Urinary potassium is a potential biomarker of disease activity in Ulcerative colitis and displays in vitro immunotolerant role.

We evaluated the in-vitro effect of potassium on CD4+ T cells and the role of urinary potassium as a potential biomarker of disease activity in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). This prospective observational cohort study included healthy controls (n = 18) and UC patients [n = 30, median age: 40 (IQR: 28-46) years, 17 males)] with active disease(assessed by Mayo score) from September 2015-May 2016. Twenty-four hours urinary potassium along with fecal calprotectin (FCP) were estimated in UC patients (at baseline and follow-up after 3-6 months) and controls. In healthy volunteers, we also assessed the effect of potassium on CD4+ T cells differentiated in the presence of Th17 polarizing condition. UC patients had significantly higher FCP (368.2 ± 443.04 vs 12.44 ± 27.51, p < 0.001) and significantly lower urinary potassium (26.6 ± 16.9 vs 46.89 ± 35.91, p = 0.01) levels than controls. At follow-up, a significant increase in urinary potassium among patients who had clinical response [n = 22, 21.4 (14.4-39.7) to 36.5 (20.5-61.6), p = 0.04] and remission [n = 12, 18.7 (9.1-34.3) to 36.5 (23.4-70.5), p = 0.05] was accompanied with a parallel decline in FCP. On in-vitro analysis, potassium under Th17 polarizing conditions significantly inhibited IL-17 and interferon-[Formula: see text] expression while favoring the induction of FoxP3+ T cells. Therefore, urinary potassium levels are inversely associated with disease activity in UC with in-vitro data supporting an immune-tolerant role of potassium.

Glypican-3 mRNA expression level in Wilms tumor: correlation with histological type, stage, and outcome.

PURPOSE: To correlate expression of Glypican-3 in Wilms tumor with histopathology, stage, and outcome. METHODS: Glypican-3 mRNA expression by real-time PCR on tumor and normal germline samples from 75 fresh nephrectomies for Wilms tumor with fold change after normalization against GAPDH was compared. Survival analysis for event-free and overall survival (EFS, OS) with 2-year follow-up for Glypican-3 overexpression (>1.5 times) and clinicopathological parameters was performed. RESULTS: Glypican-3 was overexpressed in 37/75 (49.3%). It was overexpressed in 77% (10/13) cases with blastema predominance or anaplastic histology, as compared to 44% of other histologies (27/62) (p = 0.03). OS was 73 and 93%, respectively (p = 0.016), for those with and without GPC-3 overexpression. EFS was not significantly different with Glypican-3 overexpression (p = 0.11). All 5 deaths among blastema predominant tumors and 4/5 deaths among triphasic tumors had overexpressed Glypican-3. Most deaths in Stage IV, Stage III, and Stage I + II (5/7, 3/3, 1/1) had GPC-3 overexpression. On multivariate analysis, only histology and stage were found to have independent prognostic value. CONCLUSION: Glypican-3 overexpression in Wilms tumor correlates with poor OS on univariate analysis. However, only histology and stage have independent prognostic value. Glypican-3 levels may help to stratify intermediate outcome histology (triphasic) and Stage III Wilms tumors.