Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women. The roles of the SIRT and FoxO proteins in tumor progression are known, but their roles in metastasis have not yet been clearly elucidated. In our study, we investigated the roles of SIRT and FoxO proteins their downstream pathways, proteins p21 and p53, in tumor progression and metastasis. We evaluated these proteins in vitro using metastatic 4TLM and 67NR cell lines, as well as their expression levels in tumor-bearing mice. In addition, the regulatory role of SIRT and FoxO proteins in different transduction cascades was examined by IPA core analysis, and clinicopathological evidence was investigated in the TCGA database. In primary tumors, the expression levels of SIRT1, p21, p53, E2F1 and FoxO proteins were higher in 67NR groups. In metastatic tissues, the expression levels of SIRT1, E2F1 and FoxO proteins were found to be enhanced, whereas the levels of p53 and p21 expression were noted to be reduced. IPA analysis also provided empirical evidence of the mechanistic involvement of SIRT and FoxO proteins in tumor progression and metastasis. In conclusion, SIRT1 was found to co-operate with FoxO proteins and to play a critical role in metastasis. Additional research is required to determine why overexpression of SIRT1 in metastatic tissues has oncogenic effects.

Intestinal protozoan parasites are common causes of infectious diarrhea in children receiving anticancer therapy or undergoing transplantation. Immunosuppression and therapy in these patients may exacerbate symptoms relate to infections. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and the routine diagnostic importance of protozoan in children treated for malignancy or undergoing transplantation, and to highlight the control of intestinal parasitic infections for immunosuppressed patients at a hospital in İzmir, Turkey. In total, 82 stool samples from 62 patients were analyzed by microscopic examination and PCR analyses for coccidian parasites. Microscopic examination and PCR of the stool samples showed Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora and Cystoisospora in 22.5 % (14/62), 9.6% (6/62), and 3.2% (2/62) of the cases by either method, respectively. The prevalence of these coccidian parasites identified with both methods was 35.4% (20/62). Other intestinal parasites (Blastocystis, Giardia, Entamoeba coli) were detected in 10 patients. PCR showed the presence of all coccidian parasites in the same stool of one patient. Finally, using both PCR and microscopic examination together on the stools revealed that there is a higher prevalence of Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, and Cystoisospora in immunocompromised children. These examinations allowed the start of appropriate and early antibiotic treatments and seem to increase the percentage of the correctly treated patients.

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL), a neglected vector-borne disease caused by protozoan parasite Leishmania major (L. major), is a major public health concern, and the development of new strategies to reduce the disease incidence has become a top priority. Advances in immunoinformatics and in-silico epitope prediction could be a promising approach to designing a finest vaccine candidate. In this study, we aimed to design a peptide-based vaccine against CL using computational tools and identified ten B-cell-derived T-cell epitopes from the glycoprotein gp63 of L. major. All of the potential immunodominant epitopes were used to design a vaccine construct along with a linker and an adjuvant at the N-terminal for enhancing its immunogenicity. Additionally, many characteristics of the proposed vaccine were examined, and it was confirmed to be non-allergenic, non-toxic, and thermally stable. To assess the vaccine interaction with the innate immune toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4), a 3D structure of the vaccine construct was developed. Molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation were used to confirm the binding and to assess the stability of the vaccine-TLR4 complex and interactions, respectively. In conclusion, our multi-epitope vaccine will provide a gateway to analyze the protein function of a potential vaccine candidate against CL.