Reza Jafarzadeh Esfehani; Mohammad ali khalilifar; Hadi Esmaeili Gouvarchinghaleh; Gholam Hossein Alishiri; Alireza Shahriary
Abstract
Introduction:Among various proposed pathologic mechanisms during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, overproduction of autoantibodies is not widely studied. Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) are target proteins that have affinity toward charged phospholipids. APLs are thought to have pro-thrombotic ...
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Introduction:Among various proposed pathologic mechanisms during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, overproduction of autoantibodies is not widely studied. Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) are target proteins that have affinity toward charged phospholipids. APLs are thought to have pro-thrombotic potentials that increase during thromboembolism. The present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the relationship between serum aPLs level and COVID-19 mortality, severity, and thrombotic events.Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted on all open access published articles in Medline, Scopus and Google Scholar. Studies evaluating individuals over the age of 18 years who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and had positive aPLs; and provided data on mortality or thrombotic events were included. Results: Of the initially identified 512 articles, 22 studies (overall 1462 patients) were finally included in the analysis. The prevalence of positive aPLs was 48.1%. Among the 372 patients with positive aPLs, 156 patients (41.9%) had severe COVID-19 that indicated a significant relationship between COVID-19 severity and aPLs positivity (p<0.05). The prevalence of thrombotic events in aPLs positive patients was 26.3% that indicated a significant relationship between aPLs positivity and the development of thrombotic events (p=0.03). APLs positivity was related to anytime mortality in COVID-19 patients (p=0.01).Conclusion: The present review demonstrated that aPLs are linked to COVID-19 severity and thrombotic events but not short-term mortality. Further studies with longer follow up periods are warranted.
Mohammad Reza Seyyed Taghia; Reza Jafarzadeh Esfehani; Reza Boostani; Mohammad Shariati; Ariane Sadr Nabavi
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is one of the most common musculoskeletal diseases with a considerable burden. Most of the affected individuals experience muscle weakness as the common muscular symptom. Despite the underlying genetic mechanism which is extensively studied, curative treatment is ...
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Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is one of the most common musculoskeletal diseases with a considerable burden. Most of the affected individuals experience muscle weakness as the common muscular symptom. Despite the underlying genetic mechanism which is extensively studied, curative treatment is not available for patients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, and only supportive care is considered as the treatment of choice. Recently, several studies addressed the treatment of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy by genetic engineering strategies, most of which indicate the effectiveness of different types of small interfering ribonucleic acids. However, these studies are still in the preclinical phase and it seems that there is a long way ahead of curing facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy despite recent advances in the field of genetic engineering. This study aimed to review the underlying genetic mechanism of Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy alongside providing the latest preclinical studies related to the treatment of this disease.