their impact on gene expression in various breast cancer cell lines.
  • Findings indicate higher expression levels of certain genes in the MCF7 and MD468 cell lines compared to SKBR3, suggesting these genes could be potential targets for cancer therapy.
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Background: β-thalassemia is an inherited disorder caused by defects in the synthesis of the beta-globin chain. One of the significant clinical complications in β-thalassemia intermedia is iron overload toxicity, which may be attributed to reduced levels of hepcidin. This reduction in hepcidin leads to increased absorption of iron in the intestines, ultimately resulting in iron overload.

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The thalassemia issue is a growing worldwide health concern that anticipates the number of patients suffering from the disease will soon increase significantly. Patients with β-thalassemia intermedia (β-TI) manifest mild to intermediate levels of anemia, which is a reason for it to be clinically located between thalassemia minor and β-thalassemia major (β-TM). Notably, the determination of the actual rate of β-TI is more complicated than β-TM.

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Aim: This study investigated the association between methylation status and expression levels of , , and genes in colon cancer.

Background: Aberrant DNA methylation is one of the most important epigenetic modifications in the development of cancer. Evidence indicates that hypermethylation of various tumor suppressor genes could be a potential mechanism of colon tumorigenesis.

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The development of novel therapeutic approaches is necessary to manage gastrointestinal cancers (GICs). Considering the effective molecular mechanisms involved in tumor growth, the therapeutic response is pivotal in this process. Autophagy is a highly conserved catabolic process that acts as a double-edged sword in tumorigenesis and tumor inhibition in a context-dependent manner.

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Undoubtfully, the normal immune system can make a potential response to variable pathogens and neutralize or kill them depending on the type of infection through innate and acquired immunity. Cytokines have poly-peptide nature and are considered as signaling molecules that could amplify or alleviate immune responses besides their other biological functions. Interleukin 38 (IL-38) is a member of the IL-1 family cytokine that, however, its anti-inflammatory role has been observed in different autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), psoriasis, and Sjogren's syndrome; there is a controversy about the cytokine pro-inflammatory function.

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Article Synopsis
  • * A study was conducted as a randomized, controlled, double-blind trial to examine the effects of curcumin on iron levels in patients with β-thalassemia intermedia.
  • * Results indicated that curcumin significantly lowered serum iron, ferritin, and transferrin saturation levels in patients compared to a placebo, suggesting that curcumin may help manage iron overload in these individuals.
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Objectives: Plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) is a newly discovered long non-coding RNA, which has not been previously studied in the inflammatory responses of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Materials And Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 15 CAD patients and 15 non-CAD (NCAD) individuals. The PVT1 expression was assessed in the PBMCs of the participants using a real-time polymerase chain reaction.

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Background: Metastasis is a major cause of death in Colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, and the Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been known to be a crucial event in cancer metastasis. Downregulated expression of AT-rich interaction domain-containing protein 1A (ARID1A), a bona fide tumor suppressor gene, plays an important role in promoting EMT and CRC metastasis, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we evaluated the impact of ARID1A knockdown and overexpression on the expression of EMT‑related genes, E-cadherin and β-catenin, in human CRC cells.

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Capparis spinosa (CS) is known as a hypoglycemic medication in many countries. This study was designed to reveal the protective effects of the hydro-ethanolic extract of CS (HECS) fruit against diabetes and oxidative stress in type 2 diabetic rats (T2D). T2D was induced in 4 groups of adult male Sprague Dawley rats, using high fat diet (HFD) and low dose of streptozotocin (STZ).

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Thalassemia intermedia is a subgroup of β-thalassemia which originates from mutations in the beta-globin gene. Zinc and copper play important roles in the metabolism. Due to its significant therapeutic effects, curcumin has led many studies to focus on curcumin.

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Today, plant-based therapies have been attracted attention to overcome diabetes complications. This study was an attempt to evaluate whether antidiabetic and nephroprotective effects of Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni (SRB) can be exerted via upregulation of GLUT-4, SNAP23, and Stx4 in skeletal muscles or modulation of AQP2 mRNA expression and antioxidant signaling pathway activity (Nrf2/Keap1) in kidneys. To achieve this aim, diabetes was induced via STZ-nicotinamide (STZ-NA).

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Background: ARID1A has been described as a tumor suppressor gene, participating in chromatin re-modeling, epithelial-mesenchymal-transition and many other cellular and molecular processes. It has been cited as a contribute in tumorigenesis. The role of ARID1A in CRC is not yet defined.

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Obesity is a major public health concern worldwide. Genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors contribute to the multifactorial etiology of obesity. Evidence suggests an association between human Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) Val66Met single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and obesity.

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Precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is the most prevalent pediatric cancer. DNA methylation and changes in the microRNAs (miRNAs) expression are known to be important causes of B-ALL. Decitabine as a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor agent is able to induce hypomethylation in several tumor suppressor genes.

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