Journal of biomarkers最新文献

Chronic alcohol consumption is reported to be associated with increase in plasma homocysteine levels which is further influenced by the polymorphism in methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene. The present study aims to understand the extent of the MTHFR C677T polymorphism in alcohol dependent (AD) cases of Meiteis of Manipur, a Mendelian population of India. MTHFR C677T polymorphism was screened in 313 controls and 139 alcohol dependent (AD) cases who all met DSM-IV criteria for alcohol dependence. Both AD cases and controls were unrelated up to 1st cousin. Among the control group, different drinking patterns like abstainer/nondrinkers (NDs), occasional drinkers (ODs), and moderate drinkers (MDs) are included. Both the groups were found to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P > 0.05). Genotypic and allelic frequency distribution of MTHFR C677T polymorphism did not differ significantly between AD cases and controls (P > 0.05). However, individuals carrying mutant (T) allele show more than 1-fold increased risk for AD though not significant (OR = 1.43; 95% CI 0.41-5.01, P > 0.05). In conclusion, MTHFR C677T polymorphism is not found to be risk marker for AD in present studied population. However, higher prevalence of the mutant T allele may exacerbate deleterious health risk in future especially among alcohol drinkers.

Lead is a ubiquitous toxicant. Bone lead has been established as an important biomarker for cumulative lead exposures and has been correlated with adverse health effects on many systems in the body. K-shell X-ray fluorescence (KXRF) is the standard method for measuring bone lead, but this approach has many difficulties that have limited the widespread use of this exposure assessment method. With recent advancements in X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technology, we have developed a portable system that can quantify lead in bone in vivo within 3 minutes. Our study investigated improvements to the system, four calibration methods, and system validation for in vivo measurements. Our main results show that the detection limit of the system is 2.9 ppm with 2 mm soft tissue thickness, the best calibration method for in vivo measurement is background subtraction, and there is strong correlation between KXRF and portable LXRF bone lead results. Our results indicate that the technology is ready to be used in large human population studies to investigate adverse health effects of lead exposure. The portability of the system and fast measurement time should allow for this technology to greatly advance the research on lead exposure and public/environmental health.

Objective. After filtration through glomeruli, β2-microglobulin is reabsorbed in proximal tubules. Increased urinary β2-microglobulin indicates proximal tubule injury and measurement of β2-microglobulin in urine is useful to determine the source of renal injury. Kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) has been characterized as a selective proximal tubule injury marker. This study was designed to evaluate the correlation of urinary β2-microglobulin concentration and KIM-1 expression as evidence of proximal tubule injury. Methods. Between 2009 and 2012, 46 patients with urine β2-microglobulin (RenalVysion) had follow-up kidney biopsy. Diagnoses included glomerular and tubule-interstitial disease. Immunohistochemical staining for KIM-1 was performed and the intensity was graded from 0 to 3+. Linear regression analysis was applied to correlate the values of urinary β2-microglobulin and KIM-1 staining scores. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results. Thirty patients had elevated urinary β2-microglobulin. KIM-1 staining was positive in 35 kidney biopsies. There was a significant correlation between urinary β2-microglobulin and KIM-1 staining (P < 0.05). Sensitivity was 86.6%, specificity was 43.7%, positive predictive value was 74.2%, and negative predictive value was 63.6%. Conclusion. Increased urinary β2-microglobulin is significantly correlated with KIM-1 staining in injured proximal tubules. Measurement of urine β2-microglobulin is a sensitive assay for proximal tubule injury.

Pluripotent stem cell markers can be useful for diagnostic evaluation of human tumors. The novel pluripotent marker stage-specific embryonic antigen-5 (SSEA-5) is expressed in undifferentiated human induced pluripotent cells (iPSCs), but little is known about SSEA-5 expression in other primitive tissues (e.g., human tumors). We evaluated SSEA-5 immunoreactivity patterns in human tumors, cell lines, teratomas, and iPS cells together with another pluripotent cell surface marker L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM). We tested two hypotheses: (1) SSEA-5 and L1CAM would be immunoreactive and colocalized in human tumors; (2) SSEA-5 and L1CAM immunoreactivity would persist in iPSCs following retinal differentiating treatment. SSEA-5 immunofluorescence was most pronounced in primitive tumors, such as embryonal carcinoma. In tumor cell lines, SSEA-5 was highly immunoreactive in Capan-1 cells, while L1CAM was highly immunoreactive in U87MG cells. SSEA-5 and L1CAM showed colocalization in undifferentiated iPSCs, with immunopositive iPSCs remaining after 20 days of retinal differentiating treatment. This is the first demonstration of SSEA-5 immunoreactivity in human tumors and the first indication of SSEA-5 and L1CAM colocalization. SSEA-5 and L1CAM warrant further investigation as potentially useful tumor markers for histological evaluation or as markers to monitor the presence of undifferentiated cells in iPSC populations prior to therapeutic use.

C-reactive protein, a conserved acute-phase protein synthesized in the liver and involved in inflammation, infection, and tissue damage, is an informative biomarker for human cardiovascular disease. Out of 258 captive adult common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) assayed for CRP, 27.9% of the data were below the quantitation limit. Data were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method and results compared to other methods for handling censored data (including deletion, replacement, and imputation). Kaplan-Meier results demonstrated a modest age effect and a strong effect of HCV infection in reducing CRP but did not allow inference of reference intervals. Results of other methods varied considerably. Substitution schemes differed widely in statistical significance, with estimated group means biased by the size of the substitution constant, while inference of unbiased reference intervals was impossible. Single imputation gave reasonable statistical inferences but unreliable reference intervals. Multiple imputation gave reliable results, for both statistical inference and reference intervals, and was comparable to the Kaplan-Meier standard. Other methods should be avoided. CRP did not predict cardiovascular disease, but CRP levels were reduced by 50% in animals with hepatitis C infection and showed inverse relationships with 2 liver function enzymes. Results suggested that hsCRP can be an informative biomarker of chronic hepatic dysfunction.

The expression of N-glycolylneuraminic acid forming the structure of gangliosides and/or other glycoconjugates (Hanganutziu-Deicher antigen) in human has been considered as a tumor-associated antigen. Specifically, some reports of 14F7 Mab (a highly specific Mab raised against N-glycolyl GM3 ganglioside) reactivity in human tumors have been recently published. Nevertheless, tumors of epithelial origin have been mostly evaluated. The goal of the present paper was to evaluate the immunohistochemical recognition of 14F7 Mab in different human tumors of neuroectodermal, mesodermal, and epithelial origins using an immunoperoxidase staining method. Samples of fetal, normal, and reactive astrocytosis of the brain were also included in the study. In general, nontumoral tissues, as well as, low-grade brain tumors showed no or a limited immunoreaction with 14F7 Mab. Nevertheless, high-grade astrocytomas (III-IV) and neuroblastomas, as well as, sarcomas and thyroid carcinomas were mostly reactive with 14F7. No reaction was evidenced in medulloblastomas and ependymoblastomas. Our data suggest that the expression of N-glycolyl GM3 ganglioside could be related to the aggressive behavior of malignant cells, without depending on the tumor origin. Our data could also support the possible use of N-glycolyl GM3 as a target for both active and passive immunotherapies of malignancies expressing this molecule.

Subject & Aim. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is one of the most important candidate genes in CAD. A functional polymorphism within eNOS gene is a 27 bp VNTR on its intron 4 which has been shown to be associated with various diseases. In this study we investigated eNOS VNTR polymorphism in addition to eNOS gene expression profile in patients with CAD. Material and Methods. The study comprised patients with angiographically confirmed CAD (CAD(+)) and individuals with normal coronary as CAD(-). eNOS VNTR polymorphism frequencies were determined in both groups. In addition eNOS gene expression profile was examined using a quantitative real-time PCR. Results. We have found that aa genotype was significantly increasing the risk of CAD in our patients (aa versus ab + bb, P = 0.02, OR = 3.5; 95% CI: = 0.98 to 16.2). The differences in eNOS expression were not significant between patients and normal group; however in CAD(+) patients eNOS expression was higher than the expression level of patients carrying other genotypes (P = 0.16). Conclusion. We have observed that eNOS gene polymorphism was associated with CAD in angiography-confirmed patients. However, the difference in eNOS gene expression was not statistically significant between patients and control which might be due to the contribution of other confounding factors which require further investigations.

Background. The study assessed whether measurement of urinary biomarkers of acute kidney injury could be helpful in diagnosing acute pyelonephritis and subsequent scarring. Method. Escherichia coli J96 (0.3 mL inoculum containing 1 × 10(9)/mL) was directly injected into the renal cortex of 3-week-old female Sprague Dawley rats (n = 20), with saline substituted in a control group (n = 10). Following the injection, urine was collected 2, 7, 14, 28, and 42 days after injection. Urinary neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL), kidney injury molecule-1 (Kim-1), and interleukin-18 were quantitatively measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The levels of the biomarkers were adjusted for creatinine. Time course changes within a group or between the groups were compared. Correlation analysis was performed to understand the relationship between urinary levels and histological scarring. Results. Significantly elevated urinary NGAL was evident at two and seven days after injection, and Kim-1 was elevated at two days after injection. Receiver operating characteristic analyses confirmed the sensitivity of these markers at these times. No urinary marker at acute stage of APN was correlated with the amount of future scarring, negating their predictive value. Conclusion. Urinary NGAL and Kim-1 could be helpful in diagnosing febrile urinary tract infection in children.

Purpose. Studies involving genotyping of STR markers at 2q34 have repeatedly found the region to host the disease haplotype for pediatric cataract. Present study investigated the association of D2S2944 marker, in sperm associated antigen 16 (SPAG16) gene and rs2289917 polymorphism, in γ-crystallin B gene, with childhood cataract. Methods. 97 pediatric cataract cases and 110 children with no ocular defects were examined for tetranucleotide repeat marker/SNP using PCR-SSLP/RFLP techniques. Polymorphisms were assessed for association using contingency tables and linkage disequilibrium among alleles of the markers was estimated. Energy-optimization program predicted the secondary structure models of repeats of D2S2944. Results. Seven alleles of D2S2944, with 9-15 "GATA" repeats, were observed. Frequency of the longer allele of D2S2944, ≥(GATA)13 repeats, was 0.73 in cases and 0.56 in controls (P = 0.0123). Male children bearing ≥(GATA)13 repeats showed >3-fold higher risk for cataract (CI95% = 1.43-7.00, P = 0.0043, P c = 0.0086) as compared to female children (OR = 1.19, CI95% = 0.49-2.92, P = 0.70). Cases with haplotype-≥(GATA)13 of D2S2944 and "C" allele rs2289917-have a higher risk for pediatric cataract (OR = 2.952, CI95% = 1.595~5.463, P = 0.000453). >(GATA)13 repeats formed energetically more favorable stem-loop structure. Conclusion. Intragenic microsatellite repeat expansion in SPAG16 gene increases predisposition to pediatric cataract by probably interfering posttranscriptional events and affecting the expression of adjacent lens transparency gene/s in a gender bias manner.

Adequate methods to identify which lung cancer patients are most likely to benefit from the targeted drugs against both epidermal growth factor receptor/epidermal growth factor (EGFR/EGF) are needed. For this reason, we evaluated both the tissue reactivity of ior egf/r3 monoclonal antibody (Mab) in human lung carcinomas and its biological activity in NCI-H125 cells. Additionally, we assessed the tissue expression of EGF using two Mabs, CB-EGF1 and CB-EGF2. The overexpression of EGFR was detected in 33.33% and 62.71% of small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), respectively. The ability of ior egf/r3 Mab to bind the extracellular domain of EGFR inhibiting cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis in NCI-H125 cells was also demonstrated. The EGF expression was observed in about 17% and 70% of SCLC and NSCLC, respectively. However, differences in the reactivity of CB-EGF1 and CB-EGF2 were evidenced. A dual expression of EGFR and EGF was observed in 16.67% and 57.63% of SCLC and NSCLC patients, respectively. But, a correlation between them was only obtained in NSCLC. Our results permit to recommend the development of diagnostic kits using ior egf/r3 and/or CB-EGF1 Mabs in order to achieve a better selection of patients to EGFR/EGF-targeting treatment.