👤 Onn Haji Hashim

Apolipoprotein B (apoB) is the primary structural protein in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and plays a crucial role in atherogenesis. The Framingham Risk Score (FRS) is a widely used tool for assessing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, the correlation between apoB and FRS in Iraqi individuals remains underexplored. This study aims to evaluate the association between serum apoB levels and FRS, establishing its potential utility as a predictive biomarker for coronary artery disease (CAD) risk. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 201 individuals aged ≥30 years attending a clinical laboratory in Baghdad between November 2022 and October 2023. Serum apoB and lipid profiles were measured, and FRS was calculated for all participants. Correlation analysis between apoB and FRS was performed using Spearman's test, while group comparisons were conducted The median age of participants was 48 years, with males constituting 51.2% of the cohort. Median apoB and FRS values were 130 mg/dL and 4, respectively. A strong positive correlation was observed between serum apoB and FRS ( These findings suggest that apoB may serve as a reliable biomarker for CAD risk assessment in the Iraqi population, where its predictive value has been underexplored. The identified cutoff value (97.75 mg/dL) highlights its potential role in refining risk stratification beyond traditional lipid markers. Further prospective studies are needed to validate these findings and assess their clinical impact. Show less

Vitamin D may play a role in cardiovascular health, particularly in lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis. This study examines the correlation between serum vitamin D levels with Apolipoprotein B (Apo B), and the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) and evaluates the impact of correcting severe vitamin D deficiency on Apo B levels and FRS among a group of Iraqi population. This two-phase study was conducted in Baghdad between November 2022 and October 2023 and included a cross-sectional phase examining the association between vitamin D, with Apo B, and the FRS, followed by a prospective phase assessing the impacts of vitamin D correction. A total of 201 participants were recruited, including 60 individuals with severe vitamin D deficiency (≤ 10 ng/ml) who received supplementation and 40 with sufficient vitamin D levels (≥ 30 ng/ml) serving as controls. Levels of total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), Apo B, and FRS were evaluated at baseline and after six months. The Thai Clinical Trials Registry (TCTR) has retrospectively registered and approved the study under the identification number TCTR20250301003 on the 1st of March 2025. Vitamin D levels correlated significantly with age (p < 0.001), Apo B (p = 0.007), and FRS (p = 0.003) in the cross-sectional phase. After supplementation TC (p = 0.004) and FRS (p = 0.007) significantly decreased in the treatment group, with no significant changes in Apo B. Males only showed significant decrease in FRS and TC. Vitamin D correction significantly decreased TC and FRS reinforcing its role in lipid metabolism and cardiovascular health. However, Apo B levels remained unchanged, suggesting that vitamin D may not directly influence Apo B metabolism in the short term. These findings emphasize the importance of correcting severe vitamin D deficiency before calculating FRS due to its impact on lipid parameters. Show less

An early intervention using biomarkers to predict acute myocardial infarction (AMI) will effectively reduce global heart attack incidence, particularly among high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study attempted to identify potential biomarkers by detecting changes in the levels of plasma proteins in T2DM patients following onset of AMI in comparison with those without AMI. Volunteer T2DM patients without AMI (control; n=10) and T2DM patients with AMI (n=10) were recruited. Plasma samples from these patients were evaluated via two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) to screen for proteins with level changes between the two groups. The abundance of spots on gel images was analyzed using Progenesis SameSpots and subjected to false discovery rate (FDR) analysis. Protein spots with statistically significant changes of at least 1.5 fold were selected for mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. Due to strong cardiac connections, tetranectin and titin were evaluated by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The adjusted P-values and fold changes between the two groups resulted in identification of 34 protein spots with significantly altered abundance. Upon MS analysis, 17 plasma proteins were identified: tetranectin, titin, clusterin, haptoglobin, myosin-13, zinc fnger protein 445, DNA repair protein RAD50, serum albumin, apolipoprotein A-IV, caspase-6, aminoacyl tRNA synthase complex-interacting multifunctional protein 1, serotransferrin, retinol-binding protein 4, transthyretin, alpha-1-antitrypsin, apolipoprotein A-I and serum amyloid A. Comparable patterns of changes in tetranectin and titin between the control and AMI groups were confirmed using ELISA. In summary, tetranectin and titin in plasma appeared to be closely associated with the onset of AMI among T2DM patients and can be used as potential biomarkers for prediction of a cardiac event, though this requires validation in a prospective cohort study. Show less

Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is mainly diagnosed using fine-needle aspiration biopsy. This most common form of well-differentiated thyroid cancer occurs with or without a background of benign thyroid goiter (BTG). In the present study, a gel-based proteomics analysis was performed to analyse the expression of proteins in tissue and serum samples of PTC patients with (PTCb; n = 6) and without a history of BTG (PTCa; n = 8) relative to patients with BTG (n = 20). This was followed by confirmation of the levels of proteins which showed significant altered abundances of more than two-fold difference (p < 0.01) in the tissue and serum samples of the same subjects using ELISA. The data of our study showed that PTCa and PTCb distinguish themselves from BTG in the types of tissue and serum proteins of altered abundance. While higher levels of alpha-1 antitrypsin (A1AT) and heat shock 70 kDa protein were associated with PTCa, lower levels of A1AT, protein disulfide isomerase and ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 N seemed apparent in the PTCb. In case of the serum proteins, higher abundances of A1AT and alpha 1-beta glycoprotein were detected in PTCa, while PTCb was associated with enhanced apolipoprotein A-IV and alpha 2-HS glycoprotein (AHSG). The different altered expression of tissue and serum A1AT as well as serum AHSG between PTCa and PTCb patients were also validated by ELISA. The distinctive altered abundances of the tissue and serum proteins form preliminary indications that PTCa and PTCb are two distinct cancers of the thyroid that are etiologically and mechanistically different although it is currently not possible to rule out that they may also be due other reasons such as the different stages of the malignant disease. These proteins stand to have a potential use as tissue or serum biomarkers to discriminate the three different thyroid neoplasms although this requires further validation in clinically representative populations. Show less