Serum hepcidin level and disease course of acute leukemia in children

Acute leukemia [AL] is a heterogeneous group of hematopoietic neoplasms and it is the most common childhood malignancy. Many patients with AL develop severe anemia that requires multiple blood transfusions. Hepcidin expression may play a role in anemia which is often seen in these patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of hepcidin in acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children in Egypt. 60 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ALL] and 20 age and gender matched healthy children, taken as control group, were included in the study. Complete blood count [CBC], Serum ALT and serum AST were measured by colorimetric methods. Serum hepcidin and ferritin were measured by ELISA. The study showed a significant difference between newly diagnosed ALL cases and other groups regarding all CBC parameters. There was a significant difference in serum levels of hepcidin and ferritin between studied groups. A significant negative correlation was found between serum level of hepcidin and ferritin and each of hemoglobin level and reticulocytic count%, while significant positive correlation was found between hepcidin and ferritin serum levels. From this study, it could be concluded that serum hepcidin level is elevated in ALL children patients at time of diagnosis and correlates with the disease extent. Hepcidin may be one of the serum markers that accounting for anemia associated with ALL in children

prognostic significance of galectin-3 and p-selectin in transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder

Bladder carcinoma is one of the most common malignancies in urology. The most common type of the bladder cancer is transitional cell carcinoma [TCC]. TCC of bladder has a recurrence rate of more than 50%. Therefore, it is important to find some indicators that can predict for recurrence or the development of metastasis. This study investigates the prognostic significance of preoperative serum levels of galectin-3 and P-selectin in patients with transitional cell carcinoma [TCC] of the urinary bladder. Preoperative serum levels of galectin-3 and P-selectin were measured by ELISA [enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay]. The study showed that Galectin-3 and P-selectin serum levels were higher in patients with bladder cancer than in healthy controls. Patients with metastasis had significantly higher levels of both serum Galectin-3 and P-selectin than with localized diseases. High levels of serum Galectin-3 and P-selectin were significantly associated with the clinical tumour stage. However, no significant difference detected between serum levels of galectin-3 and P-selectin in grade II and grade III TCC subgroups. Also, there is a positive correlation between serum Galectin-3 and P-selectin in both control and patient groups. Univariate analysis showed that preoperative serum level of Galectin-3, P-selectin and clinical stages were indicative for clinical progression and tumour specific survival. In a multivariate analysis, clinical stages were an independent prognostic marker for clinical progression and tumour specific survival. These results indicate that both serum Galectin-3, P-selectin levels and clinical tumour stages are closely related to poor prognosis in bladder cancer. So, their levels in bladder cancer patients may be useful in identifying patients at high risk of tumor recurrence

Study of serum nitric oxide, soluble Fas and total sialic acid levels in patients with liver cirrhosis and their correlation with the stage and complications of the disease

Cirrhotic liver claims many lives in Egypt. Some factors may play a role in the pathogenesis of cirrhosis and its complications such as nitric oxide [NO] and soluble Fas [sFas]. However, others may be a consequence of liver damage as total sialic acid [TSA]. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum level of NO, sFas and TSA in patients with compensated and decompensated cirrhosis, with and without hepatitis C virus [HCV], and their correlation with the stage of the disease. The study included 34 patients with biopsy-proven cirrhosis [group I], categorized according to Child Pugh classification into three subgroups: group IA [11 patients with class A], group IB [13 patients with class B], and group IC [10 patients with class C], in addition to 15 age and sex matched healthy individuals as a control group [group II]. The mean age was 56.35 +/- 9.28 and 53 +/- 5.52 years, for group I and II, respectively. All studied individuals were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination, abdominal ultrasound, laboratory tests including liver function tests, hepatitis B surface antigen [HBsAg], hepatitis C virus antibodies [HCVAb], serum levels of NO, sFas and TSA. The study showed that, there was a significant increase in serum level of NO, TSA and sFas in cirrhotic patients group, when compared to the control group [P<0.001]. Serum NO and TSA levels were significantly increased with disease progression from grade A to grade B to grade C subgroups [P<0.001]. There was a significant increase of serum NO and TSA in cirrhotic patients with positive HCVAb, history of bleeding esophageal varices [O.V.], those with ascites, and those with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis [SBP], when compared with those with negative HCVAb, without bleeding O.V., without ascites, and without SBP, respectively. There was a positive correlation between serum NO and TSA with ALT [P<0.001] in cirrhotic patients subgroups, while there was no significant correlation as regards to sFas [P>0.05]. Serum NO is increased in patients with cirrhosis, particularly for those with positive HCVAb, and this increase is proportionate to the grade of cirrhosis. Understanding the role of NO in the pathophysiology of cirrhosis may help in initiating new lines of management. The increase of serum sFas in cirrhotic patients suggests the role of apoptosis in liver damage. Increased serum TSA in advanced cirrhosis, compared with early [Child's A] cirrhosis and controls, suggests that serum total sialic acid become a useful, non-invasive test, in the diagnosis and ftdlow up of cirrhosis