BACKGROUND The cytochrome P450 CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 enzymes are involved in carcinogenesis via activation of pro-carcinogenic compounds to carcinogenic metabolites. CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 have shown elevated levels in human tumors as determined by qRT-PCR and immunohistochemical studies. However studies that have examined CYP1 expression by enzyme activity assays are limited. RESULTS In the current s...

Cytochrome P4501A1 (CYP1A1), which is involved in the metabolic activation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon procarcinogens derived from tobacco smoke, is induced in the lung up to 100-fold because of tobacco smoking. Our aim was to study whether promoter methylation has any role in the smoking-associated expression of CYP1A1 in human lung. Methylation of CpG sites up to 1.4 kb upstream of CYP...

sporadic alzheimer’s disease (sad) is a multi-factorial disease caused by genetic, epigenetic, environmental and metabolic factors. current understandings of the possible mechanisms of ad such as inflammation and oxidative stresses in the brain have led us to investigation of potential ad therapeutics. currently herbal medicines with fewer side effects comparing to other chemical medicine are i...

background: the interaction between follicular cells and oocyte leads to a change in gene expression involved in oocyte maturation processes. objective: the purpose of this study was to quantify the expression of more common genes involved in follicular growth and oocyte developmental competence. materials and methods: in this experimental study, the expression of genes was evaluated with qrt-p...

background: in this study, we evaluated the incidence of apoptosis at the ultrastructural levels and expression of some apoptosis-related genes in vitrified human ovarian tissue just after warming. methods: human ovarian tissue biopsies from 23 women after caesarean section were transported to the laboratory within 2 hours, and then they were cut into small pieces. some pieces were vitrified an...

channel activities, particularly those of calcium channels, have vital roles in the process of sperm maturation, motility and sperm-egg interaction. a group of the recently discovered ion channels associated with these processes is four novel channel-like proteins known as catsper (cation channel sperm) gene family. catsper1 and catsper2 show sperm specific expression patterns. however, neither...

background: linum album, a herbaceous and medicinal plant, has been shown to accumulate anti-tumor podophyllotoxin (ptox) and related lignans. objective: in this study, we have verified the time-course of cell growth, lignan production in cells treated with chitosan and chitin oligomers. to study mechanism of chitosan and chitin oligomers action, expression of phenylalanine ammonio-lyase (pal),...

background: toxoplasmosis is a worldwide-distributed infection which is mostly asymptomatic but can cause serious health problems in congenitally-infected newborns and immunecompromised individuals. research is undergoing both to improve toxoplasma serological tests, which play the main role in laboratory diagnosis of the infection, and develop an effective vaccine to prevent the infection. som...