The systemic and resistant nature of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancers (mCRPC) renders it largely incurable even after intensive multimodal therapy. Proliferation, survival, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) are three fundamental events that are deeply linked to carcinogenesis.  Hence, it is necessary to find a new combination of several therapies, targeting those vital mechanisms without causing side effects. Significant research works have shown differential low expression of the metabolic Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) in primary and metastatic prostate cancer suggesting their importance in prostate pathogenesis. Obticholic acid (INT 747), a potent FXR agonist is widely used in primary biliary chola

Recent reports provided evidence that epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and some matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) contribute to the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells. This study investigated the expression pattern of some EMT markers (E-cadherin and Vimentin) and some MMPs (MMP-2 and MMP-9) in transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). Fifty five paraffin embedded biopsies were included in this study. Expression pattern of E-cadherin and Vimentin was evaluated by immunohistochemistry while cytoplasmic mRNA expression of both MMP-2 and MMP-9 were determined by in situ hybridization. The expression of all markers were significantly increased with the increase of patient's age (? 50 years), and furthermore an increase in men expression

Adaptive responses in larval behavior may be of two kinds: Taxis: This involves a change in direction relative to source of a stimulus. Kinesis: Kinesis has no directional component, but involves change in the rate of performance in response to a stimulus. Drosophila larvae exhibited flexible behavioral responses associated with food acquisition and selection for different environmental conditions. In this investigation, we are concerned explosively with kinetic responses to food viability. Third instar larvae were subjected to test for thirty minutes in each of the following conditions i) in distilled water, ii) in Ringer's solution, iii) in glucose solution and on live yeast suspension. In each case the larva was in a thin layer of solu

Prodigiosin, is a natural red pigment produced by various bacteria that firstly
characterized from Serratia marcescens. It is an alkaloid secondary metabolite with
a unique tripyrrol structure.This pigment is a promising drug owing to its reported
characteristics of having antifungal, immunosuppressive and anti-cancer activity. In
this study prodigiosin was produced by Serratia marcescens., which was isolated
from soil identified and characterized by morphology, Gram’s staining, biochemical
and carbohydrate fermentation tested and confirmed by the API 20E test.
From these samples, six isolates of Serratia marcescens( 24) % were obtained out
of 25 soil samples. Ability of these isolates in prodigiosin production

Quantitative real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) has become a valuable molecular technique in biomedical research. The selection of suitable endogenous reference genes is necessary for normalization of target gene expression in RT-qPCR experiments. The aim of this study was to determine the suitability of each 18S rRNA and ACTB as internal control genes for normalization of RT-qPCR data in some human cell lines transfected with small interfering RNA (siRNA). Four cancer cell lines including MCF-7, T47D, MDA-MB-231 and Hela cells along with HEK293 representing an embryonic cell line were depleted of E2F6 using siRNA specific for E2F6 compared to negative control cells, which were transfected with siRNA not specific for any gene. Us

Autoimmune hepatitis is an inflammatory disease and its incidence has been increasing. The features of hepatitis are the release of inflammatory cytokines, the elevation of AST and ALT, and hepatocyte apoptosis and necrosis. Concanavalin A considered as essential model represents the acute immune-mediated liver damage in rodents. Thymoquinone is well known herbal compound that exert hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activity. In this study, we focus on the immunoregulatory and liver protective effect of thymoquinone in a mouse model of concanavalin A-induced liver injury.

Twenty-four male mice were randomly divided into four groups each containing six animals: Negative control group, concanavalin A model group,

Background: Transitional cell carcinomas (TCC) of the bladder are a major health problem. Recently, some studies link high risk Human papilloma viruses' type 16 and type 18 with bladder carcinoma.
Materials and methods: Fifty formalin fixed, paraffin embedded tissues with TCC of the bladder from Specialized Surgical Hospital in Baghdad were included in this study. In addition, ten
apparently normal bladder autopsies were collected from the Forensic Medicine Institute Archives and used as control group. Tissue blocks were sectioned and sticked on charged slides and used for the detection of HPV-16 and HPV-18.
Results: The expression of HPV-16 and HPV-18 DNA signals in TCC of the bladder tissues in the&nbs