Evusheld, a SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-directed attachment inhibitor, appears in serum protein electrophoresis and immunofixation: a case study.

Serum protein electrophoresis (SPE) and immunofixation (IFE) assays are commonly used to diagnose and monitor patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Identifying analytical interferences in SPE and IFE caused by therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (tmAbs) can be challenging. Here we report the case of a 72-year-old male with a long history of relapsed immunoglobulin (Ig)G kappa MM. A follow-up SPE showed the original peak plus 2 additional cathode peaks. Immunofixation was ordered as a reflex test to investigate the new peaks that showed initial patient monoclonal IgG kappa in addition to 2 restricted bands of the IgG kappa type. Therapeutic monoclonal antibody interference was suspected and the patient's chart was reviewed. The patient was not on any antimyeloma monoclonal antibody therapy. However, preexposure prophylaxis therapeutic monoclonal antibodies tixagevimab plus cilgavimab (Evusheld) for severe acute SARS-CoV-2 was administered approximately 45 minutes before sample collection, which led to the identifiable spikes and correlated bands. After 2 days, the IgG kappa bands disappeared, confirming this therapy's effect on SPE and IFE. Therefore, clinical pathologists should be aware of when providers prescribe new monoclonal antibody therapy and become familiar with the position of commonly prescribed (tmAbs) therapies at their institutions.

LDH and the MELD-LDH in Severe Acute Liver Injury and Acute Liver Failure: Preliminary Confirmation of a Novel Prognostic Score for Risk Stratification.

BACKGROUND: Acute liver failure (ALF) is a devastating condition with high mortality. Currently, liver transplantation is the only life-saving treatment, but the decision to transplant is difficult due to the rapid progression of ALF and persistent shortage of donor organs. Biomarkers that predict death better than current prognostics could help. To our surprise, proteomics recently revealed that lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is prognostic in ALF by itself and in a novel form of the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score called the MELD-LDH. The purpose of this study was to confirm our proteomics results in a larger population. METHODS: We reviewed laboratory data from 238 patients admitted to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center with a diagnosis of ALF and biochemical evidence of acute liver failure over a 12-year period, as well as subset of 170 patients with encephalopathy. RESULTS: LDH was strikingly elevated in the nonsurvivors at the time of peak injury. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses revealed that LDH by itself could discriminate between survivors and nonsurvivors on the first day of hospitalization, although not as well as the MELD and MELD-LDH scores that performed alike. Importantly, however, LDH by itself performed similarly to the MELD at the time of peak injury and the MELD-LDH score moderately outperformed both. The MELD-LDH score also had greater sensitivity and negative predictive value than the MELD and the King's College Criteria. CONCLUSIONS: The results support our prior finding that LDH and the MELD-LDH score predict death and therefore transplant need in ALF patients.

Temporal Variations in Seroprevalence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infections by Race and Ethnicity in Arkansas.

Background: The aim of this study was to estimate severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection rates in the small rural state of Arkansas, using SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence as an indicator of infection. Methods: We collected residual serum samples from adult outpatients seen at hospitals or clinics in Arkansas for non-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related reasons. A total of 5804 samples were identified over 3 time periods: 15 August-5 September 2020 (time period 1), 12 September-24 October 2020 (time period 2), and 7 November-19 December 2020 (time period 3). Results: The age-, sex-, race-, and ethnicity-standardized SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence during each period, from 2.6% in time period 1 to 4.1% in time period 2 and 7.4% in time period 3. No statistically significant difference in seroprevalence was found based on age, sex, or residence (urban vs rural). However, we found higher seroprevalence rates in each time period for Hispanics (17.6%, 20.6%, and 23.4%, respectively) and non-Hispanic Blacks (4.8%, 5.4%, and 8.9%, respectively) relative to non-Hispanic Whites (1.1%, 2.6%, and 5.5%, respectively). Conclusions: Our data imply that the number of Arkansas residents infected with SARS-CoV-2 rose steadily from 2.6% in August to 7.4% in December 2020. There was no statistical difference in seroprevalence between rural and urban locales. Hispanics and Blacks had higher rates of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies than Whites, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 spread disproportionately in racial and ethnic minorities during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Baseline serum level of matrix metalloproteinase-3 as a biomarker of progressive joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

AIM: Matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) plays a pivotal role in the destruction of bone and degradation of cartilage components in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We aimed in this study to analyze the relation between baseline levels of MMP-3 and the progression of joint damage in RA. METHODS: Eighty-one untreated RA patients with joint symptoms for <1 year were evaluated at baseline and after 12 months as regards erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) and plain X-ray of both hands and wrists. Baseline levels of MMP-3 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of hands/wrists was performed. Disease Activity Score (DAS28) and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) were performed at baseline evaluation and after 12 months. RESULTS: The baseline MMP-3 levels were significantly higher in the high-progression group compared with the low-progression one (95.75 ± 42.84 vs. 50.45 ± 12.83, P < 0.001). There was a positive correlation between baseline levels of MMP-3 and MRI erosion score and other baseline clinical parameters, except for HAQ and the van der Heijde modification of the Sharp scoring system (SvdH) scores, while after 12 months, there were high positive correlations between MMP-3 and SvdH score, as well as all parameters except for ESR. CONCLUSION: Serum baseline levels of MMP-3 are strong prognostic markers of disease activity, and act well as an early predictor of progressive joint damage in recent-onset RA disease.

Circulating microRNAs - a new horizon in molecular diagnosis of breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: The potential use of microRNAs (miRNAs) as ideal tumor markers has been the focus of recent research. OBJECTIVE: Our hypothesis was that circulating miRNAs are differentially expressed in pretherapeutic sera of breast cancer patients compared to controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis, levels of 5 candidate miRNAs (miR10b, miR34a, miR155, miR195 and miR16) were quantified in sera of breast cancer patients and control individuals. RESULTS: Levels of preoperative sera showed significant upregulation of 3.36 fold rise in miR10b (p<0.001), a 2.07 fold rise in miR155 (p =0.005) and remarkable over expression of 11.9 fold rise in miR195 (p<0.001) of cases than controls. There was significant down regulation of miR34a (0.032, p<0.001). The comparison with the clinicopathological data of the breast cancer patients revealed significant high serum level of miR155 (p =0.004) and miR195 (p =0.002) in patients with lymph node metastasis and higher levels of miR10b (p =0.001) and miR155 (p <0.001) with distant metastasis (M1) than without metastasis (M0), in addition to significant decrease in miR34a (p <0.001) level in M1 than M0 cases. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that systemic circulating miRNAs have potential use as novel biomarkers for breast cancer.

Anti-apoptotic effect of spermatogonial stem cells on doxorubicin-induced testicular toxicity in rats.

The present study was designed to investigate whether spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) have possible effect on doxorubicin (DOX)-induced testicular apoptosis and damaged oxidant/antioxidant balance in rats. Sixty male Albino rats were divided into 3 groups: the saline control group, the testicular toxicity group (2mg/kg DOX once a week for 8 weeks) and the third group is a donor stem cells transplanted following pre-treatment with DOX. After the 8th week, the rats were sacrificed and tissues were collected and examined for CD95, CD95L, Caspase 3, and Caspase 8 gene expression using RT-PCR. While malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined using colorimetric kits. Biochemical, histopathological and PCR results showed improvement of the SSCs' group compared to the DOX-group. It was observed that spermatogonial stem cell affected DOX-induced activation of intrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway via preventing DOX-induced increases in CD95 and CD95L levels as well as cleaved Caspase-8 and Caspase-3 levels in testicular tissues, however, spermatogonial stem cell decreased Dox-induced NF-κB activation as well. It can be concluded that SSCs may be utilized to develop new cell-based therapies, and to advance germline gene therapy.

Estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) promoter methylation status in tumor and serum DNA in Egyptian breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: Status of DNA methylation is one of the most common molecular alterations in human neoplasia. Because it is possible to detect these epigenetic alterations in the bloodstream of patients, we investigated the aberrant DNA methylation status of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) in patient pretherapeutic sera and tissue. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this case control study the patient series consisted of 120 sporadic primary breast cancer cases and 100 patients with benign breast lesion. ER3, ER4, and ER5 primers were used for methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) to analyze the CpG methylation of promoter region of ERα gene. Correlation between ER3, ER4, and ER5 methylation and clinicopathological characteristics of the patients was investigated. RESULT: The methylation status of ER3, ER4 and ER5 was 65%, 26.7% and 61.7% in tissue respectively and 57.5%, 21.7% and 55.8% in serum respectively. The concordance between tumor and serum DNA methylation was 80%, 72% and 92% for ER3, ER4 and ER5 respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the potential utility of serum DNA methylation of ERα gene promoter as a non-invasive diagnostic and/or prognostic marker in patients with breast cancer.

Increased risk of premature coronary artery disease in Egyptians with ABCA1 (R219K), CETP (TaqIB), and LCAT (4886C/T) genes polymorphism.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies have shown a strong inverse relationship between high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (HDLc) levels and coronary artery disease (CAD), and a low concentration of plasma HDLc is considered an independent risk factor for premature atherosclerosis. Mutations in ATP-binding cassette A1 transporter (ABCA1), cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP), and lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) reduce HDLc in humans. OBJECTIVE: To date, no study had tested the association between these polymorphisms and premature CAD (PCAD) in the Egyptian population. Here we searched for ABCA1 (rs2230806), CETP (rs708272), and LCAT (rs5923) mutations in the Egyptian population and investigated the possible association between these gene polymorphisms and PCAD. We aimed to investigate the association between ABCA1, CETP, and LCAT gene polymorphisms and PCAD in Egyptians. METHODS: A total of 235 Egyptians-116 with documented PCAD (PCAD group) and 119 controls-were enrolled in the study. RESULTS: Mutation carriers with low HDLc had an elevated risk of PCAD (odds ratio [OR] = 11.38 for ABCA1 mutation carriers, P = .000; OR = 5.41 for CETP mutation carriers, P = .000; OR = 5.92 for LCAT mutation carriers, P = .000). Moreover, mutations in ABCA1, CETP, and LCAT were significantly associated with hyperlipidemia in this study. CONCLUSION: These observations show that the R allele of ABCA1, the B1 allele of CETP, and the T allele LCAT genes are associated with PCAD in Egyptians. They have more considerable effect on patients with low HDLc.

The role of CTLA-4 exon-1 49 A/G polymorphism and soluble CTLA-4 protein level in egyptian patients with Behçet's disease.

This study analyzed the association of the A/G SNP at position +49 of exon-1 in the CTLA-4 gene to the susceptibility and clinical manifestations of Behcet's disease (BD). It was performed on 60 Egyptian BD patients and 95 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The genotypes for the +49 A/G polymorphism of the CTLA-4 gene were determined by PCR-RFLP, while the serum level of CTLA-4 protein was measured by ELISA. CTLA-4 +49 A allele (P < 0.001, OR = 3.084, and CI (95%) = 1.90-4.99) and A/A genotype (P < 0.001, OR = 6.643, and CI (95%) = 2.58-17.10) frequency distribution was significantly more increased in patients than in the controls, with no significant differences between males and females with regard to the genotype or allele frequency distribution. A/A genotype was associated with a more reduced expression of sCTLA-4 protein in patients than in the controls (1.76 ± 0.19 versus 1.91 ± 0.30, resp; P < 0.0007). In addition, it is associated with the occurrence of ocular and vasculitic manifestations of BD in the patient group. The CTLA-4 gene could be considered as a susceptibility and a disease-modifying gene to BD in Egyptian population that needs further confirmatory studies on larger cohorts.

Methylation status and protein expression of RASSF1A in breast cancer patients.

Recently genetics and epigenetics alterations have been found to be characteristic of malignancy and hence can be used as targets for detection of neoplasia. RAS association domain family protein 1A (RASSF1A) gene hypermethylation has been a subject of interest in recent researches on cancer breast patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether RASSF1A methylation status and RASSF1A protein expression are associated with the major clinico-pathological parameters. One hundred and twenty breast cancer Egyptian patients and 100-control subjects diagnosed with benign lesions of the breast were enrolled in this study. We evaluated RASSF1A methylation status in tissue and serum samples using Methyl specific PCR together with RASSF1A protein expression in tissues by immunohistochemistry. Results were studied in relation to known prognostic clinicopathological features in breast cancer. Frequency of RASSF1A methylation in tissues and serum were 70 and 63.3 % respectively and RASSF1A protein expression showed frequency of 46.7 %. There was an association between RASSF1A methylation in tissues, serum and loss of protein expression in tissues with invasive carcinoma, advanced stage breast cancer, L.N. metastasis, ER/PR and HER2 negativity. RASSF1A methylation in serum showed high degree of concordance with methylation in tissues (Kappa = 0.851, P < 0.001). RASSF1A hypermethylation in tissues and serum and its protein expression may be a valid, reliable and sensitive tool for detection and follow up of breast cancer patients.

Association of FcγRIIB and FcγRIIA R131H gene polymorphisms with renal involvement in Egyptian systemic lupus erythematosus patients.

Identification of the genetic basis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) may contribute to the discovery of effective drugs before renal involvement. Our aim of this study was to estimate the association between Fc gamma receptor (FcγR) polymorphisms and SLE and renal involvement in Egyptian patients. FcγRIIB and FcγRIIA R131H gene polymorphisms were genotyped in 180 Egyptian adults. Genotyping for FcγRIIA R131H was performed using allele-specific PCR and FcγRIIB-Ile232 Thr polymorphism was genotyped using polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The study showed that the homozygous genotype (Thr/Thr) of FcγRIIB significantly increased in all SLE patients (90 patients) and in SLE patients complicated with nephritis (61 patients). The Thr allele was significantly associated with an increased risk of the disease in all the patients and in patients complicated with nephritis. Our study demonstrated an association of FcγRIIB polymorphisms with SLE and lupus nephritis and a lack of association of FcγRIIA polymorphisms with SLE in the Egyptian patients.

Vitamin D status and vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to type 1 diabetes in Egyptian children.

BACKGROUND: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is recognized as a T-cell-mediated autoimmune disease. Vitamin D compounds are known to suppress T-cell activation by binding to vitamin D receptor (VDR); and thus, VDR gene polymorphisms may be related to T-cell-mediated autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between vitamin D status and VDR gene polymorphisms and T1DM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty patients with T1DM and one hundred and twenty controls were enrolled in the study. VDR gene BsmI, FokI, ApaI and TaqI polymorphisms were determined using polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) was determined using ELISA. RESULT: Serum 25(OH)D levels revealed a vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency in 75% of the patients. The mean levels of vitamin D were significantly lower in patients as compared to their controls (P=<0.001). VDR BsmI Bb and bb genotypes and VDR FokI Ff and ff genotypes were associated with increased risk of T1DM (OR=2.3, 95% CI=1.3-4.2, P=0.005; OR=2.2, 95% CI=1.1-4.7, P=0.04; OR=1.8, 95% CI=1.03-3.04, P=0.04; OR=4.03, 95% CI=1.2-13.1, P=0.01 respectively), while the VDR ApaI and TaqI polymorphisms were not. CONCLUSION: Our study indicated that vitamin D deficiency and VDR BsmI and FokI polymorphisms were associated with T1DM in Egyptian children.

Cytokines genes polymorphisms in chronic hepatitis C: impact on susceptibility to infection and response to therapy.

BACKGROUND: Cytokines play a key role in the regulation of immune responses. In hepatitis C virus infection, the production of abnormal cytokine levels appears to contribute in the progression of the disease, viral persistence, and affects response to therapy. Cytokine genes polymorphisms located within the coding/regulatory regions have been shown to affect the overall expression and secretion of cytokines. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association of of IL28B rs12979860, TGF-ß1-509, TNF-α 308, and IL-10-1082 polymorphisms with the susceptibility to hepatitis C virus genotype 4 infection and response to pegylated interferon-α and ribavirin therapy. METHODS: IL28B, TGF-ß1 and TNF-α genes polymorphisms were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based restriction fragment length polymorphism assay while IL-10 gene polymorphism was detected by sequence specific primer-PCR in 220 healthy individuals and 440 hepatitis C infected patients (220 sustained virological response and 220 non-responder to combination therapy). RESULTS: IL28 B CT and TT, TGF-ß1 CT and TT and TNF-α AG and AA genotypes were significantly associated with susceptibility to hepatitis C infection and response to therapy. While no association was found between IL-10 gene polymorphism and susceptibility to HCV infection and response to treatment. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that inheritance of IL28B CT and TT, TGF-ß1 CT and TT and TNF-α AG and AA genotypes which appear to affect the cytokine production may be associated with susceptibility to HCV infection and resistance to combined antiviral therapy.