Utility of neutrophil/albumin ratio and C-reactive protein/albumin ratio as novel inflammatory markers in Behcet's disease.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Behcet's disease (BD) is an autoimmune systemic inflammatory disease, and its exact pathogenesis is unknown. There are currently no specific tests to evaluate the disease activity of BD, making its management more difficult. This study aims to determine the neutrophil/albumin ratio (NAR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) to albumin ratio (CAR) and investigate their associations with clinical findings in patients with BD and to determine optimum cutoff levels of CAR and NAR. METHODS: The study included 75 consecutively recruited patients with BD with a mean age of 33.29±6.23 years and disease duration of 7.21±4.64 years, as well as 75 healthy participants. Clinical characteristics and laboratory data were obtained. Disease activity was assessed using the BD current activity form score (BDCAF). RESULTS: NAR and CAR were elevated in patients with BD compared with those of healthy controls (NAR: 1.08±0.34 vs. 0.607±0.06, CAR: 2.49±1.73 vs. 0.39±0.142; p<0.0001), as well as in active BD versus inactive BD. Both NAR and CAR were significantly correlated with CRP, active uveitis, and BDCAF score (p≤0.05). In patients with active BD, the cutoff value of NAR was >0.9744 (sensitivity: 89.74%, specificity: 80.56%), while that of CAR was >2.04 (sensitivity: 74.36%, specificity: 83.33%). CONCLUSIONS: NAR and CAR are both elevated in patients with BD and may contribute to its active state. NAR and CAR can be feasible and inexpensive markers for predicting BD activity.

Utility of neutrophil/albumin ratio and C-reactive protein/albumin ratio as novel inflammatory markers in Behcet's disease / Utilidad de la relación neutrófilos/albúmina y la relación proteína C reactiva/albúmina como nuevos marcadores inflamatorios en la enfermedad de Behçet

Introduction and objectives: Behcet's disease (BD) is an autoimmune systemic inflammatory disease, and its exact pathogenesis is unknown. There are currently no specific tests to evaluate the disease activity of BD, making its management more difficult. This study aims to determine the neutrophil/albumin ratio (NAR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) to albumin ratio (CAR) and investigate their associations with clinical findings in patients with BD and to determine optimum cutoff levels of CAR and NAR. Methods: The study included 75 consecutively recruited patients with BD with a mean age of 33.29±6.23 years and disease duration of 7.21±4.64 years, as well as 75 healthy participants. Clinical characteristics and laboratory data were obtained. Disease activity was assessed using the BD current activity form score (BDCAF). Results: NAR and CAR were elevated in patients with BD compared with those of healthy controls (NAR: 1.08±0.34 vs. 0.607±0.06, CAR: 2.49±1.73 vs. 0.39±0.142; p<0.0001), as well as in active BD versus inactive BD. Both NAR and CAR were significantly correlated with CRP, active uveitis, and BDCAF score (p≤0.05). In patients with active BD, the cutoff value of NAR was >0.9744 (sensitivity: 89.74%, specificity: 80.56%), while that of CAR was >2.04 (sensitivity: 74.36%, specificity: 83.33%). Conclusions: NAR and CAR are both elevated in patients with BD and may contribute to its active state. NAR and CAR can be feasible and inexpensive markers for predicting BD activity.(AU)

Introducción y objetivos: La enfermedad de Behçet (EB) es una enfermedad inflamatoria sistémica autoinmune y se desconoce su patogenia exacta. Actualmente no existen pruebas específicas para evaluar la actividad de la EB, lo que dificulta su manejo. El objetivo de este estudio es determinar la proporción neutrófilos/albúmina (NAR) y de proteína C reactiva (CRP)/albúmina (CAR) e investigar sus asociaciones con los hallazgos clínicos en pacientes con EB y determinar los niveles de corte óptimos de CAR y NAR. Métodos: El estudio incluyó a 75 pacientes con EB reclutados consecutivamente con una edad media de 33,29±6,23 años y una duración de la enfermedad de 7,21±4,64 años, así como a 75 participantes sanos. Se obtuvieron características clínicas y datos de laboratorio. La actividad de la enfermedad se evaluó utilizando la puntuación del formulario de actividad actual de la EB (BD Current Activity Form [BDCAF]). Resultados: NAR y CAR estaban elevados en pacientes con EB en comparación con controles sanos (NAR: 1,08±0,34 vs. 0,607±0,06, CAR: 2,49±1,73 vs. 0,39±0,142; p<0,0001), así como en pacientes EB activos versus EB inactivos. Tanto la NAR como la CAR se correlacionaron significativamente con la PCR, la uveítis activa y la puntuación BDCAF (p≤0,05). En pacientes con EB activa, el valor de corte de NAR fue>0,9744 (sensibilidad: 89,74%, especificidad: 80,56%), mientras que el de CAR fue>2,04 (sensibilidad: 74,36%, especificidad: 83,33%). Conclusiones: NAR y CAR están elevados en pacientes con EB y pueden contribuir a su estado activo. NAR y CAR pueden ser marcadores factibles y económicos para predecir la actividad de EB.(AU)

MIR-379-5p Expression in Endometrial Cancer and Its Correlation with ROR1 Expression.

OBJECTIVE: To asses miR-379-5p expression in endometrial cancer (EC) and its correlation with ROR1 expression and to investigate the relation between miR-379-5p and ROR1 expressions and the clinicopathological picture of EC. METHODS: Fifty female of EC were joined to this study. The gene expression of miR-379-5p (by quantitative real time-PCR) and ROR1 (by quantitative real time-PCR and immunohistochemistry) were studied in EC and normal nearby endometrial tissue. RESULTS: The gene expression of miR-379-5p was significantly downregulated while that of ROR1 was significantly upregulated in EC tissues compared to adjacent normal endometrial tissues. Furthermore, miR-379 and ROR1 expressions significantly associated with tumor stage (P< 0.045), grade (P< 0.001), myometrial invasion (P <0.001) and LN metastasis (P< 0.034). In addition, miR-3795p and ROR1 gene expression were negatively correlated (r = -0.746, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In EC, miR-379-5p can be used as a diagnostic marker, and ROR1 could be a potential target of miR-379-5p.

Clinical significance of LncRNA-MIAT as a non-invasive diagnostic marker of nonHodgkin's lymphoma associated with occult hepatitis C virus infection

Aims: the current research aimed to investigate LncRNA-MIAT in patients with nonHodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and to assess its correlation with clinicopathological features and treatment protocols of NHLs among Egyptian patients with Occult hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (OCI). Patients & Methods: This study was conducted on 20 patients with NHL and 30 healthy subjects as the control group. All subjects were screened for HCV-RNA in both plasma and PBMCs. RT-PCR determined lncRNA-MIAT. Results: lncRNA-MIAT relative expression level was upregulated in NHL groups (2.73±0.86) compared to controls (1.06±0.07), P ˂0.001*. Among NHL, patients with OCI (3.2±0.63) had significantly higher levels of lncRNA-MIAT compared to HCV (2.6±1.08) and non-HCV (2.4±0.4), P ˂0.001*. Additionally, the relative expression levels of lncRNA-MIAT were significantly positively correlated with laboratory and clinicopathological features of NHL. Interestingly, concerning the treatment of DLBCLNHL, there were significantly higher levels of lncRNA-MIAT in no treatment subgroup (n=10, 3.31±0.95) compared to successfully treated subgroups [CHOP (n=7, 1.58±0.34) and R-CHOP (n=3, 11.16±0.21), P ˂0.001* Conclusions: lncRNA-MIAT level was upregulated in NHL patients, particularly patients with OCI. Thus, circulatory lncRNA-MIAT may serve as a promising non-invasive diagnostic marker for NHL associated with OCI