Prognostic Value of Prealbumin in Liver Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Accumulated studies have reported the prognostic significance of prealbumin in liver cancer, but the results were not conclusive. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between pretreatment serum prealbumin and clinical outcome of liver cancer patients through a meta-analysis. We comprehensively searched EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science and the Cochrane library to identify eligible studies. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were utilized to evaluate the prognostic value of pretreatment serum prealbumin in overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) of liver cancer patients. A total of 3470 patients from 10 eligible studies were finally included for analysis. The combined effects of prealbumin on liver cancer patients' OS and RFS were HR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.46-2.30, P < 0.001 and HR = 1.47, 95% CI: 1.01-2.14, P = 0.045, respectively. Sensitivity and subgroup analysis showed that the pooled HR of prealbumin on liver cancer patients' OS was stable. Since potential publication bias was identified in the OS studies, the trim-and-fill method therefore was performed to explore publication bias, and the results showed reliability. This meta-analysis shows that low pretreatment serum prealbumin is significantly associated with poor prognosis of liver cancer patients.

Anticoagulant Activity and Structural Characterization of Polysaccharide from Abalone (Haliotis discus hannai Ino) Gonad.

In this study, we aimed at characterizing the structure and the anticoagulant activity of a polysaccharide fraction (AGP33) isolated from the gonads of Haliotis discus hannai Ino. AGP33 was extracted by enzymatic hydrolysis and purified by ion-exchange and gel-filtration chromatography. The backbone fraction of AGP33 (BAGP33), which appeared to contain of mannose, glucose and galactose, was prepared by partial acid hydrolysis. According to methylation and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the backbone of AGP33 was identified as mainly consisting of 1→3-linked, 1→4-linked, and 1→6-linked monosaccharides. AGP33 is a sulfated polysaccharide with sulfates occur at 3-O- and 4-O-positions. It prolonged thromboplastin time (APTT), thrombin time (TT) and prothrombin time (PT) compared to a saline control solution in a dosage-dependent manner. AGP33 exhibited an extension (p < 0.01) of APTT compared to the saline group at concentrations higher than 5 µg/mL. AGP33 exhibited higher anticoagulant activity than its desulfated product (AGP33-des) and BAGP33. The results showed that polysaccharide with higher molecular weight and sulfate content demonstrated greater anticoagulant activity.

Effects of krill oil intake on plasma cholesterol and glucose levels in rats fed a high-cholesterol diet.

BACKGROUND: In this study, whole krill oil (WKO) and phospholipid-type krill oil (PKO) with different lipid composition were prepared. The effects of KO intake on plasma cholesterol and glucose levels in Wistar rats fed a high-cholesterol diet (HCD) were investigated. RESULTS: WKO contained 37.63% triglycerides, 48.37% phospholipids, 13.54% free fatty acids and 0.66% cholesterol, whereas the corresponding values for PKO were 0.59, 69.80, 28.53 and 1.09% respectively. Meanwhile, PKO contained much more polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA, 37.76%) than WKO (28.36%). After 4 weeks of HCD consumption, plasma levels of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and glucose increased significantly, but that of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) decreased significantly. The intake of PKO and WKO for 4 weeks caused a significant reduction in body weight gain and plasma levels of TC and LDL-C in HCD-fed rats. Compared with WKO, PKO was more effective in decreasing plasma TC and LDL-C levels. CONCLUSION: PKO showed better overall cholesterol-lowering effects than WKO, which may be due to its higher n-3 PUFA levels.