Publications by authors named "Paniz Shirmast"

Article Synopsis
  • - RNA science is booming, especially in developing vaccines and therapies, but delivering RNA to the brain is a significant hurdle due to the blood-brain barrier blocking most delivery methods.
  • - RNA molecules are fragile and need protection during delivery, with extracellular vesicles (EVs) emerging as promising carriers since they can naturally shield RNA and facilitate its transport into target cells.
  • - The review highlights the challenges of traditional RNA delivery systems and discusses the benefits of using EVs for brain delivery, suggesting future strategies to enhance RNA-based therapies for neurological disorders.
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The rapidly increasing threat of multi-drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infections globally, encompassing a range of clinical manifestations from skin and soft tissue infections to life-threatening conditions like meningitis and pneumonia, underscores an urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies. These infections, prevalent in both hospital and community settings, present a formidable challenge to the healthcare system due to the bacterium's widespread nature and dwindling effective treatment options. Against this backdrop, the exploration of bacterial short-chain dehydrogenase reductases (SDRs) emerges as a promising avenue.

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Background: Inborn errors of immunity (IEI) are a diverse range of genetic immune system illnesses affecting the innate and/or adaptive immune systems. Variable expressivity and incomplete penetrance have been reported in IEI patients with similar clinical diagnoses or even the same genetic mutation.

Methods: Among all recorded patients in the national IEI registry, 193 families with multiple cases have been recognized.

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Bacterial antibiotic resistance remains an ever-increasing worldwide problem, requiring new approaches and enzyme targets. Acinetobacter baumannii is recognised as one of the most significant antibiotic-resistant bacteria, capable of carrying up to 45 different resistance genes, and new drug discovery targets for this organism is an urgent priority. Short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase enzymes are a large protein family with >60,000 members involved in numerous biosynthesis pathways.

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Background: Specific Antibody Deficiency (SAD) is a primary immunodeficiency disease (PID) characterized by the occurrence of recurrent infections and inadequate antibody response to polysaccharide new antigens.

Objective: This study aims to determine the titer of specific antibodies against unconjugated 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV-23), the presence of SAD, and its association with clinical and laboratory findings in Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) and selective immunoglobulin A deficiency (SIgAD) patients.

Methods: 32 A-T patients and 43 SIgAD patients were included in this cross-sectional study.

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Article Synopsis
  • Elizabethkingia anophelis is a growing multidrug-resistant pathogen known for causing global outbreaks and contains several antibiotic resistance genes.
  • The study focused on the high-resolution crystal structure of a specific chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) from a strain that caused an outbreak in Singapore, revealing it has similarities to Type B CAT proteins rather than the classical Type A.
  • This research highlights the importance of understanding the structure and function of CAT proteins in Flavobacteriaceae pathogens, as they contribute to antibiotic resistance and pose a rising health threat.
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Background: The inborn errors of immunity (IEIs) are a group of heterogeneous disorders mainly characterized by severe and recurrent infections besides other complications including autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. In this study, we aim to evaluate clinical, immunologic, and molecular data of monogenic IEI patients with and without autoimmune manifestations.

Methods: We have retrospectively screened cases of monogenic IEI in the Iranian PID registry for the occurrence of autoimmunity and immune dysregulation.

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Article Synopsis
  • COVID-19 is less likely to cause life-threatening conditions in individuals under 50, but its effects on pediatric patients with primary immunodeficiency (PID) are unclear.
  • A study shows that PID patients experience a 1.23 times higher incidence of infections but have a 10 times higher mortality rate, particularly among those with combined immunodeficiency and immune dysregulation.
  • To improve survival rates in these PID patients, more treatment options like hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and immunomodulatory agents need to be explored.
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Introduction: During the last 4 decades, registration of patients with primary immunodeficiencies (PID) has played an essential role in different aspects of these diseases worldwide including epidemiological indexes, policymaking, quality controls of care/life, facilitation of genetic studies and clinical trials as well as improving our understanding about the natural history of the disease and the immune system function. However, due to the limitation of sustainable resources supporting these registries, inconsistency in diagnostic criteria and lack of molecular diagnosis as well as difficulties in the documentation and designing any universal platform, the global perspective of these diseases remains unclear.

Areas Covered: Published and unpublished studies from January 1981 to June 2020 were systematically reviewed on PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus.

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Background: Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most frequent primary immunodeficiency disorder mainly characterized by recurrent bacterial infections besides other immunological defects including loss of or dysfunction of B cells and decreased immunoglobulin levels. In this study, our aim is to evaluate clinical, immunological, and molecular data of patients with a primary clinical diagnosis of CVID and autoimmune phenotype with a confirmed genetic diagnosis.

Methods: Among 297 patients with CVID, who were registered in the Iranian Primary Immunodeficiency Registry at Children's Medical Center Hospital in Iran, 83 patients have been genetically examined and 27 patients with autoimmunity and confirmed genetic mutations were selected for analysis.

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Background: Inosine triphosphate pyrophosphatase (ITPA) gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs1127354 and rs7270101, may cause a functional impairment in ITPase enzyme, resulting anemia protection in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection undergoing ribavirin (RBV)-dependent regimens. The main purpose of this study was to provide and validate a simple, rapid, and inexpensive polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique for genotyping of ITPA rs1127354 and rs7270101 polymorphisms in chronic HCV-infected patients.

Methods: In the current study, 100 Iranian patients with chronic hepatitis C were examined and genotyped for ITPA rs1127354 and rs7270101 gene polymorphisms.

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