Commutable whole blood reference materials for hemoglobin A1c validated on multiple clinical analyzers.

Background The measurement of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is important for diagnosing diabetes mellitus as well as assessing glycemic control in diabetic patients. Commutable whole blood certified reference materials (CRMs) are needed in the measurement of HbA1c for method validation and/or as quality controls. Methods We developed three levels of hemolyzed whole blood CRMs for HbA1c. The certified values were determined using liquid chromatography-isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry method (LC-IDMS/MS) where two "signature" hexapeptides of HbA1c and hemoglobin A0 (HbA0) were used as the calibration standards. The concentrations of the hexapeptide solutions were determined by amino acid analysis by the LC-IDMS/MS method using amino acid CRMs as the calibration standards. The commutability study was conducted by measuring 25 patient specimens and the whole blood CRMs by both LC-IDMS/MS method and various routine methods using six different clinical analyzers. Results The certified values were determined to be 35.1±2.0, 50.3±1.9 and 65.8±2.6 mmol/mol, respectively. These CRMs showed good commutability on five of the six clinical analyzers but showed poor commutability on one of the clinical analyzers that used similar method as two other analyzers where good commutability was observed. Conclusions With certified target values based on metrological traceability and good commutability on most of the clinical analyzers, the developed whole blood CRMs can be used for method validation or as quality control materials in the measurement of HbA1c. The commutability study results also underscored the need of commutability testing of clinical CRMs using various clinical analyzers.

Simple and accurate measurement of carbamazepine in surface water by use of porous membrane-protected micro-solid-phase extraction coupled with isotope dilution mass spectrometry.

To achieve fast and accurate analysis of carbamazepine in surface water, we developed a novel porous membrane-protected micro-solid-phase extraction (µ-SPE) method, followed by liquid chromatography-isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-IDMS/MS) analysis. The µ-SPE device (∼0.8 × 1 cm) was fabricated by heat-sealing edges of a polypropylene membrane sheet to devise a bag enclosing the sorbent. The analytes (both carbamazepine and isotope-labelled carbamazepine) were first extracted by µ-SPE device in the sample (10 mL) via agitation, then desorbed in an organic solvent (1 mL) via ultrasonication. Several parameters such as organic solvent for pre-conditioning of µ-SPE device, amount of sorbent, adsorption time, and desorption solvent and time were investigated to optimize the µ-SPE efficiency. The optimized method has limits of detection and quantitation estimated to be 0.5 ng L(-1) and 1.6 ng L(-1), respectively. Surface water samples spiked with different amounts of carbamazepine (close to 20, 500, and 1600 ng L(-1), respectively) were analysed for the validation of method precision and accuracy. Good precision was obtained as demonstrated by relative standard deviations of 0.7% for the samples with concentrations of 500 and 1600 ng kg(-1), and 5.8% for the sample with concentration of 20 ng kg(-1). Good accuracy was also demonstrated by the relative recoveries in the range of 96.7%-103.5% for all samples with uncertainties of 1.1%-5.4%. Owing to the same chemical properties of carbamazepine and isotope-labelled carbamazepine, the isotope ratio in the µ-SPE procedure was accurately controlled. The use of µ-SPE coupled with IDMS analysis significantly facilitated the fast and accurate measurement of carbamazepine in surface water.

Achieving comparability with IFCC reference method for the measurement of hemoglobin A1c by use of an improved isotope-dilution mass spectrometry method.

The development of reference measurement methods for hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is important for quality assurance in diabetes management. The IFCC reference method using purified proteins as calibration standards is the recommended accuracy-based reference method for the standardization of HbA1c measurement. We developed a highly precise and accurate liquid chromatography-isotope-dilution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-IDMS/MS) procedure, which can serve as an alternative accuracy-based method for HbA1c measurement. In this method, enzymatic proteolysis was applied to sample preparation, followed by LC-IDMS/MS measurement of hemoglobin A0 (HbA0) and HbA1c, using two "signature" hexapeptides for calibration. The concentrations of the signature hexapeptide calibration solutions were, in turn, determined using a hydrolysis method with HCl, followed by LC-IDMS/MS measurement using amino acid solutions as calibration standards. These solutions were gravimetrically prepared from pure amino acid certified reference materials (CRMs). The developed LC-IDMS/MS method was used in participation in an IFCC ring trial for reference laboratories (RELA 2013 and 2014) for HbA1c, where our results were compared with those using the IFCC reference method. The deviations were found to be 0.4-1.7 mmol mol(-1) [or 0.04-0.16% in National Glygohemoglobin Standardization Program (NGSP) units], revealing good comparability with the IFCC reference method. The relative expanded uncertainty of the LC-IDMS/MS was in the range of 2.6% to 2.8% (1.6% to 2.2% after converting to NGSP units). With excellent method precision, good comparability with the IFCC reference method, and a small measurement uncertainty, the developed LC-IDMS/MS method may be used as an alternative accuracy-based reference method for HbA1c measurement.

SPHK1 regulates proliferation and survival responses in triple-negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is characterized by unique aggressive behavior and lack of targeted therapies. Among the various molecular subtypes of breast cancer, it was observed that TNBCs express elevated levels of sphingosine kinase 1 (SPHK1) compared to other breast tumor subtypes. High levels of SPHK1 gene expression correlated with poor overall and progression- free survival, as well as poor response to Doxorubicin-based treatment. Inhibition of SPHK1 was found to attenuate ERK1/2 and AKT signaling and reduce growth of TNBC cells in vitro and in a xenograft SCID mouse model. Moreover, SPHK1 inhibition by siRNA knockdown or treatment with SKI-5C sensitizes TNBCs to chemotherapeutic drugs. Our findings suggest that SPHK1 inhibition, which effectively counteracts oncogenic signaling through ERK1/2 and AKT pathways, is a potentially important anti-tumor strategy in TNBC. A combination of SPHK1 inhibitors with chemotherapeutic agents may be effective against this aggressive subtype of breast cancer.

Sphingosine kinase 1 promotes malignant progression in colon cancer and independently predicts survival of patients with colon cancer by competing risk approach in South asian population.

OBJECTIVES: Sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) phosphorylates the membrane sphingolipid, sphingosine, to sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), an oncogenic mediator, which drives tumor cell growth and survival. Although SphK1 has gained increasing prominence as an oncogenic determinant in several cancers, its potential as a therapeutic target in colon cancer remains uncertain. We investigated the clinical relevance of SphK1 expression in colon cancer as well as its inhibitory effects in vitro. METHODS: SphK1 expression in human colon tumor tissues was determined by immunohistochemistry and its clinicopathological significance was ascertained in 303 colon cancer cases. The effects of SphK1 inhibition on colon cancer cell viability and the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt cell survival pathway were investigated using a SphK1-selective inhibitor-compound 5c (5c). The cytotoxicity of a novel combination using SphK1 inhibition with the chemotherapeutic drug, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), was also determined. RESULTS: High SphK1 expression correlated with advanced tumor stages (AJCC classification). Using a competing risk analysis model to take into account disease recurrence, we found that SphK1 is a significant independent predictor for mortality in colon cancer patients. In vitro, the inhibition of SphK1 induced cell death in colon cancer cell lines and attenuated the serum-dependent PI3K/Akt signaling. Inhibition of SphK1 also enhanced the sensitivity of colon cancer cells to 5-FU. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight the impact of SphK1 in colon cancer progression and patient survival, and provide evidence supportive of further development in combination strategies that incorporate SphK1 inhibition with current chemotherapeutic agents to improve colon cancer outcomes.

SphK1 regulates proinflammatory responses associated with endotoxin and polymicrobial sepsis.

During sepsis, activation of phagocytes leads to the overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines, causing systemic inflammation. Despite substantial information regarding the underlying molecular mechanisms that lead to sepsis, several elements in the pathway remain to be elucidated. We found that the enzyme sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) is up-regulated in stimulated human phagocytes and in peritoneal phagocytes of patients with severe sepsis. Blockade of SphK1 inhibited phagocyte production of endotoxin-induced proinflammatory cytokines. We observed protection against sepsis in mice treated with a specific SphK1 inhibitor that was enhanced by treatment with a broad-spectrum antibiotic. These results demonstrated a critical role for SphK1 in endotoxin signaling and sepsis-induced inflammatory responses and suggest that inhibition of SphK1 is a potential therapy for septic shock.

Synthesis and evaluation of sphingosine analogues as inhibitors of sphingosine kinases.

Sphingolipid-metabolizing enzymes control the critical balance of the cellular levels of sphingolipids, including the apoptotic inducing ceramide (Cer) and the proliferative inducing sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P). The production of S1P, catalyzed by the action of sphingosine kinases (SPHKs), is known to be critical for many cellular processes. However, it is suggested that SPHK, and/or its catalytic product S1P, plays critical roles in various diseases including autoimmune diseases, cancer, and allergies. However, there is a great limitation of specific pharmacological inhibitors for SPHKs. In this paper, we describe a novel and stereoselective method of synthesizing SPHKs inhibitors. We generated a number of novel compounds and identified a number of specific inhibitors of human SPHKs. These compounds demonstrated inhibition of SPHKs at micromolar concentrations, making them more potent than dimethylsphingosine (DMS), a well-known inhibitor of SPHKs. In particular, one of the inhibitors was found to be selective toward a particular isoform of SPHK.

Preparation and characterization of Cr(CO)(4)dpp (chromium tetracarbonyl 2,3-bis(2'-pyridyl)pyrazine) adsorbed on silver nanoparticles.

A transition metal carbonyl species, Cr(CO)(4)dpp, has been successfully attached to bare silver nanoparticles prepared by laser ablation of a metal foil in ethanol. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images have shown that at least a portion of the silver nanoparticles have been capped by the chromium species, and ligand shells corresponding to Cr(CO)(4)dpp multilayer adsorption onto the silver nanoparticles of 30-50 nm diameter have been observed. The detection of the strongest Raman-active nu(CO) band of Cr(CO)(4)dpp at 2004 cm(-1) revealed that the species has been adsorbed without decomposition. The time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) signals recorded of the chromium-capped silver nanoparticles were also consistent with the nondecomposition adsorption process. Density functional calculations have been used to reproduce the Raman spectrum using Ag(7)(+) as a model surface. A large binding energy of about 122 kJ/mol has also been computed between silver and nitrogen atoms thus lending support to Cr(CO)(4)dpp being chemisorbed onto the silver surface.