Epidemiology of Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Response to Different Hazardous Chewing Causes in Lahore, Pakistan-a Unicenter study epidemiology of oral carcinoma in Lahore, Pakistan

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)being the world’s most prevailing and frightening cancerous disorder lacks the sufficient data in Pakistan despite of its higher magnitude and prevalence. Objective: This study was specifically designed and conducted with the aim to identify the frequency of this disorder along with causative factors in past three years in a tertiary care hospital of Lahore, Pakistan. Methods: Epidemiological study was conducted using retrospective randomized method and all pre-requisites were filled. The clinical profiles of patients were collected from Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery Departmentof Pathology, Mayo Hospital Lahore. Patients who had undergone treatment for OSCC were contacted and interviewed for information about demographic regions, previous history of malignancy, disease onset, chewing habits, exposure to pesticides, industrial exposure to metals etc. And all particulars were not and compiled on questionnaire. Results: A total of 54 patients from different districts of Punjab participated in the study. Percentages for each possible causative chewing habit were calculated and 87.50 % of population was found addicted to different habits. Genetic factor might have contributed in remaining for development of OSCC. Conclusions: Informative data provided in this study will be helpful to be used by the government and private health agencies while designing and planning management of oral health problems and allocating health budgets in focusing this issue

Plasma Proteomics Analysis of Hydroxyurea Treated Patients Suffering from Thalassemia

β thalassemia is the most prevalent autosomal recessive disorder characterized by absence or reduced production of hemoglobin (Hb) levels, primarily caused by mutations on β globin locus. β thalassemia is heterogeneous at the molecular level, presenting variable phenotypes accompanied with severe medical complications. Current standard of care for clinical management of β thalassemia includes regular, long-life safe blood transfusion along with appropriate iron chelation therapy. At present, the only permanent cure is bone marrow transplantation. An emerging and exciting therapeutic approach to handle β thalassaemia is production of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) which is major Hb of fetal life. In recent years, Hydroxyurea (HU) has proven to be a promising HbF augmenting agent but response to HU therapy varies from transfusion elimination to insignificant clinical response. Various approaches are being made to understand the mechanism HbF augmentation with differential responses. Advancement in proteomics offers an efficient tool to study differential proteome in response to treatment leading towards precision and personalized medicine. This study is designed to improve mechanistic understanding of proteomic changes that HU therapy exerted on β thalassemia patients, in consort with deciphering differential protein expression in HU responder and non-responder. Firstly, samples were subjected to twodimensional gel electrophoresis to assess differentially expressed proteins. Later, differential proteins were identified by label free quantitative proteomics approach. Two hundred and eighty seven proteins were identified with two or more unique peptides in samples studied. Among these, twenty eight proteins were found to be significantly different in pre versus post HU treated β thalassemia patients at probability of < 0.05. Eighteen proteins were down-regulated while ten were found to be up-regulated after HU treatment. Clinically important proteins include Hemopexin (HPX), Haptoglobin (HP), Haptoglobin-related protein (HPR), Hemoglobin subunit beta (HBB), Hemoglobin subunit delta (HBD), Hemoglobin subunit alpha (HBA1), Protein S100-A8 (S100A8), Apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1), Apolipoprotein C-I (APOC1), Transferrin receptor protein (TFRC), Complement C4-A (C4A), Apolipoprotein A (LPA), Ceruloplasmin (CP) and Ficolin-3 (FCN3). HU therapy in β thalassemia patients started reverting protein profile towards healthy pattern, in addition with decrease in transfusion requirements. A follow up study on plasma of HU treated β thalassemia patients was performed to compare proteomic profile of HU responder and non-responder. Twenty six proteins were found to be differentially expressed in HU responder versus non-responder at p < 0.05. Among these, fifteen proteins showed a significantly increased level while eleven proteins revealed a decreased in expression. Clinically relevant altered proteins in HU responder are Peroxiredoxin-2 (PRDX2), Carbonic anhydrase 1(CA1), Hemoglobin subunit gamma-1 (HBG1),Hemoglobin subunit beta (HBB), Hemoglobin subunit delta (HBD), Hemoglobin subunit alpha (HBA1), Properdin (CFP), Cholinesterase (BCHE), Phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) and Plasma protease C1 inhibitor (SERPING1). We suggest that further research would be required for validation of identified proteins in large cohort to endorse as potential predictive biomarker for HU therapy. Considering the association of oxidative stress with β thalassemia, we also studied markers of oxidative stress in response to HU therapy in β thalassemia covering Paraoxonase1 (PON1), Reactive oxygen species (ROS), and Malondialdehyde (MDA). Although PON1 serve as an antioxidant to reduce the adverse effects of the oxidative stress in β thalassemia, our results indicate that mode of action of HU may not directly be through oxidative imbalance