Infection by human papillomaviruses (HPVs) has been implicated in the aetiology of a variety of cancers. Studies evaluating the presence of HPVs in breast cancer (BC) have generated considerable controversy. To date, most studies have focused on the presence of viral DNA in BC; however there are important gaps in evidencing the role of HPV persistence in the invasiveness of BC. While these studies have been conducted in several countries, none, on the presence and biological activity of high risk (HR) HPV in BC has been done in the UK. Hence, we aimed to investigate these gaps by screening a total of 110 fresh breast tissue specimens from UK patients for the presence of twelve HR-HPV types DNA using PCR and Sanger sequencing. Samples positive for HPV-DNA were screened for viral oncoprotein expression using western blot and dot blot. Data obtained showed the presence of HR-HPVs in 42% of breast tissues of which the viral activity was only confirmed in a number of invasive carcinomas (5/26). This finding, the first to report in the UK, suggests that the selective expression of viral oncoprotein in invasive cases may propose a role for HR-HPVs in the development of some types of BC.

Background The aim of the current study was to investigate and track the SARS-CoV-2 in Iranian Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients using molecular and phylogenetic methods. Methods We enrolled seven confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients for the phylogenetic assessment of the SARS-CoV-2 in Iran. The nsp-2, nsp-12, and S genes were amplified using one-step RT-PCR and sequenced using Sanger sequencing method. Popular bioinformatics software were used for sequences alignment and analysis as well as phylogenetic construction. Results The mean age of the patients in the present study was 60.42 ± 9.94 years and 57.1% (4/7) were male. The results indicated high similarity between Iranian and Chinese strains. We could not find any particular polymorphisms in the assessed regions of the three genes. Phylogenetic trees by neighbor-joining and maximum likelihood method of nsp-2, nsp-12, and S genes showed that there are not any differences between Iranian isolates and those of other countries. Conclusion As a preliminary phylogenetic study in Iranian SARS-CoV-2 isolates, we found that these isolates are closely related to the Chinese and reference sequences. Also, no sensible differences were observed between Iranian isolates and those of other countries. Further investigations are recommended using more comprehensive methods and larger sample sizes.

The ability of therapeutic vaccines to generate large numbers of CD8 ؉ T lymphocytes that have specificity for HIV-1 or other virally infected cells has enormous potential clinical value. However, approaches to produce cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in vivo via vaccine technology have thus far been disappointing and the ex vivo production of cells for adoptive transfer is labor intensive and expensive. We describe the results of a 2-step antibody-targeting system for the production of CD8 ؉ T lymphocytes spe-

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