ABSTRACT
              Background and Objectives: Prostate cancer is a highly prevalent malignancy with a high mortality rate in men. Many studies have investigated the diagnostic value of various genes involved in prostate cancer, but there is no data for Kallikrein 2 (KLK2) and Kallikrein 3 (KLK3) expression patterns among Iranian patients. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the expression of these two genes in Iranian patients with prostate cancer.
              Methods: In this case-control study, three groups consisting of healthy individuals, patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and patients with prostate cancer were studied. Peripheral blood samples were collected from all subjects, mRNA was extracted after cell lysis, and cDNA was synthesized. Real-time PCR was performed to assess gene expression levels relative to a reference gene (18s rRNA gene).
              Results: The KLK2 gene was overexpressed in patients with prostate cancer. KLK2 expression differed significantly between the cancer patients and controls. Relative expression of the KLK3 gene in the BPH group was higher than that in the control and cancer groups. However, we observed no significant difference in the expression of KLK3 between the control and cancer subjects.
              Conclusion: We demonstrate that analysis of KLK2 expression is a favorable method of diagnosing prostate cancer and discriminating normal individuals from those with BPH or prostate cancer. We also found that the KLK3 gene is highly overexpressed in individuals with BPH, which might indicate that this gene is not cancer-specific.
              Keywords: Prostatic Neoplasm, Prostatic Hyperplasia, Kallikreins, Gene Expression.

Background and Objectives: Human parvovirus B19 (B19V) is a widespread virus with various manifestations depending on the immunologic and hematologic status of the host. Infection with the virus can cause a wide range of complications in fetus of infected pregnant women, especially those with hemoglobinopathies. This study aimed to determine association of hemoglobin electrophoretic patterns and risk of B19V infection in pregnant women.
 
      Methods: Blood samples were collected from 200 pregnant women attending University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria. The samples were screened for anti-B19V IgM and IgG. Hemoglobin patterns were determined using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits and Minicap Flex Piercing Electrophoresis system. Structured questionnaires were used to collate sociodemographic variables and associated risk factors of B19V.
 
      Results: Of 200 participants, 12 (6.0%) were positive for B19V IgM, 45 (22.5%) were positive for IgG and two (1.0%) were positive for both antibody, while 145 (72.5%) had no detectable B19V antibody. Twenty-six subjects (28.3%) with HbAA hemoglobin pattern had B19V IgG of whom, nine (12.5%) had HbAS and 11 (30.6%) had HbSS electrophoretic patterns. There was a significant association between prevalence of anti-B19V IgG and hemoglobin electrophoretic pattern of participants (P=0.037). However, no association was found between prevalence of B19V IgM and hemoglobin electrophoretic pattern, age and parity of pregnant women (P>0.05).
 
      Conclusion: Our findings revealed a high prevalence of B19V infection among pregnant women in the studied area. In addition, acute B19V seems to be associated with hemoglobin electrophoretic patterns of pregnant women. It is recommended to follow up newborns of anti-B19V IgM positive pregnant women.