The association of serum immunoglobulin and complement levels and liver fibrosis and inflammation stage in patients with chronic hepatitis B.

The utility of measurement of serum immunoglobulin and complement in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients remains controversial. This study aimed to investigate the association of serum immunoglobulin and complement levels and liver fibrosis and inflammation stage in CHB patients. A total of 687 patients with CHB who underwent liver biopsy were enrolled. Serum immunoglobulin and complement were measured before liver biopsy, and liver pathological results were recorded. Associations of serum immunoglobulin and complement levels and liver fibrosis and inflammation stage were analysed. C3, C4, IgG and IgG1 had statistically significant differences among different fibrosis and different inflammation groups. Both C3 and C4 negatively correlated with fibrosis and inflammation stage, but IgG and IgG1 showed opposite results. C3, C4, IgG and IgG1 had statistical significance to predict ≥S2, ≥S3 and S4, and also had statistical significance to predict ≥G2, ≥G3 and G4. The area under curve (AUC) of the combination of C3, C4 and IgG (C3 + C4 + IgG) for predicting ≥S2, ≥S3 and S4 was 0.640 (95% CI: 0.603, 0.676), 0.674 (95% CI: 0.638, 0.709) and 0.744 (95% CI: 0.710, 0.776), respectively. The AUC of C3 + C4 + IgG for predicting ≥G2, ≥G3 and G4 was 0.723 (95% CI: 0.688, 0.756), 0.674 (95% CI: 0.638, 0.709) and 0.771 (95% CI: 0.738, 0.802), respectively. C3, C4, IgG and IgG1 are correlated with liver fibrosis and inflammation stage in CHB patients. C3, C4, IgG and IgG1 have diagnostic value for liver fibrosis and inflammation. C3 + C4 + IgG may improve diagnostic accuracy.

Magnetofluid-Integrated Multicolor Immunochip for Visual Analysis of Neutralizing Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 Variants.

The global spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus has severely affected human health, life, and work. Vaccine immunization is considered to be an effective means to protect the body from infection. Therefore, timely analysis of the antibody level is helpful to identify people with low immune response or attenuated antibodies so as to carry out targeted and precise vaccine booster immunization. Herein, we develop a magnetofluid-integrated multicolor immunochip, as a sample-to-answer system in a fully enclosed space, for visual analysis of neutralizing antibodies of SARS-CoV-2. Generally, this chip adopts an innovative three-dimensional two-phase system that utilizes mineral oil to block the connection between reagent wells in the vertical direction and provides a wide interface for rapid and nondestructive shuttle of magnetic beads during the immunoassay. In order to obtain visualized signal output, gold nanorods with a size-dependent color effect are used as the colorful chromogenic substrates for evaluation of the antibody level. Using this chip, the neutralizing antibodies were successfully detected in vaccine-immunized volunteers with 83.3% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Furthermore, changes in antibody levels of the same individual over time were also reflected by the multicolor assay. Overall, benefiting from simple operation, airtight safety, and nonrequirement of external equipment, this platform can provide a new point-of-care testing strategy for alleviating the shortage of medical resources and promoting epidemic control in underdeveloped areas.

A smartphone-assisted pressure-measuring-based diagnosis system for acute myocardial infarction diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI), usually caused by atherosclerosis of coronary artery, is the most severe manifestation of coronary artery disease which results in a large amount of death annually. A new diagnosis approach with high accuracy, reliability and low measuring-time-consuming is essential for AMI quick diagnosis. PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to develop a new point-of-care testing system with high accuracy and reliability for AMI quick diagnosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 50 plasma samples of acute myocardial infarction patients were analyzed by developed Smartphone-Assisted Pressure-Measuring-Based Diagnosis System (SPDS). The concentration of substrate was firstly optimized. The effect of antibody labeling and matrix solution on measuring result were then evaluated. And standard curves for cTnI, CK-MB and Myo were built for clinical sample analysis. The measuring results of 50 clinical samples were finally evaluated by comparing with the measuring result obtained by CLIA. RESULTS: The concentration of substrate H2O2 was firstly optimized as 30% to increase measuring signal. A commercial serum matrix was chosen as the matrix solution to dilute biomarkers for standard curve building to minimize matrix effect on the accuracy of clinical plasma sample measuring. The standard curves for cTnI, CK-MB and Myo were built, with measuring dynamic range of 0-25 ng/mL, 0-33 ng/mL and 0-250 ng/mL, and limit of detection of 0.014 ng/mL, 0.16 ng/mL and 0.85 ng/mL respectively. The measuring results obtained by the developed system of 50 clinical plasma samples for three biomarkers matched well with the results obtained by chemiluminescent immunoassay. CONCLUSION: Due to its small device size, high sensitivity and accuracy, SPDS showed a bright potential for point-of-care testing (POCT) applications.

The association of five preoperative serum tumor markers and pathological features in patients with breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: The utility of frequently used serum tumor markers in breast cancer remains controversial. The study aimed to investigate the role of preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 125 (CA125), cancer antigen 153 (CA153), cancer antigen 724 (CA724), and ferritin (FER) in the management of breast cancer and their relationships with pathological features. METHODS: A total of 804 patients with breast mass who underwent breast surgery and 305 healthy volunteers were enrolled. Preoperative serum levels of CEA, CA125, CA153, CA724, and FER were measured. And the pathological features of all the patients were recorded. The association of preoperative serum tumor markers and pathological features was analyzed. RESULTS: Among the 804 patients, 355 were identified as malignant cases and 449 as benign cases. CEA, CA153, and FER of patients with breast cancer were higher than those of healthy volunteer group and patients with benign breast diseases. The area under curve (AUC) of CEA, CA153, and FER for distinguishing patients with breast cancer and subjects with non-breast cancer was 0.688 (95% CI: 0.656-0.721), 0.609 (95% CI: 0.574-0.645), and 0.623 (95% CI: 0.586-0.660), respectively. CA153 correlated with tumor size, node status, and TNM stage, whereas CA125 with node status. No statistic differences of the five markers were observed among the four molecular subtypes. CONCLUSION: Preoperative levels of CEA, CA153, and FER exhibit low diagnostic accuracy for breast cancer (stage I-III). CA153 correlates with tumor burden, suggesting its prognostic value. The five serum markers do not correlate with molecular subtypes.

Diagnostic accuracy of γ-glutamyl transpeptidase-to-platelet ratio for predicting hepatitis B-related fibrosis: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Emerging published data on the accuracy of γ-glutamyl transpeptidase-to-platelet ratio (GPR) for diagnosing hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related fibrosis are inconsistent. The aim of this study was to systematically review the performance of GPR for diagnosing HBV-related significant fibrosis, severe fibrosis, and cirrhosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE was conducted before July 2018. Study selection was performed according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. The relevant parameters of eligible studies were abstracted. The methodological quality was assessed according to the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies. Areas under summary receiver operating characteristic curves, sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and diagnostic odds ratios were used to examine the GPR accuracy for the diagnosis of significant fibrosis, severe fibrosis, and cirrhosis. RESULTS: A total of 10 studies including 5882 patients with HBV infection underwent liver biopsy were incorporated. The prevalence of significant fibrosis, severe fibrosis, and cirrhosis were 58% (range: 22-72%), 36% (range: 10-55%), and 19% (range: 2-33%), respectively. Areas under summary receiver operating characteristic curves of GPR for predicting significant fibrosis, severe fibrosis, and cirrhosis were 0.733, 0.777, and 0.796, respectively. Subgroup analysis was performed according to geographical region and histological scoring system with similar results. CONCLUSION: GPR has moderate diagnostic accuracy for predicting HBV-related significant fibrosis, severe fibrosis, and cirrhosis, and further studies with large sample size, rigorous design, multicenter study population are urgently needed.

[Meta-analysis of the diagnostic efficacy of heparin binding protein in adult sepsis].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the accuracy of heparin binding protein (HBP) in the diagnosis of adult sepsis by meta-analysis. METHODS: The retrospective, randomized controlled and prospective researches on the diagnosis of adult sepsis using HBP were reviewed by searching VIP network, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang database, PubMed, Embase and Web of Science from foundation to August 2018. The researches were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, and QUADAS was used to evaluate the quality of eligible studies. Metadisc 14.0 was used to analyze the threshold effect, pool the estimation and do Meta regression analysis. Publication bias was assessed using Stata 12.0 with Deeks funnel plot. RESULTS: A total of 728 related literatures were searched and 14 studies were enrolled in this study with a total of 2 023 subjects, with 1 120 in sepsis group and 903 in non-sepsis control group (795 patients with non-sepsis and 108 healthy volunteers). The total score of literature quality was 14-23, indicating that the overall quality was good. Meta-analysis showed that Spearman correlation coefficient between sensitivity logorithm and 1-specificity logorithm of 14 groups of data was 0.106 (P = 0.719), indicating no threshold effect. The pooled sensitivity was 0.74 [95% confidence interval (95%CI) was 0.72-0.77], the pooled specificity was 0.73 (95%CI was 0.70-0.76), the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 14.15 (95%CI was 7.77-25.78), and the area under summary receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.865. Deeks funnel plot was asymmetrical on the left and right (P = 0.60), indicating that there was no publication bias of the eligible studies. CONCLUSIONS: HBP has good accuracy for the diagnosis of adult sepsis and it can be used as an auxiliary index for adult sepsis diagnosis.

Metabolic profiling of hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma with diverse differentiation grades.

The most effective diagnostic tool for the majority of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients is determining the differentiation grade of their tumors. However liver biopsies, which are currently the most effective way of determining tumor differentiation grade, have several limitations. The present study was designed to select serum characteristic metabolites that correlate with the differentiation grades of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC, and so could be used in the clinic as a non-invasive method of differentiating patients with different grades of HCC. A total of 58 patients with HBV-related HCC were included in the present study, and divided into three groups according to their tumor differentiation grade. A further 20 patients with HBV-related liver cirrhosis and 19 healthy volunteers were enrolled. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze endogenous metabolites. Multivariate statistical analysis was used to examine the data using MZmine 2.0 software. The 14 metabolites that were highly correlated with specific differentiation grades of HCC were then selected for additional study. Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis was used to evaluate their clinical value. In total, 5 metabolites were finally identified, including lysophosphatidylcholine (16:0), oleamide, monoglyceride (0:0/15:0/0:0), lysophosphatidylcholine (18:0) and lysophosphatidylcholine [22:5(7Z,10Z,13Z,16Z,19Z)]. All these metabolites exhibited an excellent ability to distinguish different types of HCC with various differentiation grades and the area under the curve of these metabolites was up to 0.942, showing promising clinical value.

Serum IgG4 and IgG for the diagnosis of autoimmune pancreatitis: A systematic review with meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The correct diagnosis of autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is a clinical challenge. Emerging published data on the accuracy of serum IgG4 and IgG for diagnosing AIP are inconsistent. This study was performed to better elucidate the accuracy of serum IgG4 and IgG in diagnosing AIP. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and some other databases was conducted before October 2014. The methodological quality of each study was assessed according to the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2) checklist. Random-effects model was used to summarize the sensitivity, specificity and other measures of accuracy. RESULTS: Fifteen studies on IgG4 and 8 studies on IgG were included. The summary estimates for serum IgG4 in distinguishing AIP from the overall controls, pancreatic cancer and ordinary chronic pancreatitis were as follows: sensitivity 0.74 (0.70-0.77), 0.73 (0.69-0.77) and 0.76 (0.72-0.80), respectively, specificity, 0.94 (0.93-0.95), 0.93 (0.91-0.95) and 0.96 (0.95-0.97), respectively. The summary estimates for serum IgG in distinguishing AIP from the overall controls and pancreatic cancer were as follows: sensitivity, 0.53 (0.47-0.59) and 0.51 (0.44-0.57), respectively, specificity, 0.87 (0.85-0.89) and 0.94 (0.91-0.96), respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) of serum IgG in distinguishing AIP from ordinary chronic pancreatitis was 0.657. CONCLUSIONS: Both serum IgG4 and IgG have high specificity and relatively low sensitivity for diagnosing AIP. Besides, they are useful for distinguishing AIP from pancreatic cancer and ordinary chronic pancreatitis. To better elucidate the usefulness of serum IgG4 and IgG, further studies are needed.