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UbiA prenyltransferase domain-containing protein 1 (UBIAD1) plays a key role in biosynthesis of vitamin K2 and coenzyme Q10 using geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP). However, the mechanism by which UBIAD1 participates in tumorigenesis remains unknown. This study show that UBIAD1 interacts with H-Ras, retains H-Ras in the Golgi apparatus, prevents H-Ras trafficking from the Golgi apparatus to the plasma membrane, blocks the aberrant activation of Ras/MAPK signaling, and inhibits the proliferation of bladder cancer cells. In addition, GGPP was required to maintain the function of UBIAD1 in regulating the Ras/ERK signaling pathway. A Drosophila model was employed to confirm the function of UBIAD1/HEIX in vivo. The activation of Ras/ERK signaling at the plasma membrane induced melanotic masses in Drosophila larvae. Our study suggests that UBIAD1 serves as a tumor suppressor in cancer and tentatively reveals the underlying mechanism of melanotic mass formation in Drosophila.

Previous studies have established the anticancer effect of vitamin K2 (VK2). However, its effect on lymphoma induced by UBIAD1/heix mutation in Drosophila remains unknown. Therefore, we aimed to develop an in vivo model of lymphoma for the precise characterization of lymphoma phenotypes. We also aimed to improve the understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the preventative effects of VK2 on lymphoma. Our results demonstrated that VK2 prevents lymphoma by acting as an electron carrier and by correcting the function and structure of mitochondria by inhibiting mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production mtROS. Our work identifies mitochondria as a key player in cancer therapy strategies.

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Background: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease regarding its morphology, invasive behaviour, metastatic capacity, hormone receptor expression and clinical outcome. There are many risk factors for breast cancer, including genetic factors that account for 25-30% of the incidence; from this percentage, only 15-30% of the heritable component of breast cancer is due to known familiar highly penetrating genes, and the others are sporadic.Methods: This study was the first to include amplified genes as PCR templates to determine the relationship between their polymorphism and breast cancer incidence using RAPD of amplified genes. The study was designed first to evaluate the association of ABCG2, ABCB1 and BRCA1 gene polymorphisms in addition to miRNA-152 and ER-a using the RAPD technique with breast cancer incidence in Maysan Province women and second to use those genes as indicators for breast cancer prediction and diagnosis. The study included 100 patients with breast cancer and 30 healthy control women, and then all samples were amplified by conventional PCR with specific F and R primers for ABCG2, ABCB1, BRCA1, ER-α, and miRNA-152 genes. Then, the best PCR product (20) was chosen as the template for the RAPD technique.Results: The results revealed that all RAPD primers showed polymorphisms with higher values and more specific bands in patient samples. Our study proved the relationship between genetic polymorphisms of breast cancer-related genes and a higher incidence of cancer.Conclusion: The current study recommends employing these results for the future prediction and diagnosis of breast cancers.

This study aimed to determine and identify Sarcocystis spp. infection in sheep and goats in Misan governorate, Iraq. samples from oesophagus, diaphragm, tongue, and heart muscles were examined histologically  for microscopic and macroscopic cyst , 70 out of 90 sheep 77.78 % had  microscopic thick walled sarcocysts with mean 53 ×24.72 μm diagnosed as Sarcocystis tenella while 25 out of them 27.78 % had microscopic thin-walled sarcocysts with mean 49.45×33 μm diagnosed Sarcocystis arieticanis , esophagus showed the highest infection rate  above all organs  examined for thick – walled Sarcocystis while diaphragm was the highest for thin –walled Sarcocystis  , the heart was the lowest infected organ for both type as 27.78% and 3.33% respectively . In goats 50 sample examined revealed 20 infected with thick walled sarcocysts only with different in distribution according to organs being high in esophagus 40% and lowest in heart 16% with mean measurement 60.61 × 37.75 μm diagnosed as Sarcocystis capracanis.

The current study was conducted in Misan Governorate to detect the parasite Sarcocystis spp. by both conventional and molecular methods and to identify the species of this genus in goats as intermediate hosts for multiple species of this parasite. Regarding to the traditional study, the rates of infection with the macroscopic type of Sarcocystis spp. were low and recorded 2% in esophageal samples only in goats. The sizes of macroscopic parasite cysts ranged between 1-10 mm in length and 2-6 mm in width. Infection with the microscopic type of parasite recorded high rates. When comparing the efficiency of the traditional methods used in our study to diagnose the infection of the microscopic type in all of the examined organs isolated from goats, which included the methods of digestion with pepsin, squeezing, trichinoscopy. It was found that the method of digestion with pepsin was the most efficient traditional method for diagnosing the microscopic type of parasite, followed by the trichinoscopy. While the squeezing method recorded the least efficient traditional method for diagnosing Sarcocystis spp. microscopically. The molecular study of Sarcocystis spp. included molecular diagnosis of the parasite's identity at the species level through gene amplification using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the target segment of DNA extracted from the parasite samples of goats for 18S rRNA gene by 120 microscopic samples and 4 macroscopic samples. 87.9% of goat samples, showed positive infection with the 18S rRNA gene; In which 100% of the macroscopic and microscopic samples of the esophagus were recorded, and both animals had a positive infection, while the infection rates for the diaphragm, tongue and heart samples were recorded as 90%, 86.7 and 80%, respectively. The results obtained from sequence analysis of 18S rRNA gene for six samples showed that four microscopic samples of goats (OP474017.1, OP474018.1, OP476699.1 and OP474036.1) were closely related to the Malaysian species; S. capracanis with accession number (KR155191.1) with identity score percentages as 99.50%, 99.01%, 99.76% and 99.13%, respectively. Finally, the two macroscopic samples of goats (OP474061.1 and OP474062.1) were identical with the Egyptian species; S. buffalonis, with accession numbers (KU247913.1) and (KU247913.1) respectively, with a matching percentage of 84.39% and 85.64% respectively. S. buffalonis has identified in goats at the first time globally in present study. Keywords: Sarcocystis buffalonis, Goats, OP474061.1, OP474062.1.

Breast cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers with high estimated mortality worldwide; many studies around the world have involved polymorphisms in drug resistance genes, tumor suppressor genes, estrogen receptor genes, and regulatory genes related to the development and prognosis of breast cancers. It is worth noting that this study was the first to include these genes as PCR templates to determine the relationship between their polymorphisms and breast cancer incidence using RAPD of amplified genes. The study was designed first to evaluate the association of ABCG2, ABCB1 and BRCA1 gene polymorphisms in addition to miRNA-152 and ER-a using the RAPD technique with breast cancer incidence in women in Maysan, Province and then to employ those genes in the future as biomarkers in breast cancer prediction and diagnosis. This study included 100 patients with breast cancer and 30 healthy control women, and then all samples were amplified by conventional PCR with specific F and R primers for ABCG2, ABCB1, BRCA1, ER-α, and miRNA-152 genes. Then, the best PCR product (20) was chosen as the template for the RAPD technique. The results revealed that all RAPD primers showed polymorphisms with higher values in patient samples, and revealed several mutations in patient samples. Our study proved the relationship between genetic polymorphisms of breast cancer related genes and a higher incidence of cancer. The results of the statistical analysis by using Chi-square showed that there were no significant differences in the types of bands of the ABCG2, ABCB1, BRCA1 between the patient sample and the control sample, at the probability level of P >0.05, and significant differences in the types of bands of the ER-α, and mi-RNA 152 between the patient sample and the control sample, at the probability level of P <0.05. The current study recommends employing these results for future prediction and diagnosis of breast cancers.