Reports of Biochemistry

Background: Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) is a tyrosine kinase located in the cytoplasm that plays a critical role in the signal transduction of cytokines and growth hormones. The conversion of valine to phenylalanine at the polypeptide position 617 results in the JAK2 (V617F) mutation, which often found in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). As a result of this mutation, JAK2 is constitutively activated leading to uncontrolled cell growth. The present study aimed to investigate the frequency and relationship of the JAK2 (V617F) mutation in a population of patients with MPNs in Iran.

Methods: A total of 213 patients with myeloproliferative diseases (MPDs), were included in the study. Real-time PCR was used to detect the presence of the JAK2 (V617F) mutation in the genomic DNA isolated from patient peripheral blood samples.

Results:  Of the 213 patients with MPDs, approximately 60 (28%) patients were positive for the JAK2 (V617F) mutation. Polycythemia Vera (PV, 42.11%) was the most common MPD, followed by Essential Thrombocythemia (ET, 29.82%), Primary Myelofibrosis (MF, 12.28%), and Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML, 10.5%). A significant relationship between all types of MPDs and the clinical course (p< 0.05) was observed. The relationship between age and gender among all types of MPD disease was not significant (p> 0.05).

Conclusions: Of the examined cohort in North Eastern Iran, 28% of the patients with MPNs were found to have the JAK2 (V617F) mutation which determining the presence of the JAK2 (V617F) mutation helps to decide the correct form of treatment.

Background: A critical role has been known for lncRNAs in the initiation and development of cancers. Therefore, lncRNAs have been reported as the possible biomarkers in relation to the diagnosis and therapy of malignancies. This project examined the change in CYTOR lncRNA expression in human cervical cancer samples as compared with adjacent healthy ones.

Methods: We provided one hundred fifteen pairs of tumorous and adjacent healthy tissue specimens of cervical cancer patients. RNAs were isolated from tissue specimens and cDNAs were synthesized. We considered quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) to examine the expression levels of CYTOR lncRNA. In addition, the biomarker activity of CYTOR and the associations between the lncRNA and clinicopathological characteristics were evaluated.

Results: The significant increased expression of CYTOR was obtained in cancerous samples as compared with non-cancerous ones (P< 0.0001). A significant correlation was indicated between CYTOR expression and the squamous subtype of cervical cancer (p=0.046). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve-related AUC (area under the curve), specificity, and sensitivity were calculated 0.88, 81.74%, and 80%, respectively, which may introduce CYTOR as a potential biomarker.

Conclusions: CYTOR may be an effective oncogene and biomarker in cervical cancer cases given its increased expression in human cervical cancer tissues.