NOPR Collection:

A review on cardiovascular genetics and its in silico methods

2018-04-01T00:00:00Z

Title: A review on cardiovascular genetics and its in silico methods Authors: Malgija, Beutline; Piramanayagam, Shanmughavel Abstract: Cardiovascular disease (CVD), encompassing a range of disease from myocardial infarction to congenital heart disease has become an ubiquitous cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The major cardiovascular diseases, including coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular disease and atherosclerosis are due to the multiple environmental and genetic factors and the probable interactions between them. Despite remarkable growth in the understanding of critical cellular and molecular mechanism during the development and pathogenesis of CVD and the improvements in cardiovascular research, current preventive treatments, diagnostic procedures, and therapies for CVD remains insufficient. Even though several research focuses on the genetics of the disease, many cardiovascular genes still awaits to discovery. Identification of these genes, analysing their complex regulatory and metabolic interactions providing in depth insights into the molecular mechanisms behind these diseases is of great importance. This offers tools for genetic counselling, gene therapy, pharmacogenomics and medicine, which attempt to prevent and treat these diseases. To understand fundamental mechanisms of the disease and to develop and target new therapies, information on genetic factors, gene expression and protein expression patterns are essential. Hence, this review focus on the current perspectives in genome wide expression profiling and in silico approaches in analysing gene expression data. Page(s): 205-210

DNA sequence variation in intron-1 of metallothionein gene in Zebu cattle exposed to toxic metals

2018-04-01T00:00:00Z

Title: DNA sequence variation in intron-1 of metallothionein gene in Zebu cattle exposed to toxic metals Authors: Doiphode, P U; Kothekar, M D; Kale, D S; Krishnamurthi, K; Sirothia, A R Abstract: In the current study, an attempt was made to characterize partial intronic region of metallothionein (MT) gene in Zebu cattle residing within 5 km radius of thermal power plant and exposed for longer duration to toxic metals. PCR amplification and direct DNA sequencing of 396 bp intronic region was carried out for 36 animals from toxic metal exposed group and 5 animals from control group. The vast amount of DNA sequence data generated was analysed for detection of mutations among and between individuals of both groups. A total of 96 nucleotide substitutions were observed within control and exposed animals. Nucleotide substitution A-G was found at 10^th loci and the frequency of occurrence of A140G locus was 44%. Fourteen individuals indicated higher frequency of G-A nucleotide substitution while A-T nucleotide substitution was absent. While analysing various positions using chromatographs, it was found that at 137^th position, there was a presence of homozygous (GG) in control group sample and heterozygous (GA) in E21 & homozygous (AA) in E12 sample of toxic metal exposed group. The experimental population at all loci was not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. It is necessary to screen other all structural and regulatory regions of this gene to find out DNA polymorphisms and relate them with indicator traits to explore metallothionein as marker for toxic metal homeostasis. Page(s): 211-216

Paraoxonases gene expression and distribution in rats organs treated with atherogenic diet and atorvastatin therapy

2018-04-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Paraoxonases gene expression and distribution in rats organs treated with atherogenic diet and atorvastatin therapy Authors: Ninic, Ana; Spasojevic-Kalimanovska, Vesna; Sopic, Miron; Munjas, Jelena; Bogavac-Stanojevic, Natasa; Jelic-Ivanovic, Zorana; Kotur-Stevuljevic, Jelena; Spasic, Slavica; Crevar - Sakac, Milkica; Milenkovic, Marina; Vujic, Zorica Abstract: Paraoxonases isoenzymes, PON1, PON2 and PON3, have important antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties in blood and cells. They prevent oxidation of low and high density lipoprotein particles, foam cells formation and development of atherosclerosis. The authors investigated effects of high fat diet and atorvastatin therapy on paraoxonases gene expression levels and distribution in different rat organs. Liver, white adipose tissue (WAT) and aorta were taken from young male Wistar rats that were fed with normal diet (ND), atherogenic diet (AD) and atherogenic diet with 1.14 mg of atorvastatin per kg (ADA). Messenger RNA (mRNA) relative levels of paraoxonase 1 (PON1), paraoxonase 2 (PON2) and paraoxonase 3 (PON3) were measured in rat organs using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PON1 mRNA expression levels were down-regulated in ADA compared to AD group. ND group had significantly lower PON2 mRNA expression than AD group. PON1 mRNA expression levels were higher in liver than in aorta in group of rats on ND, AD and ADA. PON2 mRNA expression was higher in WAT than in aorta only in ADA group of rats. PON2 and PON3 were significantly higher than PON1 in aorta of rats on each ND, AD or ADA. Page(s): 217-223

In silico analysis of chimeric subunit vaccine containing HER-2-MUC1 against breast cancer

2018-04-01T00:00:00Z

Title: In silico analysis of chimeric subunit vaccine containing HER-2-MUC1 against breast cancer Authors: Mohseni, Mahdieh Mehrab; Amani, Jafar; Gheybi, Elaheh; Salmanian, Ali Hatef Abstract: Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. Although tumorectomy, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormone replacement therapy have been used for the treatment of breast cancer, there is no effective therapy for patients with invasive and metastatic breast cancer. Targeting tumors using cancer vaccine therapeutics has several advantages including the induction of long-term immunity, prime boost strategies for additional treatments and reduced side effects compared to conventional chemotherapeutics. However, one problem in targeting tumor antigens directly is that it can lead to antigen loss or immune editing. We have designed a complex immunogen derived from the extracellular domain of human HER-2/neu- (480–620) and seven tandem repeats of MUC1 (VNTR) that represents a three-dimensional epitope. The construct was analyzed by bioinformatics softwares. Linear and discontinuous B-cell epitopes, MHC class I and II binding peptides of chimeric protein were predicted. Results suggest that the construct can be an appropriate vaccine candidate against breast cancer. Page(s): 224-233