Human Antibodies - Volume Pre-press, issue Pre-press

Authors: Amouzegar, Atieh | Azizi, Freidoun | Ashrafivand, Sepideh | Ahi, Zahra | Saleh, Masoomeh | Mohaghegh, Somayeh | Gargari, Soraya Saleh

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Calcium and vitamin D deficiency is common among Iranian women of childbearing age and poses adverse effects on pregnancy outcomes. The aim of the current study was to determine the prevalence of vitamin D and calcium in a sample of Iranian pregnant women and to assess its correlation with the feto-maternal outcomes. With this aim. METHODS: In this prospective cross-sectional study, a sample of pregnant women between 15 to 45 years who were in the third trimester were recruited from a number of hospitals in Tehran. Data were collected by the means of a self-developed …questionnaire, interviews, physical examination, and paraclinical tests including measuring the serum level of calcium, vitamin D, parathormone (PTH) and phosphorous (Pi). The questionnaire obtained information on age, level of education, socio-economic status, parity, gravidity, calcium intake during pregnancy, as well as feto-maternal outcomes. RESULTS: We included a total number of 233 singleton pregnancies. Most of the subjects (58.4%) had vitamin D deficiency and 12.0% suffered from severe vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D deficiency was adversely associated with the years of education (p = 0.007), serum level of parathormone (p < 0.001). The Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) (p < 0.001), the exercise sequence per week (p < 0.001, sun exposure (p < 0.001), higher rate of sunscreen usage (p = 0.011) and higher BMI (p = 0.005). Vitamin D deficiency was associated with higher rate of cesarean delivery (p = 0.024), higher rate of diastolic hypertension (p = 0.019), higher rate of neonatal jaundice (p = 0.009) and higher rate of neonatal respiratory infections (p < 0.001). Serum level of PTH was a significant risk factor for severe vitamin D deficiency while calcium D supplementation, MET and sunscreen were significant protective factors. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy among Iranian women is extremely high and is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes including cesarean delivery, neonatal jaundice and neonatal respiratory infections. Low vitamin D supplementation and sun exposure, lack of physical activity and high BMI are the etiologies. Increasing the knowledge along with vitamin D supplementation during the pregnancy is recommended in Iranian population. Show more

Keywords: Calcium, deficiency, dietary supplements, low birth weight infant, parathyroid hormone, peripartum period, phosphorus, pregnancy, pregnancy outcome, vitamin D

DOI: 10.3233/HAB-200415

Citation: Human Antibodies, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-6, 2020

Authors: Erhabor, O. | Erhabor, T. | Adias, T.C. | Okara, G.C. | Retsky, M.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: A novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causing a cluster of respiratory infections (Coronavirus Disease 2019, COVID-19) first discovered in Wuhan, China is responsible for a new illness that has been found to affect the lungs and airways of patients with associated symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath. In the light of few cases recorded so far in West Africa there is tendency for complacency. The region needs to make strategic plans based on available evidence to enable them effectively deal with this rapidly evolving pandemic. At this very moment countries like China, Italy, France, Spain, Iran, UK and many others …are witnessing sustained and intensive community transmission of this virus and increasing numbers of severe disease and death particularly among elderly patients with other comorbidities. The reality of the seriousness of this pandemic is alarming. Government of member states of ECOWAS need to prepare themselves by building capacity as well as implement evidenced-based steps to mitigate this rapidly evolving pandemic by testing persons presenting with symptoms (fever, cough and shortness of breath), isolating and treating those found positive, tracing and quarantining contacts, implementing social distancing as well as optimizing human and material endowment to allow healthcare workers offer safe quality clinical care for affected patients to prevent secondary infection among healthcare workers. Show more

Keywords: Zero tolerance, complacency, government, West Africa, COVID-19 pandemic

DOI: 10.3233/HAB-200413

Citation: Human Antibodies, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-14, 2020

Authors: Osaro, Erhabor | Azachi, Williams Bitty | Tosan, Erhabor

Article Type: Case Report

Abstract: A case report of a 38 years old ABO group A and Rhesus D negative multiparous, gravidae 8 and para 2, Nigerian woman who had a case of premarital miscarriage and who was not offered anti-D prophylaxis as part of her management. Lady went on to develop alloantibody D and Jka. Lady has had 7 further pregnancies post the miscarriage. The first child who is B Rhesus D positive is the only surviving child. The surviving child was delivered severely jaundiced and needed management post-delivery for haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn (HDFN). Lady has had a history of a …stillbirth. She was given a non-clinically indicated anti-D prophylaxis during the second pregnancy despite having been previously sensitized. The second baby died 3 months after delivery from complications of HDFN. She had had a further history of 5 miscarriages. She has had challenge with conception since 2010. Alloantibody testing confirms the presence alloantibody D and anti-Jka. Finding from this case study is a clear case of sub-optimal laboratory, obstetric and neonatal care offered particularly to pregnant women who are Rh D negative and those with alloantibodies in Nigeria. The Nigerian government will need to implement evidenced-based best practices; determination of alloantibody status of pregnant women during their first antenatal visit; provision of facilities for alloantibody identification, titration, quantification and feto maternal haemorrhage testing (FMH); implementation of a policy on universal access to anti-D prophylaxis for pregnant Rh D negative women who are not previously sensitized; provision of facilities required for the optimal intrauterine management of HDFN (foetal genotype testing, intrauterine transfusion, doppler ultrasound to diagnose anaemia inutero and provision of donor blood that meet the minimum requirements for intrauterine transfusion); determination of Rh D status of women who require a termination of pregnancy and provision of prophylactic anti-D for those found Rh D negative within 72 hours of procedure and the optimization of the knowledge of Medical Laboratory Scientist, Obstetricians, Neonatologist, Pharmacist and Traditional Birth Attendants in a bid to reduce the residual number of women who become sensitized and the number of preventable deaths of babies with HDFN. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/HAB-200414

Citation: Human Antibodies, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-8, 2020

Authors: Maleki, Parichehr | Sheida, Sadaf Valeh | Mowla, Seyed Javad | Soleimani, Vahid | Taheri, Mohammad | Raheb, Jamshid

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: LINK-A (long intergenic non-coding RNA for kinase activation) is a newly identified long non-coding RNA with oncogenic function, which leads to the hyperactivation of AKT and HIF1α . thereby, fosters cell proliferation, mobility and metastasis. VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), a well-known cytokine has an important role in angiogenesis. In this study, we quantified RNA expression of LINK-A and VEGF on 45 tumor specimens obtained from Iranian patients diagnosed with Epithelial Ovarian Cancer (EOC). Our goal was to evaluate expression of LINK-A lncRNA and VEGF mRNA in ovarian cancer tissues and find the probable correlation of LINK-A with …VEGF as a major transcription target for HIF1α . LINK-A and VEGF were remarkably overexpressed in EOC tissues compared to normal tissues (P value: 0.004, 0.0001, respectively), but we did not find correlation between LINK-A and VEGF RNA expressions in this study. LINK-A was significantly overexpressed in higher stages of cancer and tumor grades. VEGF was only significantly elevated in higher stages. This study confirms importance of novel lncRNA of LINK-A in Iranian EOC patients. Show more

Keywords: lncRNA, LINK-A, VEGF, Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC)

DOI: 10.3233/HAB-200411

Citation: Human Antibodies, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-6, 2020

Authors: Erhabor, O. | Mohammad, S.Y. | Bello, L. | Onuigwe, F.U. | Abdulrahman, Y. | Zama, I. | Buhari, H. | Bagudo, A. | Ibrahim, K. | Ahmed, M. | Udomah, F.P. | Adias, T.C. | Erhabor, T. | Okara, G.C.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus infection is a global public health problem. The virus has infected more than one-third of the global population. It has been estimated that 360 million chronic carriers are living around the world with a high risk for developing cirrhosis, hepatic carcinoma and hepatic failure. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of some hepatitis B markers among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Sokoto Specialist Hospital, Nigeria. METHODS: The hepatitis testing was carried out using the Skytec-Rapid Diagnostic HBV-5 rapid kit (Skytec-Rapid Diagnostic, USA). The kit …is based on lateral flow chromatographic immunoassay for the qualitative detection of HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, HBeAb, and HBcAb in human serum or plasma. Panel format can conveniently test for five targets at once and utilizes all markers to help distinguish between acute and chronic infections. RESULTS: Out of 117 pregnant women tested, 15 were positive for HBsAg (12.8%), 6 positive for HBsAb (5.1%), 1 for HBeAg (0.9%), 14 tested positive for HBeAb (12.0%), and 14 tested for HBcAb (12.0%). The prevalence of HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, HBcAb and HBcAb was compared based on ethnicity. HBsAb was significantly higher among the Hausa ethnic group (p = 0.001). The prevalence of HBsAb, HBeAg, HBcAb and HBcAb was not affected by ethnicity (p > 0.05). The prevalence of HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, HBcAb and HBcAb was compared based on age. Infection by the hepatitis B virus markers was higher among young adult and middle age groups. The difference was however not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The prevalence of HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, HBcAb and HBcAb was compared based on the educational status, previous history of blood transfusion, jaundice, employment status and previous history of still births among the pregnant subjects. There were no statistically significant differences in the prevalence of Hepatitis B virus markers (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The study observed a high prevalence of various hepatitis B viral markers among pregnant women attending antenatal care in Specialist Hospital Sokoto. There is need for routine screening of all pregnant women and infants born to hepatitis B positive mothers. Government and non-governmental organizations should intensify efforts to enlighten the general population on the public health importance of the disease and the importance of hepatitis screening. There is also need for the development of a treatment protocol for the management of pregnant women positive for hepatitis B to prevent mother to child transmission. There is an urgent need for the implementation of evidenced-based best practice of providing universal vaccination against hepatitis B for all hepatitis B negative women of child bearing age in particular and all Nigerians in general. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/HAB-200412

Citation: Human Antibodies, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-11, 2020

Authors: Ahmadianpour, Mohammad Vahid | Mowla, Javad | Sotoodehnejadnematalahi, Fattah | Raheb, Jamshid

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Studies on the blood of patients with prostate cancer using Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and corona protein size changes have shown that this test is highly specific and sensitive, but this method has not been studied in Iran, and therefore this study intends to perform this procedure using gold nanoparticles in prostate cancer detection. Blood samples of 60 male subjects aged 40–90 years were collected from 20 healthy, 20 benign and 20 prostate cancer patients. Optical scattering changes were measured by the level of gold nanoparticles mixed with these sera, and the responses were compared with the PSA index (Prostate …Specific Antigen) of the subjects. Results of D2/D1 ratio analysis were performed using SPSS statistical software R. No significant differences were found in the size of the corona protein structure between the three groups of males with cancer, males with benign tumor, and healthy males. No correlation was found between the light scattering concentration and PSA serum level Due to changes in ambient temperature, prolonged test duration or high IgG levels in apparently healthy individuals, this test is not feasible in Iran. Performing this test requires advanced equipment to maintain the same temperature that do not exist in Iran. DLS also has major limitations for prostate cancer detection, so it cannot be a simple and accurate method for the early detection of prostate cancer, and it is suggested that other methods be used to diagnose. Show more

Keywords: Gold nanoparticles, cancer, prostate, early detection, active light scattering

DOI: 10.3233/HAB-200409

Citation: Human Antibodies, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-8, 2020

Authors: Sayad, Arezou | Dehaghi, Mohammadreza Ostadali | Taheri, Mohammad | Fallah, Hamid | Arsang-Jang, Shahram | Shadnoush, Mahdi | Ghafouri-Fard, Soudeh | Hamidieh, Amir Ali

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Fanconi anemia includes a number of clinically and genetically diverse disorders all of them being associated with genomic instability. Some previous studies reported higher frequencies of certain HLA alleles in patients with Fanconi anemia. In the current study, we genotyped HLA-A/B/DRB1 alleles in 40 Iranian patients with Fanconi anemia. We also genotyped these alleles in the same number of Iranian sex-matched healthy individuals. The frequency of DRB1*11 was significantly higher in patients compared with controls (OR (95% CI) = 2.143 [1.05, 4.46], P value = 0.036). On the other hand, the …frequencies of DRB1*13 and B*13 were lower in patients compared with controls (OR (95% CI) = 0.134 [0.02, 0.55], P value = 0.003 and OR (95% CI) = 0.13 [0.01, 0.89], P value = 0.035, respectively). Assessment of genetic divergence using Fstat test showed complete divergence in HLA-A, -B, -DRB1 alleles and haplotypes between patients and controls. The current study provides evidences for different distribution of HLA alleles between patients with Fanconi anemia and healthy subjects. Show more

Keywords: Fanconi anemia, HLA-A/B/DRB1 alleles, HLA haplotypes

DOI: 10.3233/HAB-200410

Citation: Human Antibodies, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-6, 2020

Authors: Malekghasemi, Somaiyeh | Majidi, Jafar | Daneshvar, Hamid | Abdolalizadeh, Jalal | Aghebati-Maleki, Leili

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Antibodies are still widely used in several programs including early research, imaging, Targeting drug delivery system, Affinity chromatography, flowcytometry technic, diagnosis and treatment. Purification of antibody is a standard approach for detection of infection agent in different species. The reservoir hosts for leishmania infantum are Dogs and they have active role in the transmission of leishmania to humans by the bite of a sand fly belonging to genus Phlebotomus and Lutzomiya . Consequently, elimination of dogs in endemic areas and vaccination of dogs contributes to reduction of the human and canine VL cases. Serological antibody tests such as …IFAT (Indirect Fluorescent Antbody Test), DFAT (Direct Fluorescent Antbody Test), ELISA (Enzyme–Linked Immunosorbent Assay), PCR (Polymerase chain Reaction Assay) have been extensively used to investigate canine infection with L. infantum. In this study we produced and purified polyclonal antibody against attenuated and wild type leishmania infantum in dogs. Anti-leishmania in dog serums precipitated with ammonium sulphate. The IgG recovered from ammonium sulphate precipitation was subject to ion exchange chromatography (IEC) and the purity of IgG was confirmed by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) under reduced condition. The purity of proteins were above 95% and then purified IgG was conjugated with FITC. We determined optimum titer of dog IgG by observation parasites under fluorescent microscope. The optimum dilution of prepared FITC conjugated dog IgG was 1: 400. This polyclonal antibody can be used for other applications in research, diagnosis and clinic. Show more

Keywords: Leishmania infantum, purification, Dog polyclonal antibody

DOI: 10.3233/HAB-200406

Citation: Human Antibodies, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-5, 2020

Authors: Younesi, Sarang | Mahdi Taheri Amin, Mohammad | Saadati, Pourandokht | Yazdani, Bahareh | Jamali, Soudabeh | Modarresi, Mohammad-Hossein | Savad, Shahram | Amidi, Saloomeh | Ghafouri-Fard, Soudeh | Razmpoosh, Elham | Yazarlou, Fatemeh

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the performance of the current national screening policy for Down syndrome (DS) in Iran and suggest a more efficient protocol with a wealth of a large series of first-trimester screening (FTS) data obtained from Nilou medical laboratory. To fulfill this aim, detection rate (DR), positive screening rate (PSR), false negative rate (FNR) and odds of being affected given a positive results (OAPR) were calculated at different cutoff risk. In the latest update of DS screening program in Iran, there is no place for intermediate group to be further investigated. Next, we proposed a novel parameter namely …the ratio of fβ -hCG multiple of the median (MoM) value to PAPP-A MoM value to delicately categorize FTS results in a way that reduce FNR without imposing unnecessary anxious and extra money on most families. METHODS: The present investigation was conducted retrospectively on 197,210 pregnancies undergoing FTS for aneuploidies in Nilou medical laboratory, Tehran, Iran, from March 2015 to February 2016. RESULTS: Intermediate risk group is important as 23 out of 45 FN fellin the range 1:250 to 1:1100. By applying the proposed index, the ratio of fβ -hCG MoM to PAPP-A MoM and subsequent decision about NIPT, 8 out of 23 FN cases in intermediate group could be detected. CONCLUSION: Compared with the current policy, our novel proposed approach had better performance and could be applied by the Iran National Health Service to improve the screening program guideline. Show more

Keywords: Down syndrome, fβ-hCG, pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A, PAPP-A

DOI: 10.3233/HAB-200408

Citation: Human Antibodies, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-8, 2020

Authors: Maleki, Parichehr | Sadeghi, Zahra | Shahryar Rahpeyma, Sayyed | Taheri, Mohammad | Raheb, Jamshid

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Graphen oxide has emerged as a promising tool in medical biotechnology due to its outstanding properties applicable in several fields as well as cell imaging, drug and gene delivery. Monolayer structure and high surface area of Graphen benefits elevated loading capacity of drugs rather than other nanomaterials. However Graphen oxide in physiological solutions has unfavourable reactions which confine it’s application in biomedical field without additional surface functionalization. Coating of graphenoxide by polyethylenimine is an approach to enhance biocompatibility of graphen oxide and also provides desirable physicochemical features for oligonucleotides delivery. The data presented here is related to graphenoxide-PEI characterisation and …it’s cytotoxicity assay on variouse breast cancer cell lines including MDA-MB-468 and MDA-MB-231 and MCF7 by MTT assay. Show more

Keywords: Graphen oxide, PEI, MTT assay, MDA-MB-468, MDA-MB-231, MCF7

DOI: 10.3233/HAB-200407

Citation: Human Antibodies, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-7, 2020