👤 Marina Gonçalves Diniz

The pathogenesis of lipodystrophy in people living with HIV (PLWHIV) receiving antiretrovirals appears to be multifactorial and may involve genetic factors; however, it is not yet fully understood. We verified the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms in the APOC3-rs2854116, ESR2-rs3020450, HFE-rs1799945 and MMP1-rs1799750 genes and lipodystrophy and its subtypes in PLWHIV receiving antiretroviral. Design: cross-sectional study. Lipodystrophy definition was based on self-report. Genotyping of the polymorphisms was performed using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Lipodystrophy was reported in 204/404 participants (51%), being 89/204 with mixed lipodystrophy, 72/204 with lipohypertrophy, and 43/204 with lipoatrophy. There was no association between APOC3, HFE, and MMP1 polymorphisms and lipodystrophy. The frequency of AA genotype ( Participants with lipoatrophy had higher frequency of the AA genotype and the A allele of the ESR2-rs3020450 polymorphism. In addition, viral load >40 copies/mL and current use of zidovudine were associated with lipoatrophy, suggesting a potential involvement of this genetic variant in the pathogenesis of lipoatrophy in PLWHIV receiving antiretroviral. Show less

Higher tumor size correlates with poor prognosis and is an independent predictive survival factor in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients. However, the molecular events underlining OSCC tumor evolution are poorly understood. We aimed to investigate if large OSCC tumors show different cell cycle gene transcriptional signature compared to small tumors. Seventeen fresh OSCC tumor samples with different tumor sizes (T) were included in the study. Tumors were from the tongue or from the floor of the mouth, and only three patients were nonsmokers. Samples were categorized according to clinical tumor size in tumors ≤2 cm (T1, n = 5) or tumors >2 cm (T2, n = 9; T3, n = 2; T4, n = 1). The group of tumors ≤2 cm was considered the reference group, while the larger tumors were considered the test group. We assessed the expression of 84 cell cycle genes by qRT-PCR array and normalized it to the expression of two housekeeping genes. Results were analyzed according to the formula 2(⁻DeltaCt). A five-fold change cutoff was used, and p values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Ki-67 immunohistochemistry was performed to estimate cell proliferation index. Twenty-nine genes were downregulated in the test group (larger tumors) compared to the reference group (smaller tumors). Among these genes, 13 reached statistical significance: ANAPC4, CUL1, SUMO1, KPNA2, MAD2L2, CCNG2, E2F4, NBN, CUL2, PCNA, TFDP1, KNTC1, and ATR. Ki-67 labeling index was similar in both tumor groups. Our findings suggest that the transcriptional activity of specific cell cycle genes varies according to the size of OSCC tumor, which probably reflects tumor molecular evolution and adaptation to the microenvironment. Show less