👤 Kohji Meno

Biomarkers that enable an accurate diagnosis of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced liver diseases are necessary to prevent subsequent patient morbidity and suffering from the onset of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In particular, the identification of novel biomarkers for liver cirrhosis (LC) will be an important new diagnostic tool since more than 70% of HCV-induced LCs are destined to develop into HCC. In our current study, we performed a search for new serological protein biomarkers of HCV-induced chronic hepatitis (CH), LC and HCC, using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE). The disease-affected spots were subsequently identified as isoforms of protein components of haptoglobin, transthyretin, the haptoglobin α-chain and apolipoprotein A-IV (apo A-IV), and in specific instances were significantly reduced in LC (p<0.001) and HCC (p<0.01), compared with CH patients. We further examined these isoforms by receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis and found that they showed high area under ROC curve (AUC) values of more than 0.8 between CH and LC, suggesting that they are appropriate markers that could be utilized to discriminate LC from CH. In conclusion, protein variants in serum that arise as a result of post-translational modifications prove to be useful biomarkers for the accurate diagnosis of specific liver diseases. Show less

Allergic rhinitis is a global health problem that causes major illnesses and disability worldwide. Allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT) is the only available treatment that can alter the natural course of allergic disease. However, the precise mechanism underlying allergen-SIT is not well understood. The aim of the current study was to identify protein expression signatures reflective of allergen-SIT-more specifically, sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT). Serum was taken twice from patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis caused by Japanese cedar: once before the pollen season and once during the season. A total of 25 patients was randomly categorized into a placebo-treated group and an active-treatment group. Their serum protein profiles were analyzed by 2-dimensional electrophoresis. Sixteen proteins were found to be differentially expressed during the pollen season. Among the differentially expressed proteins, the serum levels of complement C4A, apolipoprotein A-IV (apoA-IV), and transthyretin were significantly increased in SLIT-treated patients but not in placebo-treated patients. Among these proteins, the serum levels of apoA-IV correlated with the clinical symptom-medication scores (r = -0.635; P < .05) and with quality of life scores (r = -0.516; P < .05) in the case of SLIT-treated patients. The amount of histamine released from the basophils in vitro was greatly reduced after the addition of recombinant apoA-IV in the medium (P < .01). Our data will increase the understanding of the mechanism of SLIT and may provide novel insights into the treatment of allergic rhinitis. Show less