Potential protein markers in children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) revealed by salivary proteomics.

The lack of specific pharmacological therapy for Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and its clinical heterogeneity demand efforts directed toward the identification of biomarkers to aid in diagnosis. Proteomics offers a new perspective for studying the altered proteins associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and we have saliva as an easy-to-collect biological fluid with important biomolecules for investigating biomarkers in various diseases. In this sense, saliva could be used to identify potential biomarkers of ASD. In the current work, saliva samples were collected from children with different degrees of ASD and healthy children and proteomics approaches were applied to generate data on differentially expressed proteins between groups which will serve as a basis for future validation studies as protein markers. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD030065. As results, 132 proteins were present in 80% of the saliva pools of all analyzed groups. Twenty-five proteins were identified as overexpressed in the group of severe and mild/moderate ASD carriers, among which, eight were identified as potential biomarkers for ASD.

Small-cell lung cancer in never-smokers: A case series.

Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is closely correlated with smoking and only sporadic cases have been reported in non-smoking patients. Environmental tobacco smoke and/or occupational risk factors have been suggested as possible causes of lung cancer in this subset of patients. However, particularly in relation to SCLC there is not enough reliable information. All patients with lung cancer in follow-up for a period of three-months at the Pulmonology Unit of Coimbra University Hospital were retrospectively assessed. From a total of 303 patients, 35 had SCLC, 4 of which were never-smokers and their clinical cases are hereby presented. A detailed questionnaire was given to all patients, which excluded second-hand smoking or occupational hazards. They were all female with a mean age of 63.0 ± 15.7 years. The most frequent complaints were cough, dyspnoea, anorexia and significant weight loss. Diagnosis was obtained by transbronchial biopsies in all cases. Two patients had locally advanced disease and the other two had extensive-disease due to distant metastases. Treatment approaches included first-line chemotherapy with platin and etoposide duplet and partial remission was achieved in half the cases. All patients died; mean survival was 15.8 ± 3.8 months. Further studies are needed for a better understanding of the pathogenicity of non-smoking related SCLC and we hope that this case series with its meticulous exclusion of potential risk factors will be a useful contribution.