Tandem repeat genetic profiles used in forensic applications varies between populations. Despite the diversity and security issues in the Sahel that require the identification of victims (soldiers ...and civilians), Burkina Faso (BF) remains understudied. To fill this information gap, 396 unrelated individuals from BF were genotyped using a MICROREADER 21 ID System kit. All 20 short tandem repeat (STR) loci tested passed the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) test. The combined powers of exclusion for duos (CPE duos) and trios (CPE trios) for the 20 tested loci were 0.9999998 and 0.9999307, respectively. The probability that two individuals would share the same DNA profiles among the BF population was 9.80898 × 10
. For the X-chromosome STR analysis, 292 individuals were included in this study using a MICROREADER 19X Direct ID System kit. Among the 19 loci, no significant deviations from HWE test were observed in female samples after Bonferroni correction (p < 0.05/19 = 0.0026), except for loci GATA165B12 and DXS7423. The results showed that the combined power of exclusion (CPE) and the combined power of discrimination in females (CPDF) and males (CPDM) were 0.999999760893, 0.999999999992, and 1, respectively. Comparison with other African sub-populations showed that geographical proximity is a reliable indicator of genetic relatedness.
Local strains of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium pingshaense in Burkina Faso have demonstrated remarkable virulence against malaria vectors, positioning them as promising candidates for ...inclusion in the future arsenal of malaria control strategies. However, the underlying mechanisms responsible for this virulence remain unknown. To comprehend the fungal infection process, it is crucial to investigate the attachment mechanisms of fungal spores to the mosquito cuticle and explore the relationship between virulence and attachment kinetics. This study aims to assess the adhesion and virulence properties of native Metarhizium fungal strains from Burkina Faso for controlling malaria vectors.
Fungal strains were isolated from 201 insects and 1399 rhizosphere samples, and four strains of Metarhizium fungi were selected. Fungal suspensions were used to infect 3-day-old female Anopheles coluzzii mosquitoes at three different concentrations (10
, 10
, 10
conidia/ml). The survival of the mosquitoes was measured over 14 days, and fungal growth was quantified after 1 and 24 h to assess adhesion of the fungal strains onto the mosquito cuticle.
All four fungi strains increased mosquito mortality compared to control (Chi-square test, χ
= 286.55, df = 4, P < 0.001). Adhesion of the fungal strains was observed on the mosquito cuticle after 24 h at high concentrations (1 × 10
conidia/ml), with one strain, having the highest virulent, showing adhesion after just 1 h.
The native strains of Metarhizium spp. fungi found in Burkina Faso have the potential to be effective biocontrol agents against malaria vectors, with some strains showing high levels of both virulence and adhesion to the mosquito cuticle.
Abstract
Objectives
Natural products commonly used in traditional medicine, such as essential oils (EOs), are attractive sources for the development of molecules with anti-proliferative activities ...for future treatment of human cancers, e.g., prostate and cervical cancer. In this study, the chemical composition of the EO from
Cymbopogon nardus
was characterized, as well as its antioxidativeproperties and anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative activities on LNCaP cells derived from prostate cancer.
Methods
The chemical composition of the EO was determined by GC/FID and GC/MS analyses. The antioxidative properties were assessed using DPPH radical scavenging assay and ABTS+• radical cation decolorization assay, and the anti-inflammatory capacity was determined by the inhibition of the lipoxygenase activity. Antiproliferative activity was evaluated by MTT assay.
Results
Collectively, our data show that the major constituents of
C. nardus
EO are citronellal (33.06 %), geraniol (28.40 %), nerol (10.94 %), elemol (5.25 %) and delta-elemene (4.09 %).
C. nardus
EO shows modest antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity compared to the standard galic acid.
C. nardus
EO exhibits the best antiproliferative activity on the prostate cancer cell line LNCaP with an IC50 of 58.0 ± 7.9 μg/mL, acting through the induction of the cell cycle arrest.
Conclusions
This study has determined that
C. nardus
EO efficiently triggers cytotoxicity and pens a new field of investigation regarding the putative use of this EO
in vivo
.
The aim of this research was to evaluate the essential oil of
(L.) Spreng. (
from Burkina Faso in terms of cytotoxic activity against LNCaP cells, derived from prostate cancer, and HeLa cells, ...derived from cervical cancer. Antioxidant activities were evaluated in vitro. Essential oil (EO) was extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC/FID and GC/MS. Thirty-seven compounds were identified, the major compounds being piperitone (49.9%), δ-2-carene (24.02%), elemol (5.79%) and limonene (4.31%). EO exhibited a poor antioxidant activity, as shown by the inhibition of DPPH radicals (IC
= 1730 ± 80 µg/mL) and ABTS
(IC
= 2890 ± 26.9 µg/mL). Conversely, EO decreased the proliferation of LNCaP and HeLa cells with respective IC50 values of 135.53 ± 5.27 µg/mL and 146.17 ± 11 µg/mL. EO also prevented LNCaP cell migration and led to the arrest of their cell cycle in the G2/M phase. Altogether, this work points out for the first time that EO of
from Burkina Faso could be an effective natural anticancer agent.
Syphilis continues to be a public health problem, and its diagnosis still has limitations. Molecular diagnosis provides an alternative for rapid and effective management. The objective is to ...determine the accuracy of tests in the molecular diagnosis of syphilis.
We searched PubMed and Web of Sciences for articles related to molecular detection of syphilis from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2019. The bivariate Reitsma model and the hierarchical receiver operating characteristic curve model were used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of molecular tests at a 95% confidence interval. A subgroup meta-analysis was performed to explore sources of heterogeneity.
Forty-seven articles were identified for qualitative synthesis, of which 23 met the inclusion criteria for meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivities in conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time PCR were 77.52 (59.50-89.01) and 68.43 (54.96-79.39), respectively. The pooled specificities were 98.00 (90.73-99.59) and 98.84 (97.55-99.46), respectively. Ulcer samples had a better performance (sensitivity of 79.88 69.00-87.62 and specificity of 98.58 97.25-99.27), and the major target genes were the polymerase A gene and tpp47 gene.
Our work showed that conventional PCR was more widely used than real-time PCR in the diagnosis of syphilis, and ulcers were the best specimens. Sample types and target genes are factors that may influence the quality of the different tests. These results could provide evidence for further work in the direction of providing a more efficient diagnostic test.
Genetic alterations in the
(GenBank: NC_000003.12, ID: 8626) and
(receptor 5 chemokine co-receptor) (GenBank: NC_000003.12, ID: 1234) genes may increase the risk of developing breast cancer. The aim ...of this study was to investigate the probable involvement of polymorphisms rs17506395 in the
(tumour protein 63) gene and the CCR5Δ32 mutation in the occurrence of breast cancer in Burkina Faso. This case–control study included 72 patients and 72 controls. Genotyping of SNP rs17506395 (TP63) was performed by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism, and genotyping of the CCR5Δ32 mutation was performed by allele-specific oligonucleotide polymerase chain reaction. For SNP rs17506395 (TP63), the genotypic frequencies of wild-type homozygotes (TT) and heterozygotes (TG) were, respectively, 27.72 and 72.22% in cases and 36.11 and 63.89% in controls. No mutated homozygotes (GG) were observed. For the CCR5Δ32 mutation, the genotypic frequencies of wild-type homozygotes (WT/WT) and heterozygotes (WT/Δ32) were 87.5 and 13.5%, respectively, in the cases and 89.29 and 10.71%, respectively, in the controls. No mutated homozygotes (Δ32/Δ32) were observed. None of the polymorphisms rs17506395 of the
gene (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 0.69–3.17,
= 0.284) and the CCR5Δ32 mutation (OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 0.46–3.77;
= 0.79) were associated with the occurrence of breast cancer in this study.
Prostate cancer (Pca) is a public health problem that affects men, usually of middle age or older. It is the second most common cancer diagnosed in men and the fifth leading cause of death. The ...RNASEL gene located in 1q25 and identified as a susceptibility gene to hereditary prostate cancer, has never been studied in relation to prostate cancer in Burkina Faso. The aim of this study was to analyze the carriage of RNASEL R462Q and D541E mutations and risks factors in patients with prostate cancer in the Burkina Faso.
This case-control study included of 38 histologically diagnosed prostate cancer cases and 53 controls (cases without prostate abnormalities). Real-time PCR genotyping of R462Q and D541E variants using the TaqMan® allelic discrimination technique was used. Correlations between different genotypes and combined genotypes were investigated.
The R462Q variant was present in 5.3% of cases and 7.5% of controls. The D541E variant was present in 50.0% of cases and 35% of controls. There is no association between R462Q variants (OR = 0.60; 95%IC, 0.10-3.51; p = 0.686) and D541E variants (OR = 2.46; 95%IC, 0.78-7.80; p = 0.121) and genotypes combined with prostate cancer. However, there is a statistically significant difference in the distribution of cases according to the PSA rate at diagnosis (p ˂ 0.001). For the Gleason score distribution, only 13.2% of cases have a Gleason score greater than 7. There is a statistically significant difference in the Gleason score distribution of cases (p ˂ 0.001).
These variants, considered in isolation or in combination, are not associated with the risk of prostate cancer.
Detection of genital HPV DNA is recommended as an important strategy for modern cervical cancer screening. Challenges include access to services, the reliance on cervical samples taken by clinicians, ...and patient's preference regarding provider gender. The objective of this research was to determine the acceptability, feasibility and performance of alternative self-collected vaginal samples for HPV detection among Ghanaian women.
A comparative frequency-matched study was conducted in a systematic (1:5) sample of women attending HIV and outpatient clinics in the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Ghana. Participants were instructed on self-collection (SC) of vaginal samples using the careHPV brush and a clinician-collected (CC) cervical sample was obtained using a similar brush. Paired specimens were tested for HPV DNA (14 high-risk types) by careHPV assay (Qiagen) and by HPV genotyping (Anyplex II, Seegene).
Overall, 194 women of mean age 44.1 years (SD ± 11.3) were enrolled and 191 paired SC and CC results were analysed. The overall HPV detection concordance was 94.2% (95%CI: 89.9-97.1), Kappa value of 0.88 (p < 0.0001), showing excellent agreement. This agreement was similar between HIV positive (93.8%) and negative (94.7%) women. Sensitivity and specificity of SC compared to CC were 92.6% (95%CI: 85.3-97.0) and 95.9% (95%CI: 89.8-98.8) respectively. The highest sensitivity was among HIV positive women (95.7%, 95%CI: 88.0-99.1) and highest specificity among HIV negative women (98.6%, 95%CI: 92.4-100). Overall, 76.3% women found SC very easy/easy to obtain, 57.7% preferred SC to CC and 61.9% felt SC would increase their likelihood to access cervical cancer screening.
The feasibility, acceptability and performance of SC using careHPV support the use of this alternative form of HPV screening among Ghanaian women. This could be a potential new affordable strategy to improve uptake of the national cervical cancer screening program.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) belongs to the Retroviridae family and remains a public health problem in sub‐Saharan Africa. Recent reports from WHO have shown that 33 million people died ...from HIV infections. HIV is one of the most serious fatal human diseases of the 20th and 21st centuries. However, variations in genetic and immunological factors are associated with protection against HIV infection in uninfected people exposed to HIV. This is the case with naturals killers which play an important role in the progression or regression of HIV infection. The objective of this study is to characterize certain HLA (human leukocyte antigen) class II genes and KIR genes in HIV‐1 serodiscordant couples in Burkina Faso. This study was carried out at Burkina Faso among nineteen (19) HIV‐1 serodiscordant couples. Classical multiplex PCR (SSP‐PCR) was used to characterize the presence or absence of the KIR genes and certain class II HLAs (DRB1*11 and DRB1*12). The characterization of the KIR and HLA genes DRB1*11, DRB1*12 in this study demonstrated that the inhibitor KIR2DL5B, would confer protection against HIV‐1 infection in seronegative partners (odd ratio OR = 0.13 0.02−0.72 and p = 0.029), and the HLA DRB1*12 allele was associated with protection against HIV‐1 infection in seronegative partners (OR = 0.16 0.03−0.77 and p = 0.038). AA and Bx haplotypes were not found to be associated with HIV‐1 infection in serodiscordant couples. This study confirms the involvement of the KIR genes in viral pathologies such as HIV‐1 infection. Future larger‐scale studies may provide a better understanding of the molecular mechanism by which the KIR haplotype and combination of KIR/HLA are associated with protection against HIV infection.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a major public health problem worldwide. In Burkina Faso, nearly 720,000 people are living with HCV, and each year about 900 people die from complications of ...cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. This study was planned to determine the HCV seroprevalence, characterize circulating genotypes, and monitor HCV viral loads in patients under treatment with antivirals.
A total of 4,124 individuals and 167 patients in the pre-therapy program were recruited. The "SD Bioline HCV" kit was used for rapid screening of anti-HCV antibodies. Viral load and genotyping were performed in 167 HCV patients on antivirals using the "Iontek HCV Quant" and "Iontek genotyping" kits.
Prevalence of HCV was 1.65% (68/4,124), and the median viral load of participants was 5.37 log10/mL (1.32-7.67 log10/mL). Genotype 2 was predominant with a frequency of 86.23% (144/167) and appeared to be more active with higher viral load compared to 13.77% (23/167) for genotype 1 (p < 0.001). After 24 weeks of pan-genotypic direct-acting antivirals, such as sofosbuvir/daclatasvir and sofosbuvir/velpatasvir, the viral loads of all patients became undetectable.
The responses to antivirals by the circulating genotypes indicate that the results are very satisfactory. Therefore, the prevalence of HCV in the population can be reduced through identification of cases and treatment.
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