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Background: The metabolomic profiles of individuals with different clinical manifestations of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection have not been clearly characterized., Methods: We performed metabolomics analysis of 166 individuals, including 62 healthy controls, 16 individuals with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, and 88 patients with moderate (n = 42) and severe (n = 46) symptomatic 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19; 17 with short-term and 34 with long-term nucleic-acid test positivity). By examining differential expression, we identified candidate metabolites associated with different SARS-CoV-2 infection presentations. Functional and machine learning analyses were performed to explore the metabolites' functions and verify their candidacy as biomarkers., Results: A total of 417 metabolites were detected. We discovered 70 differentially expressed metabolites that may help differentiate asymptomatic infections from healthy controls and COVID-19 patients with different disease severity. Cyclamic acid and N-Acetylneuraminic Acid were identified to distinguish symptomatic infected patients and asymptomatic infected patients. Shikimic Acid, Glycyrrhetinic acid and 3-Hydroxybutyrate can supply significant insights for distinguishing short-term and long-term nucleic-acid test positivity., Conclusion: Metabolomic profiling may highlight novel biomarkers for the identification of individuals with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and further our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of COVID-19., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objective: To analyze the expression of platelet membrane glycoprotein sialylation in primary immune thrombocytopenia and provide a reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment of the disease., Methods: 100 children with primary immune thrombocytopenia diagnosed and treated in the Children's Hospital of Yunhe District Central Hospital of Cangzhou City, Hebei Province from January 2020 to June 2022 were included in the study group. All children were treated with dexamethasone (DXMS) shock therapy; Another 20 healthy children who underwent routine physical examination at the same time were selected and included in the control group. The study measured the platelet membrane surface in plasma using flow cytometry in two groups: the comparative study group and the control group. The study measured the positive rates of α 2,3-sialic acid (α 2, 3-sa) and α 2,6-sialic acid (α 2, 6-sa) in both groups. The study also measured the positive rates of α 2,3-sialic acid (α 2, 3-sa) and α 2,6-sialic acid (α 2, 6-sa) before and after treatment in the comparative study group. At the same time, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine the content of sialic acid and sialidase activity and content in the serum. The detection values of α2, 3-SA, and α2, 6-SA expression of children in the study group and the control group were compared, and the detection values of α2, 3-SA, and α2, 6-SA expression of children in the study group before and after treatment were compared., Results: There was no significant difference in the positive rate of α 2, 3-sa between the study group and the control group (t=0.852, P > .05); Study Group: The positive rate of α 2,6-sa was significantly lower than that of the control group (P < .05). In the study group, there was no significant difference in the positive rate of α 2,3-sa before and after treatment (P > .05). However, after treatment, the positive rate of α 2,6-sa was significantly higher than before (P < .05). The study found that the children in the study group had significantly higher levels of serum sialic acid content, sialidase activity, and content than those in the control group (P < .05). After treatment, the children in the study group showed a decrease in serum sialic acid content, sialidase activity, and content, which was statistically significant (P < .05) compared to before treatment., Conclusion: The sialylation of platelet membrane glycoprotein is abnormally expressed in primary immune thrombocytopenia. The sialylation of platelet membrane glycoprotein may be involved in the occurrence and development of the disease. It is of great practical significance to diagnose and evaluate the therapeutic effect of the disease by detecting the sialylation of platelet membrane glycoprotein.

In this pilot study, we carried out metabolic profiling of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) starting therapy with biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs). The main aim of the study was to assess the occurring metabolic changes associated with therapy success and metabolic pathways involved. In particular, the potential of the metabolomics profiles was evaluated as therapeutically valuable prognostic indicators of the effectiveness of bDMARD treatment to identify responders versus non-responders prior to implementing treatment. Plasma metabolomic profiles of twenty-five patients with RA prior bDMARD treatment and after three months of therapy were obtained by 1 H NMR, liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography - mass spectrometry and evaluated by statistical and multivariate analyses. In the group of responders, significant differences in their metabolic patterns were seen after three months of the bDMARD therapy compared with profiles prior to treatment. We identified 24 metabolites that differed significantly between these two-time points mainly belonging to amino acid metabolism, peptides, lipids, cofactors, and vitamins and xenobiotics. Eleven metabolites differentiated responders versus non-responders before treatment. Additionally, N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylgalactosamine (GlycA) and N-acetylneuraminic acid (GlycB) persisted significant in comparison responders to non-responders after three months of therapy. Moreover, those two metabolites indicated prediction of response potential by results of receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The applied analysis provides novel insights into the metabolic pathways involved in RA patient's response to bDMARD and therapy effectiveness. GlycA and GlycB are promising biomarkers to identify responding patients prior onset of bDMARD therapy., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Periodontal diseases are inflammatory chronic infections. Sialic acid (SA) is an acute phase reactant by itself. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between salivary and serum SA levels and clinical parameters in different forms of periodontal diseases., Subject and Methods: Systemically healthy subjects were included in the study; patients with chronic gingivitis (CG) (n = 10), chronic periodontitis (CP) (n = 10), and aggressive periodontitis (AgP) (n = 10), and ten volunteers with healthy periodontium as the control group. Total SA levels were determined by Warren's thiobarbituric acid method in whole saliva, parotis saliva, and serum samples of subjects before and 3 months after nonsurgical periodontal treatment. Full mouth clinical parameters including plaque index, gingival index, probing depth, and bleeding on probing were also recorded., Results: Before treatment, in both periodontitis groups salivary and serum SA levels were higher than those of controls (P = 0.001). Both salivary and serum SA levels decreased significantly in the patient groups after treatment (P < 0.001). Multiple comparisons of baseline clinical parameters in all groups revealed significant differences (P = 0.001) and these parameters decreased significantly on the 90 th day (P < 0.01). There were positive correlations between SA levels and periodontal indices of the CG, CP, and AgP groups (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: Our results suggest that SA level in both saliva and serum may be a potentially useful marker to determine inflammatory changes and investigate different forms of periodontal diseases., Competing Interests: None

Dengue virus (DENV) causes the most prevalent arboviral infection of humans, resulting in a spectrum of outcomes, ranging from asymptomatic infection to dengue fever to severe dengue characterized by vascular leakage and shock. Previously, we determined that DENV nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) induces endothelial hyperpermeability, disrupts the endothelial glycocalyx layer (EGL) in vitro and triggers shedding of structural components, including sialic acid (Sia) and heparan sulfate. Here, using a murine model of dengue disease disease, we found high levels of Sia and NS1 circulating in mice with DENV-induced morbidity and lethal DENV infection. Further, we developed a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry-based method for quantifying free Sia in serum and determined that the levels of free N-glycolylneuraminic acid were significantly higher in DENV-infected mice than in uninfected controls. These data provide additional evidence that DENV infection disrupts EGL components in vivo and warrant further research assessing Sia as a biomarker of severe dengue disease.

The profiles of polytraumatized patients in intensive care units were characterized. Serum and salivary markers were compared with normality between Classes I and II of APACHE II and between periods of hospitalization; these results were correlated. This was a prospective study on saliva charts and collection (n = 70). Profile: male, 27 years old, blunt traumas and collisions. Serum parameters with normality: decrease in pH, creatinine at admission to Class I, and at 48 and 72 hours in both classes; K+ at 48 h in Class II; Ca+ on admission in both classes and at 72 h in Class I. Increase in urea at 72 h in Class II, glucose at all times and in all classes, and Ca+ at 48 h in both classes. Class II had high Na+ at 48 and 72 h compared to Class I. In Class I, creatinine reduction occurred in 48 h and 72 h compared to admission and an increase of Ca+ at 48 h with admission. In Class II, pH and Na+ increased at 48 h and 72 h compared to admission. K+ decreased from admission to 48 h and increased from 48 h to 72 h. Urea increased from 48 to 72 hours. Creatinine decreased from admission to 48 and 72 hours. Ca+ increased from admission to 48 hours and decreased from 48 to 72 hours. There was an increase in the saliva levels in both classes and times in relation to normality. There was an increase in urea at admission, glucose at 72 h, and Ca+ at 48 h in Class II compared with Class I. Class I urea increased from admission to 48 h and Ca+ decreased from admission to 48 h. Class II urea decreased from 48 h to 72 h. Strong or very strong positive correlation was identified between blood and creatinine saliva at all times and regular and negative Ca+ at 72 h. This study provides evidence that salivary and serum biomarkers can be used together to monitor the evolution of the clinical symptoms of ICU patients., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The potential use of total sialic acid (TSA) as an acute-phase biomarker in pigs was investigated through clinical and analytic validation of an automated commercial enzymatic-colorimetric assay. Intra- and interassay precision, accuracy, and detection limit were determined for the analytical validation of the method. The intra- and interassay coefficients of variation (%CV) were 2.27% and 3.99%, respectively, whereas the linearity under dilution calculation resulted in a coefficients of correlation of r = 0.995 and r = 0.999 for TSA high- and low-content serum samples, respectively, which indicated that the automated method was reliable to measure TSA in porcine serum samples. Average serum TSA concentrations in diseased pigs (median: 1779.16 mg/l; 5th percentile: 556.62 mg/l; 95th percentile: 963.06 mg/l) were 2.5-fold higher compared with healthy animals (median: 692.78 mg/l; 5th percentile: 1278.74 mg/l; 95th percentile: 2536.12 mg/l), which indicated that TSA can be considered as a moderate acute phase marker in swine. Therefore, TSA may be useful for detecting inflammatory conditions and could be included in biochemical profiles used to monitor the general status of pigs as a moderate acute phase marker.

Background: Acute cellular rejection (ACR) affects early morbidity and mortality after heart transplantation. The diagnostic technique of choice is endomyocardial biopsy. Our aim was to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of inflammatory markers as a noninvasive method to monitor cellular rejection., Material and Methods: We prospectively analyzed 73 cardiac transplant patients by determining the serum levels of protein fibrinogen (fgpro), functional fibrinogen (fgfun), C-reactive protein (CRP), and sialic acid (SA) coinciding with an endomyocardial biopsy (5.1 revisions/patient). The statistical methods were chi(2), Student's t-test, and ROC curves., Results: Of the 373 controls, significant rejection was detected in 19%. Analysis of the relationship between ACR and the markers showed significantly elevated levels of fgpro (345 +/- 90 versus 307 +/- 74 mg/dL; P = .03), fgfun (361 +/- 101 versus 318 +/- 89 mg/dL; P = .04), and SA (74 +/- 22 versus 66 +/- 15 mg/dL; P = .02), but not CRP (19 +/- 29 versus 10 +/- 21 mg/dL; P = .07). SA displayed a better diagnostic utility (area under the curve 0.7; P < .01), 35% sensitivity, 85% specificity, and 82% negative predictive value for a cutoff point of 80 mg/dL., Conclusions: Among the inflammatory markers increased in ACR, SA was the most useful noninvasive tool for screening.

The global burden posed by cardiovascular disease (CVD), due to a rising incidence of known risk factors, underlines an urgent need to identify other potential risk factors. Sialic acid (SA), an abundant terminal monosaccharide of glycoconjugates, is a possible risk factor for CVD. Although large-scale epidemiological surveys have shown that serum total sialic acid (TSA) is positively associated with mortality from coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke, studies investigating the correlation between serum TSA and the severity of atherosclerosis are conflicting. Clinical and epidemiological studies indicate that serum TSA is a marker of a sustained inflammatory response in CVD, rather than causal in nature. Data also indicates ethnic variation in baseline TSA. This article reviews current methods for determining serum TSA and evidence supporting serum TSA as a risk factor for CVD. Potential mechanisms for this role are examined. The use of serum TSA as a marker of atherosclerotic disease is evaluated.

Background: The normalization of alcohol abuse markers during the abstinence depends on the time since the last drinking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy (area under the curve-AUC, sensitivity and specificity) of CDT, sialic acid and others biochemical and hematological markers of chronic alcohol abuse during abstinence., Methods: We studied 75 patients admitted to the treatment of alcohol dependence. The blood samples were collected upon admission to the hospital. CDT was estimated using an immunoturbidimetric assay after anion-exchange chromatography and sialic acid by enzymatic colorimetric method., Results: Mean values of all markers were significantly higher. All tests, except SA, negatively correlated with time of abstinence but not with age, duration of dependence and amounts of weekly alcohol consumption. The area under the curve (AUC) for all tested markers decreased progressively during the abstinence. The highest AUC was obtained for CDT (0.98) and the lowest for ALT (0.78) when alcohol was consumed in the last week. AUC for sialic acid was lower than of CDT but higher than of ALT., Conclusions: We conclude that the diagnostic accuracy for tested laboratory markers depends on the self-reported time of abstinence being the highest for CDT in the first week of abstinence. The accuracy of sialic acid was observed between GGT and ALT.

Studies from the last decade emphasize the importance of sialic acid (SA) in general pathology (neoplasic disease, colagenosis), and its implication in appearance and aggravation of atherosclerosis (e.g. appearance of angyopathy like chronic complication in diabetes mellitus). Diabetes is known as a major risk factor for atherosclerosis and has a high incidence in general population. The incidence of diabetes increases from year to year, especially type II of diabetes, the most common type (more than 90% from diabetics are type II). Diabetes mellitus with its chronic degenerative complications like micro and macrovascular angyopathy (coronary disease, nephropathy, retinopathy, arteriopathy) represents a major health and social problem (more than 80% of the mortality to type II diabetics is the result of coronarian and cerebral vascular complications). The early discovery of chronic angyopathic complications to diabetics is a major objective in increasing the hope of life to diabetics. Determination and monitorization of SA could be useful in the early discovering of chronic degenerative complications to patients with diabetes mellitus.

Objective: In the search for optimal biomarkers of excessive drinking, only a few studies have been conducted to compare the relationships between ethanol consumption, liver status, and various laboratory markers of ethanol-induced diseases., Material and Methods: Concentrations of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (%CDT and CDTect methods), serum sialic acid (SA), gamma-glutamyl transferase (gamma-GT), aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and a marker of fibrogenesis (PIIINP) were studied in 102 alcoholics with (n=59) or without (n=43) alcoholic liver disease. Controls were 34 healthy volunteers who were either social drinkers or abstainers., Results: Although concentrations of all markers were significantly higher in the alcoholic patients than in the healthy controls, their diagnostic characteristics showed a considerable degree of variation. The %CDT, SA, and MCV showed the strongest correlations with the amount of recent alcohol intake. The presence of liver pathology notably influenced the results of CDTect, GT, ASAT, and PIIINP. In ROC analyses, the highest rates of diagnostic accuracy for detecting hazardous drinking were reached with GT (0.94), CDT (0.86), and SA (0.85), followed by MCV (0.79) and ASAT (0.77). Upon abstinence, the estimated times for normalization varied between 10 days (CDTect) and 25 days (GT)., Conclusions: Our data suggest distinct differences in the clinical characteristics of biological markers of ethanol consumption. While the overall accuracy of CDT and GT appear to be highest in the detection of problem drinking, serum SA and PIIINP measurements are of further value when the effects of liver pathology and ethanol drinking need to be differentiated.

To understand the role of inflammation in chronic disease it is important to have a reliable measure of habitual inflammatory status. A number of acute-phase response markers have been used as measures of inflammatory status, but the ability of a single measure to appropriately reflect habitual inflammatory status has not been assessed. This study compares the ability of different inflammatory markers to characterize habitual inflammatory status in overweight women. A single fasting blood sample was taken from 86 overweight women (mean body mass index [BMI], 35.2 kg/m2; range, 26.2 to 47.6 kg/m2) and a number of inflammatory markers (both acute-phase response markers and cytokines) were measured. A randomly selected subpopulation of 15 women attended on 2 further occasions for further blood samples. Using the subpopulation, discrimination ratios (DRs) were calculated for each inflammatory marker to assess the within-subject variability. The DRs were then used to determine the relationship between these markers, adjusted for within-subject variability, in the whole population. In this highly controlled experimental environment, interleukin-6 (IL-6), with a DR of 3.71, was the cytokine with the greatest ability to discriminate between subjects, suggesting that it is best able to characterize habitual inflammatory status. Sialic acid was the acute-phase response marker with the highest DR (3.16), and showed stronger correlations with other inflammatory markers, including C-reactive protein (CRP), than IL-6. This study suggests that use of some inflammatory markers, such as CRP, with large within-individual variability, will underestimate the relationship between inflammation and disease, and thus relationships between inflammation and chronic disease may be stronger than previously appreciated. Future studies should consider IL-6 or sialic acid to provide a more robust measure of inflammatory status.

Aims: The purpose of this paper is to present a brief review of the literature and to summarize the current status of four biochemical markers for alcohol consumption, carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT), total serum sialic acid (TSA), sialic acid index of apolipoprotein J (SIJ) and serum beta-hexosaminidase (beta-HEX)., Findings: Of these markers, CDT has been the most widely studied, is currently thought to be the most accurate predictor of alcohol consumption, is most readily available and is the only test approved by the FDA for the identification of heavy alcohol use. TSA and SIJ have the potential to be useful markers, but have only recently been discovered, are not readily available and have not yet been studied comprehensively. Finally, the relationship between serum beta-HEX and heavy alcohol consumption has been studied for about 20 years, but the test is not readily available and has not been widely accepted or used as a marker for heavy alcohol consumption., Conclusions: These markers have the potential to be included in a combination of measurements to provide an accurate, more exact assessment of alcohol consumption in a variety of clinical and research settings.

The aim of the present study was to examine the levels of total sialic acid (TSA) in serum of clinically healthy dogs and dogs with various diseases to evaluate the usefulness of TSA as a tumour marker. TSA levels in clinically healthy dogs were not different between sexes, but pregnant and lactating dogs had higher mean (+/- standard deviation (SD)) TSA levels than clinically healthy female dogs (642 +/- 78 vs. 495 +/- 73 mg/l, P < 0.001). Eighty-eight dogs with different tumours (54 malignant and 34 benign tumours of different tissues) had higher mean TSA levels than 148 clinically healthy dogs (675 +/- 143 vs. 498 +/- 75 mg/l, P < 0.01). Fifty dogs with other diseases excluding tumours (skin, urinary system, and gastrointestinal diseases, pyometra, other inflammatory diseases, and Cushing's syndrome) had slightly higher TSA levels than the tumour-bearing dogs (730 +/- 159 mg/l, P = 0.02). TSA levels in dogs with malignant tumours did not differ from dogs with benign tumours (682 +/- 144 vs. 664 +/- 142 mg/l, P = 0.73). A receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) plot revealed a maximum sensitivity and specificity combination of 69% and 91% (TSA cut-off concentration 595 mg/l) in distinguishing between healthy dogs and dogs with tumours. When evaluating TSA measurements to distinguish dogs with other diseases from dogs with tumours, a maximum sensitivity and specificity combination of 50% and 75% was found (cut-off concentration 761 mg/l). WHO staging of mammary tumours revealed an increase in TSA levels with increasing stage (P < 0.0001, rs, = 0.62). In conclusion, the nonspecificity of increases makes TSA determinations unsuitable as a tumour marker. TSA levels seem instead to be a general disease marker. Whether serial TSA measurements could be used in the follow-up of dogs operated for malignant tumours should be further investigated.

Background: Total serum sialic acid concentration has been reported to predict death from cardiovascular disease. This study was performed to assess the relation between serum sialic acid concentration and the angiographic extent and severity of coronary atheroma in patients with stable angina., Methods: Quantitative coronary angiography was performed in 40 patients with stable angina with either triple-vessel disease (23 patients) or normal/nearly normal coronary arteries (17 patients). A colorimetric assay for the enzymatic determination of serum sialic acid was used., Results: Serum sialic acid concentration was not significantly different in patients with normal or nearly normal coronary angiograms compared with those with triple-vessel disease (68+/-10 mg/100 mL and 68+/-11 mg/100 mL, respectively). Neither was there any association between the extent or severity of coronary disease and serum sialic acid levels., Conclusions: Serum sialic acid concentration does not appear to be associated with the extent or severity of coronary artery disease in patients with stable angina pectoris. Thus the previously described association between serum sialic acid and cardiovascular death may reflect the role of mechanisms other than the severity of coronary artery narrowings.