The impact of TFPI on coronary atherosclerotic burden
BRATISLAVA MEDICAL JOURNAL-BRATISLAVSKE LEKARSKE LISTY
Authors: Kahraman, S.; Erdim, R.; Helvacioglu, F.; Dogan, A.; Sozer, V; Gunay, D.; Aytekin, S.; Aytekin, V
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: We aimed to associate a coronary artery disease (CAD) presence and severity with endothelial dysfunction (ED), carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) and Tissue Factor Pathway Inhibitor (TFPI). BACKGROUND: ED has a central role in atherosclerosis. CIMT and TFPI activity are also related with atherosclerosis and CAD. METHODS: In our prospective observational study, 50 patients had CAD and 30 had normal coronary arteries. Endothelial function was evaluated by endothelium-dependent flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and nitroglycerinemediated dilatation (NMD) measurements. CIMT and Serum TFPI levels were also measured. RESULTS: TFPI was a statistically significant determinant between the two groups with an increased level in CAD (+) group (84.9 +/- 19.3 vs 70.2 +/- 14.7, p = 0.001). There was a positive correlation between CIMT and Gensini (r = 0.34, p = 0.014). There was a strong negative correlation between Gensini and FMD-NMD, statistically significant (FMD: r =-0.715, p < 0.001; NMD: r = -0.718, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: We observed that ED, increased CIMT and TFPI levels were associated with CAD. Additionally, increased CIMT measurements and decreased FMD and NMD values had a positive correlation with GSS (Tab. 4, Fig. 6, Ref. 50). Text in PDF www.elis.sk.
Epigenetic Silencing of TFPI-2 in Canine Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma
PLOS ONE
Authors: Ferraresso, Serena; Bresolin, Silvia; Arico, Arianna; Comazzi, Stefano; Gelain, Maria Elena; Riondato, Fulvio; Bargelloni, Luca; Marconato, Laura; Kronnie, Geertruy te; Aresu, Luca
Abstract
Epigenetic modifications are important early events during carcinogenesis. In particular, hypermethylation of CpG islands in the promoter region of tumor suppressor genes is a well-known mechanism of gene silencing that contributes to cancer development and progression. Tissue factor pathway inhibitor 2 (TFPI-2) is a tumor suppressor involved in invasiveness inhibition. Although TFPI-2 transcriptional silencing, through promoter hypermethylation, has been widely reported in several human malignancies, it has never been explored in lymphoma. In the present study TFPI-2 methylation and gene expression have been investigated in canine Diffuse Large B-cell lymphomas (cDLBCL). The methylation level of 23 CpGs located within the TFPI-2 promoter was investigated by bisulfite-specific PCR and next generation amplicon deep sequencing (GS Junior 454, Roche) in 22 cDLBCLs and 9 controls. For the same specimens, TFPI-2 gene expression was assessed by means of Real-time RT-PCR. Sequence analysis clearly demonstrated that TFPI2 is frequently hypermethylated in cDLBCL. Hypermethylation of the TFPI-2 promoter was found in 77% of DLBCLs ( 17 out of 22) and in one normal lymph node. Globally, dogs with DLBCL showed a mean methylation level significantly increased compared to controls (p<0.01) and analysis of hypermethylation by site identified 19 loci out of 23 ( 82%) with mean methylation levels from 2- to 120-fold higher in cDLBCL. Gene expression analysis confirmed a significant down-regulation of TFPI-2 ( p<0.05) in DLBCLs compared with normal lymph nodes, suggesting that TFPI-2 hypermethylation negatively regulates its transcription. In addition, a significant positive correlation ( p<0.01) was found between TFPI-2 methylation levels and age providing the first indication of age-associated epigenetic modifications in canine DLBCL. To conclude, our findings demonstrated that epigenetic dysregulation of TFPI-2, leading to its reduced expression, is frequently detected in canine DLBCL. In the next future, the aberrant TFPI-2 promoter hypermethylation may be considered in association with prognosis and therapy.