Dalia Amin

Background Genetic profiles of ABO blood group system was reported to have clinical importance in predisposition to certain malignancies. This study was attempted to investigate any possible association between ABO genotypes and the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to determine the major ABO allele's frequencies in a cohort of Egyptian population. Subjects and methods One hundred patients (HCC group) and 100 healthy subjects (control group) were enrolled in this study. ABO Genotyping was done using Real-time PCR-melting curve analysis. Results Egyptians with BO genotype were 3.38 times more likely to develop HCC. This association was gender related and noted in hepatitis-free HCC cases. In elderly subjects HCC risk increased not only with BO genotype but also with AO and AB genotypes. In the healthy Egyptian sample, frequencies of the three major alleles (A, B and O) were 0.2917, 0.2083 and 0.5000 respectively. Frequencies of sub-alleles (A1, A2, B, O1 and O2) were 0.2500, 0.0417, 0.2083, 0.2917 and 0.2083 respectively. Serological and genotyping results showed a concordance rate of 97.9%. Conclusion BO genotype is associated with a higher risk for HCC in Egyptians independent of the established HCC risk factors. Egyptian ABO allele frequencies are closely linked to Iranian and Palestinian populations.

Background: Flowcytometry immunophenotyping (FCIP) is used for rapid, specific diagnosis of Bchronic lymphoproliferative disorders (BCLPDs). However; cases may deviate from the typical immunophenotype, therefore, there is a need for adding new marker(s) for differentiating BCLPDs. Lately, few researches highlighted CD200 expression in some BCLPDs. Our aim was to evaluate CD200 expression in different BCLPDs, and whether adding CD200 to BCLPDs-FCIP routine panels, could improve the ability of their differential diagnosis. Methods: We evaluated CD200 expression in 49 BCLPDs patients and 26 age and sex matched controls. FCIP first panel included CD5, CD19, sIg, CD23, CD22, CD79b and FMC7, for BCLPDs other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), CD11c, CD103, CD25 and CD10 were evaluated. Results: Using tricolor FCIP, CD200 showed high bright expression on CD5/19 positive clone in all BCLL patients (100%), with a mean of 94 ± 11%, in the 2 cases of HCL, CD200 was brightly expressed on 96 and 99% of cells. In all other BCLPDs including MCL, CD200 expression (on CD19/22 positive cells) was less than 20% with a mean of 10 ± 8% and a dim pattern. CD200 expression was significantly higher in CLL compared to NHL groups (P value < 0.001). Conclusion: Evaluating CD200 expression has a great impact on accurate BCLPDs diagnosis and could be added to the BCLPDs routine panels. The high expression of CD200 in B-CLL and HCL could open the option for targeted immune (Anti CD200) therapy.

SUMMARY
Introduction: Warfarin is one of the most widely used anticoagulants, yet interindividual differences in drug response, a narrow therapeutic range and a high risk of bleeding or stroke complicate its use. We aimed to determine the allele and genotype frequency of VKORC1 1173 C>T, CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 variant polymorphisms in the Egyptian population and to evaluate their influence on the interindividual differences in warfarin dosage. Methods: A total of 154 unrelated healthy adult patients and 46 warfarin-treated patients were included. SYBR Green-based real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was used for studying VKORC1 (C1173T) and CYP2C9*3 polymorphisms. Mutagenically separated PCR assay was used to detect the CYP2C9*2 allele. Results: VKORC1 genotype frequencies were 11%, 24% and 65% for CC, CT and TT, respectively. The prevalence of CYP2C9 haplotypes was 81% (*1\*1), 3.3% (*1\*2), 9.7% (*1\*3), 4.5% (*2\*2) and 0.65% (2\*3 and *3\*3). VKORC1 TT and CYP2C9*2\*2 were associated with a significantly lower warfarin dose. VKORC1 and CYP2C9 accounted for 31.7% and 15.6% of warfarin dose variability, respectively, and together with clinical factors explained 61.3% of total variability. Conclusion: VKORC1-TT and CYP2C9 *1/*1 are the most prevalent genotypes among Egyptians. Patients with VKORC1-TT genotype required a lower warfarin dose.