Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease and represents approximately 30% of all cancers in women. This type of cancer is one of the main causes of cancer-related deaths and is characterized by proliferation and metastasis of transformed cells. Extracellular matrix plays an important role in the growth, progression, prognosis, invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells. Extracellular matrix degradation occurs by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in invasive and metastatic breast cancers. MMPs are important proteolytic enzymes and are effective in tumor growth, invasion and metastasis. Various genetic variations have been identified in MMP genes and these genetic variations have been associated with changes in MMP enzyme activities, promoter activity, cell proliferation, and transcriptional regulation. Therefore, cell proliferation and tumor migration can be affected in breast cancer. Single nucleotide gene variations such as MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, MMP-7, MMP-9 and MMP-12 have been associated with susceptibility to various cancer types such as breast cancer. The aim of this review is to provide general information about the pathogenesis of breast cancer as well as to examine the roles of MMP gene variations and expression levels in the development of breast cancer.
Objective: Ischemic stroke is characterized by loss of focal cerebral function due to impaired of brain-blood flow.Environmental factors and genetic factors may be effective together in the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke.Trace elements are important components of the biological structure, and toxic effects may occur when these trace elements are taken in more than the amount required for biological functions.The risk of neurological diseases such as ischemic stroke may increase as a result of imbalances in trace element levels.Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the effects of serum iron and copper levels in the development of ischemic stroke disease. Materials and Methods:Our study consisted of 20 ischemic stroke patients and 36 healthy controls.Serum iron and copper levels measurements were performed using atomic absorption spectrophotometer method.Results: Serum iron and copper levels were detected significantly lower in the patient group with ischemic stroke compared to the healthy control group.However, the significant difference was not determined in comparison of serum copper and iron levels according to gender between patient with ischemic stroke and healthy control groups. Conclusion:In our study, it was determined that serum iron and copper levels may be effective risk factors for ischemic stroke disease.Thus, it was concluded that serum iron and copper trace element levels may be important biomarkers that may be evaluated in the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of ischemic stroke.
Objective: We hypothesized that, compared with body mass index (BMI) alone, central obesity would provide added information regarding types of asthma (allergic, nonallergic) and asthma severity. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 children aged between 7-17 years with 50 allergic asthma, 50 nonallergic asthma and 50 controls were included in the study. Height, weight, waist and hip circumferences of the groups were measured. Waist-to-hip ratio and BMI were calculated. Pulmonary function test results were recorded. The relation between anthropometric measurements, asthma, atopy, obesity and each other was analyzed. Results: Obesity according to BMI was higher in the group with allergic asthma than nonallergic asthma and the control group (p: 0.014). A positive correlation was found between asthma and BMI percentile, BMI z score and waist-to-hip ratio (p: 0.002; 0.003; 0.040, respectively). Children with obesity according to waist circumference were more frequent in the groups with allergic and nonallergic asthma compared to the control group (p: 0.048). There was a significant relationship between asthma severity and central obesity (p: 0.048). FEV1 / FVC and FEF25-75 were lower in the asthmatic groups compared to the control group (p: 0.028; 0.012, respectively). Conclusion: This study showed that central obesity was associated with asthma and asthma severity, but not with atopy. More investigation is needed to clarify how central obesity in children affects the control of asthma and the response to asthma medication. Keywords: Childhood asthma, central obesity, waist-to-hip ratio, body mass index
The aim of this study was to determine the genotype distributions of calcitonin related polypeptide alpha (CALCA) gene polymorphisms according to the plasma total homocysteine levels in ischemic stroke patients and patient subtypes selected from Trakya Region. The study included 82 patients and 92 healthy controls. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) were used to determine the genotype distributions of CALCA gene polymorphisms. The plasma total homocysteine levels were measured by Immulite 2000XPi homocysteine kits. Significant differences were not found between the group of patients and the control group in terms of CALCA gene polymorphisms genotype distributions (p > 0.05). Significant differences were not found between ischemic stroke patients and healthy controls, in the patient subtypes with ischemic stroke in respect to the CALCA gene polymorphisms genotype distributions according to the plasma total homocysteine levels (p > 0.05). This suggests that the CALCA gene polymorphisms genotype distributions studied according to the plasma total homocysteine levels could not likely be considered a genetic risk factor for ischemic stroke development.
