The aim of this study was to clarify the mechanism by which lactobacilli exert their cytotoxic effects on cervical cancer cells. In addition, we aimed to evalu- ate the effect of lactobacilli on the expression of human papilloma virus (HPV) onco- genes. In this experimental study, using quantitative real-time polymer- ase chain reaction (PCR), we analyzed the expression of CASP3 and three autophagy genes [ATG14, BECN1 and alpha 2 catalytic subunit of AMPK (PRKAA2)] along with HPV18 E6 and E7 genes in HeLa cells before and after treatment with Lactobacillus crispatus and Lactobacillus rhamnosus culture supernatants. The expression of CASP3 and autophagy genes in HeLa cells was de- creased after treatment with lactobacilli culture supernatants. However, this de- crease was not significant for PRKAA2 when compared with controls. In addition, expression of HPV E6 was significantly decreased after treatment with lactobacilli culture supernatants. Lactobacilli culture supernatants can decrease expression of ATG14 and BECN1 as well as the HPV E6 oncogene. It has been demonstrated that the main changes occurring during cervical carcinogenesis in cell machinery can be reversed by suppression of HPV oncogenes. Therefore, downregulation of HPV E6 by lacto- bacilli may have therapeutic potential for cervical cancer. As the role of autophagy in cancer is complicated, further work is required to clarify the link between downregula- tion of autophagy genes and antiproliferative effects exerted by lactobacilli.

The mainstay therapy against leishmaniasis is still pentavalent antimonial drugs; however, the rate of antimony resistance is increasing in endemic regions such as Iran. Understanding the molecular basis of resistance to antimonials could be helpful to improve treatment strategies. This study aimed to recognize genes involved in antimony resistance of Leishmania tropica field isolates. Sensitive and resistant L. tropica parasites were isolated from anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis patients and drug susceptibility of parasites to meglumine antimoniate (Glucantime®) was confirmed using in vitro assay. Then, complementary DNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) and real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) approaches were utilized on mRNAs from resistant and sensitive L. tropica isolates. We identified 2 known genes, ubiquitin implicated in protein degradation and amino acid permease (AAP3) involved in arginine uptake. Also, we identified 1 gene encoding hypothetical protein. Real-time RT-PCR revealed a significant upregulation of ubiquitin (2.54-fold), and AAP3 (2.86-fold) (P<0.05) in a resistant isolate compared to a sensitive one. Our results suggest that overexpression of ubiquitin and AAP3 could potentially implicated in natural antimony resistance.