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Biomolecules
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Feature Papers in Molecular Biomarkers
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Feature Papers in Molecular Biomarkers

A topical collection in Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This collection belongs to the section "Molecular Biomarkers".

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Editor

Dr. Pietro Scicchitano

E-Mail Website
Collection Editor
Cardiology Section, Hospital “F. Perinei” Altamura (BA), 70022 Altamura, Italy
Interests: heart failure; preventive cardiology; vascular biology; endothelial function; cardiovascular pharmacology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Topical Collection Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Topical Collection, “Feature Papers in Molecular Biomarkers”, will bring together high-quality research arti-cles, review articles, and communications on all aspects of molecular biomarkers. It is dedicated to diverse recent advances in biomarkers research, as highlighted in the topics below, and comprises a selection of exclusive papers from the Editorial Board Members (EBMs) of the Molecular Biomarkers Section as well as invited papers from relevant experts. We also welcome established experts in the field to make contributions to this Topical Collection. Please note that all invited papers will be published online once accepted. We aim to represent our Section as an attractive open access publishing platform for molecular biomarkers research.

Dr. Pietro Scicchitano
Collection Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the collection website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomolecules is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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2023

Jump to: 2022

16 pages, 1919 KiB  
Article
Usefulness of Proguanylin, Pentraxin 3 and S100A12 Serum Concentrations in Diagnosis and Monitoring the Disease Activity in Crohn’s Disease
by Aleksandra Kałużna, Agnieszka Jura-Półtorak, Alicja Derkacz, Krystyna Olczyk and Katarzyna Komosinska-Vassev
Biomolecules 2023, 13(10), 1448; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13101448 - 26 Sep 2023
Viewed by 763
Abstract
The aim of our case-control study was to identify novel biomarkers of Crohn’s disease (CD) that hold the potential to be employed in both disease diagnosis and monitoring activity. In the context of the contribution of intestinal barrier integrity and immune response to [...] Read more.
The aim of our case-control study was to identify novel biomarkers of Crohn’s disease (CD) that hold the potential to be employed in both disease diagnosis and monitoring activity. In the context of the contribution of intestinal barrier integrity and immune response to the pathogenesis of CD, we assessed the serum concentrations of proguanylin (pro-GN), pentraxin 3 (PTX3) and S100A12 in 20 patients before and after anti-inflammatory treatment, as well as in 20 healthy individuals. Statistical analyses revealed a significant difference in the levels of pro-GN (5.5 vs. 11.35, p < 0.001), PTX3 (2117.9 vs. 1608.37, p < 0.05) and S100A12 (79.4 vs. 19.74, p < 0.001) between pretreatment patients with CD and healthy individuals. Moreover, we noted a significant relationship between the serum profile of PTX3 and disease activity, expressed as CDAI, both before (p < 0.005, r = 0.63) and after (p < 0.05, r = 0.60) treatment. A similar correlation was noted in the case of S100A12 (p < 0.005, r = 0.81), albeit exclusively within the post-treatment group of patients. Anti-inflammatory treatment resulted in an elevation of pro-GN concentration (5.5 vs. 8.04, p < 0.001) and a reduction in PTX3 level (2117.9 vs. 1609.5, p < 0.05) in the serum of patients with CD. In comparison to our previous research conducted on a group of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), those with CD exhibited reduced levels of PTX3 (2117.9 vs. 3197.05, p < 0.005) and elevated concentrations of S100A12 (79.4 vs. 39.36, p < 0.05). The results obtained from this investigation suggest that measurements of pro-GN, PTX3 and S100A12 could prove beneficial in the diagnosis of Crohn’s disease. Assessment of changes in the serum profile of PTX3 appears to be a good marker of response to treatment but also, along with analysis of S100A12 protein serum levels, a useful marker in differentiating CD from UC. Full article
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19 pages, 6423 KiB  
Article
Circulating H3K27 Methylated Nucleosome Plasma Concentration: Synergistic Information with Circulating Tumor DNA Molecular Profiling
by Emmanuel Grolleau, Julie Candiracci, Gaelle Lescuyer, David Barthelemy, Nazim Benzerdjeb, Christine Haon, Florence Geiguer, Margaux Raffin, Nathalie Hardat, Julie Balandier, Rémi Rabeuf, Lara Chalabreysse, Anne-Sophie Wozny, Guillaume Rommelaere, Claire Rodriguez-Lafrasse, Fabien Subtil, Sébastien Couraud, Marielle Herzog and Lea Payen-Gay
Biomolecules 2023, 13(8), 1255; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13081255 - 16 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1505
Abstract
The molecular profiling of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a helpful tool not only in cancer treatment, but also in the early detection of relapse. However, the clinical interpretation of a ctDNA negative result remains challenging. The characterization of circulating nucleosomes (carrying cell-free [...] Read more.
The molecular profiling of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a helpful tool not only in cancer treatment, but also in the early detection of relapse. However, the clinical interpretation of a ctDNA negative result remains challenging. The characterization of circulating nucleosomes (carrying cell-free DNA) and associated epigenetic modifications (playing a key role in the tumorigenesis of different cancers) may provide useful information for patient management, by supporting the contributive value of ctDNA molecular profiling. Significantly elevated concentrations of H3K27Me3 nucleosomes were found in plasmas at the diagnosis, and during the follow-up, of NSCLC patients, compared to healthy donors (p-value < 0.0001). By combining the H3K27Me3 level and the ctDNA molecular profile, we found that 25.5% of the patients had H3K27Me3 levels above the cut off, and no somatic alteration was detected at diagnosis. This strongly supports the presence of non-mutated ctDNA in the corresponding plasma. During the patient follow-up, a high H3K27Me3-nucleosome level was found in 15.1% of the sample, despite no somatic mutations being detected, allowing the identification of disease progression from 43.1% to 58.2% over molecular profiling alone. Measuring H3K27Me3-nucleosome levels in combination with ctDNA molecular profiling may improve confidence in the negative molecular result for cfDNA in lung cancer at diagnosis, and may also be a promising biomarker for molecular residual disease (MRD) monitoring, during and/or after treatment. Full article
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2022

Jump to: 2023

16 pages, 2245 KiB  
Review
Performance of Serum Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme in Diagnosing Sarcoidosis and Predicting the Active Status of Sarcoidosis: A Meta-Analysis
by Xueru Hu, Li Zou, Shuyan Wang, Tingting Zeng, Ping Li, Yongchun Shen and Lei Chen
Biomolecules 2022, 12(10), 1400; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12101400 - 30 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1524
Abstract
The usefulness of serum angiotensin-converting enzyme (sACE) for diagnosing sarcoidosis and determining the active status of sarcoidosis has been reported with varying outcomes. On the basis of the majority of published data, we conducted a meta-analysis to calculate the overall predictive accuracy of [...] Read more.
The usefulness of serum angiotensin-converting enzyme (sACE) for diagnosing sarcoidosis and determining the active status of sarcoidosis has been reported with varying outcomes. On the basis of the majority of published data, we conducted a meta-analysis to calculate the overall predictive accuracy of sACE in sarcoidosis disease and the active status of sarcoidosis. The inclusion of related research listed in Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and other literature databases was assessed. SROC curves were generated to characterize the overall test results after data on sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were combined. Publication bias was identified using Deeks’ funnel plot. Thirty-five publications with 8645 subjects met the inclusion criteria. The following are summary estimates of sACE diagnostic performance for sarcoidosis: sensitivity, 60% (95% confidence interval (CI), 52–68%); specificity, 93% (95% CI, 88–96%); PLR, 8.4 (95% CI, 5.3–13.3); NLR, 0.43 (95% CI, 0.36–0.52); and DOR, 19 (95% CI, 12–31). The area under the SROC curve (AUC) was 0.84 (95% CI, 0.80–0.87). Summary estimates for predicting the active status of sarcoidosis were as follows: sensitivity, 0.76 (95% CI, 0.61–0.87); specificity, 0.80 (95% CI, 0.64–0.90); PLR, 3.9 (95% CI, 2.1–7.3); NLR, 0.29 (95% CI, 0.17–0.49); and DOR, 13 (95% CI, 6–31). The AUC was 0.85 (95% CI, 0.82–0.88). There was no evidence of publication bias. Our meta-analysis suggests that measuring the sACE may assist in the diagnosis of sarcoidosis and predicting the active status of sarcoidosis, but the interpretation of the sACE results should be with caution. Future studies should validate our results. Full article
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21 pages, 726 KiB  
Review
Promising Roles of Circular RNAs as Biomarkers and Targets for Potential Diagnosis and Therapy of Tuberculosis
by Yifan Huang, Ying Li, Wensen Lin, Shuhao Fan, Haorong Chen, Jiaojiao Xia, Jiang Pi and Jun-Fa Xu
Biomolecules 2022, 12(9), 1235; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12091235 - 04 Sep 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2454
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, remains one of the most threatening infectious diseases worldwide. A series of challenges still exist for TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment, which therefore require more attempts to clarify the pathological and immunological mechanisms in the [...] Read more.
Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, remains one of the most threatening infectious diseases worldwide. A series of challenges still exist for TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment, which therefore require more attempts to clarify the pathological and immunological mechanisms in the development and progression of TB. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a large class of non-coding RNA, mostly expressed in eukaryotic cells, which are generated by the spliceosome through the back-splicing of linear RNAs. Accumulating studies have identified that circRNAs are widely involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes, acting as the sponges or decoys for microRNAs and proteins, scaffold platforms for proteins, modulators for transcription and special templates for translation. Due to the stable and widely spread characteristics of circRNAs, they are expected to serve as promising prognostic/diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for diseases. In this review, we briefly describe the biogenesis, classification, detection technology and functions of circRNAs, and, in particular, outline the dynamic, and sometimes aberrant changes of circRNAs in TB. Moreover, we further summarize the recent progress of research linking circRNAs to TB-related pathogenetic processes, as well as the potential roles of circRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers and miRNAs sponges in the case of Mtb infection, which is expected to enhance our understanding of TB and provide some novel ideas about how to overcome the challenges associated TB in the future. Full article
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21 pages, 3938 KiB  
Article
Expression of Zyxin in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer—A Preliminary Study
by Aleksandra Partynska, Agnieszka Gomulkiewicz, Aleksandra Piotrowska, Jedrzej Grzegrzolka, Adam Rzechonek, Katarzyna Ratajczak-Wielgomas, Marzenna Podhorska-Okolow and Piotr Dziegiel
Biomolecules 2022, 12(6), 827; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12060827 - 13 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2145
Abstract
Background: The potential involvement of zyxin (ZYX) in carcinogenesis has been investigated in many cancer types. However, there are a limited number of studies on the role of ZYX in the progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Since lung cancer is one [...] Read more.
Background: The potential involvement of zyxin (ZYX) in carcinogenesis has been investigated in many cancer types. However, there are a limited number of studies on the role of ZYX in the progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Since lung cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed carcinomas, the aim of our study was to determine the localization and expression levels of ZYX in NSCLC and to correlate the results with the clinicopathological data. Materials and Methods: The expression of ZYX was assessed in NSCLC cases and in cell lines representing this tumor type. Levels of ZYX were determined in the clinical material using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Western Blot. Real-time PCR was used to assess ZYX mRNA levels. The expression of ZYX was also checked in NSCLC cell lines using real-time PCR, Western Blot, and immunofluorescence/immunocytochemistry. Results: The results showed lower levels of ZYX in NSCLC cells compared with control tissues. This trend was observed at the protein and mRNA levels. The assays on the NSCLC model also demonstrated lower levels of ZYX in cancer cells compared with control cells. Conclusions: The decreased expression of ZYX in NSCLC may indicate a suppressor role of this protein in NSCLC. Full article
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