ABSTRACT
Keywords: surface chemistry, plasma polymerization, salinization, gold sensing.
ABSTRACT
The timely detection of gastric cancer will contribute significantly towards effective treatment and is aided by the availability and reliability of appropriate biomarkers. A combination of several biomarkers can improve the sensitivity and specificity of cancer detection and this work reports results from a panel of 4 proteins. By combining a validated preclinical mouse model with a proteomic approach we have recently discovered novel biomarkers for the detection of gastric cancer. Here, we investigate the specificity of four of those biomarkers (afamin, clusterin, VDBP and haptoglobin) for the detection of gastric cancer using two independent methods of validation: ELISA, and a non antibody based method: Multiple Reaction Monitoring with High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (MRM-HR). All four biomarkers reliably differentiated GC from benign patient serum, and also in a small cohort of 11 early stage cases. We also present a novel isoform specific biomarker alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) that was identified using a mouse model for gastric cancer. This isoform is distinct in charge and mobility in a pH gradient and was validated using human samples by isoelectric focussing and Western-blot (IEF-WB). This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Biomarkers: A Proteomic Challenge.
Subject(s)
Adenocarcinoma/diagnosis , Gastrointestinal Diseases/diagnosis , Proteome/analysis , Proteomics/methods , Stomach Neoplasms/diagnosis , Adenocarcinoma/blood , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Animals , Biomarkers, Tumor/blood , Blotting, Western , Carrier Proteins/blood , Case-Control Studies , Clusterin/blood , Disease Models, Animal , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Female , Gastrointestinal Diseases/blood , Glycoproteins/blood , Haptoglobins/metabolism , Humans , Male , Mass Spectrometry , Mice , Middle Aged , Neoplasm Staging , ROC Curve , Serum Albumin , Serum Albumin, Human , Stomach Neoplasms/blood , Vitamin D-Binding Protein/blood , alpha 1-Antitrypsin/bloodABSTRACT
Age related macular degeneration of the eye is brought about by damage to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and is a major cause of adult blindness. One potential treatment method is transplantation of RPE cells grown in vitro. Maintaining RPE cell viability and physiological function in vitro is a challenge, and this must also be achieved using materials that can be subsequently used to deliver an intact cell sheet into the eye. In this paper, plasma polymerisation has been used to develop a chemically modified surface for maintaining RPE cells in vitro. Multiwell plates modified with a plasma copolymer of allylamine and octadiene maintained RPE cell growth at a level similar to that of TCPS. However, the addition of bound glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) to the plasma polymerised surface significantly enhanced RPE proliferation. Simply adding GAG to the culture media had no positive effect. It is shown that a combination of plasma polymer and GAG is a promising method for developing suitable surfaces for cell growth and delivery, that can be applied to any substrate material.
Subject(s)
Biocompatible Materials/chemical synthesis , Glycosaminoglycans/chemistry , Glycosaminoglycans/pharmacokinetics , Retinal Pigment Epithelium/cytology , Retinal Pigment Epithelium/growth & development , Serum/metabolism , Tissue Engineering/methods , Adsorption , Cell Line , Cell Proliferation/physiology , Epithelial Cells/cytology , Epithelial Cells/physiology , Humans , Materials TestingABSTRACT
The lipid content in the eye lens was analyzed and compared among various species in this study. The eye lens lipids of the following species were investigated: cow, horse, duck, and freshwater trout. Additionally, the lipids derived from cataractous bovine lens and from cataractous human eye lens lipoprotein complexes were analyzed. The following lipid classes were detected in clear lenses: cholesterol, sphingomyelin, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidyletanolamine, and phosphatidylserine. In cataractous bovine lens and in lipoprotein complexes from human nuclear cataract, phosphatidyloinositol and phosphatidyloglycerol were detected. Cholesterol and sphingomyelin, essential for hypothetical formation of cholesterol-rich domains, were the most abundant lipids in the lenses of all investigated species. These two components of eye lens lipid fraction were analyzed quantitatively using thin layer chromatography and spectrophotometric assay; the other lipids were identified qualitatively using thin layer chromatography.
Subject(s)
Lens, Crystalline/chemistry , Lipids/analysis , Animals , Cataract/pathology , Cattle/anatomy & histology , Cholesterol/analysis , Chromatography, Thin Layer/methods , Ducks/anatomy & histology , Horses/anatomy & histology , Humans/anatomy & histology , Lens, Crystalline/pathology , Lipoproteins/analysis , Spectrophotometry/methods , Sphingomyelins/analysis , Trout/anatomy & histologyABSTRACT
The first and major criterion of success in broadly understood management of patients with stroke is to regain motor ability, at least minimally. It starts as early as possible with mobilisation of patients in bed, in a room or ward since the first days after stroke onset. Standing up and gait learning are subsequent, rapidly coming stages of rehabilitation that are of key importance in reaching the outcome of treatment, prevention of likely complications and change in the quality of life. However, reports on gait impairment have been mostly very brief and limited, and pathological gait of patients with hemiparesis has been thought to be merely "helicopod one". Physiological mechanisms of gait programming, following a focal brain lesion, impairment of gait steering and its clinical manifestation, and some practical suggestions of assessment and prognosis of gait impairment are presented in this article.
