Autophagy-related genes in Egyptian patients with Behçet's disease (original) (raw)

Egyptian Journal of Medical Human Genetics

Background Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic, multi-systemic, recurrent condition that affects the vascular, ocular, mucocutaneous, and central nervous systems. The diagnosis of this disease depends on its clinical features, which are similar to those observed in several diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, pemphigus vulgaris, systemic lupus erythematosus, Crohn ҆s disease, and Sjӧgren’s syndrome. Lysosome-mediated autophagy is a catabolic, cytoprotective mechanism that maintains cell homeostasis by degrading undesired long-lived proteins and recycling nutrients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlations between some autophagy-related genes (ATG5, ATG7, ATG12, LC3b, mTOR) and the pathogenesis and immunopathology of BD. The expression levels of the genes were evaluated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in 101 individuals that are classified into two groups. Group 1: (n = 71) BD patients, Group 2: (n = 30) healthy controls. Results Patients with BD h...