IntroductionTributyltin is one of the important and wide-spread persistent organic contaminants that accumulate in the food chain. It is suspected to cause endocrine-disrupting effects in mammals, due in part to its possible transfer through marine food chains and to the consumption of contaminated seafood.Aim of the workWas to study the possible toxic effect of Tributyltin on thyroid follicular cells of adult male albino rats and to evaluate the possible protective role of green tea.Material and methodsForty-five adult male albino rats were included and randomly divided into 3 equal groups: a control group (Group I); Group II: received tributyltin chloride (TBT) dissolved in corn oil orally in a dose of 5 mg/kg for 30 days. Group III: received tributyltin chloride in the same dose with concomitant oral administration of green tea extract for 30 days. At the end of the experiment, the animals were sacrificed and blood samples were subjected to hormonal assay for T3, T4 and TSH levels. Malondialdehyde and reduced glutathione were assessed. The thyroid tissue was processed for histological and ultrastructure examination. The colloid area of thyroid follicles was evaluated morphometrically and statistically analyzed.ResultsA significant decrease in T3 and T4 levels and serum reduced glutathione in the group II when compared with the other groups. Furthermore, a significant increase in serum Malondialdehyde and TSH levels was recorded in group II treated group by comparison to the other two groups. Histopathological and ultrastructural changes of thyroid gland follicles were detected in tributyltin treated rats; the follicular cells appeared swollen and vacuolated. Epithelial stratification was noticed in some foci with excessive vacuolation of the colloid. Dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum filled with flocculent material and increased number of lysosomes were also detected together with variation in shape and size of the nuclei. A marked improvement in the histological features of thyroid follicles was noticed in group III.ConclusionTributyltin induces oxidative stress in rats as well as anti-thyroid effect. The green tea extract is useful in combating tissue injury that is a result of tributyltin toxicity.

Background Breast cancer (BC) is the leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. Most BC studies on candidate microRNAs were tissue specimen based. Recently, there has been a focus on the study of cell‐free circulating miRNAs as promising biomarkers in (BC) diagnosis and prognosis. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the circulating levels of miR‐10b and its target soluble E‐ cadherin as potentially easily accessible biomarkers for breast cancer. Methods Sixty‐one breast cancer patients and forty‐eight age‐ and sex‐matched healthy volunteers serving as a control group were enrolled in the present study. Serum samples were used to assess miRNA10b expression by TaqMan miRNA assay technique. In addition, soluble E‐cadherin expression level in serum was determined using ELISA technique. Result Circulating miR‐10b expression level and serum sE‐cadherin was significantly upregulated in patients with BC compared to controls. Moreover, serum miR‐10b displayed progressive up‐regulation in advanced stages with higher level in metastatic compared to non‐metastatic BC. Additionally, the combined use of both serum miR‐10b and sE‐cadherin revealed the highest sensitivity and specificity for detection of BC metastasis (92.9% and 97.9% respectively) with an area under curve (AUC) of 0.98, 95% CI (0.958–1.00). Conclusion Our data suggest that circulating miR‐10b could be utilized as a potential non‐invasive serum biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer with better performance to predict BC metastasis achieved on measuring it simultaneously with serum sE‐cadherin. Further studies with a large cohort of patients are warranted to validate the serum biomarker for breast cancer management.

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Chronic kidney disease patients undergoing hemodialysis might be subjected to potential mitochondrial oxidative dysregulation with subsequent possible vascular and tissue injury.

Background: Epigenetic mechanisms including DNA methylation are key regulators of gene activity and may play key roles in carcinogenesis through cumulative activation and inactivation of oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, and other genes. Increased vimentin gene expression has been reported in various tumor cell lines and tissues including breast cancer. In addition, methylation of the vimentin gene was described as a marker in several malignant tumors. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the existence of a potential relationship between the methylation state of the vimentin gene and its prognostic value in breast cancer patients and its correlation with vimentin protein expression in the serum. Patients and Methods: The methylation status of the vimentin gene was examined in primary infiltrating ductaltumors and the surrounding normal tissues derived from 50 breast cancer patients enrolled for either modified radical mastectomy or conservative breast surgery using quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (qMSP), serum vimentin levels were determined using ELISA, and the correlation between the methylation status and the clinicopathological findings was evaluated. Results: Out of 50 breast cancer patients, 18 (36%) exhibited positive methylation of vimentin gene while 32 (64%) exhibited negative vimentin genemethylation in their tumors. Subsequently clinicopathological data were correlated with the vimentin genemethylation score. A significant association was found between negative vimentin methylation, and both serum vimentin protein level (p < 0.001) and the triple negative breast cancer subtype (TNBCs) (p = 0.004). Using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, a cut off value of <0.49 was set for the negative vimentin methylation score to distinguish between early and late stage breast cancer, and the ROC curve showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.684 (p = 0.029). Conclusion: Our study showed that the vimentin gene is frequently hypomethylated in breast cancer tissues, and that 151negative methylation status is always associated with high serum vimentin protein expression levels. Also we reported a significant association between negative vimentin methylation and TNBC subtype which is known to have an aggressive clinical course. Taken together, these results might have important implications for the design of novel therapeutic interventions for breast cancer patients. However, further studies with larger sample size are needed to validate these observations.