Publications

This study investigates the potential of thermoresponsive hydrogels as innovative substrates for future in vitro diagnostic (IVD) applications using AVAC technology, developed and patented by the Mecwins biomedical company. In order to convert the hydrogel in a substrate compatible with AVAC technology, the following prerequisites were established: (1) the hydrogel layer needs to be permeable to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), and (2) the optical properties of the hydrogel should not interfere with the detection of AuNPs with AVAC technology. These two key aspects are evaluated in this work. A silicon substrate (Sil) was coated with a layer of a thermosensitive hydrogel (TSH) based on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-N,N '-methylene bis(acrylamide) (PNIPAAm-co-MBA). The TSH offers the advantage of easy modulation of its porosity through cross-linker adjustments, crucial for the plasmonic nanoparticle (NP) permeation. The platforms, denominated as (Sil)-g-(PNIPAAm-co-MBA), were fabricated by changing the cross-linker concentrations and exploring three deposition methods: drop casting (DC), spin coating (SC), and 3D printing (3D); the DC approach resulted in a very homogeneous and thin hydrogel layer, very suitable for the final application. Furthermore, after physical-chemical characterization, the TSH demonstrated its functionality in regulating nanoparticle absorption, and AVAC technology's capability to precisely identify such NPs through the hydrogel matrix was validated. The proposed hydrogel platform fulfills the initial requirements, opening the possibility for employing these hydrogels as dynamic substrates in sandwich immunoassay devices. The next step in the development of the hydrogel substrate would be its functionalization with biorecognition groups to allow for biomarker detection. By leveraging their enhanced capture efficiency and the ability to manipulate particle flow thermally, we anticipate a significant advancement in diagnostic methodologies, combining the spatial benefits of three-dimensional hydrogel structures with the precision of AVAC's digital detection.

JTD Keywords: Biomarker classification, Dark-field microscop, Gold nanoparticles, Nanoparticlepermeation, Plasmonic detection, Thermoresponsivehydrogel

JTD Keywords: extracellular vesicles, microfluidic platforms, micrornas, obesity, plasma, rnas, Biomarkers, Mirnas

Fibrillar collagens are the most abundant extracellular matrix components in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the potential of collagen fiber descriptors as a source of clinically relevant biomarkers in NSCLC is largely unknown. Similarly, our understanding of the aberrant collagen organization and associated tumor-promoting effects is very scarce. To address these limitations, we identified a digital pathology approach that can be easily implemented in pa-thology units based on CT-FIRE software (version 2; https://loci.wisc.edu/software/ctfire) analysis of Picrosirius red (PSR) stains of fibrillar collagens imaged with polarized light (PL). CT-FIRE set-tings were pre-optimized to assess a panel of collagen fiber descriptors in PSR-PL images of tissue microarrays from surgical NSCLC patients (106 adenocarcinomas [ADC] and 89 squamous cell carcinomas [SCC]). Using this approach, we identified straightness as the single high-accuracy diagnostic collagen fiber descriptor (average area under the curve 1/4 0.92) and fiber density as the single descriptor consistently associated with a poor prognosis in both ADC and SCC inde-pendently of the gold standard based on the TNM staging (hazard ratio, 2.69; 95% CI, 1.55-4.66; P < .001). Moreover, we found that collagen fibers were markedly straighter, longer, and more aligned in tumor samples compared to paired samples from uninvolved pulmonary tissue, particularly in ADC, which is indicative of increased tumor stiffening. Consistently, we observed an increase in a panel of stiffness-associated processes in the high collagen fiber density patient group selectively in ADC, including venous/lymphatic invasion, fibroblast activation (a-smooth muscle actin), and immune evasion (programmed death-ligand 1). Similarly, a transcriptional correlation analysis supported the potential involvement of the major YAP/TAZ pathway in ADC. Our results provide a proof-of-principle to use CT-FIRE analysis of PSR-PL images to assess new collagen fiber-based diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in pathology units, which may improve the clinical management of patients with surgical NSCLC. Our findings also unveil an aberrant stiff micro -environment in lung ADC that may foster immune evasion and dissemination, encouraging future work to identify therapeutic opportunities. (c) 2023 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommo ns.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

JTD Keywords: biomarkers, collagen, ct-fire, lung cancer, mechanobiology, Adenocarcinoma, Association, Biomarkers, Collagen, Ct-fire, Differentiation, Expression, Extracellular-matrix, I collagen, Invasion, Lung cancer, Mechanobiology, Microenvironment, Signature, Survival, Tumor microenvironment

Precision medicine is starting to incorporate functional assays to evaluate anticancer agents on patient-isolated tissues or cells to select for the most effective. Among these new technologies, dynamic BH3 profiling (DBP) has emerged and extensively been used to predict treatment efficacy in different types of cancer. DBP uses synthetic BH3 peptides to measure early apoptotic events ('priming') and anticipate therapy-induced cell death leading to tumor elimination. This predictive functional assay presents multiple advantages but a critical limitation: the cell number requirement, that limits drug screening on patient samples, especially in solid tumors. To solve this problem, we developed an innovative microfluidic-based DBP (µDBP) device that overcomes tissue limitations on primary samples. We used microfluidic chips to generate a gradient of BIM BH3 peptide, compared it with the standard flow cytometry based DBP, and tested different anticancer treatments. We first examined this new technology's predictive capacity using gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) cell lines, by comparing imatinib sensitive and resistant cells, and we could detect differences in apoptotic priming and anticipate cytotoxicity. We then validated µDBP on a refractory GIST patient sample and identified that the combination of dactolisib and venetoclax increased apoptotic priming. In summary, this new technology could represent an important advance for precision medicine by providing a fast, easy-to-use and scalable microfluidic device to perform DBP in situ as a routine assay to identify the best treatment for cancer patients.© 2022. The Author(s).

JTD Keywords: biomarkers, cancer drugs, chemotherapy, chip, models, platform, sensitivity, strategy, tumor-cells, Precision medicine

JTD Keywords: Biomarkers, Copd

Liver fibrosis staging is a key element driving the prognosis of patients with chronic liver disease. Currently, biopsy is the only technique capable of diagnosing liver fibrosis in patients with alcohol-related liver disease (ArLD) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) unequivocally. Non-invasive (e.g. plasma-based) biomarker assays are attractive tools to diagnose and stage disease, yet must prove that they are reliable and sensitive to be used clinically. Here we demonstrate 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance as a method to rapidly quantify the endogenous concentration of ammonium ions from human plasma extracts and show their ability to report upon early and advanced stages of ArLD and NAFLD. We show that, irrespective of the disease aetiology, ammonium concentration is a more robust and informative marker of fibrosis stage than current clinically assessed blood hepatic biomarkers. Subject to validation in larger cohorts, the study indicates that the method can provide accurate and rapid staging of ArLD and NAFLD without need for an invasive biopsy.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

JTD Keywords: ammonium quantification, blood biomarkers, chronic liver disease, disease biomarkers, hepatic dysfunction, nmr, pathogenesis, Ammonium quantification, Hepatic dysfunction, Hepatic-encephalopathy

Background and aims: In this work, breath samples from clinically stable bronchiectasis patients with and without bronchial infections by Pseudomonas Aeruginosa- PA) were collected and chemically analysed to determine if they have clinical value in the monitoring of these patients. Materials and methods: A cohort was recruited inviting bronchiectasis patients (25) and controls (9). Among the former group, 12 members were suffering PA infection. Breath samples were collected in Tedlar bags and analyzed by e-nose and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The obtained data were analyzed by chemometric methods to determine their discriminant power in regards to their health condition. Results were evaluated with blind samples. Results: Breath analysis by electronic nose successfully separated the three groups with an overall classification rate of 84% for the three-class classification problem. The best discrimination was obtained between control and bronchiectasis with PA infection samples 100% (CI95%: 84–100%) on external validation and the results were confirmed by permutation tests. The discrimination analysis by GC-MS provided good results but did not reach proper statistical significance after a permutation test. Conclusions: Breath sample analysis by electronic nose followed by proper predictive models successfully differentiated between control, Bronchiectasis and Bronchiectasis PA samples. © 2021 The Author(s)

JTD Keywords: biomarkers, breath analysis, bronchiectasis, diagnosis, e-nose, fingerprints, gc-ms, identification, lung-cancer, partial least-squares, pseudomonas-aeruginosa, signal processing, validation, volatile organic-compounds, Airway bacterial-colonization, Breath analysis, Bronchiectasis, E-nose, Gc-ms, Signal processing

Abstract The development of nanostructured plasmonic biosensors has been widely widespread in the last years, motivated by the potential benefits they can offer in integration, miniaturization, multiplexing opportunities, and enhanced performance label-free biodetection in a wide field of applications. Between them, engineering tissues represent a novel, challenging, and prolific application field for nanostructured plasmonic biosensors considering the previously described benefits and the low levels of secreted biomarkers (?pM–nM) to detect. Here, we present an integrated plasmonic nanocrystals-based biosensor using high throughput nanostructured polycarbonate substrates. Metallic film thickness and incident angle of light for reflectance measurements were optimized to enhance the detection of antibody–antigen biorecognition events using numerical simulations. We achieved an enhancement in biodetection up to 3× as the incident angle of light decreases, which can be related to shorter evanescent decay lengths. We achieved a high reproducibility between channels with a coefficient of variation below 2% in bulk refractive index measurements, demonstrating a high potential for multiplexed sensing. Finally, biosensing potential was demonstrated by the direct and label-free detection of interleukin-6 biomarker in undiluted cell culture media supernatants from bioengineered 3D skeletal muscle tissues stimulated with different concentrations of endotoxins achieving a limit of detection (LOD) of ? 0.03 ng/mL (1.4 pM).

JTD Keywords: assay, crystals, drug, label-free biosensing, molecules, plasmonic nanostructures, sensors, skeletal muscle, tissue engineering, Biodetection, Biomarkers, Biosensors, Cell culture, Cells, Chemical detection, Histology, Interleukin-6, Interleukin6 (il6), Label free, Label-free biosensing, Muscle, Nano-structured, Nanocrystals, Plasmonic nanocrystals, Plasmonic nanostructures, Plasmonics, Polycarbonate substrates, Polycarbonates, Refractive index, Sensitivity, Skeletal muscle, Tissue engineering, Tissues engineerings

To increase compliance with colorectal cancer screening programs and to reduce the recommended screening age, cheaper and easy non‐invasiveness alternatives to the fecal immunochemical test should be provided. Following the PRISMA procedure of studies that evaluated the metabolome and volatilome signatures of colorectal cancer in human urine samples, an exhaustive search in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus found 28 studies that met the required criteria. There were no restrictions on the query for the type of study, leading to not only colorectal cancer samples versus control comparison but also polyps versus control and prospective studies of surgical effects, CRC staging and comparisons of CRC with other cancers. With this systematic review, we identified up to 244 compounds in urine samples (3 shared compounds between the volatilome and metabolome), and 10 of them were relevant in more than three articles. In the meta-analysis, nine studies met the criteria for inclusion, and the results combining the case‐control and the pre‐/post‐surgery groups, eleven compounds were found to be relevant. Four upregulated metabolites were identified, 3‐hydroxybutyric acid, L‐dopa, L‐histidinol, and N1, N12‐ diacetylspermine and seven downregulated compounds were identified, pyruvic acid, hydroquinone, tartaric acid, and hippuric acid as metabolites and butyraldehyde, ether, and 1,1,6‐ trimethyl‐1,2‐dihydronaphthalene as volatiles.

JTD Keywords: biomarkers, breast, chromatography, colorectal cancer, diagnosis, markers, meta-analysis, metabolomics, metabonomics, n-1,n-12-diacetylspermine, nucleosides, systematic review, urine, validation, volatilomics, Colorectal cancer, Early-stage, Metabolomics, Meta‐analysis, Systematic review, Urine, Volatilomics

Background & Aims: Prognostic models of cirrhosis underestimate disease severity for patients with cirrhosis and ascites. Microfibrillar-associated protein 4 (MFAP4) is an extracellular matrix protein linked to hepatic neoangiogenesis and fibrogenesis. We investigated ascites MFAP4 as a predictor of transplant-free survival in patients with cirrhosis and ascites. Methods: A dual-centre observational study of patients with cirrhosis and ascites recruited consecutively in relation to a paracentesis was carried out. Patients were followed up for 1 year, until death or liver transplantation (LTx). Ascites MFAP4 was tested with the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD-Na), CLIF Consortium Acute Decompensation (CLIF-C AD), and Child-Pugh score in Cox regression models. Results: Ninety-three patients requiring paracentesis were included. Median ascites MFAP4 was 29.7 U/L [22.3–41.3], and MELD-Na was 19 [16–23]. A low MELD-Na score (<20) was observed in 49 patients (53%). During follow-up, 20 patients died (22%), and 6 received LTx (6%). High ascites MFAP4 (>29.7 U/L) was associated with 1-year transplant-free survival (p = 0.002). In Cox regression, ascites MFAP4 and MELD-Na independently predicted 1-year transplant-free survival (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.97, p = 0.03, and HR = 1.08, p = 0.01, respectively). Ascites MFAP4 and CLIF-C AD also predicted survival independently (HR = 0.96, p = 0.02, and HR = 1.05, p = 0.03, respectively), whereas only ascites MFAP4 did, controlling for the Child-Pugh score (HR = 0.97, p = 0.03, and HR = 1.18, p = 0.16, respectively). For patients with MELD-Na <20, ascites MFAP4 but not ascites protein predicted 1-year transplant-free survival (HR 0.91, p = 0.02, and HR = 0.94, p = 0.17, respectively). Conclusions: Ascites MFAP4 predicts 1-year transplant-free survival in patients with cirrhosis and ascites. In patients with low MELD-Na scores, ascites MFAP4, but not total ascites protein, significantly predicted 1-year transplant-free survival. Lay summary: Patients with cirrhosis who have fluid in the abdomen, ascites, are at an increased risk of death and in need for liver transplantation. Our study identified patients with ascites and a poor prognosis by measuring microfibrillar associated protein 4 (MFAP4), a protein present in the abdominal fluid. Patients with low levels of the MFAP4 protein are at particularly increased risk of death or liver transplantation, suggesting that clinical care should be intensified in this group of patients. © 2021 The Authors

JTD Keywords: biomarker, clif-c ad, clif consortium acute decompensation, cps, child-pugh score, crp, c-reactive protein, ct, computed tomography, decompensated, ecm, extracellular matrix, fibrosis, fluid protein, gfr, glomerular filtration rate, hr, hazard ratio, inr, internationalised normal ratio, liver disease, liver-cirrhosis, ltx, liver transplantation, markers, meld-na, model for end-stage liver disease, mfap4, microfibrillar associated protein 4, mortality, nash, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, natural-history, prognosis, risk-factors, sbp, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, scores, stage, Biomarker, Decompensated, Egfr, estimated gfr, Fibrosis, Liver disease, Mortality, Prognosis, Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis

Background & Aims: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) circulate in several body fluids and can be useful biomarkers. The aim of this study was to identify blood-circulating miRNAs associated with cirrhosis progression and acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). Methods: Using high-throughput screening of 754 miRNAs, serum samples from 45 patients with compensated cirrhosis, decompensated cirrhosis, or ACLF were compared with those from healthy individuals (n = 15). miRNA levels were correlated with clinical parameters, organ failure, and disease progression and outcome. Dysregulated miRNAs were evaluated in portal and hepatic vein samples (n = 33), liver tissues (n = 17), and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) (n = 16). Results: miRNA screening analysis revealed that circulating miRNAs are dysregulated in cirrhosis progression, with 51 miRNAs being differentially expressed among all groups of patients. Unsupervised clustering and principal component analysis indicated that the main differences in miRNA expression occurred at decompensation, showing similar levels in patients with decompensated cirrhosis and those with ACLF. Of 43 selected miRNAs examined for differences among groups, 10 were differentially expressed according to disease progression. Moreover, 20 circulating miRNAs were correlated with model for end-stage liver disease and Child-Pugh scores. Notably, 11 dysregulated miRNAs were associated with kidney or liver failure, encephalopathy, bacterial infection, and poor outcomes. The most severely dysregulated miRNAs (i.e. miR-146a5p, miR-26a-5p, and miR-191-5p) were further evaluated in portal and hepatic vein blood and liver tissue, but showed no differences. However, PBMCs from patients with cirrhosis showed significant downregulation of miR-26 and miR-146a, suggesting a extrahepatic origin of some circulating miRNAs. Conclusions: This study is a repository of circulating miRNA data following cirrhosis progression and ACLF. Circulating miRNAs were profoundly dysregulated during the progression of chronic liver disease, were associated with failure of several organs and could have prognostic utility. Lay summary: Circulating miRNAs are small molecules in the blood that can be used to identify or predict a clinical condition. Our study aimed to identify miRNAs for use as biomarkers in patients with cirrhosis or acute-on-chronic liver failure. Several miRNAs were found to be dysregulated during the progression of disease, and some were also related to organ failure and disease-related outcomes. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL).

JTD Keywords: aclf, acute-on-chronic liver failure, alt, alanine aminotransferase, ast, aspartate aminotransferase, biomarkers, chronic liver disease, cxcl10, c-x-c motif chemokine ligand 10, ef clif, european foundation for the study of chronic liver failure, foxo, forkhead box o, inr, international normalised ratio, ldh, lactate dehydrogenase, liver decompensation, mapk, mitogen-activated protein kinase, meld, model for end-stage liver disease, nash, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, non-coding rnas, pbmcs, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, pca, principal component analysis, tgf, transforming growth factor, tips, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt, Biomarkers, Chronic liver disease, Expression, Liver decompensation, Markers, Mir-146a, Non-coding rnas, Qpcr, quantitative pcr

Background: Differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative dementia is currently supported by biomarkers including cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tests. Among them, CSF total-tau (t-tau), phosphorylated tau (p-tau) and β-amyloid42 (Aβ42) are considered core biomarkers of neurodegeneration. In the present work, we hypothesize that simultaneous assessment of these biomarkers together with CSF α-synuclein (α-syn) will significantly improve the differential diagnostic of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. To that aim, we characterized the analytical and clinical performance of a new tetra-plex immunoassay that simultaneously quantifies CSF Aβ42, t-tau, p-tau and α-syn in the differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative dementia. Methods: Biomarkers' concentrations were measured in neurological controls (n = 38), Alzheimer's disease (n = 35), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (n = 37), vascular dementia (n = 28), dementia with Lewy bodies/Parkinson's disease dementia (n = 27) and frontotemporal dementia (n = 34) using the new tetra-plex assay and established single-plex assays. Biomarker's performance was evaluated and diagnostic accuracy in the discrimination of diagnostic groups was determined using partial least squares discriminant analysis. Results: The tetra-plex assay presented accuracies similar to individual single-plex assays with acceptable analytical performance. Significant correlations were observed between tetra-plex and single-plex assays. Using partial least squares discriminant analysis, Alzheimer's disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease were well differentiated, reaching high accuracies in the discrimination from the rest of diagnostic groups. Conclusions: The new tetra-plex assay coupled with multivariate analytical approaches becomes a valuable asset for the differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative dementia and related applications.

JTD Keywords: Neurodegenerative dementia, Cerebrospinal fluid, Biomarker, Amyloid beta, Total-tau, Phospho-tau, α-Synuclein, Multiplexing

Background: Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a public health concern that is the cause of half of all cirrhosis-related deaths. Early detection of fibrosis, ideally in the precirrhotic stage, is a key strategy for improving ALD outcomes and for preventing progression to cirrhosis. Previous studies identified the blood-borne marker human microfibrillar-associated protein 4 (MFAP4) as a biomarker for detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related fibrosis. Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of MFAP4 to detect ALD-induced fibrosis. Method: We performed a prospective, liver biopsy-controlled study involving 266 patients with prior or current alcohol overuse. Patients were split into a training and a validation cohort. Results: MFAP4 was present in fibrotic hepatic tissue and serum MFAP4 levels increased with fibrosis grade. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) for detection of cirrhosis was 0.91 (95% CI 0.85-0.96) in the training cohort and 0.91 (95% CI 0.79-1.00) in the validation cohort. For detection of advanced fibrosis, the AUROC was 0.88 (95% CI 0.81-0.94) in the training cohort and 0.92 (95% CI 0.83-1.00) in the validation cohort. The diagnostic accuracy did not differ between MFAP4 and the enhanced liver fibrosis (ELF) test or transient elastography (TE) in an intention-to-diagnose analysis. MFAP4 did not predict hepatic decompensation in a time-to-decompensation analysis in a subgroup of patients with cirrhosis. Conclusion: MFAP4 is a novel biomarker that can detect ALD-related fibrosis with high accuracy.

JTD Keywords: Biomarker, Cirrhosis, Extracellular matrix protein, Liver biopsy, Non-invasive testing

Cancer is one of the greatest threats facing our society, being the second leading cause of death globally. Currents strategies for cancer diagnosis consist of the extraction of a solid tissue from the affected area. This sample enables the study of specific biomarkers and the genetic nature of the tumor. However, the tissue extraction is risky and painful for the patient and in some cases is unavailable in inaccessible tumors. Moreover, a solid biopsy is expensive and time consuming and cannot be applied repeatedly. New alternatives that overcome these drawbacks are rising up nowadays, such as liquid biopsy. A liquid biopsy is the analysis of biomarkers in a non-solid biological tissue, mainly blood, which has remarkable advantages over the traditional method; it has no risk, it is non-invasive and painless, it does not require surgery and reduces cost and diagnosis time. The most studied cancer non-invasive biomarkers are circulating tumor cells (CTCs), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), and exosomes. These circulating biomarkers play a key role in the understanding of metastasis and tumorigenesis, which could provide a better insight into the evolution of the tumor dynamics during treatment and disease progression. Improvements in isolation technologies, based on a higher grade of purification of CTCs, exosomes, and ctDNA, will provide a better characterization of biomarkers and give rise to a wide range of clinical applications, such as early detection of diseases, and the prediction of treatment responses due to the discovery of personalized tumor-related biomarkers

JTD Keywords: Liquid biopsy, Cancer, Biomarkers, Non-invasive, Circulant tumor DNA (ctDNA), Circulant tumor cells (CTC)

Abstract Breath analysis holds the promise of a non-invasive technique for the diagnosis of diverse respiratory conditions including COPD and lung cancer. Breath contains small metabolites that may be putative biomarkers of these conditions. However, the discovery of reliable biomarkers is a considerable challenge in the presence of both clinical and instrumental confounding factors. Among the latter, instrumental time drifts are highly relevant, as since question the short and long-term validity of predictive models. In this work we present a methodology to counter instrumental drifts using information from interleaved blanks for a case study of GC-MS data from breath samples. The proposed method includes feature filtering, and additive, multiplicative and multivariate drift corrections, the latter being based on Component Correction. Biomarker discovery was based on Genetic Algorithms in a filter configuration using Fisher´s ratio computed in the Partial Least Squares – Discriminant Analysis subspace as a figure of merit. Using our protocol, we have been able to find nine peaks that provide a statistically significant Area under the ROC Curve (AUC) of 0.75 for COPD discrimination. The method developed has been successfully validated using blind samples in short-term temporal validation. However, in the attempt to use this model for patient screening six months later was not successful. This negative result highlights the importance of increasing validation rigour when reporting biomarker discovery results.

JTD Keywords: Instrumental shifts, Chemometrics, Biomarker validation

Purpose : The nutritional intervention program “DiOGenes” focuses on how obesity can be prevented and treated from a dietary perspective. We generated differential plasma proteome profiles in the DiOGenes cohort to identify proteins associated with weight loss and maintenance and explore their relation to body mass index, fat mass, insulin resistance and sensitivity. Experimental Design : Relative protein quantification was obtained at baseline and after combined weight loss/maintenance phases using isobaric tagging and MS/MS. A Welch t-test determined proteins differentially present after intervention. Protein relationships with clinical variables were explored using univariate linear models, considering collection center, gender and age as confounding factors. Results : 473 subjects were measured at baseline and end of the intervention; 39 proteins were longitudinally differential. Proteins with largest changes were sex hormone-binding globulin, adiponectin, C-reactive protein, calprotectin, serum amyloid A, and proteoglycan 4 (PRG4), whose association with obesity and weight loss is known. We identified new putative biomarkers for weight loss/maintenance. Correlation between PRG4 and proline-rich acidic protein 1 (PRAP1) variation and Matsuda insulin sensitivity increment was showed. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance : MS-based proteomic analysis of a large cohort of non-diabetic overweight and obese individuals concomitantly identified known and novel proteins associated with weight loss and maintenance.

JTD Keywords: Biomarker, Diabetes, Large-scale study, Mass spectrometry, Obesity, Proteomics

Aims Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rapid progressive neurological disease leading to dementia and death. Prion biomarkers are altered in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of CJD patients, but the pathogenic mechanisms underlying these alterations are still unknown. The present study examined prion biomarker levels in the brain and CSF of sporadic CJD (sCJD) cases and their correlation with neuropathological lesion profiles. Methods The expression levels of 14-3-3, Tau, phospho-Tau and α-synuclein were measured in the CSF and brain of sCJD cases in a subtype- and region-specific manner. In addition, the activity of prion biomarker kinases, the expression levels of CJD hallmarks and the most frequent neuropathological sCJD findings were analysed. Results Prion biomarkers levels were increased in the CSF of sCJD patients; however, correlations between mRNA, total protein and their phosphorylated forms in brain were different. The observed downregulation of the main Tau kinase, GSK3, in sCJD brain samples may help to explain the differential phospho-Tau/Tau ratios between sCJD and other dementias in the CSF. Importantly, CSF biomarkers levels do not necessarily correlate with sCJD neuropathological findings. Interpretation Present findings indicate that prion biomarkers levels in sCJD tissues and their release into the CSF are differentially regulated following specific modulated responses, and suggest a functional role for these proteins in sCJD pathogenesis.

JTD Keywords: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Prion Protein, Cerebrospinal fluid, Prion Biomarkers, disease subtype, Glycogen synthase kinase 3