2023 CiteScore: 1.3
pISSN: 2008-3009
eISSN: 2008-2207
Editor-in-Chief:
Ardeshir Ghavamzadeh, MD.
This journal is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Vol 10, No 1 (2016)
Articles
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Background: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is currently the only curative treatment for acute leukemia. As HSCT improves the long-term survival, it is necessary to assess the late-onset complications affecting the quality of life following HSCT.
Subjects and Methods: The study included 122 patients (65 male, 57 female) with leukemia (72 AML and 50 ALL) who received transplants from fully- matched siblings, unrelated donors and unrelated cord blood donors between February 2013 and August 2014 in Shariati Hospital. All study participants were over 18 years of age and had the minimum and maximum survival of 2 and 5 years, respectively. Patients who received HLA-haploidentical SCT were excluded from the study. All allogeneic recipients received busulfan and cyclophosphamide as conditioning regimen. Nobody received TBI-based conditioning regimen in this study. Patients were evaluated for cardiovascular, vision, psychological, endocrine, fertility problems and secondary malignancies one year after transplantation.
Results: Data were analyzed using SPSS 15.0. Mitral and tricuspid regurgitation (TR/MR) were the most common cardiac complications (n=12, 10.5%).Thirty-nine percent of patients had psychological problems, especially depression (34%). Cataract was observed in 13% of patients and 34% complained of dry eye. Symptomatic pulmonary changes were found in 13 patients (10.6%). None of the HSCT survivors had experienced fertility before study entry. According to LH and FSH levels, 15% and 9% of females had ovarian failure, respectively. Testosterone level was less than normal in 49(84%) men and, according to their FSH and LH level, 20 (41%) had secondary hypogonadism and 29 (59%) had primary gonadal dysfunction.
Conclusion: The results showed that patients who received Bu/Cy conditioning regimen experienced fewer late side effects such as cataract formation and hypothyroidism, compared to previous studies using TBI-based conditioning regimen. -
Background: Thalassemia is one of the most common hereditary disorders and Beta-thalassemia major is its severe form. The present study is concerned with the analysis of liver function, thyroid function and estimation of critical serum ions as well as hematological characteristics in beta-thalassemia patients and controls.
Subjects and Methods: The study included 54 patients with beta-thalassemia major and 54 healthy individuals matched by sex and age. The activity of Alanine transaminase (ALT), Alkaline phosphatase(ALP) and Aspartate transaminase (AST) were assessed in order to evaluate the liver function. Serum content of iron (Fe), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na) and potassium (K) were also estimated. Tri iodothyronine (T3), Thyroxin (T4) and Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels were assessed in order to evaluate the thyroid function. Hemoglobin (Hb), ferritin, hematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration(MCHC), total iron binding capacity (TIBC) and creatinine level were also measured.
Results: Significantly higher ALT (P< 0.001), AST (P< 0.05), ALP (P< 0.001) activities and lower creatinine (P< 0.001) level in beta-thalassemia patients were found in comparison to healthy individuals. Lower serum level of calcium (P<0.05), magnesium (P<0.05) and higher level of iron (P>0.05), sodium (P>0.05), potassium (P>0.05) have been found in patients in comparison to healthy individuals. Hematological parameters like Hb (P< 0.001), ferritin (P<0.05), HCT (P< 0.001), MCV (P< 0.05) and MCH (P< 0.05) have been significantly reduced in patients except MCHC (P>0.05). No significant difference was observed in thyroid function between patients and control group.
Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that beta-thalassemia patients and controls have difference in liver function, thyroid function, serum contents of ions and hematological characteristics. -
Background: Mature T/ NK-cell neoplasms are a rare group of disorders and their presentation as leukemia is even rarer. Most of the previous studies have focused on mature B-cell lineage leukemias and there is a paucity of data on mature T/NK-cell lineage leukemias. We, therefore, planned this study to analyze their spectrum, frequency, morphology and immunophenotypic features.
Methods: All cases of lymphomas presenting as leukemia over a period of two and a half years were evaluated. Detailed analysis of cases with T/NK-cell lineage was done for their clinical, hematological and immunophenotypic features.
Results: A total of 262 cases of mature lymphoid neoplasms presented as leukemia during the study period. Of whom, only 8 (3.1%) cases were of T /NK-cell lineage and the remaining (96.9%) were of B-cell lineage. Of 8 cases, 4 (50%) had T-prolymphocytic leukemia, 2 (25%) had chronic lymphoproliferative disorder- natural killer cell and 1 (12.5%) case of each T-large granular lymphocytic leukemia and hepatosplenic γ/δ T-NHL.
Conclusion: T/NK-cell leukemias are rare. Along with clinical and morphological features, pattern of immunophenotypic markers is vital for their diagnosis and subcategorization. -
Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotential cells and their therapeutic potency is under intense investigation. Studying the effect of different induction factors on MSCs could increase our knowledge about the differentiation potency of these cells. One of the most important sources of these factors in mammalian body is platelet. Platelet lysate (PL) contains many growth factors and therefore it can be used as a differentiation inducer. In the present study, the effect of PL on differentiation of rat bone marrow MSCs into cardiomyocytes was studied.
Materials Methods: To study the differentiation-inducing effect of PL, MSCs were treated with 2.5, 5 and 10% PL. Early results of this study showed that PL in high concentrations (10%) induces adipogenic differentiation of MSCs. Therefore, to evaluate differentiation to cardiomyocytes, MSCs were cultured in media containing lower levels of PL (2.5% and 5%) and then cardiomyogenic differentiation was induced by treatment with 5-azacytidine. Differentiation of MSCs was evaluated using direct observation of beating cells, immunostaining and real-time PCR techniques.
Results: The results of qPCR showed that treatment with PL alone increased the expression of cardiac alpha actinin (CAA) being predictable by earlier observation of beating cells in PL-treated groups. The results of staining assays against cardiac alpha actinin also showed that there were stained cells in PL-treated groups.
Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that PL is a powerful induction factor for differentiation of MSCs into different cell lines such as cardiomyocytes and adipocytes. -
Background: In recent years, epidemiologic and laboratory studies have implied that vitamin D deficiency has a role in the pathogenesis of breast cancer. It has shown that vitamin D can prevent tumor progression induced by carcinogens and inhibit the carcinogenic effects of high fat diet on breast tissue and growth of tumor cells. This study aimed to evaluate serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and its role in relation to tumor characteristics and different stages of disease in women with breast cancer.
Subject and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study on 200 patients with breast cancer at different stages of the disease. Information on age, menstrual status, BMI, and tumor characteristics were recorded. Serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D concentrations were measured by refigures dioimmunoassay (RIA). Mean and standard deviation were used to describe the data. Meanwhile, T-test and sum of squares test were used to analyze the data. P<0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Among 200 patients, 47 (23.5%) had severe vitamin D deficiency, 75 (37.5 %) had mild vitamin D deficiency and 78 (39.0 %) had sufficient vitamin D levels of serum. There was a significant correlation between low vitamin D levels and advanced stage of breast cancer, particularly in postmenopausal patients.
Conclusion: It seems that lower levels of vitamin D accompany worse clinicopathologic features. Thus, treatment of vitamin D deficiency in postmenopausal patients might be of great benefits. -
Background: Efficient induction of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) is considered as an effective therapeutic approach in beta thalassemia. HbF inducer agents can induce the expression of γ-globin gene and produce high levels of HbF via different epigenetic and molecular mechanisms. Thalidomide and sodium butyrate are known as HbF inducer drugs.
Material and methods: CD133+ stem cells were isolated from umbilical cord blood of a newborn with minor β-thalassemia in order to evaluate the effects of these two drugs on the in vitro expression of GATA-1 and EKLF genes as erythroid transcription factors. CD133+ stem cells were expanded and differentiated into erythroid lineage, and then treated with thalidomide and sodium butyrate and finally analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR. Statistical analysis was performed using student’s t-test by SPSS software.
Results: Thalidomide and sodium butyrate increased GATA-1 and EKLF gene expression, compared to the non-treated control (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Thalidomide was more efficient than sodium butyrate in augmenting expression of GATA-1 and EKLF genes. It seems that GATA-1 and EKLF have crucial roles in the efficient induction of HbF by thalidomide. -
Hydroxymethylglutaryl Co-enzyme A reductase inhibitors, also known as statins, are a class of anti-hyperlipidemic agents. These drugs have been employed vastly to reduce the morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular disorders. Soon after their introduction, benefits other than their primary actions were discovered. Along with these pleiotropic properties, a series of mainly favorable effects has been proposed in patients intended to undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. These actions address some complications encountered by this special population such as graft-versus-host disease, efficacy of chemotherapy, infections, etc. This review presents the current evidence surrounding these issues.
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Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women except skin cancer. The common metastatic sites include lymph node, lung, liver and bone. However, metastasis to the bladder is extremely rare. To our knowledge, this is the first case of breast cancer metastasis to urinary bladder in Jordan which is reported. Nine years after the initial diagnosis of lobular breast carcinoma, the patient suffered from left side leg edema; Ultrasonography and Computed tomography scanning showed thickening of posterior bladder wall and bilateral hydronephrosis. The biopsy of the bladder confirmed metastatic lesion from the breast. In contrast to the primary tumor, bladder metastasis showed negative expression of estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors. However, Her2neu test was negative in both. The reported case confirms that bladder metastasis from breast cancer tend to occur late after the diagnosis of the primary tumor. Furthermore, bladder metastasis can be asymptomatic and heterogeneous in ER and PR expression in comparison with the primary tumor. This report supports the need for careful follow-up and early intervention whenever such clinical situation is suspected. This report supports further evaluation of receptor status at time of metastasis.
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The coexistence of two malignancies is rarely seen. A little association between hematologic malignancies especially multiple myeloma and renal cell carcinoma has been reported in the recent past. Several case series revealed a bidirectional association between these two malignancies which may be due to the common risk factors, similar cytokine growth requirements and clinical presentation. Here, we aim to describe a patient who had multiple myeloma and in his work up renal cell carcinoma was found out incidentally. We would like to create awareness among clinicians for the coincidence of Renal cell carcinoma and Multiple myeloma.
