• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.240-248
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• 2014

Background: Open heart surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is considered one of the most frequent surgical procedures in which acute kidney injury (AKI) is a frequent and serious complication. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficiency of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) as an early AKI biomarker after CPB in cardiac surgery (CS). Methods: Thirty-seven adult patients undergoing CS with CPB were included in this retrospective study. They had normal preoperative renal function, as assessed by the creatinine (Cr) level, NGAL level, and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Serial evaluation of serum NGAL and Cr levels was performed before, immediately after, and 24 hours after the operation. Patients were divided into two groups: those who showed normal immediate postoperative serum NGAL levels (group A, n=30) and those who showed elevated immediate postoperative serum NGAL levels (group B, n=7). Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 18. Results: Of the 37 patients, 6 (6/37, 16.2%) were diagnosed with AKI. One patient belonged to group A (1/30, 3.3%), and 5 patients belonged to group B (5/7, 71.4%). Two patients in group B (2/7, 28.5%) required further renal replacement therapy. Death occurred in only 1 patient (1/37, 2.7%), who belonged to group B. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that postoperative plasma NGAL levels can be used as an early biomarker for the detection of AKI following CS using CPB. Further studies with a larger sample size are needed to confirm our results.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.57 no.8
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• pp.357-362
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• 2014

Purpose: The incidence of Kawasaki disease (KD) is rare in young infants (less than 3 months of age), who present with only a few symptoms that fulfill the clinical diagnostic criteria. The diagnosis for KD can therefore be delayed, leading to a high risk of cardiac complications. We examined the clinical characteristics and measured the serum levels of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels of these patients for assessing its value in the early detection of KD. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data of young infants diagnosed with KD from 2004 to 2012. The control group included 20 hospitalized febrile patients. Laboratory data, including NT-proBNP were obtained for each patient in both groups. Results: Incomplete KD was observed in 21/24 patients (87.5%). The mean fever duration on admission was $1.36{\pm}1.0$ days in the KD group. Common symptoms included erythema at the site of Bacille Calmette-Guerin inoculation (70.8%), skin rash (50.0%), changes of oropharyngeal mucosa (29.1%), and cervical lymphadenopathy (20.8%). The mean number of major diagnostic criteria fulfilled was $2.8{\pm}1.4$. Five KD patients (20.8%) had only one symptom matching these criteria. The incidence of coronary artery complications was 12.5%. The mean serum NT-proBNP level in the acute phase, in the KD and control groups, were $4,159{\pm}3,714pg/mL$ and $957{\pm}902pg/mL$, respectively, which decreased significantly in the convalescent phase. Conclusion: Incomplete KD was observed in 87.5% patients. Serum NT- proBNP might be a valuable biomarker for the early detection of KD in febrile infants aged <3 months.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2012

Objectives: Asbestos-related diseases (ARDs) have increased globally over the decades, causing an economic burden and increased health care costs. It is difficult to predict the risk of development of ARDs and of respiratory disability among workers with a history of asbestos exposure. Blood based biomarkers have been reported as promising tools for the early detection of malignant mesothelioma. This study investigated whether serum soluble mesothelin-related peptide (SMRP) would reflect severity of disablement in compensable ARDs. Methods: SMRP levels were measured in a cohort of 514 asbestos-exposed subjects. Severity of ARDs was assessed by a Medical Authority comprising four specially qualified respiratory physicians. Severity of ARDs and SMRP levels were compared. Results: Mean (standard deviation) serum SMRP level in the population with compensable ARDs (n = 150) was 0.95 (0.65) nmol/L, and was positively associated with disability assessment (p = 0.01). Mean SMRP level in healthy asbestos-exposed subjects was significantly lower than those with pleural plaques (p < 0.0001) and in subjects with ARDs who received compensation (p < 0.01). Conclusion: This study indicates that serum SMRP levels correlate with severity of compensable ARDs. Serum SMRP could potentially be applied to monitor progress of ARDs. Further prospective work is needed to confirm the relationship between SMRP and disability assessment in this population.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.9797-9800
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• 2014

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common cancer in Southern China and Southeast Asia. Alu elements are among the most prevalent repetitive sequences and constitute 11% of the human genome. Although Alu methylation has been evaluated in many types of cancer, few studies have examined the levels of this modification in serum from NPC patients. Objective: To compare the Alu methylation levels and patterns between serum from NPC patients and normal controls. Materials and Methods: Sera from 50 NPC patients and 140 controls were examined. Quantitative combined bisulfite restriction analysis-Alu (qCOBRA-Alu) was applied to measure Alu methylation levels and characterize Alu methylation patterns. Amplified products were classified into four patterns according to the methylation status of 2 CpG sites: hypermethylated (methylation at both loci), partially methylated (methylation of either of the two loci), and hypomethylated (unmethylated at both loci). Results: A comparison of normal control sera with NPC sera revealed that the latter presented a significantly lower methylation level (p=0.0002) and a significantly higher percentage of hypomethylated loci (p=0.0002). The sensitivity of the higher percentage of Alu hypomethyted loci for distinguishing NPC patients from normal controls was 96%. Conclusions: Alu elements in the circulating DNA of NPC patients are hypomethylated. Moreover, Alu hypomethylated loci may represent a potential biomarker for NPC screening.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6533-6535
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• 2013

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a new type of tumor biomarker, eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2), in serum for the early diagnosis, confirmative diagnosis as well as assessment of treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: 130 patients with NSCLC and 50 healthy individuals undergoing physical examination in our hospital provided the observation and healthy control groups. An enzyme linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) method was applied to determine serum eEF2 levels. Serum neuron specific enolase (NSE) and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) levels in the observation group were assessed with an automatic biochemical analyzer. Results: The median levels of eEF2 in the serum of NSCLC patients was found to be significantly higher than the healthy control group (p < 0.01) and it was markedly higher in stages III, IV than stages I, II (p < 0.05). eEF2 was higher with tumor size ${\geq}2$ cm than <2 cm (P< 0.01). Furthermore, two weeks after surgery patients showed a significant trend for eEF2 decrease (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2) has certain clinical values for early diagnosis, verification, and prognosis as well as classification of lung cancer patients.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2016

In human medicine, circulating microRNAs have been successfully utilized as early biomarkers for various abnormalities and disease states. Vertebrate miR-122 is a liver-specific microRNA which is expressed almost solely in hepatocytes and plays an important role in the regulation of hepatocyte function. In this study, to evaluate the potential utility of circulating miR-122 as a biomarker for liver injury in olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), fish were orally intubated with two doses of acetaminophen (500 mg/kg or 1.000 mg/kg of body weight), and the expression of miR-122 in serum was quantified using real time-PCR. Histological change in liver, and the enzymatic activity of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) were also analyzed. The results showed that miR-122 was higher in acetaminophen administered groups compared to control group. The histopathological effect of acetaminophen on olive flounder liver was not distinct. The serum level of GPT and GOT was increased within 2 folds compared to control group by acetaminophen administration. However, the serum miR-122 level was increased more than 3 or 4 folds compared to the control group by administration of 1000 mg/kg of acetaminophen. These results suggest the possible use of miR-122 as an indicator of liver injury in olive flounder, even when histopathological effects are not distinctive.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.196-201
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• 2006

Vitellogenin, which is found in the serum of female and male fishes exposed to environmental endocrine disrupter or estrogen hormone, is used as a biomarker for environmental contamination with an endocrine disrupter. In order to produce antibody against vitellogenin, a synthetic peptide for partial vitellogenin was injected into rabbits. In addition, by using ion exchange chromatography on DE-52, vitellogenin was purified from the serum of carp induced with $17{\beta}$-estradiol. Polyclonal antibody against purified vitellogenin reacted well with vitellogenin in the serum of carp induced with $17{\beta}$-estradiol and the serum of female carp, whereas polyclonal antibody against the vitellogenin peptide did not react with proteins in those samples. This may indicate that vitellogenin proteins, covalently modified largely, could not be detected by Western blotting with the polyclonal antibody against the synthetic vitellogenin peptide.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.711-720
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• 2024

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The diet is an important route of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). However, few studies have investigated the association between dietary intake and EDC exposure levels among Koreans. In an earlier study, we showed that the bioactivity of serum aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligands (AhRLs) could be a surrogate biomarker to indicate exposure to EDCs and that they inhibit mitochondrial function. We also found that the mitochondria-inhibiting substances (MIS) in serum ascertained by intracellular adenosine triphosphate (MIS-ATP) and reactive oxygen species (MIS-ROS) levels could be biomarkers of exposure to EDCs, as they showed a strong correlation with AhRL and the levels of EDCs in the blood. Here, we investigated the association between the consumption of specific foods and surrogate serum biomarkers for EDCs, namely AhRL, MIS-ATP, and MIS-ROS, among middle-aged Korean adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 1,466 participants aged 45-76 yrs from the Ansung cohort of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study were included. Food consumption, including that of meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits, was measured using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: Fish intake was positively associated with AhRL (β = 0.0035, P = 0.0166), whereas cruciferous vegetable intake was negatively associated with AhRL (β = -0.0007, P = 0.0488). Cruciferous vegetable intake was positively associated with the MIS-ATP levels (β = 0.0051, P = 0.0420). A higher intake of fish was significantly associated with an increased risk of high AhRL (tertile: odds ratio [OR], 1.49; 95% confidence intervals (CIs), 1.08-2.06; P for trend = 0.0305). In addition, the second-highest tertile of cruciferous vegetable intake had lower odds of high AhRL than the lowest tertile (OR, 0.73; 95% CIs, 0.54-0.97), although no significant linear trend was observed. CONCLUSION: Consumption of different types of foods may be differentially associated with EDC exposure in middle-aged Korean adults.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.299-308
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• 2007

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop a bioinformatics software and to test it in serum samples of papillary thyroid cancer using mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS). Materials and Methods: Development of 'Protein analysis' software performing decision tree analysis was done by customizing C4.5. Sixty-one serum samples from 27 papillary thyroid cancer, 17 autoimmune thyroiditis, 17 controls were applied to 2 types of protein chips, CM10 (weak cation exchange) and IMAC3 (metal binding - Cu). Mass spectrometry was performed to reveal the protein expression profiles. Decision trees were generated using 'Protein analysis' software, and automatically detected biomarker candidates. Validation analysis was performed for CM10 chip by random sampling. Results: Decision tree software, which can perform training and validation from profiling data, was developed. For CM10 and IMAC3 chips, 23 of 113 and 8 of 41 protein peaks were significantly different among 3 groups (p<0.05), respectively. Decision tree correctly classified 3 groups with an error rate of 3.3% for CM10 and 2.0% for IMAC3, and 4 and 7 biomarker candidates were detected respectively. In 2 group comparisons, all cancer samples were correctly discriminated from non-cancer samples (error rate = 0%) for CM10 by single node and for IMAC3 by multiple nodes. Validation results from 5 test sets revealed SELDI-TOF-MS and decision tree correctly differentiated cancers from non-cancers (54/55, 98%), while predictability was moderate in 3 group classification (36/55, 65%). Conclusion: Our in-house software was able to successfully build decision trees and detect biomarker candidates, therefore it could be useful for biomarker discovery and clinical follow up of papillary thyroid cancer.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.461-466
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• 2021

In this article, a portable and cost-effective voltammetric biosensor with nanoparticles was developed for the measurements of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 protein (hnRNP A1) biomarker which can potentially be used for lung cancer diagnosis. Gold nanoparticles were first electrodeposited onto screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE) followed by immobilizing a single stranded DNA aptamer specific to hnRNP A1 onto the electrode surface. Ethanolamine was also used when immobilizing DNA aptamer on the surface to prevent signals from non-specific adsorption events. Sequential injection of hnRNP A1 biomarker and anti-hnRNP A1 conjugated with alkaline phosphatase (ALP) onto the aptamer chip surface allows to form the sandwich complex of DNA aptamer/hnRNP A1/ALP-anti-hnRNP A1 on the electrode surface which further reacted with 4-aminophenyl phosphate (APP). The electrocatalytic reaction of the enzyme, ALP, and the substrate, APP, resulting in the oxidative current response changes at -0.05 and -0.17 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) against the hnRNP A1 concentration was measured using cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry, respectively. The Au nanoparticles-integrated voltammetric biosensor was applied to analyze human normal serum solutions possibly suggesting potential applicability for lung cancer diagnosis.