Biological markers play a pivotal role in the early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, enabling precise identification and monitoring of therapeutic interventions. The detection of central β-amyloid and Tau proteins has become an indispensable tool in clinical trials. Recent years have witnessed substantial progress in the development of readily accessible and cost-effective blood biomarkers. This comprehensive article provides a comprehensive overview of the clinical applications of blood biomarkers, encompassing β-amyloid, phosphorylated Tau protein, neurofilament light chain protein, and glial fibrillary acidic protein, all of which have demonstrated clinical relevance in Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis. Notably, phosphorylated Tau protein exhibits superior diagnostic efficacy. The incorporation of blood biomarkers facilitates early screening, accurate diagnosis, and efficacious treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Objective To explore key genes and mechanisms of depression aggravating Crohn disease. Methods In March 2023, the Public Health Genomics and Precision Health Knowledge Base and Gene Expression Omnibus database were used to identify the overlapping differentially expressed genes between Crohn disease and depression and the key genes were screened by Metascape, STRING, Cytoscape, and protein interaction network analysis. The Gene Expression Omnibus database was used to analyze the correlations between key genes and clinical pathologies such as Crohn Disease Endoscopic Index of Severity and intestinal microvilli length. Results There were 137 overlapping differentially expressed genes between Crohn disease and depression, and 25 key genes were further screened out. Among them, CREB1, FKBP5, MAPT, NTSR1, OXTR, PROK2, POMC, HTR2B, and PPARGC1A genes were significantly correlated with multiple clinical parameters. The functions of PROK2 and PROK2-related genes were mainly enriched in neutrophil and granulocyte migration, neutrophil and granulocyte chemotaxis, etc. Conclusions There are 25 key genes, especially CREB1, FKBP5, MAPT, NTSR1, OXTR, PROK2, POMC, HTR2B, and PPARGC1A, that possibly contribute to the establishment and deterioration of Crohn disease caused by depressive disorder. Among these genes, PROK2 showes the possibility of regulating immune cell (neutrophils and CD8+ T cells) infiltration.
Objective To explore the diagnostic value of a disintegrin-like and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin type 1 motifs (ADAMTS)-9 in acute aortic dissection (AAD). Methods A total of 328 patients with acute onset of chest pain within 24 hours were enrolled in West China Hospital from January 2015 to June 2016 and according to the results of computed tomography angiography they were divided into an AAD group (n=172, 107 males, 65 females, mean age of 50.4±13.1 years) and a control group (n=156, 89 males, 67 females, mean age of 54.9±14.7 years). The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test was used to measure the level of ADAMTS-9. Results Patients in two groups had no significant difference in age, gender, smoke history, hypertension history, total cholesterol, triacylglyceride and hemoglobin (P>0.05). But systolic and diastolic blood pressures were significantly higher in the AAD group than those in the control group (P<0.05, respectively). The level of ADAMTS-9 was significantly higher in the AAD group than that in the control group (249.4±186.8 ng/mlvs. 78.2±48.6 ng/ml,t=11.107, P<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that ADAMTS-9 (156.7 ng/ml) was predictive in the diagnosis of AAD with sensitivity of 0.942 and specificity of 0.628. Conclusion ADAMTS-9 might be an effective and important biomarker in diagnosis of AAD.
The human gut microbiota regulates many host pathophysiological processes including metabolic, inflammatory, immune and cellular responses. In recent years, the incidence and mortality of lung cancer have increased rapidly, which is one of the biggest challenges in the field of cancer treatment today, especially in non-small cell lung cancer. Animal models and clinical studies have found that the gut microbiota of non-small cell lung cancer patients is significantly changed compared with the healthy people. The gut microbiota and metabolites can not only play a pro-cancer or tumor suppressor role by regulating immune, inflammatory responses and so on, but also be related with radiotherapy and chemotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer and the resistance of immunotherapy. Therefore, gut microbiota and related metabolites can be both potential markers for early diagnosis and prognosis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer and novel therapeutic targets for targeted drugs. This study will review the latest research progress of effect of gut microbiota on non-small cell lung cancer, and provide a new diagnosis and treatment ideas for non-small cell lung cancer.
Metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) is an analog of norepinephrine that accumulates in sympathetic nerve endings soon after intravenous administration. The degree of accumulation reflects the uptake, storage and release of transmitters by noradrenergic neurons. Myocardial imaging with 123I labeled MIBG (123I-MIBG) can be used to estimate the extent of local myocardial sympathetic nerve damage, which has been widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of various heart diseases. In recent years, numerous studies have been carried out on the application of 123I-MIBG in the diagnosis of degenerative diseases of the nervous system (such as Parkinson's disease and dementia of Lewy body), and have made some achievements. The purpose of this review is to summarize the current clinical application of 123I-MIBG myocardial imaging in the diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies, the problems in imaging technology and the possible research directions in the future, so as to provide valuable reference information for clinicians to reasonably and accurately apply this technology in the early diagnosis and discrimination of dementia.
Objective To measure the expression level of Myc-interacting zinc finger protein-1 (MIZ1) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients with severe and non-severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and its relationship with inflammatory factors. Methods Thirty-six CAP patients from Beijing Chaoyang Hospital from April 2018 to June 2019 were enrolled in this study. MIZ1 mRNA level in PBMC were measured by reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10, and interferon-α in the serum of patients were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The levels of MIZ1 mRNA and inflammatory factors were compared between the severe CAP patients and the non-severe CAP patients. Results Compared with non-severe CAP patients, the MIZ1 mRNA level in the PBMC of severe CAP patients was lower (P<0.05) than non-severe group. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the expression level of MIZ1 in PBMC was calculated according to whether CAP was severe or non-severe, and the area under ROC curve was 0.731 (P=0.018). Spearman correlation analysis showed that MIZ1 mRNA was negatively correlated with IL-10 level in the severe CAP patients (Spearman correlation co-efficient was –0.620, P<0.05). Conclusions MIZ1 may indicate the severity of CAP. MIZ1 may affect IL-10 so as to play a role in inflammation regulation.
ObjectiveTo summarize the research progress of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in the regulation of malignant biological behavior of gallbladder cancer so as to provide references for its related research.MethodThe relevant literatures about studies of lncRNA in gallbladder cancer in recent years were reviewed.ResultsThe recent studies had shown that 19 lncRNAs associated with gallbladder cancer had played the important roles in regulating tumor cell proliferation, migration, invasion, apoptosis, “sponge” miRNAs, chemoresistance, and tumor metastasis. Among them, most lncRNAs tended to have carcinogenic properties, only a few had anticarcinogenic effect. Although the research suggested the mechanism and role of lncRNA to promote or inhibit the occurrence and development of gallbladder cancer, the current research on its mechanism was still limited. In addition, some lncRNAs were found to be specifically expressed in the serum of patients with gallbladder cancer, so which were expected to become biomarkers for tumor diagnosis and prognosis.ConclusionslncRNAs associated with gallbladder cancer have carcinogenic or anticarcinogenic effect, or chemoresistance. They play potential roles in diagnosis, prognosis, and (or) treatment of tumors, but molecular mechanisms of their effects are still limited.
ObjectiveTo summarize the new biomarkers of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and their research progress, so as to provide new ideas for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of DVT. MethodThe literature about biomarkers of DVT in recent 5 years was reviewed and summarized. ResultsAccording to the results of literature review, a variety of common DVT biomarkers such as serum microrna, fibrin monomer, neutrophil capture net, and E-selectin were sorted out, but most of them had not been used in clinical DVT management. At present, the clinical diagnosis of DVT required the combination of positive D-dimer test and positive imaging examination, and there was no single biomarker for the diagnosis of DVT. ConclusionsBiomarkers are valuable in the diagnosis and treatment of DVT, but their sensitivity and specificity need to be optimized. Therefore, finding biomarkers with more diagnostic value is one of the future directions. At the same time, we also can consider fully combined with a variety of existing biomarkers, to improve the efficiency to the diagnosis of DVT.