• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.939-944
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• 2016

Background: Cell-free DNA circulating in blood is a candidate biomarker for malignant tumors. Unlike uniformly truncated DNA released from apoptotic non diseased cells, DNA released from necrotic cancer cells varies in size. Objectives: To measure the DNA integrity index in serum and the absolute DNA concentration to assess their clinical utility as potential serum biomarkers for colorectal carcinoma (CRC) compared to CEA and CA19-9. Materials and Methods: Fifty patients with CRC, 10 with benign colonic polyps and 20 healthy sex and age matched volunteers, were investigated by real time PCR of ALU repeats (ALU q-PCR) using two sets of primers (115 and 247 bp) amplifying different lengths of DNA fragments. The DNA integrity index was calculated as the ratio of q-PCR results of ALU 247/ALU 115bp. Results: Serum DNA integrity was statistically significantly higher in CRC patients compared to the benign and control groups (p<0.001). ROC curves for differentiating CRC patients from normal controls and benign groups had areas under curves of 0.90 and 0.85 respectively. Conclusions: The DNA integrity index is superior to the absolute DNA concentration as a potential serum biomarker for screening and diagnosis of CRC. It may also serve as an indicator for monitoring the progression of CRC patients. Combining CEA and CA19-9 with either of the genetic markers studied is better than either of them alone.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.898-904
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• 2011

The PCR- restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) in and around TM4 of SLC11A1 gene and its association with the incidences of brucellosis in Hariana breed (Bos indicus) and Holstein Friesian crossbred (Bos indicus${\times}$Bos taurus) cattle was examined. A fragment of 954 bp encoding the TM4 was amplified, and RFLP was identified by digestion of the amplicon independently with AluI and TaqI. The amplicon (GenBank Acc. No. AY338470 and AY338471) comprised of a part of exon V (<59 bp) and VII (62>), and entire intron 5 (423 bp), exon VI (71 bp) and intron 6 (339 bp). Digestion with AluI revealed the presence of two alleles viz, A (281, 255, 79 and 51 bp) and B (541, 255, 79 and 51 bp). The frequency of A allele was estimated as 0.80 and 0.73 in Hariana and crossbred cattle, respectively. Due to presence of a polymorphic TaqI site at intron 5, two alleles: T (552 and 402 bp) and Q (231, 321 and 402 bp) were identified. The frequency of T allele was estimated as 0.96 and 0.97, respectively. For association study, on the basis of serological tests and history of abortion, the animals were grouped into "affected" and "non-affected". However, no association could be established with the observed RFLPs.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.710-718
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• 2021

Placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (PD-MSCs) are promising candidates for cell-based therapy in regenerative medicine. The migration and homing potential of PD-MSCs to injured sites is a critical property of MSC engraftment. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have recently been shown to regulate the critical functions of MSCs, such as proliferation, survival, and migration. The objective of the present study was to identify the miRNA and target genes involved in PD-MSCs homing in a bile duct ligation (BDL) rat model. We selected candidate miRNAs targeting genes for PD-MSCs homing based on microarray analysis. PD-MSC engraftment in BDL-injured rat liver was identified by immunofluorescence assay and human-specific Alu gene expression by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) one week after transplantation. Compared with migrated naïve PD-MSCs under hypoxic and normoxic conditions (Hyp/Nor), the transplanted group with PD-MSCs (Tx) showed distinct differences in miRNA expressions in BDL-injured rat liver. We also validated the miRNAs and their target genes for PD-MSCs homing. The expressions of integrin α4 (ITGA4) and integrin α5 (ITGA5) target genes for miR-199a-5p and miR-148a-3p were significantly upregulated in the Tx group (p<0.05). In addition, integrin β1 (ITGB1) and integrin β8 (ITGB8) were upregulated by suppressing miR-183-5p and miR-145-5p, respectively. These results demonstrated that PD-MSCs regulate miRNA expression related to the integrin family for their homing effects on the BDL-injured rat liver. The findings further suggest that miRNA-mediated regulation of the integrin family contributes to the therapeutic efficacy of PD-MSCs in the rat hepatic fibrosis model by BDL.