Our study aimed to associate IL-1β and IL-1RN polymorphisms with AD disease in comparison with elderly control group from São Paulo - Brazil. We genotyped 199 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, 165 elderly control and 122 young control samples, concerning VNTR (IL-1RN) and -511C>T and -31T>C (IL-1β) polymorphisms. Our findings revealed that -511C/-31T/2-repetitions VNTR haplotype had a protecti...

Streptococcus pneumoniae remains as an important cause of community-acquired bacterial infections, and the nasopharynx of asymptomatic carriers is the major reservoir of this microorganism. Pneumococcal strains of serotype 14 and serogroup 9 are among the most frequently isolated from both asymptomatic carriers and patients with invasive disease living in Brazil. Internationally disseminated cl...

Various genetic markers have been exploited for fingerprinting the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) in molecular epidemiological studies, mainly through identifying restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP). In large-scale studies, RFLP typing has practical processing and analysis limitations; therefore, attempts have been made to move towards PCR-based typing techniques. Spolig...

AIM OF THE STUDY Several studies implicated altered inflammatory response in the susceptibility to ovarian cancer, and polymorphisms in inflammatory cytokines were shown to play an important role in the development of malignancies, including ovarian cancer (OC). Here we investigated the relationship between polymorphisms in IL-1β (-511C>T), IL-1RN VNTR, TNF-α (-308G>A), and TNF RII (-322 VNTR) ...

BACKGROUND Data on the association between the interleukin-1 (IL-1) gene polymorphisms and Graves' disease (GD) risk were conflicting. A meta-analysis was undertaken to assess this association. METHODS We searched for case-control studies investigating the association between the IL1B (-511), IL1B (+3954), IL1RN (VNTR) polymorphisms and GD risk. We extracted data using standardized forms and ...

Genetic polymorphisms in the human dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene, especially the exon 3 variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR), have been related to several psychiatric disorders and personality traits. A homologous exon 3 VNTR has been described in dogs, and we previously showed an association between the DRD4 exon 3 polymorphism and activity/impulsivity trait in German shepherds. In this...

BACKGROUND Variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) that are widely distributed in the genome of Yersinia pestis proved to be useful markers for the genotyping and source-tracing of this notorious pathogen. In this study, we probed into the features of VNTRs in the Y. pestis genome and developed a simple hierarchical genotyping system based on optimized VNTR loci. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDI...

BACKGROUND Classification of molar gestation into Complete Hydatidiform Mole (CHM) and Partial Hydatidiform Mole (PHM) is done according to clinical, ultrasonographic, histologic and genetic criteria. However, making a distinction between CHM and PHM using histologic criteria alone may be difficult and several studies have shown that misclassifications are frequent, even for experienced patholo...