Publications by authors named "Vahdat Poortahmasebi"

Article Synopsis
  • The human gut hosts trillions of microbes that play a key role in health, but imbalances (dysbiosis) can lead to chronic conditions like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
  • IBD, a significant global health concern, includes two major types: ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, both characterized by inflammation in the digestive system.
  • To address the rising rates and severity of IBD, modifying gut microbiota through dietary supplements like prebiotics, probiotics, paraprobiotics, and postbiotics can be explored as potential treatment options.
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  • The study investigated the mutation rate of the envelope (E) gene of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 patients, focusing on its conformational characteristics.
  • Out of 120 patients, 10 nucleotide changes were found in the E gene, with 2 missense mutations (L73F and S68F) that alter amino acids, while most changes were silent.
  • The mutations were shown to introduce new helix structures in the E protein and potentially enhance its stability and binding to specific proteins, which could affect viral spread and immune cell response in the lungs.
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Background And Aims: Oncogenic viruses are responsible for approximately 12% of human malignancies, influencing various cancer processes through intricate interactions with host cells. Exosomes (EXOs), nanometric-sized microvesicles involved in cell communication, have emerged as critical mediators in these interactions. This review aims to explore the mechanisms by which EXOs produced by cells infected with oncogenic viruses promote cancer growth, enhance viral transmissibility, and act as immunomodulators.

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Background: Cervical cancer, primarily caused by HPV infection, remains a global health concern. Current treatments face challenges including drug resistance and toxicity. This study investigates combining E5-siRNA with chemotherapy drugs, Oxaliplatin and Ifosfamide, to enhance treatment efficacy in HPV-16 positive cervical cancer cells, targeting E5 oncoprotein to overcome limitations of existing therapies.

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  • - Viruses, particularly members of the Orthoherpesviridae family like Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), employ viral microRNAs (miRNAs) to manipulate host immune responses, creating conditions for their survival and proliferation.
  • - miRNAs are short, non-coding RNA molecules that regulate the expression of proteins in both the virus and the host cell, and they evade detection by the immune system due to their non-immunogenic nature.
  • - The text discusses how HCMV's miRNAs contribute to immune evasion, promote viral latency, and regulate processes like cell apoptosis, highlighting their crucial role in viral infection and spread.
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  • Human adenoviruses (HAdVs) are recognized as a significant cause of gastroenteritis in children, but comprehensive global data on their prevalence has been lacking.
  • A systematic search from 2003 to 2023 revealed an estimated global prevalence of HAdV infection at 10%, with the highest rates found in Africa and among children under 5 years old, specifically in hospitalized patients.
  • The findings highlight the role of HAdVs in pediatric gastroenteritis and suggest the need for preventive strategies and vaccine development to address this issue.
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Respiratory viruses have caused severe global health problems and posed essential challenges to the medical community. In recent years, the role of autophagy as a critical process in cells in viral respiratory diseases has been noticed. One of the vital catabolic biological processes in the body is autophagy.

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Anelloviruses (AVs) that infect the human population are members of the Anelloviridae family. They are widely distributed in human populations worldwide. Torque teno virus (TTV) was the first virus of this family to be identified and is estimated to be found in the serum of 80-90% of the human population.

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Viruses have developed many mechanisms by which they can stimulate or inhibit inflammation and cause various diseases, including viral respiratory diseases that kill many people every year. One of the mechanisms that viruses use to induce or inhibit inflammation is exosomes. Exosomes are small membrane nanovesicles (30-150 nm) released from cells that contain proteins, DNA, and coding and non-coding RNA species.

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  • Global real-time monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 variants is essential for controlling COVID-19, leading to the development of a Sanger-based platform for variant tracking in low-resource labs.
  • The study utilized nested RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing on 1,028 samples, achieving high concordance with whole genome sequencing for mutation detection and lineage assignment.
  • The new method is effective for tracking variants of concern like Delta and Alpha, making it a viable option for countries with limited resources to monitor SARS-CoV-2 variants efficiently.
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  • The study analyzed the genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 in Iran over one year, following two independent viral introductions during the early outbreak phase.
  • Researchers sequenced 319 whole genomes between March 2020 and May 2021 to monitor the circulating viral lineages.
  • Results showed that different SARS-CoV-2 clades dominated various waves of infection, with the Delta variant emerging as a crucial factor in the fifth wave, highlighting significant mutations in key lineages.
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Objectives: Rapidly growing evidence suggests that immune cells play a key role in determining tumor progression. Tumor cells are surrounded by a microenvironment composed of different cell populations including immune cells. The cross talk between tumor cells and the neighboring microenvironment is an important factor to take into account while designing tumor therapies.

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Infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), including HPV-16 and HPV-18, is the main cause of malignancies, such as cervical cancer. Viral oncoproteins encoded by HPV are expressed in HPV-positive cancers and associated with the early cancer stages and the transformation of normal cells. The signaling pathways involved in the transformation of normal cells to cancerous form and the subsequently expressed programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) on the surface of the transformed cells lead to a disruption in recognition of tumor cells by the immune cell system, including T lymphocytes and dendritic cells which lead to the development of cervical cancer malignancy.

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  • * The rising use of carbapenem antibiotics for treating multidrug-resistant UPEC strains has contributed to more bacteria becoming resistant, which has drawn attention from health organizations like the WHO and CDC.
  • * The review discusses the unique traits of UPEC, current treatment methods, and explores promising non-antibiotic treatments such as vaccines, adherence blockers, cranberry juice, and probiotics to combat drug-resistant urinary infections.
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Background: Rotaviruses are the cause of acute gastroenteritis and severe diarrheal diseases in children worldwide. Children under the age of five are more susceptible to rotavirus infections. Due to such as the lack of effective drugs and supportive therapy only, the development of new antiviral agents against rotaviruses is required.

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Chronic inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases such as Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are known as inflammatory bowel disorders (IBD). Patients with inflammatory bowel illnesses are more susceptible to viral infections. In people with IBD, viral infections have emerged as a significant issue.

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Despite the availability of an effective hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine and universal immunization schedules, HBV has remained a health problem in various stages such as occult hepatitis B infection (OBI), chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is considered one of the possible phases during chronic HBV infection. OBI is defined as the persistence of HBV genomes in hepatocytes of patients with a negative HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) test and detectable or undetectable HBV DNA in the blood. OBI is occasionally associated with infection caused by mutant viruses that produce a modified HBsAg that is undetected by diagnostic procedures or with replication-defective variations.

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Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is one of the well-known viruses that cause hepatitis all around the globe. Although this illness has decreased in developed countries due to extensive immunization, numerous developing and under-developed countries are struggling with this virus. HAV infection can be spread by oral-fecal contact, and there are frequent epidemics through nutrition.

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A prevalent sexually transmitted infection, the human papillomavirus (HPV) is typically obtained just after the first sexual activity. The majority of HPV infections are asymptomatic and temporary. Cervical, anal, penile, vaginal, vulvar, and oropharyngeal cancers can occur due to recurrent infections with high-risk (hr)-HPV strains, generally decades later.

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In December 2019, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in Wuhan, China. Comprehensive strategies for quick identification, prevention, control, and remedy of COVID-19 have been implemented until today. Advances in various nanoparticle-based technologies, including organic and inorganic nanoparticles, have created new perspectives in this field.

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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS). Compared to other types of self-limiting myelin disorders, MS compartmentalizes and maintains chronic inflammation in the CNS. Even though the exact cause of MS is unclear, it is assumed that genetic and environmental factors play an important role in susceptibility to this disease.

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Background: The prevalence of occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) among Iranian liver transplant recipient patients has not been explored yet. The present study aimed to determine the OBI prevalence among Iranian liver transplant recipients.

Methods: This study encompassed 97 patients having undergone liver transplantation due to several clinical backgrounds in the Liver Transplantation Center, Tehran, Iran.

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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but the pathogenesis is unclear. Host genetic background is one of the main factors influencing the patients' susceptibility to several viral infectious diseases. This study aimed to investigate the association between host genetic polymorphisms of two genes, including vitamin D receptor (VDR) and vitamin D binding protein (DBP), and susceptibility to COVID-19 in a sample of the Iranian population.

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Regardless of the extensive screening for the detection of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hemodialysis (HD) patients are still severely at the risk of occult hepatitis B virus infection (OBI), especially in developing countries. OBI is defined as the presence of HBV DNA with undetectable HBsAg in the liver and/or Serum. This study aims to determine the prevalence of OBI in HD patients in Tabriz Province, northwest of Iran, and inquire about the mutations in the detected HBsAg.

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Background And Objectives: Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the cause of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). The present study aims to analyze gene expression patterns in ATL and HAM/TSP.

Materials And Methods: Microarray gene expression profiling of T-lymphocytes from HTLV-1 associated disease and healthy control were obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO).

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