Breast cancer, as the most common cancer in women worldwide, represents about 30% of all cancers affecting women. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been implicated in the regulation of several biological processes, and their dysregulation in cancer has well been documented. To investigate possible age-dependent variations in expression profiles of lncRNAs, we evaluated the expression levels of four lncRNAs, i.e., MALAT1, GAS5, SRA, and NEAT1, in breast cancer (BC) samples obtained from younger (45 years) women. Tumor samples (n = 23) and 15 normal tissues were collected from BC patients. All tumor and normal samples were morphologically confirmed by a pathologist. RNA was extracted from the tissues and cDNAs were then synthesized. The lncRNA expression levels were evaluated by qRT-PCR. The changes in the expression levels were determined using the ΔΔCt method. Compared to normal tissues, BC tissues from both age groups (women under 45 years of age and women above 45 years of age) showed upregulation of MALAT1 (p = 0.003 and p = 0.0002), SRA (p = 0.005 and p = 0.0002), and NEAT1 (p = 0.010 and p = 0.0002) and downregulation of GAS5 (p = 0.0002 and p = 0.0005). Additionally, our analysis showed significant and direct correlation between the age and the expression levels of three of the four lncRNAs studied in this work. All four lncRNAs were overexpressed in both MDA-MB-231 and MCF7 cell lines (p = 0.1000). Our data show that MALAT1, GAS5, SRA, and NEAT1 lncRNAs are dysregulated in BC samples. However, except for MALAT1, the expression levels of all of these lncRNAs were significantly lower in cancers developed in younger cases, where poorer prognosis is suggested. Of note, GAS5 reduced expression has been documented to correlate with tumor progression.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a gram-negative rod bacterium, a known cause of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia and is an important hospital-acquired pathogen that causes severe morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to identify the TEM and SHV genes in K. pneumoniae isolated from cockroaches obtained from hospitals. In this study, 250 cockroaches were collected from different hospitals in the province of Chaharmahal Va Bakhtiari, which is located in southwest Iran. The samples were examined for the presence of K. pneumoniae by plating onto a combination of culture media, and the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of isolated K. pneumoniae from samples were evaluated using the disk diffusion test. In addition, from the culture, genomic bacterial DNA was extracted, and sequence-specific targets (TEM and SHV genes) were amplified using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Out of 250 cockroach samples collected from various hospitals, 179 samples (71.60%) were positive for K. pneumoniae. PCR reaction was performed using specific oligonucleotide primers (TEM-F, TEM-R and SHV-F, SHV-R) for the amplification of each gene, and amplified products were visualized on 1% agarose gel electrophoresis. Of all the specimens amplified by PCR in this research, 32 samples (17.87%) were positive for TEM and 15 samples (8.37%) were positive for SHV. Detection of TEM and SHV genes using molecular methods and their pattern of antimicrobial resistance can provide useful information about the epidemiology of and risk factors associated with K. pneumoniae infection.

Recent data suggest that increased levels of the HOTAIR long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) are involved in the development of various types of malignancy, including breast cancer. The aim of present study was to investigate HOTAIR lncRNA expression profile in breast cancer (BC) patients and cell lines. In this experimental study, expression level of HOTAIR lncRNA was evaluated in BC and normal tissues of 15 patients as well as MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 and MCF-10A cell lines, using quantitative reverse- transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). HOTAIR lncRNA expression levels were estimated using 2^-ΔΔCt method. Further, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was done to evaluate the selected lncRNA diagnostic potential. The Cox’s proportional hazards regression model was performed to evaluate the predictive value of this lncRNA level in BC patients. The results of present study demonstrated no significant difference in the expression of HOTAIR lncRNA in MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cancer cell lines compared to MCF-10A as normal cell line (P>0.05). However, we observed a significantly increase in the expression of HOTAIR in BC patients compared to normal tissues (P<0.001). Significant associations were found between gene expression and tumour size and margin. We found 91.1% sensitivity and 95.7% specificity of circulating HOTAIR with an area under the ROC curve of 0.969. The Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated significant correlation between HOTAIR expression and overall survival. This study demonstrated that expression of HOTAIR is increased in BC and might be associated with its progression. According to these findings, HOTAIR expression could be proposed as biomarkers for BC early diagnosis and prognosis.

Apoptosis inhibition depends on the balance between expression of some regulatory genes including Bax and c-FLIP, despite breast cancer has long been associated with disturbances in apoptosis regulation. The objective of present study was to determine the expression levels of Bax and c-FLIP mRNAs in 1 μg sample of total RNA obtained from MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells treated with Prunus armeniaca extract. Prunus armeniaca effect was measured by MTT assay with different drug concentrations (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5 and 5 mg/mL) at different incubation times (24, 48 and 72 h). Expression of Bax and c-FLIP mRNA levels was determined by qRT-PCR technique. The results of this study indicated that Prunus armeniaca significantly inhibited proliferation of cells in concentration-dependent manner in all the time of incubation (P < 0.05). Our findings also showed that the expression level of Bax and c-FLIP genes were increased in untreat group compared with control group in both of cancer cells at all the time (P < 0.001). Prunus armeniaca reduced the expression level of Bax and c-FLIP genes cancer cells as a time-dependence manner with respect to the untreat group significantly (P < 0.001). The expression level of Bax and c-FLIP genes were significantly decreased under treatment of Prunus armeniaca extract and it may be helpful in the prevention and cure of breast cancer in usage of herbal remedies.