NOPR Collection:

High expression of nucleophosmin is closely related to the grade and invasion of colorectal cancer

Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Title: High expression of nucleophosmin is closely related to the grade and invasion of colorectal cancer Authors: Yang, Zhaowei; Qiao, Lu; Chao, Yang; Liu, Juan; Di, Yanqing; Sun, Jing; Zhang, Jiebing; Huang, Lihong; Guo, Honghua; He, Chengyan Abstract: This study explores the differential protein expression in the colorectal cancer (CRC) patients to validate a new biomarker for tumor progression. CRC tissues and their adjacent non-cancerous tissues were analyzed by two-dimensional LC/MS/MS. Nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) was selected and confirmed its differential expression by Western blot. Immunohistological staining of NPM1 in tissues was performed to validate its correlation with clinicopathologic parameters of CRC patients. There were 39 candidates with significant difference between cancerous tissues and their adjacent non-cancerous tissues, which included 19 increased proteins and 20 decreased proteins in CRC samples. Especially, NPM1 was correlated with poor differentiation, and lymph node metastasis according to the analysis of patients’ clinicopathologic parameters. Increased expression of NPM1 can be as a critical biomarker for clinical diagnosis of tumor progression of CRC patients. Page(s): 420-426

Serum glutamine synthetase activity as biomarker for tuberculosis diagnosis and monitoring anti-tubercular drug therapy success

Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Title: Serum glutamine synthetase activity as biomarker for tuberculosis diagnosis and monitoring anti-tubercular drug therapy success Authors: Chattopadhyay, Dipak Kumar Abstract: Tuberculosis is a major public health problem in developing countries. It is one of the most widely spread human diseases globally. While the new diagnostics for tuberculosis (TB) have created greater interest, their full impact on global propaganda against tuberculosis is yet to be evaluated. Most of the TB cases are prevalent in the underdeveloped and developing regions of the world where the means to diagnose and to treat TB cases are limited. As a result, the infectious TB cases might remain undiagnosed or diagnosed late. So, the need of the hour is to launch a rapid but simple, inexpensive, sensitive and specific test to diagnose TB cases at the earliest. The abundant presence of glutamine synthetase (GS) in the culture filtrate of pathogenic mycobacteria has correlation with the occurrence of poly L-glutamate/glutamine component in the cell wall of these pathogenic mycobacteria but not in non-pathogenic mycobacteria. The GS seems to be stable in the infected host and also is present in host tissues and fluid. GS is demonstrated to be present in the serum of subjects suffering from pulmonary or extra-pulmonary tuberculosis; but not detectable at all in normal control and disease control (lung disease control) subjects. With anti-tubercular (A-TB) drug therapy in pulmonary and extra-pulmonary tubercular subjects, the serum GS levels fall significantly. To confirm that only the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) GS is being assayed, the serum GS activity may be assayed in the presence of L-methionine-S, R-sulfoximine (MSO), a selective inhibitor of M. tuberculosis GS. The concentration of this inhibitor is so selected that it is sufficient to inhibit mycobacterial GS activity but not the human (mammalian) GS activity. It increases the specificity of the test. Thus, an ELISA or latex agglutination test might be inducted to assay the serum GS activity for the rapid and reliable detection of active or latent tubercular subjects and also detecting the presence of drug sensitivity or the emergence of resistance against A-TB drugs. Nevertheless, for rapid field study, the card assay technique might be implemented; where when a drop of serum from a suspected subject be placed on the substrate for GS; a definite colour change would mark the test positive.
The assay for serum GS requires only a sample of serum from the patient and takes only few minutes to perform. Therefore, the results will be available instantaneously when the patient is at the medical facility centre or even at home and this will curtail the number of visits to the medical facility centre. This is really advantageous in developing and underdeveloped countries where in many cases the patients do not have the capability of making multiple visits to the medical facility centre. The test procedure can also be used as an assay to monitor the response and success of anti-tubercular drug therapy. The procedure can very well indicate whether the treatment is successful or a change in the antibiotic drug therapy would be needed. Page(s): 427-432

Cloning and sequencing of α-2u globulin of rat preputial gland to assess its longevity in the context of developing an effective rodent trap

Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Title: Cloning and sequencing of α-2u globulin of rat preputial gland to assess its longevity in the context of developing an effective rodent trap Authors: Silambarasan, V; Gayathiri, S; Deepalakshmi, G; Banu, M Shahitha; Nithya, V; Archunan, G Abstract: α-2u globulin, a pheromone binding protein found majorly in the preputial gland, was reported to involve in chemo-communication of rats. The biosynthesis of this pheromone binding protein is under complex multihormonal control and its regulation takes place at transcription level. Assessing and increasing the longevity of this protein may retain the volatility of pheromone. So far nearly 20 isoforms of α-2u globulin in rat have been studied. The present study was aimed to extend the longevity of pheromone compound by cloning and sequencing of the mRNA which codes for α-2u globulin in the preputial gland of Rattus novergicus. Unexpectedly, this study resulted in a new isoform, which is similar in function with α-2u globulin protein with some different exons removed. Further analysis with this isoform may pave a way for rodent pest management. Page(s): 433-438

Correlation of uric acid levels and purine metabolism enzyme activities in plasma and liver tissues of diabetic rats

Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Title: Correlation of uric acid levels and purine metabolism enzyme activities in plasma and liver tissues of diabetic rats Authors: Gowda, Yogaraje CV; Senthilkumar, S; Kashinath, RT Abstract: The uric acid alteration in human beings causes major health problem due to its pivotal role in the etiology of many systemic diseases. The purine metabolism enzyme activities have a significant role in the process of elevated uric acid in diabetes mellitus. Hence, a study has been undertaken to understand the alteration of these enzyme activities in diabetic condition with an attempt to establish the possible cause for uric acid elevation. Alloxan was administered (150 mg/kg; i.p.) to induce diabetes in rats. Thirty days after alloxan induced diabetes, the enzyme activities were assessed in both plasma and liver tissues. The enzyme activities such as 5'-nucleotidase (5'-NT), adenosine deaminase (ADA), xanthine oxidase (XO) in the plasma and liver tissues were assayed by spectrometric technique and uric acid levels were also measured by Caraway procedure. A significant (P< 0.001) increase in 5'-NT, ADA and XO enzyme activities in plasma and liver tissue with a concomitant increase (P< 0.001) in uric acid levels was observed in diabetic group. The uric acid and the activities of enzymes did not change significantly in control group. From the present study, it can be concluded that an increase in uric acid levels noticed in diabetic condition may be due to increased catabolism of purines as evidenced by increased activities of 5'-NT, ADA and XO enzymes. Page(s): 439-444