Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is defined by high levels of glucose in the blood. The collagen IV level is associated with conditions of hyperglycemia and insulin resistance. Collagen type IV α3 chain (COL4A3) is a structural protein of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9) is an enzyme that degrades the extracellular matrix and its activity is moderated by TIMP metallopeptidase inhibitor 1 (TIMP-1). The aim of the current study was to examine the association between genetic polymorphisms of COL4A3 (rs55703767), MMP-9 (rs17576) and TIMP-1 (rs6609533) in patients with T2D. This case-control study was performed on 120 Iranian patients with T2D and 120 healthy individuals. Genotypes were analyzed using the amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction technique. The findings demonstrated significant differences between genotypic and allelic distributions of COL4A3 (G/T) and MMP-9 (A/G) polymorphisms as follows: COL4A3 (G/T); TT vs. GG, odds ratio (OR)=0.235, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.063–0.0802 (P=0.013) and T vs. G, OR=0.592, 95% CI=0.371–0.943 (P=0.026); MMP-9 (A/G); AG vs. GG, OR=2.429, 95% CI=1.232–4.820 (P=0.008) and A vs. G, OR=2.176, 95% CI=1.155–4.130 (P=0.013). No significant association was identified between TIMP-1 (A/G) polymorphism and T2D in females and males. Thus, the genotypic and allelic distributions of COL4A3 (G/T) and MMP-9 (A/G) polymorphisms were associated with T2D. In addition, no significant association was identified in the genotypic distribution of the TIMP-1 (A/G) gene in females and in males. Further studies in other ethnic groups are required to confirm these findings.

Artemisinin is the major sesquiterpene lactones in sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua L.), and its combination with transferrin exhibits versatile anti-cancer activities. Their non-selective targeting for cancer cells, however, limits their application. The aim of this study was to prepare the artemisinin and transferrin-loaded magnetic nanoliposomes in thermosensitive and non-thermosensitive forms and evaluate their antiproliferative activity against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells for better tumor-targeted therapy.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a complex heterogeneous disease resulting from the environment and genetic interactions. Lately, genetic association studies have shown that polymorphisms in long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are associated with T2DM susceptibility. This preliminary study is aimed at investigating if HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) polymorphisms contribute to T2DM development. Five hundred clinically diagnosed T2DM cases and 500 healthy controls were recruited from the southeast Iranian population. Genomic DNA was isolated from nucleated blood cells and genotyped for MspI (C/T) (rs920778) and AluI (A/G) (rs4759314) polymorphisms using the PCR-RFLP technique. For genotyping rs12826786 C/T and rs1899663 G/T variants, ARMS-PCR method was applied. Our findings indicated that HOTAIR rs920778 C/T, rs12826786 C/T, and rs4759314 A/G polymorphisms have a significant positive association with T2DM, while a negative association was observed between rs1899663 G/T T2DM susceptibility. Significant associations were also observed between rs920778 C/T and HDL-C as well as s4759314 A/G and both FBS and LDL-C in T2DM patients. Haplotype analysis indicated that the CGCG, CTTG, TGTA, and TTTG haplotypes of rs920778/rs1899663/rs12826786/rs4759314 significantly enhanced T2DM risk by 1.47, 1.96, 2.81, and 4.80 folds, respectively. No strong linkage disequilibrium was found between the four HOTAIR SNPs. We firstly reported that HOTAIR rs1899663 G/T, rs12826786 C/T, rs4759314 A/G, and rs920778 C/T polymorphisms might influence T2DM susceptibility by modulating different signaling pathways and could be regarded as potential prognostic markers in T2DM patients.