• Laboratory Medicine Online
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2016

Background: The cell cycle-dependent enzyme thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is known to increase during cancer cell proliferation and has been reported as a prognostic marker for various hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. This study aimed to determine the reference interval in Korean healthy controls and to evaluate the usefulness of TK1 as a biomarker for aggressive clinical behavior in B-cell lymphoma patients. Methods: We enrolled 72 previously untreated patients with B-cell lymphoma and 143 healthy controls. Serum TK1 levels were measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay ($Liaison^{(R)}$, DiaSorin, USA). We established the reference intervals in healthy controls. The diagnostic performance of serum TK1 was studied using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, and the correlation between the cutoff level for serum TK1 and clinical characteristics of B-cell lymphoma was evaluated. Results: The reference range (95th percentile) of serum TK1 in healthy controls was 5.4-21.8 U/L. There was a clear difference in TK1 levels between patients with B-cell lymphoma and healthy controls ($40.6{\pm}68.5$ vs. $11.8{\pm}4.4U/L$, P <0.001). The area under the curve of serum TK1 for the diagnosis of B-cell lymphoma was 0.73 (cutoff, 15.2 U/L; sensitivity, 59.7%; specificity, 83.2%). An increased TK1 level (${\geq}15.2U/L$) correlated with the advanced clinical stage (P <0.001), bone marrow involvement (P =0.013), international prognostic index score (P =0.001), lactate dehydrogenase level (P =0.001), low Hb level (<12 g/dL) (P =0.028), and lymphocyte count (P =0.023). Conclusions: The serum TK1 level could serve as a useful biomarker for aggressive clinical behavior in B-cell lymphoma patients.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.20-25
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• 2019

Very-long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (VLCAD) deficiency (OMIM#201475) is an autosomal recessively inherited metabolic disorder of mitochondrial long-chain fatty acid oxidation. The clinical features of VLCAD deficiency is classified by three clinical forms according to the severity. Here, we report a case of later-onset episodic myopathic form of VLCAD deficiency whose diagnosis was confirmed by plasma acylcarnitine analysis and" multigene panel multigene panel sequencing. A 34-year old female patient visited genetics clinic for genetic evaluation for history of recurrent myopathy with intermittent rhabdomyolysis. She suffered first episode of rhabdomyolysis with acute renal failure requiring hemodialysis at twelve years old. After then, she suffered several times of recurrent rhabdomyolysis provoked by prolonged exercise or fasting. Physical and neurologic exam was normal. Serum AST/ALT and creatinine kinase (CK) levels were mildly elevated. However, according to her previous medical records, her AST/ALT, CK were highly elevated when she had rhabdomyolysis. In suspicion of fatty acid oxidation disorder, multigene panel sequencing and plasma acylcarnitine analysis were performed in non-fasting, asymptomatic condition for the differential diagnosis. Plasma acylcarnitine analysis revealed elevated levels of C14:1 ($1.453{\mu}mol/L$; reference, 0.044-0.285), and C14:2 ($0.323{\mu}mol/L$; 0.032-0.301) and upper normal level of C14 ($0.841{\mu}mol/L$; 0.065 -0.920). Two heterozygous mutation in ACADVL were detected by multigene panel sequencing and confirmed by Sanger sequencing: c.[1202G>A(;) 1349G>A] (p.[(Ser 401Asn)(;)(Arg450His)]). Diagnosis of VLCAD deficiency was confirmed and frequent meal with low-fat diet was educated for preventing acute metabolic derangement. Fatty acid oxidation disorders have diagnostic challenges due to their intermittent clinical and laboratorial presentations, especially in milder late-onset forms. We suggest that multigene panel sequencing could be a useful diagnostic tool for the genetically and clinically heterogeneous fatty acid oxidation disorders.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.327-334
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• 2010

Exposure during childhood results in higher risk for certain detrimental cancers than exposure during adulthood. We measured entrance skin dose (ESD) under 7-year children undergoing chest imaging and compared the relationship between ESD and age, height, weight, chest thickness. Though it is important to measure chest thickness for setting up the exposure condition of chest examination, it is difficult to measure chest thickness of children. We set up exposure parameters according to age because chest thickness of children has correlation with age. In the exposure parameters, for chest A-P examination under 2 year-children, tube voltage (kVp) in hospital A was higher than that in hospital B while tube current (mAs) was higher in hospital B, thus the ESD values were about 1.7 times higher in hospital B. However, for chest P-A examination over 4 year-children, the tube voltage was 7 kVp higher in hospital B, the tube current were same in all two systems, and focus to image receptor distance (FID) in hospital B (180 cm) was longer than that in hospital A (130 cm), thus the ESD values were 1.4 times higher in hospital A. For same ages, the ESD values for chest A-P examinations were higher than those for chest P-A examinations. Comparing ESD according to age, ESD values were $154{\mu}Gy$, $194{\mu}Gy$ and $138{\mu}Gy$ for children under 1 year, 1 to under 4 years and 4 to under 7 years of age, respectively. These values were lower than reference level ($200{\mu}Gy$) recommended in JART (japan association of radiological technologists), however these were higher than reference values recommended by EC (european commission), NRPB (national radiological protection board) and NIFDS (national institute of food & drug safety evaluation). In conclusion, the values of ESD were affected by exposure parameters from radiographer's past experience more than x-ray system. ESD values for older children were not always higher than those for younger children. Therefore we need to establish our own DRLs (diagnostic reference levels) according to age of the children in order to optimize pediatric patient protection.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2635-2640
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• 2014

Sera of cancer patients may contain antibodies that react with a unique group of autologous cellular antigens called tumor-associated antigens (TAAs). The present study aimed to determine whether a mini-array of multiple TAAs would enhance antibody detection and be a useful approach in esophageal cancer detection and diagnosis. Our mini-array of multiple TAAs consisted of eleven antigens, p53, pl6, Impl, CyclinB1, C-myc, RalA, p62, Survivin, Koc, CyclinD1 and CyclinE full-length recombinant proteins. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were used to detect autoantibodies against eleven selected TAAs in 174 sera from patients with esophageal cancer, as well as 242 sera from normal individuals. In addition, positive results of ELISA were confirmed by Western blotting. In a parallel screening trial, with the successive addition of antigen to a final total of eleven TAAs, there was a stepwise increase in positive antibody reactions. The eleven TAAs were the best parallel combination, and the sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing esophageal cancer was 75.3% and 81.0%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 74.0% and 82.0%, respectively, indicating that the parallel assay of eleven TAAs raised the diagnostic precision significantly. In addition, the levels of antibodies to seven antigens, comprising p53, Impl, C-myc, RalA, p62, Survivin, and CyclinD1, were significantly different in various stages of esophageal cancer, which showed that autoantibodies may be involved in the pathogenesis and progression of esophageal cancer. All in all, this study further supports our previous hypothesis that a combination of antibodies might acquire higher sensitivity for the diagnosis of certain types of cancer. A customized mini-array of multiple carefully-selected TAAs is able to enhance autoantibody detection in the immunodiagnosis of esophageal cancer and autoantibodies to TAAs might be reference indicators of clinical stage.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.345-351
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• 2020

In this study, a dose assessment was conducted on the exposure dose of thyroid, breast and sexual gland using a personal dosimeter in multiple CT examinations currently being conducted in health examinations. The dose assessment was measured by attaching TLD and EPD to the locations of the thyroid, breast and sexual gland during CT examinations of Brain, Brain + C-S, Brain + Low lung, Brain + L-S among CT items. The generated dose of equipment, CTDI_vol and DLP, was measured. The study found that effective doses were rated 41.7% higher for thyroid TLD in Brain + C-S CT examinations than for the general public, 156% higher for EPD, 10% for breast EPD in Brain + Low Lung CT examinations, 124.4% higher for reproductive TLD and 339.8% higher for Brain + L-S CT examinations. The CTDI_vol and DLP analysis results showed that C-S CTDI_vol values were higher than the diagnostic reference levels at 0.6%, Low Lung CTDI_vol values at 5.7%, DLP values at 11.8% and L-S CTDIvol values at 1.2%. In order to reduce the exposure dose of patients, indiscriminate examination is reduced and dose limit setting is needed in health examination.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.38-41
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• 2019

Procalcitonin (PCT) is commonly employed in medical practice as a diagnostic biomarker of bacterial infection and also as a monitoring biomarker for antimicrobial therapy. There have been a few published reports concerning elevated PCT levels in people with acute liver injury caused by an overdose of acetaminophen. We report here on a case of PCT elevation in an adolescent with acute acetaminophen poisoning without any bacterial infection or liver injury. A 15-year-old girl had deliberately ingested 20 tablets of 650 mg acetaminophen (13 g) and she presented to our emergency department. The PCT level on admission was elevated to 65.64 ng/mL (reference range: 0-0.5 ng/mL). Her PCT level on the second day peaked up to 100 ng/mL and then it gradually decreased. There was no evidence of liver injury or infection on the computed tomography examination and other lab tests. The patient regained her good health and was discharged on the sixth day of hospitalization.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.299-308
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• 2012

To perform patient dose surveys in major interventional radiography procedures as a mean of inter-institutional comparison and of establishing reference dose levels with the ultimate goal of optimizing patient doses in the field of interventional radiography. We reviewed international patient dose survey data in the literature and measured patient dose in major interventional radiography procedures (TACE, AVF, PTBD, TFCA, GDC embolization). ESD(Entrance Skin Dose) was measured using TLD chips attached to the patient skin and ED(Effective Dose) was calculated using angiography unit-derived DAP. A survey of patient dose in interventional radiography procedures were also performed with a questionnaire for interventional radiologists and we proposed a guideline for optimizing patient doses in the field of interventional radiology. The patient dose survey data in interventional radiography procedures were very rare in literature compared with those in diagnostic radiography procedures. In TACE, the mean ED was 25.43 mSv and the mean ESD was 511.75 mGy. The mean ED of TACE was not high, but the cumulative dose should be checked, due to longer procedure TACE. In TFCA, the mean ED was 22.6 mSv and it was relatively high compared with data of other countries. In GDC embolization, the mean ED was not available, because GDC embolization was performed with old Image-Intensifier-type unit and there has no unit-installed ionization chamber. Also, the mean ESD of GDC embolization was up to 2,264 mGy and further studies are needed to calculate the net ED of GDC embolization. Patient dose occurred during interventional radiography procedures are high related with the difficulty of the procedure, fluoroscopy time, the number of angiographies and the treatment protocol. Therefore, continuous education and efforts should be made to optimize the patient dose in the field of interventional radiology.