BACKGROUND Chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) is a precursor of the intestinal type of gastric cancer, the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. GastroPanel is a recently marketed serological kit for the non-invasive diagnosis of CAG, defined by some authors "even more reliable than biopsy histology". The goal of this study was 1) to evaluate the agreement between the serum gast...

BACKGROUND cag pathogenicity island (PAI) is reported to be a major virulence factor of Helicobacter pylori. AIM To characterise cagA and the cag PAI in Japanese H pylori strains. METHODS H pylori isolates from Japanese patients were evaluated for CagA by immunoblot, for cagA transcription by northern blot, and for cagA and 13 other cag PAI genes by Southern blot. cagA negative strains from...

Many Helicobacter pylori isolates contain a 40-kb region of chromosomal DNA known as the cag pathogenicity island (PAI). The risk for development of gastric cancer or peptic ulcer disease is higher among humans infected with cag PAI-positive H. pylori strains than among those infected with cag PAI-negative strains. The cag PAI encodes a type IV secretion system that translocates CagA into gastr...

BACKGROUND The number of (trinucleotide) CAG repeats within the androgen receptor (AR) gene is inversely correlated with transcriptional activity of testosterone-target genes. Although abnormally long CAG repeats are strongly associated with male infertility, it is unclear whether CAG repeat length polymorphism can affect androgen receptor activity and sperm parameters. To explore the previousl...

The association between polymorphism of androgen receptor gene CAG (AR-CAG) and male infertility in several studies was controversial. Based on studies on association between AR-CAG repeat length and male infertility in recent years, an updated meta-analysis is needed. We aimed to evaluate the association between AR-CAG repeat length and male infertility in advantage of the data in all publishe...

Background The androgen receptor (AR) gene contains a polymorphic trinucleotide repeat that encodes a polyglutamine tract in its N-terminal transactivation domain (NTAD). We aimed to find a correlation between the length of this polymorphic tract and azoospermia or oligozoospermia in infertile men living in Khuzestan, Iran. MaterialsAndMethods In this case-control study during two years till 20...

Helicobacter pylori strains harboring the cag pathogenicity island (PAI) have been associated with more severe gastric disease in infected humans. The cag PAI encodes a type IV secretion (T4S) system required for CagA translocation into host cells as well as induction of proinflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-8 (IL-8). cag PAI genes sharing sequence similarity with T4S components from o...

We have analysed the CAG repeat in the Huntington disease (HD) gene in sperm and blood from 20 unrelated HD patients. Although the CAG repeat displayed significant mosaicism in sperm from all individuals, there were marked differences in the degree of repeat instability. Individuals who had either inherited or transmitted an expanded CAG repeat displayed the highest levels of repeat mosaicism, ...

In vivo, gastric infection with Helicobacter pylori leads to substantial production of the inflammatory cytokines IL-1, IL-6, TNF-alpha, and IL-8. H. pylori strains that contain the cag pathogenicity island (cag+) and are associated with ulceration and gastric carcinoma induce greater cytokine production than cag- strains. Expression of these cytokines is often regulated by the transcription fa...

Cycloastragenol (CAG) is an aglycone of astragaloside IV. It was first identified when screening Astragalus membranaceus extracts for active ingredients with antiaging properties. The present study demonstrates that CAG stimulates telomerase activity and cell proliferation in human neonatal keratinocytes. In particular, CAG promotes scratch wound closure of human neonatal keratinocyte monolayer...