scholarly journals Noninvasive Evaluation of Portal Hypertension: Emerging Tools and Techniques

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. K. Snowdon ◽  
N. Guha ◽  
J. A. Fallowfield
Keyword(s):  
Portal Hypertension ◽  
Endothelial Dysfunction ◽  
Vascular Injury ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Noninvasive Evaluation ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Novel Biomarkers ◽  
Noninvasive Markers ◽  
Tools And Techniques

Portal hypertension is the main cause of complications in patients with cirrhosis. However, evaluating the development and progression of portal hypertension represents a challenge for clinicians. There has been considerable focus on the potential role of noninvasive markers of portal hypertension that could be used to stratify patients with respect to the stage of portal hypertension and to monitor disease progression or treatment response in a longitudinal manner without having to undertake repeated invasive assessment. The pathogenesis of portal hypertension is increasingly understood and emerging knowledge of the vascular processes that underpin portal hypertension has paved the way for exploring novel biomarkers of vascular injury, angiogenesis, and endothelial dysfunction. In this paper we focus on the pathogenesis of portal hypertension and potential non-invasive biomarkers with particular emphasis on serum analytes.

1173Anti-heart and anti-intercalated disk autoantibodies: possible novel biomarkers of cardiac sarcoidosis

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Caforio ◽  
S Gianstefani ◽  
A Baritussio ◽  
R Marcolongo ◽  
M Seguso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Potential Role ◽  
Cardiac Involvement ◽  
Cardiac Sarcoidosis ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Immune Mediated ◽  
Novel Biomarkers ◽  
Intercalated Disk

Abstract Background Sarcoidosis is an immune-mediated disease; cardiac involvement, a granulomatous form of myocarditis, is under-recognised and prognostically relevant, as it can present with significant morbidity and mortality. Anti-heart autoantibodies (AHA) and anti-intercalated disk autoantibodies (AIDA) are reliable autoimmune markers in non-sarcoidosis myocarditis forms. Purpose The aim of this study was to assess the potential role of serum AHA and AIDA in cardiac sarcoidosis. Methods This is a cross-sectional study on a series of 29 patients with biopsy proven extra-cardiac sarcoidosis and with biopsy-proven or clinically suspected cardiac involvement, who were tested for AHA and AIDA. Patients were recruited in two recruiting tertiary centres, in USA and Italy. AHA and AIDA were detected by indirect immunofluorescence on human myocardium and skeletal muscle. Controls included sera from patients with non-inflammatory cardiac disease (NICD) (n=160), with ischemic heart failure (IHF) (n=141) and normal blood donors (NBD) (n=270). Results The frequencies of AHA and of AIDA were higher in sarcoidosis (86%; 62%) than in NICD (8%; 4%), IHF (7%; 2%), NBD (9%; 0%) (p=0.0001; p=0.0001 respectively). Sensitivity and specificity were: 86% and 92% for positive AHA and 62% and 98% for positive AIDA, respectively (see figure). Figure 1 Conclusions The detection of serum AHA and AIDA in biopsy-proven or clinically suspected cardiac sarcoidosis supports the involvement of heart-specific autoimmunity in the majority of our cases and may provide a novel non invasive diagnostic marker.

scholarly journals Anti-phospholipid syndrome and COVID-19 thrombosis: connecting the dots

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moon Ley Tung ◽  
Bryce Tan ◽  
Robin Cherian ◽  
Bharatendu Chandra
Keyword(s):  
Endothelial Dysfunction ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Molecular Mimicry ◽  
Thromboembolic Events ◽  
The Past ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Connecting The Dots ◽  
Anti Phospholipid Syndrome

Abstract As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is spreading rapidly worldwide, it has emerged as a leading cause of mortality, resulting in >1 million deaths over the past 10 months. The pathophysiology of COVID-19 remains unclear, posing a great challenge to the medical management of patients. Recent studies have reported an unusually high prevalence of thromboembolic events in COVID-19 patients, although the mechanism remains elusive. Several studies have reported the presence of aPLs in COVID-19 patients. We have noticed similarities between COVID-19 and APS, which is an autoimmune prothrombotic disease that is often associated with an infective aetiology. Molecular mimicry and endothelial dysfunction could plausibly explain the mechanism of thrombogenesis in acquired APS. In this review, we discuss the clinicopathological similarities between COVID-19 and APS, and the potential role of therapeutic targets based on the anti-phospholipid model for COVID-19 disease.

scholarly journals The Role of Uridine Adenosine Tetraphosphate in the Vascular System

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takayuki Matsumoto ◽  
Rita C. Tostes ◽  
R. Clinton Webb
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Cardiovascular Diseases ◽  
Endothelial Dysfunction ◽  
Arterial Hypertension ◽  
Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Vascular Function ◽  
Purinergic Receptors ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Vascular System

The endothelium plays a pivotal role in vascular homeostasis, and endothelial dysfunction is a major feature of cardiovascular diseases, such as arterial hypertension, atherosclerosis, and diabetes. Recently, uridine adenosine tetraphosphate (Up4A) has been identified as a novel and potent endothelium-derived contracting factor (EDCF). Up4A structurally contains both purine and pyrimidine moieties, which activate purinergic receptors. There is an accumulating body of evidence to show that Up4A modulates vascular function by actions on endothelial and smooth muscle cells. In this paper, we discuss the effects of Up4A on vascular function and a potential role for Up4A in cardiovascular diseases.

Identification of non-invasive biomarkers for early detection of breast cancer: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 01-05
Author(s):  
Asima Tayyab
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Early Breast Cancer ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Small Volume ◽  
Breast Cancer Diagnosis ◽  
Diagnostic Purpose ◽  
Diagnose Breast Cancer ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Early Stages

Despite decades of research, diagnostic tests with specificity and accuracy for early breast cancer are yet unavailable. Major problems associated with poor diagnosis are either due to incompetency of reported biomarkers or small volume of patients under study. Moreover, heterogeneity of the disease further complicates the struggle of identifying effective biomarkers. Therefore, to improve the survival rate, look for new, sensitive and specific biomarkers for early breast cancer diagnosis is need of hour. In this study, we have reviewed recently reported serum biomarkers and categorized them based on their biomolecular nature such as protein, ctDNA, epigenetics regulation and miRNA. Potential role of these available biomarkers in early diagnosis of breast cancer has also been discussed. Based on the facts obtained from literature review, it is revealed that using any individual biomolecule as a biomarker is not sufficient to diagnose breast cancer at early stages rather it is suggested that a panel of proteins or miRNAs would offer better sensitivity and specificity. Whereas, unavailability of a potential ctDNA and epigenetics regulation candidate for diagnostic purpose is and suggest the use of more sophisticated techniques to unwound these regulations in serum especially at early stages of breast cancer.

scholarly journals Urine Phenylacetylglutamine Determination in Patients with Hyperphenylalaninemia

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 3674
Author(s):  
Fernando Andrade ◽  
Ainara Cano ◽  
María Unceta Suarez ◽  
Arantza Arza ◽  
Ana Vinuesa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Potential Role ◽  
Venous Blood ◽  
Phenyl Group ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Frequent Monitoring ◽  
Healthy Control

Phenylketonuria (PKU), an autosomal-recessive inborn error of phenylalanine (Phe) metabolism is the most prevalent disorder of amino acid metabolism. Currently, clinical follow-up relies on frequent monitoring of Phe levels in blood. We hypothesize that the urine level of phenylacetylglutamine (PAG), a phenyl-group marker, could be used as a non-invasive biomarker. In this cross-sectional study, a validated liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method was used for urinary PAG quantification in 35 participants with hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA) and 33 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. We have found that (a) PKU patients present higher urine PAG levels than healthy control subjects, and that (b) there is a significant correlation between urine PAG and circulating Phe levels in patients with HPA. In addition, we show a significant strong correlation between Phe levels from venous blood samples and from capillary finger-prick dried blood spot (DBS) samples collected at the same time in patients with HPA. Further research in order to assess the potential role of urine PAG as a non-invasive biomarker in PKU is warranted.

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