Reactive oxygen species play a key role in cancer development by inducing and maintaining the oncogenic phenotypes of cancer cells. In this study, we examined lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes activities in the blood and in the tumor of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. Plasma malondialdehyde, conjugated dienes, erythrocytes catalase, and superoxide dismutase activities have been measured in 30 untreated nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients and 30 controls on one hand. On the other hand, tumor malondialdehyde level, catalase, and superoxide dismutase activities have been measured in five nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients and compared with four controls. The lipid peroxidation was confirmed in the plasma by the high levels of malondialdehyde and conjugated dienes (p<0.001, respectively). Additionally, significantly higher concentrations of malondialdehyde were found in biopsies compared to the control group (p<0.001). In erythrocytes, superoxide dismutase activity was higher in patients than in controls (p<0.05), while it was unchanged in the tumor (p>0.05). Both erythrocytes and tumor catalase activities were significantly lower in patients than in controls (p<0.001, respectively). Statistical studies have shown a positive correlation between malondialdehyde level and IgA antibodies level against Epstein–Barr virus capsid antigen (p<0.05). In conclusion, we reported the presence of an oxidative stress in the blood and in the biopsies of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients where Epstein–Barr virus seems to play a role.

Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystem vascular inflammatory disease with several clinical manifestations. Intracranial aneurysms are an extremely rare but nevertheless severe complication of BD. We report a case of a 44-year-old man. The diagnosis of BD was made based on the presence of recurrent oral aphthous ulcers and positive human leukocyte antigen (HLA-) B51 in the absence of evidence of other diseases. MRI showed an ancient ischemic right capsulolenticular lesion, subacute white matter hypersignals of the left capsule lenticular region, and multiple arterial aneurysms. The patient underwent two-month systemic high-dose corticosteroids and immunosuppressive therapy associated with severe neurological deficiency upon admission and severe impairment upon discharge. A thorough review of the literature showed 20 case reports of intracranial aneurysms in BD.

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Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder in humans and presents a major health problem throughout the world. The etiology of AD is complex, and many factors are implicated, including mitochondria. Mitochondrial alteration has been proposed as a possible cause of AD Therefore, several studies have focused on nding an association between inherited mitochondrial DNA variants and AD onset.Methods: In this study, we looked, for the rst time, for a potential association between mitochondrial haplogroups or polymorphisms and AD in the Tunisian population. We also evaluated the distribution of the major genetic risk factor for AD, the apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 (APOE ε4), in this population. In total, 159 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of mitochondrial DNA haplogroups were genotyped in 254 individuals (58 patients and 196 controls). An additional genotyping of APOE ε4 was performed.Results: No signi cant association between mitochondrial haplogroups and AD was found. However, two individual SNPs, A5656G (p = 0.03821, OR = 10.46) and A13759G (p = 0.03719, OR = 10.78), showed a signi cant association with AD. APOE 4 was con rmed as a risk factor for AD (p = 0.000014). Conclusion: Our ndings may con rm the absence of a relation between mitochondrial haplogroups and AD and support the possible involvement of some inherited variants in the pathogenicity of AD.