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Introduction The receptor activator NF-κB ligand (RANKL) and Osteoprotegrin (OPG) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been associated with the risk of breast cancer to bone metastasis. This study was designed to investigate the association of RANKL and OPG gene polymorphisms with breast to bone metastasis in Pashtun population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Materials and methods A total of 215 participants were enrolled containing 106 breast cancer patients, 58 breast to bone metastasis and 51 age and gender matched healthy controls. RANKL (rs9533156) and OPG (rs2073618, rs3102735) polymorphisms were genotyped in genomic DNA, using Tetra-ARMS PCR protocol. The results were analyzed among the three groups and P-value less then 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results Our results displayed significant association of OPG (rs3102735) risk allele and corresponding genotypes in breast cancer vs healthy controls, bone metastasis vs healthy controls and breast cancer vs breast to bone metastasis as a disease risk. However, there was no association observed for OPG (rs2073618) risk allele and corresponding genotypes with the diseases risk. Similarly, RANKL (rs9533156) risk allele and corresponding genotypes in breast cancer vs healthy controls, bone metastasis vs healthy controls and breast cancer vs breast to bone metastasis exhibited significant association except for the risk allele carrying genotypes in breast to bone metastasis. Conclusion OPG (rs3102735) and RANKL (rs9533156) exhibited significant association with breast to bone metastasis while OPG (rs2073618) didn’t show significant association with breast to bone metastasis in Pashtun population of Pakistan. However, this study unlocks more questions to investigate the exact scenario of genetic predisposition of breast to bone metastasis.

MoHrip2 Magnaporthe oryzae hypersensitive protein 2 is an elicitor protein of rice blast fungus M. oryzae. Rice seedlings treated with MoHrip2 have shown an induced resistance to rice blast. To elucidate the mechanism underlying this MoHrip2 elicitation in rice, we used differential-display 2-D gel electrophoresis and qRT-PCR to assess the differential expression among the total proteins extracted from rice leaves at 24 h after treatment with MoHrip2 and buffer as a control. Among ~1000 protein spots detected on each gel, 10 proteins were newly induced, 4 were up-regulated, and 3 were down-regulated in MoHrip2-treated samples compared with the buffer control. Seventeen differentially expressed proteins were detected using MS/MS analysis and categorized into six groups according to their putative function: defense-related transcriptional factors, signal transduction-related proteins, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, programmed cell death (PCD), defense-related proteins, and photosynthesis and energy-related proteins. The qPCR results (relative expression level of genes) further supported the differential expression of proteins in MoHrip2-treated rice leaves identified with 2D-gel, suggesting that MoHrip2 triggers an early defense response in rice leaves via stress-related pathways, and the results provide evidence for elicitor-induced resistance at the protein level.