Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry
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Of the major diagnostic specimen types, saliva is one of the most easily collected. Many studies have focused on the evaluation of salivary proteins secreted by healthy people and patients with various diseases during responses to acute mental stress. ⋯ Each of these salivary stress markers has its own strengths and weaknesses as well as data gaps related to many factors including collection technique. In this review, we summarize the critical knowledge of the positive and negative attributes and data gaps pertaining to each salivary stress marker.
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Comparative proteomics has recently identified afamin, the newest member of the albumin gene family, as a potential biomarker for ovarian cancer. The aim of this study was the analytical and clinical evaluation of a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the determination of afamin in human plasma. ⋯ The afamin assay meets quality specifications for laboratory medicine. The results of the clinical assay evaluation revealed novel insights with respect to afamin as a potential negative acute phase protein and should encourage further studies.
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A rapid liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the quantification of reactive oxygen species (ROS) derived free oxysterols and cholesterol in human plasma and atherosclerotic plaque. ⋯ This rapid LC-MS/MS method enables reliable quantification focused on especially ROS-derived oxysterols in human plasma and atherosclerotic plaque samples under high-throughput conditions.
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Although a quantitative urine culture is essential for the final diagnosis of urinary tract infection, it is time-consuming and an expensive procedure. Effective screening tests would be a promising alternative to provide immediate results for the clinician and eliminate unnecessary culturing for most of the negative samples. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of an automated sediment analyzer (UriSed) as screening tool for presumptive diagnosis of urinary tract infection. ⋯ The UriSed seems to be an efficient tool for screening UTI with high sensitivity and low rate of false-negative results.
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KRAS codons 12 and 13 mutations are commonly used to identify colorectal carcinoma (CRC) patients who are unlikely to benefit from anti-EGFR therapy. However, humans have four different homologous RAS proteins and no routine screening is performed for the other mutation sites. Non-screened mutations may still be present in a significant subset of patients without KRAS codon 12 and 13 mutations. ⋯ Limiting RAS testing to only KRAS codons 12 and 13 in companion diagnostic testing of CRC results in nearly 1/5 of patients with RAS mutations not being excluded from costly EGFR antagonist treatment, despite likely futility. Inclusion of all RAS genes in companion diagnostic screening is warranted.