Tehran University Medical Journal

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Introduction: Coronary artery disease (CAD) and its complications are the most prevalent etiology of mortality all over the world and diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of its risk factors. In this study prevalence of MI and unstable angina have been compared with different kinds of retinopathy and their severity.

Materials and methods: This study is a descriptive, cross sectional one that performed on 100 patients admitted in Imam, Farabi and Amir Alam Hospitals.

Results: Most important findings are as below: 1) Non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) are more prevalent than proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), 41 Vs 17 cases, and 24 person were normal in MI population. And 12 persons had NPDR and 2 PDR and 5 normal in unstable angina. 2) Different diabetic retinopathy lesion were: 23 Venous dilation, 22 aneurysme, 18 hemorrhagic, 11 neovascularization, 10 macula edema, 6 retroretinal detachment, 2 gliosis. 3) on the point of presence or absence of diabetic retinopathy (DR), 72 percent had some kind of DR and 28 percent had nothing. Finally, in MI population 58 patients (70 percent) had DR and 24 patients (30 percent) didn't have any. In unstable angina 14 patients (77 percent) had diabetic retinopathy and 4 didn't have (23 percent).

Conclusion: Regarding the lack of facilities and shortcoming of necessary data, it was not possible to conduct a prospective investigation in this item, so the design and implementation of a prospective study based on enough cases and controls is strongly recommended.

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Background: JAK2 is a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase that plays a major role in myeloid disorders. This mutation is characterized by a G to T transverse at nucleotide 1849 in exon 12 of the JAK2 gene, located on the chromosome 9p, leading to a substitution of valine to phenylalanine at amino acid position 617 in the JAK2 protein. In this study we compared the amplification refractory mutation (ARMS) assay and allele- specific (AS- PCR) to evaluate JAK2V617F mutation patients with non-CML myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNS). Methods: In this experimental study we evaluated JAK2 mutation in 58 patients with a known or suspected diagnosis of a myeloproliferative neoplasm by simple randomized sampling. The mutation was detected by ARMS-PCR and AS-PCR in patients. In order to verify the methods, amplified products from some patients were sequenced. Results: The JAK2 V617F mutation was detected in 86.6%(26/30) of patients with polycythemia vera and 61.5%(8/13) of patients with idiopathic myelofibrosis by ARMS-PCR and AS-PCR. 46.6%(7.15) of essential thrombocythemia patients were positive using ARMS- PCR method while 53%(8.15) of then were positive when AS- PCR were used. The mutation was confirmed by sequencing. Conclusions: The incidence of JAK2 mutation using above PCR methods is similar to previous studies. The different results may depend on the molecular technique used

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Background: Isosorbide dinitrate has been broadly used in the treatment of various ischemic heart diseases. Isosorbide is a nitric oxide donor which increases blood flow to tumors through vasodilatation and consequently accelerates the access of chemo-drugs to them. Furthermore, this drug has inhibitory effects on angiogenesis, tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. Moreover, its ant-inflammatory effects have also been reported. In the present study we evaluated the effects of isosorbide on the proliferative activity of fibrosarcoma WEHI-164 cell line and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).

Methods: WEHI-164 fibrosarcoma cells and human PBMCs were cultured in complete Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI) 1640 medium with 10% fetal bovine serum and 2×104 cells/mL for WEHI-164 and 2×105 cells/mL for PBMCs. The cells were then incubated at the exponential growth phase with different concentrations of isosorbide (4×10-6-1.6×10-3 M) for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Subsequently, isosorbide effects on proliferation of the cells were evaluated by trypan blue dye exclusion (TB) test and MTT assay. Statistical comparisons between groups were made by analysis of variance.

Results: The proliferative activity of WEHI-164 fibrosarcoma cells and human PBMCs treated with different concentrations of isosorbide, did not show any significant difference with untreated control cells.

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that isosorbide neither had any significant effects on the proliferative activity of fibrosarcoma WEHI-164 cells nor on human PBMCs. Our findings suggest that anti-tumoral effects of isosorbide reported by other investigators may be mediated through non-cytotoxic mechanisms.