Blood metabolites in preterm infants with retinopathy of prematurity based on tandem mass spectrometry: a preliminary study / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To study new biomarkers for the early diagnosis of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) by analyzing the differences in blood metabolites based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and metabolomics.@*METHODS@#Dried blood spots were collected from 21 infants with ROP (ROP group) and 21 infants without ROP (non-ROP group) who were hospitalized in the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from January 2013 to December 2016. LC-MS/MS was used to measure the metabolites, and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis was used to search for differentially expressed metabolites and biomarkers.@*RESULTS@#There was a significant difference in blood metabolic profiles between the ROP and non-ROP groups. The pattern recognition analysis, Score-plot, and weight analysis obtained 10 amino acids with a relatively large difference. Further statistical analysis showed that the ROP group had significant increases in blood levels of glutamic acid, leucine, aspartic acid, ornithine, and glycine compared with the non-ROP group (P<0.05). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that glutamic acid and ornithine had the highest value in diagnosing ROP.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Blood metabolites in preterm infants with ROP are different from those without ROP. Glutamic acid and ornithine are the metabolic markers for diagnosing ROP. LC-MS/MS combined with metabolomics analysis has a potential application value in the early identification and diagnosis of ROP.

Expression and Significance of Plasma miR-223-3p in Diabetic Kidney Diseaseat Different Stages / 昆明医科大学学报

Objective To explore the expression of miR-223-3p in the plasma of patients with diabetic kidney disease and its clinical significance. Methods The expression levels of plasma miR-223-3p in normoalbuminuric group (DM) , microoalbuminuria group (Micro-DKD) , macroalbuminuria group (Macro-DKD) and healthy controls were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) . To analysis the relationship with clinical pathological parameters,target genes of miR-223-3p were predicted with bioinformatics software. Results The levels of miR-223-3p in the plasma of the remaining three groups were significantly lower than those in the healthy controls (P＜0.001), and the decrease was positively correlated with the severity of the disease. The potential target genes of miR-223-3p identified by bioinformatics softwares include IL6ST and PRKCE. Conclusion The expressionof miR-223-3pin diabetic kidney disease (DKD) patients' plasma decreased and was positively correlated with the severity of the disease. It may play an important role in the development and progression of diabetic kidney disease through its target genes.