Mustafizur Rahman

Background: Exonuclease 1 ( EXO1 ) is a key nuclease in the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) pathway and is involved in correcting replication errors while maintaining genomic stability. The K589E (rs1047840) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of EXO1 has been associated with cancer susceptibility in different populations. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the association between the EXO1 K589E polymorphism and breast cancer risk, as well as its relationship with selected clinicopathological characteristics in Bangladeshi women. Design: Hospital-based case-control study. Methods: The present case–control study included 184 patients with histologically confirmed breast cancer and 200 age-matched cancer-free controls. Genotyping of the EXO1 K589E variant was carried out using polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis and subsequently confirmed by direct sequencing. The associations between the polymorphism and breast cancer risk were assessed using logistic regression, with odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) calculated. Results: The frequencies of G/G, G/A, and A/A genotypes were 49.5, 41.8, and 8.7% among cases, compared with 69, 27.5, and 3.5% among controls, respectively. Both the heterozygous (G/A) and homozygous variant (A/A) genotypes were significantly associated with elevated breast cancer risk (OR= 2.12, 95% CI= 1.37-3.28, p = 0.0007; OR= 3.46, 95 % CI= 1.37-8.76, p = 0.0086, respectively). The combined variant genotypes (G/A + A/A) conferred a 2.27-fold higher risk ( p = 0.0001), and the A allele was also strongly associated with breast cancer predisposition (OR= 2.01, 95% CI= 1.43-2.84, p = 0.0001). The association remained significant under codominant, dominant, recessive, overdominant, and log-additive genetic models. Significant correlations were observed between the variant genotype and menopausal status, body mass index (BMI), and tumor stage. Conclusion: The results indicate that the EXO1 K589E polymorphism is significantly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in Bangladeshi women and may also be related to key clinicopathological features of the disease.

Anemia remains one of the most widespread nutritional disorders globally and poses a substantial public health challenge, particularly among pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries. During pregnancy, the body’s demand for iron increases to support fetal growth and maternal blood volume expansion; failure to meet this demand often results in maternal anemia, adversely affecting both maternal and neonatal outcomes. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of anemia among illiterate pregnant women in Bangladesh and examine its association with educational, socioeconomic, and dietary factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Maternal and Child Health Training Institute (MCHTI), where 100 randomly selected pregnant women receiving antenatal care (ANC) participated. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and chi-square tests were applied to identify associations between anemia and socioeconomic variables. The overall prevalence of anemia was 71%, with significantly higher rates among illiterate women (95.84%) compared to literate women (48.1%). Among illiterate pregnant women, mild anemia was found in 60.4%, moderate anemia in 27.1%, and severe anemia in 8.3% of cases. Anemia was more prevalent (65.22%) during the second trimester, and 89.58% of illiterate women came from low-income families. The findings suggest that insufficient education, limited dietary diversity, inadequate medical examinations, and insufficient iron supplementation contribute to the elevated prevalence of anemia. The study concludes that anemia remains a serious public health issue among pregnant women in Bangladesh. The findings imply that improving educational attainment, promoting nutrition awareness, and providing socioeconomic and antenatal support are essential to reducing anemia and improving maternal and fetal health outcomes. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. 2025, 11(4), 125-134

Ocular drug delivery is a significant challenge due to the intricate anatomy of the eye and the various physiological barriers. Conventional therapeutic ap

Background: E-cadherin (CDH1), a tumor suppressor gene, encodes a transmembrane glycoprotein that helps in maintaining squamous epithelium integrity of the cervix. We aimed to investigate the association between -160C/A genetic polymorphism in CDH1 and the risk of cervical cancer in Bangladeshi females. Method: The present case-control study included 117 cervical cancer cases and 147 age-matched controls. The genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and genotyped by using PCR–RFLP analysis. Results: Genotyping results demonstrated that the occurrences of normal homozygous (-160C/C), heterozygous (-160C/A) and variant homozygous (-160A/A) genotypes were 64.10, 27.35 and 8.55% in cases, and 77.55, 19.73 and 2.72% in controls, respectively. Compared to normal C/C genotype, variant A/A and combined (C/A+A/A) or ‘any A’ genotypes exhibited 3.80-fold (95% CI=1.150-12.561, P=0.029) and 1.93-fold (95% CI=1.126-3.323, P=0.017) increased risk of cervical cancer development. The -160C allele was found to be positively linked to cervical cancer incidence and raised the risk by 1.81-fold (OR= 1.814, 95% CI=1.152-2.857, p=0.01). Moreover, women carrying -160A/A variant homozygosity along with an early marital history (<18 years) were more susceptible to cervical cancer development (χ2 =6.605, p=0.037). Conclusion: The study suggests that the (A/A) and combined (C/A +A/A) genotypes are associated with greater risk of cervical cancer in Bangladeshi women.

Background and aims: Aberrant insulin-like growth factor (IGFs) signaling is directly implicated in oncogenesis and metastasis in various solid tumors including breast cancer. Targeting the IGF axis may provide an insight into the mechanism of cancer stemness and therapy resistance. The present study aims to explore the association of the circulatory levels of these proteins in aggressive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in Bangladesh. Methods: A total of 165 BC patients were recruited in the present study where 42 were TNBC subjects (selected based on their complete hormonal profile). Data were collected from retrospective information. Anthropometric and biochemical parameters were measured by standard methods. Serum IGF1, IGFBP1, and insulin were estimated by ELISA. Results: TNBC subjects showed significantly higher levels of circulatory IGF1 (185 vs 145, p=0.004), while patients who had distant metastasis showed increased levels of IGF1, IGFBP1, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) [178 vs 153, p=0.001; 6.44 vs 3.05, and 140 vs 88, pCitation Format: Salima Akter, Mithila Faruque, Hajara Akhter, Mousumi Bhowmik, Mohammad Nazmul Hasan, Lipika Sultana, Imran Khan, Mamun Mia, Md. Mustafizur Rahman, Habib Sadat Chaudhury, Islam S. Rafiqul, Kamrun Nahar, Tae Gyu Choi, Sung Soo Kim. Circulatory insulin-like growth factor 1 predicts metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 1526.

Background and aim: Exonuclease 1 (EXO1) is an essential member of the RAD2 nuclease family which is involved in mismatch repair system and contributes to the maintenance of genomic stability, modulation of DNA recombination and cell cycle arrest mediation. Potential polymorphism in EXO1 may have the ability to control cancer risks by influencing the repair activity. K589E (rs1047840) is a potentially functional polymorphism in EXO1 gene and we hypothesized that it might be associated with risk of breast cancer in Bangladesh. Method: We designed a case-control study consisting of 184 subjects with breast cancer and 200 healthy controls to identify the effect of K589E polymorphism on breast cancer susceptibility and clinicopathological features in Bangladeshi women. Genotype determination was performed by PCR-RFLP method. Results: After the adjustment of age and weight, a significant association was found between EXO1 K589E alleles and genotypes and risk of breast cancer. The frequencies of the three genotypes G/G, G/A, and A/A were 49, 42, and 9% in cases whereas 69, 27.5, and 3.5% in controls, respectively. The heterozygote G/A genotype and combined G/A+A/A genotypes showed 2.12-fold (OR=2.12, 95% CI=1.3733 - 3.2822 p=0.0007) and 2.27-fold (OR=2.27, 95% CI=1.5001 - 3.4493, p=0.0001) increased risk of breast cancer, respectively when compared with homozygous G/G genotypes. The variant A allele also was associated with increased risk of breast cancer (OR= 3.46, 95% CI=1.3720 - 8.7571, p=0.0086). Analysis of clinicopathological characteristics and genotype distribution also showed a significant correlation. Conclusion: Our results revealed that EXO1 K589E polymorphism could be a potential predisposing risk factor in genetic susceptibility to breast cancer in Bangladesh. Citation Format: Md. Mustafizur Rahman, Md. Mahmudul Kabir, Md. Abdur Rahman, Amir Hossain, Md. Golam Hossain. Impact of EXO1 (K589E) single nucleotide polymorphism on breast cancer risk in Bangladeshi women [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 2216.

Endophytic fungi are microorganisms that exist almost ubiquitously inside the various tissues of living plants where they act as an important reservoir of diverse bioactive compounds. Recently, endophytic fungi have drawn tremendous attention from researchers; their isolation, culture, purification, and characterization have revealed the presence of around 200 important and diverse compounds including anticancer agents, antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals, immunosuppressants, and antimycotics. Many of these anticancer compounds, such as paclitaxel, camptothecin, vinblastine, vincristine, podophyllotoxin, and their derivatives, are currently being used clinically for the treatment of various cancers (e.g., ovarian, breast, prostate, lung cancers, and leukemias). By increasing the yield of specific compounds with genetic engineering and other biotechnologies, endophytic fungi could be a promising, prolific source of anticancer drugs. In the future, compounds derived from endophytic fungi could increase treatment availability and cost effectiveness. This comprehensive review includes the putative anticancer compounds from plant-derived endophytic fungi discovered from 1990 to 2020 with their source endophytic fungi and host plants as well as their antitumor activity against various cell lines.

Background: The Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine (Covishield) was the first to be introduced in Bangladesh to fight the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. As this vaccine had shown some side-effects in its clinical trial, we aimed to conduct a study assessing short-term adverse events following immunization (AEFIs) in Bangladesh. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on social and electronic media platforms by delivering an online questionnaire among people who had taken at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The collected data were then analysed to evaluate various parameters related to the AEFIs of the respondents. Results: A total of 626 responses were collected. Of these, 623 were selected based on complete answers and used for the analysis. Most of the respondents were between 30–60 years of age, and 40.4% were female. We found that a total of 8.5% of the total respondents had been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Our survey revealed that out of 623 volunteers, 317 reported various side-effects after taking the vaccine, which is about 50.88% of the total participants. The majority of participants (37.07%, 231/623) reported swelling and pain at the injection site and fever (25.84%, 162/623); these were some of the common localized and generalized symptoms after the COVID-19 vaccine administration. Conclusion: The side-effects reported after receiving the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine (Covishield) are similar to those reported in clinical trials, demonstrating that the vaccines have a safe therapeutic window. Moreover, further research is needed to determine the efficacy of existing vaccines in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections or after-infection hospitalization.