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BACKGROUND: Alloantibodies against donor red blood cells (RBCs) are developed by patients with transfusion‑dependent thalassemia (TDT), which causes the donor RBCs to hemolyze. This decreases the transfusion’s efficacy and increases the risk of adverse effects like iron overload. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two hundred and five TDT patients with an average age of 11 ± 6 years enrolled in this study underwent the Direct Coombs Test (DCT) to determine the frequency of alloimmunization. RESULTS: Most cases were of thalassemia major (TM) (76.09%), followed by thalassemia intermedia (TI) and (21.95%). Most of the cases were diagnosed and started on regular blood transfusion therapy between the ages of 1 and 10 years. Majority of the cases were born of parental consanguinity. Only 13.17% of the patients underwent splenectomy, of which TM cases were the majority. Even though O‑positive was the most frequent blood type, most of the operated and alloimmunized cases belonged to the B‑positive blood type. Only 10.24% of the patients had alloimmunization, with 51.85% of them developing it after splenectomy. Among all study participants, no correlation was found between the blood group and the type of thalassemia, alloimmunization, or splenectomy. Among TDT cases, there was a significant correlation (P < 0.0001) between alloimmunization and splenectomy. Alloimmunization and splenectomy correlated significantly with the total number of transfusions, the volume of blood transfused, and the transfusion initiation age. CONCLUSION: Our findings emphasize the significance of antigen typing in TDT patients before the first transfusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Prostate cancer is one of commonly diagnosed malignancies among men. Drugs from plant sources have gained much interest in treating this cancer due to their multi-functional, therapeutic properties and overall safety. Dihydroxy Gymnemic Triacetate (DGT) is a novel triterpenoid saponin isolated from Gymnema sylvestre proved for its antidiabetic activity was focused in the present study on analyzing its anticancer activity. The study aimed to evaluate the antagonist effect and drug like properties of DGT, against Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL protein through molecular docking and molecular dynamic studies. Method: To evaluate the cytotoxic potential and mode of action of DGT on PC-3 cells through cell proliferation assay, flow cytometry along with protein expression studies of Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, Mcl-1, Bad, Bax, Caspase 9 and Caspase 3. To assess chemopreventive effect of DGT in N-Methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) + Testosterone (T)-induced Sprague-Dawley male rats. Results: DGT effectively bound with Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL with good docking score and a stable docked complex throughout simulation period. DGT reduced the survival of PC-3 cells and showed accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. DGT was more potent in binding with anti-apopotic proteins, also satisfying Lipinski’s rule of five and ADME properties. Conclusion: DGT significantly acts on prostate cancer cells by activating apoptosis and did not exhibit any toxicity to the animal model. Hence, DGT could be considered for the preparation of chemopreventive agent and potent drug against prostate cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastrointestinal manifestations in COVID-19 were attributed to 74-86% of the hospitalised patients due to severe or prolonged pathogenesis. Though it is a respiratory disease, the impact it elicits on the gastrointestinal tract and brain are intense. Inflammatory bowel disease including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are idiopathic inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. The intrinsic mechanisms involved in gut inflammations due to a respiratory viral disease can be deciphered when the gene expression profiles of COVID-19 and IBD are compared. The current study utilises an integrated bioinformatics approach to unravel them. The publicly available gene expression profiles of colon transcriptomes infected with COVID-19, Crohn's disease and Ulcerative colitis were retrieved, integrated and analysed for the identification of differentially expressed genes. The inter-relational analysis along with gene annotation and pathway enrichment detailed the functional and metabolic pathways of the genes during normal and diseased conditions. The protein-protein interactions deduced from the STRING database and the identified hub genes predicted potential biomarker candidates for COVID-19, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The inflammatory response pathways were upregulated and enrichment of chemokine signalling, altered lipid metabolism, coagulation and complement cascades were seen in all three conditions along with impaired transport mechanisms. CXCL11, MMP10, and CFB are predicted to be overexpressed biomarkers, whilst GUCA2A, SLC13A2, CEACAM, and IGSF9 as downregulated novel biomarker candidates for colon inflammations. The three miRNAs hsa-miR-16-5p, hsa-miR-21-5p, and hsa-miR-27b-5p exhibited significant interactions with the upregulated hub genes and four long non-coding RNAs NEAT1, KCNQ1OT1, and LINC00852 capable of regulating miRNA were also predicted. This study offers significant information on the underlying molecular mechanisms of inflammatory bowel disease with identification of potential biomarkers., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)