Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most frequently observed malignancy in females worldwide. Today, tamoxifen (TAM) is considered as the highly effective therapy for treatment of breast tumors. Oxidative stress has implicated strongly in the pathophysiology of malignancies. This study aimed to investigate the changes in the levels of oxidants and antioxidants in patients with newly diagnosed and TAM-treated BC. Sixty newly diagnosed and 60 TAM-treated women with BC and 50 healthy volunteers were included in this study. Parameters including total oxidant capacity (TOC), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and catalase (CAT) activity were determined before and after treatment with TAM. The serum levels of TOC and oxidative stress index (OSI) were

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

          New nitrone and selenonitrone compounds were synthesized. The condensation method between N-(2-hydroxyethyl) hydroxylamine and substituted carbonyl compounds such as [benzil, 4, 4́-dichlorobenzil and  2,2́ -dinitrobenzil] afforded a variety of new nitrone compounds while the condensation between N-benzylhydroxylamine and substituted selenocarbonyl compounds such as [di(4-fluorobenzoyl) diselenide and (4-chlorobenzoyl selenonitrile] obtained selenonitrone compounds. The condensation of N-4-chlorophenylhydroxylamine with dibenzoyl diselenide obtained another type of selenonitrone compounds. The structures of the synthesized compounds were assigned based on spectroscopic data (FT-IR,

Here, a high sensitive method for biomarker identification according to nanostructure, using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), called Nano-ELISA, was presented. Different shapes of gold nanostructures (star and sphere; GNSs and GNPs) with a particle size of 40 nm for sphere particles were altered with a monoclonal antibody (Ab) as a detector Ab. To amplify the optical signal, gold nanostructures were employed as carriers of the signaling specific antibody against insulin growth factor binding protein- 3 (IGFBP-3). The substrate was catalytically oxidized by the Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) conjugated gold nanostructure, and HRP also enhanced the optical signals, reflecting the amount of the targeting IGFBP-3. In comparison to t

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy affecting the Iraqi population and the leading cause of cancer related mortality among Iraqi women. It has been well documented that prognosis of patients depends largely upon the hormone receptor contents and HER-2 over expression of their neoplasm. Recent studies suggest that Triple Positive (TP) tumors, bearing the three markers, tend to exhibit a relatively favorable clinical behavior in which overtreatment is not recommended. Aim: To document the different frequencies of ER/PR/HER2 breast cancer molecular subtypes focusing on the Triple Positive pattern; correlating those with the corresponding clinico-pathological characteristics among a sample of Iraqi patients diagnosed with th

Objective: Zerumbone (ZER) is a well-known natural compound that has been reported to have anti-cancer effect. Thus, this study investigated the ZER potential to inhibit Thymidine Phosphorylase (TP) and the ability to trigger Reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated cytotoxicity in non-small cell lung cancer, NCI-H460, cell line. Material and Method: The antiangiogenic activity for ZER was evaluated by using the thymidine phosphorylase inhibitory test. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was determined via DCFDA dye by using flow cytometry. Result and Discussion: ZER was found to be potent TP inhibitory with the IC50 value of 50.3± 0.31 μg/ml or 230±1.42 µM. NCI-H460 cells upon treatment with ZER produced sign

Background: Excision repair cross-complementing group 2 gene (ERCC2) polymorphisms have been linked as being a risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC) emergence. However, data from several studies are contradictory. To validate genetic biomarkers of the CRC; the impact of the following ERCC2 polymorphism (rs1799793 and rs238406) was examined on CRC susceptibility among sample of Iraqi population. Methods: A total of 126 subjects were enrolled in this case control study; 78 CRC patients and 48 apparently healthy individuals who are age, gender, smoking status and BMI matched. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for genotyping, followed by sequencing then the association between genetic polymorphisms and CRC risk was investigate

STAG proteins, which are part of the cohesin complex and encoded by the STAG genes, are known as Irr1/Scc3 in yeast and as SA/STAG/stromalin in mammals. There are more variants as there are alternate splice sites, maybe three open reading frames (ORFs) code for three main proteins, including: SA1 (STAG1), SA2 (STAG2) and SA3 (STAG3). The cohesin protein complex has various essential roles in eukaryotic cell biology. This study compared the expression of the STAG1 gene in four different breast cancer cell lines, including: MCF-7, T-47D, MDA-MB-468, and MDA-MB-231 and normal breast tissue. RNA was extracted from these cell lines and mRNA was converted to cDNA, and then expression of the STAG1 gene was quantified by three sets of specific prim