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Purpose: Hormone immunoassay may be subject to interferences and, although rarely reported, this can occur for testosterone too. This work is aimed to highlight the importance of considering possible analytical interferences when the biochemical data doesn't match with the clinical picture., Methods: We report three cases of insidious diagnosis due to laboratory interference in testosterone immunoassay, and we provide a brief literature review on this issue., Results: We found falsely high testosterone levels due to the presence of heterophilic antibodies, leading to unnecessary investigations, misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatments., Conclusion: The detection of elevated testosterone levels on immunoassay not corresponding to clinical findings need to be confirmed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy, prior to escalation of complex diagnostic investigation and care., Competing Interests: Compliance with ethical standards. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests. Consent to participate: The patients provided written informed consent for disclosure of clinical data, or a substitute informed consent statement was completed. Ethics approval: All procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Background: Allergic Rhinitis (AR) is an atopic disease affecting the upper airways of predisposed subjects exposed to aeroallergens. This study evaluates the effects of a mix of specific probiotics ( L. acidophilus PBS066, L. rhamnosus LRH020, B. breve BB077, and B. longum subsp. longum BLG240) on symptoms and fecal microbiota modulation in subjects with AR. Methods: Probiotic effects were evaluated at the beginning (T0), at four and eight weeks of treatment (T1 and T2, respectively), and after four weeks of follow-up from the end of treatment (T3) ( n = 19) compared to the placebo group ( n = 22). AR symptoms and quality of life were evaluated by the mini rhinitis quality of life questionnaire (MiniRQLQ) at each time point. Allergic immune response and fecal microbiota compositions were assessed at T0, T2, and T3. The study was registered on Clinical-Trial.gov (NCT05344352). Results: The probiotic group showed significant improvement in the MiniRQLQ score at T1, T2, and T3 vs. T0 ( p < 0.01, p < 0.05, p < 0.01, respectively). At T2, the probiotic group showed an increase in Dorea , which can be negatively associated with allergic diseases, and Fusicatenibacter , an intestinal bacterial genus with anti-inflammatory properties ( p -value FDR-corrected = 0.0074 and 0.013, respectively). Conversely, at T3 the placebo group showed an increase in Bacteroides and Ruminococcaceae unassigned , ( p -value FDR-corrected = 0.033 and 0.023, respectively) which can be associated with allergies, while the probiotic group showed a significative increase in the Prevotella / Bacteroides ratio ( p -value FDR-corrected = 0.023). Conclusions: This probiotic formulation improves symptoms and quality of life in subjects with AR, promoting a shift towards anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic bacterial species in the intestinal microbiota.

Cryopreserved human hepatocytes could be the best type of cells to be used in a bioartificial liver (BAL) device due to reduced biosafety and biocompatibility risks. Banking of primary human hepatocytes, obtained from livers unwanted for transplantation at harvesting, could be used as a source of human liver cells for BAL treatment. We describe herein for the first time the case of a patient affected by fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) due to acute HBV infection that was successfully bridged to emergency liver transplantation by BAL treatment using cryopreserved primary human hepatocytes. The use of cryopreserved primary human hepatocytes as the biological part of the BAL device has never been described before and might be considered as a possible alternative to xenogenic material or human tumoral cell lines due to reduced biosafety and biocompatibility risks.

The offer of liver transplantation to many patients affected by liver failure is limited by organ shortage. Clinical application of human-based liver cell therapies, such as bioartificial liver and hepatocyte transplantation, might support liver transplantation, allowing more patients to be treated and decreasing mortality in the waiting list. The development of a standardized method of hepatocyte isolation is a mainstay for large-scale application of liver cell therapy. The aim of this study is to analyze retrospectively a 2-year experience of human hepatocyte isolation from livers rejected from transplantation at organ harvesting, performed on a national basis in Italy. All the livers judged unsuitable for transplantation were considered for hepatocyte isolation. Macrosteatosis greater than 60% was the most common reason of refusal, followed by nonviral cirrhosis. Fifty-four organs were used. Human hepatocyte isolation resulted in more that 7 million liver cells/g of tissue digested with 73% +/- 14% viability. Steatotic organs gave better results in terms of cell yield than cirrhotic livers. Isolated hepatocytes were able to perform specific liver functions, and evidence of factor IX and albumin messenger RNA (mRNA) production was reported when cells were plated in culture. Modifications of the traditional method of hepatocyte isolation, aimed at reducing ischemia-reperfusion damage and improving post-isolation cell conditions, showed improvements in post-isolation viability. In conclusion, we show that it is possible to use the vast majority of livers not suitable for transplantation on a national basis for human hepatocyte isolation, obtaining a large amount of viable functioning human hepatocytes that might be used for cell transplantation and therapy.