Detection of specific antibodies to HCV-ARF/CORE+1 protein in patients treated with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause for chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. The HCV-ARF/core+1 protein is an alternative product of HCV core-encoding sequence of unknown biological function. Highly purified HCV core and ARF/core+1 recombinant proteins from HCV genotype 1a and HCV-ARF/core+1 recombinant protein from HCV genotype 3a were expressed in Escherichia coli. Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we assessed the prevalence of anti-ARF/core+1 antibodies in 90 chronic hepatitis C patients infected with HCV genotypes 1a/1b or 3a, treated with pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN-a-2a) plus ribavirin. Samples derived from 92 healthy blood donors were used as negative controls. All HCV-RNA-positive serum samples reacted with core 1a antigen, while 15 (37.5%) of 40 and 14 (28%) of 50 patients infected with HCV-1a/1b and HCV-3a, respectively, were found to have anti-ARF/core+1 antibodies into their serum before treatment initiation. These antibodies were persistently present during treatment follow-up and linked to elevated levels of HCV-RNA at baseline.

Growth factors in relation to obesity, food habits, and microbiota among healthy Saudis: preliminary results.

OBJECTIVE: Obesity is a serious problem among Saudis because of the country's affluent lifestyle. Obesity is associated with various metabolic disorders and characterized by low-grade inflammation that leads to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, human growth factors (GFs), lipids, aberrant adipokines, and other chemokines from adipose tissue. The objective of this study is to delineate the effects of GFs on microbiota and their relationship to body mass index (BMI) and food habits. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 32 randomly selected participants (16 males and 16 females) were enrolled in a survey covering their sociodemographic information, medical history, lifestyle, and dietary practices. The information on diet, health condition, food and drink intake habits were examined under four distinct BMI categories: normal, underweight, overweight, and obese. The participants' serum samples were analyzed for the various GFs using a human magnetic 30-plex panel multiplex assay. Bioinformatics analysis was performed to investigate which bacterial taxa are enriched and to predict the functional profiles of the samples. RESULTS: Correlational studies revealed sex-based differences between GFs and microbiota. Females exhibited a significant correlation between epidermal GF (EGF) and Proteobacteria, whereas males showed a significant correlation between fibroblast GF-basic and Actinobacteria. Interestingly, a combined analysis of both sexes showed a significant correlation between EGF and vascular endothelial GF with Firmicutes. The data in the underweight group revealed a correlation between granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and hepatocyte GF with Firmicutes. In the obese group, a correlation was found between G-CSF and Actinobacteria. CONCLUSIONS: Our results identified links between GFs, microbiota, and BMI in a Saudi cohort. The insights from this preliminary study will contribute to the predictive diagnosis of obesity. However, further research involving a larger cohort will be necessary to understand the mechanistic aspects of these GFs to provide biomarkers of potential obesity.

Portable real-time colorimetric LAMP-device for rapid quantitative detection of nucleic acids in crude samples.

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification is known for its high sensitivity, specificity and tolerance to inhibiting-substances. In this work, we developed a device for performing real-time colorimetric LAMP combining the accuracy of lab-based quantitative analysis with the simplicity of point-of-care testing. The device innovation lies on the use of a plastic tube anchored vertically on a hot surface while the side walls are exposed to a mini camera able to take snapshots of the colour change in real time during LAMP amplification. Competitive features are the rapid analysis (< 30 min), quantification over 9 log-units, crude sample-compatibility (saliva, tissue, swabs), low detection limit (< 5 copies/reaction), smartphone-operation, fast prototyping (3D-printing) and ability to select the dye of interest (Phenol red, HNB). The device's clinical utility is demonstrated in cancer mutations-analysis during the detection of 0.01% of BRAF-V600E-to-wild-type molecules from tissue samples and COVID-19 testing with 97% (Ct < 36.8) and 98% (Ct < 30) sensitivity when using extracted RNA and nasopharyngeal-swabs, respectively. The device high technology-readiness-level makes it a suitable platform for performing any colorimetric LAMP assay; moreover, its simple and inexpensive fabrication holds promise for fast deployment and application in global diagnostics.