SNARE Protein in Cellular Membrane Trafficking, Its Regulation and as a Potential Target for Cancer Treatment

The role of SNARE [soluble NSF (N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor) accessory protein receptor] protein in cellular trafficking, membrane fusion and vesicle release in synaptic nerve terminals is described. The purpose of this review is to highlight the role of SNAREs in vital inflammatory conditions in maturing dendritic cells in order to retain the capacity to present new antigens together with altered cytokine secretory functions. This role of SNAREs can be used as novel targets for therapy in inflammatory diseases. The essential mechanism of SNAREs proteins for regulation of tumour formation through multiple signals and transportation pathways is also discussed. Finally, this review summarizes the current knowledge of SNARE proteins in regulating endocytosis in cancer cells and the possible therapeutic applications related to the pathogenesis of tumor formation.

Proteomics and Its Applications in Diagnosis of Auto Immune Diseases

Although the proteomics and its applications in detecting autoimmune diseases are a prominently discussed issue, this review will focus particularly some prominent aspects regarding clinical utility of these techniques in prognosis, diagnosis, and treatment of these diseases. The impact of immunofluorescent techniques, enzyme immunoassays and use of proteomics biomarkers in the characterization of the auto immune diseases is briefly discussed. The necessity of adopting existing technologies of protein chemistry, predisposition testing, targeted monitoring and prevention of diseases through nutrition coupled with lifestyle changes will be focused as modern diagnostic tools in realizing the changeover from isolated medicine to personalized medicine. Use of biological fluids, in order to identify low abundance proteins as biomarkers in detecting autoimmune diseases is attempted in the study of serum/plasma proteomics.

The Non-Enzymatic Antioxidant and Level of Oxidative Stress of Tuberculosis Patients in Selected Treatment Center in Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Introduction: Non-enzymatic antioxidants are good scavengers of free radicals preventing their overproduction there by reducing the level of oxidative stress. This work was undertaken at Saint Peter TB specialized hospital and TekleHaimanot health center from March 2012 to May 2013.Aim: To determine changes in Non-Enzymatic Antioxidants and level of oxidative stress of tuberculosis Patients before and after taking anti tuberculosis treatment.Materials and Methods: In this comparative cross sectional study, a total of 210 individuals including: newly diagnosed TB patients as group-I (n = 70), TB patients who completed treatment as group-II (n = 70), and healthy volunteers as group-III (n = 70) were enrolled. Different methods were used to determine the parameters;vit-C (HPLC method), lipid peroxidation (thiobarbuituric acid method), and bilirubin (Colorimetric assay). Results: Vitamin-C (Vit-C) and of group-I showed a significant reduction (p < 0.001) as compared with both group-II and group-III whereas Malondialdehyde (MDA) level was increased. However, the total and direct bilirubin was not different among the groups. In group-III, there was a positive correlation between BMI and serum Vit-C (r = -0.305, p = 0.010). Vit-C showed a negative correlation with serum MDA in all the groups with values (r = -0.265, p = 0.027), (r = -0.389, p = 0.001) and (r = -0.375, p = 0.001) for group-I, group-II and group-III respectively. In addition to this Vit-C was negatively correlated with serum UA (r = -0.285, p = 0.017) in group-I. Conclusion: The findings of the current study suggest that the amount of Vit-C in the newly diagnosed TB patients and those who finished their treatment is much lower than the healthy volunteers. In contrast to this, the MDA value was significantly higher both in the newly diagnosed TB patients and TB patients who completed treatment than in healthy volunteers suggesting higher degree of oxidative stress.