The effect of midkine on growth factors and oxidative status in an experimental wound model in diabetic and healthy rats

Serum midkine level might be a diagnostic tool for COVID19 disease in pregnancy: From the disease severity, hospitalization and disease progression respects

BACKGROUND

New biomarkers for diagnosis and monitoring the COVID-19 disease are the most important topics to be studied recently. We aimed to investigate the association between midkine levels and disease severity in pregnant women with COVID-19.

METHODS

Totally 186 pregnant women were participated in this study. 96 of them were healthy pregnant women, 90 of them were pregnant women with COVID19. Pregnant women were evaluated according to their trimesters. Serum midkine level, biochemical profile clinical and disease severity outcomes of pregnant women were obtained.

RESULTS

Our results showed that pregnant women with COVID19 have significantly increased serum midkine level compared to healthy pregnant women (1.801 ± 0.977 vs 0.815 ± 0.294 ng/dL). According to the data among each trimester, it was shown that there were significant increase in serum midkine level during all pregnancy trimesters (1st trimester Control Group: 0.714 ± 0.148, COVID-19 group 1.623 ± 0.824, p < 0.0001; 2nd trimester Control Group: 0.731 ± 0.261, COVID-19 group 2.059 ± 1.146, p < 0.0001; 3rd trimester Control Group: 1.0 ± 0.35, COVID-19 group 1.723 ± 0.907, p = 0.001). Serum midkine levels were significantly different between disease severity subgroups of pregnant women with COVID19; moderate and severe/critic groups had significantly higher serum midkine level than mild group. There was also significant correlation between serum midkine level and severity status (p:0.0001, r: 0.468). The most striking results of serum midkine levels were corelation between length of hospitalization (p: 0.01, r: 0.430) and O² saturation (p < 0.0001, r: -0.521). ROC curve analysis showed that serum midkine level might be a tool for predicting COVID-19 in pregnant women with COVID-19 (AUC: 0.912, 95% CI: [0.871, 0.952], p < 0.0001) CONCLUSION: Our data showed that there is an obvious relation between COVID19 progression and serum midkine level for the first time which might be used for monitoring the disease process.

Protective Effect of Nerium Oleander Distillate and Tarantula Cubensis Alcoholic Extract on Cancer Biomarkers on Colon and Liver Tissues of Rats with Experimental Colon Cancer

BACKGROUND

Colon cancers are among the three major cancer types that result in death. The research for effective treatment continues.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of Tarantula cubensis alcoholic extract (TCAE) and Nerium oleander (NO) distillate on the levels of midkine, TGF-β, VEGF, AFP, COX-2, IGF and caspase 3 in liver and colon tissues of experimentally induced colon cancer in rats.

METHOD

The liver and colon tissues of the rats were divided into Control, Colon Cancer (AZM), AZM+TCAE and AZM+NO groups and they were homogenized. The levels of midkine, TGF-β, VEGF, AFP, COX-2, IGF and caspase 3 in the colon and liver tissues were measured by ELISA kits.

RESULTS

All parameters levels of colon and liver tissues in the AZM group were generally higher (p<0.05) than the Control group. TCAE and NO prevented (p<0.05) the increases in midkine, TGF-β, VEGF, AFP, COX-2, IGF and caspase-3 levels in the colon. NO prevented increase of all parameters except for IGF level, while TCAE prevented (p<0.05) the increase of all values apart from COX-2 and IGF levels in the liver.

CONCLUSION

NO and TCAE may prevented at the specified marker levels of colon in the AZM induced colon cancer. The increases the level of parameters in the liver are not as severe as in the colon, due to the 18-week study period may not be sufficient for liver metastasis formationIn the future molecular studies should be done to determine the mechanisms and pathways of them more clearly.