Prostate-specific antigen induces proliferation of peripheral blood lymphocytes and cytokine secretion in benign prostate hypertrophy patients

Newborn screening for autism: in search of candidate biomarkers

BACKGROUND

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) represents a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impairments in social interaction, language, communication and range of interests. Autism is usually diagnosed in children 3-5 years of age using behavioral characteristics; thus, diagnosis shortly after birth would be beneficial for early initiation of treatment.

AIM

This retrospective study sought to identify newborns at risk for ASD utilizing bloodspot specimens in an immunoassay.

MATERIALS & METHODS

The present study utilized stored frozen specimens from ASD children already diagnosed at 15-36 months of age. The newborn specimens and controls were analyzed by immunoassay in a multiplex system that included 90 serum biomarkers and subjected to statisical analysis.

RESULTS

Three sets of five biomarkers associated with ASD were found that differed from control groups. The 15 candidate biomarkers were then discussed regarding their association with ASD.

CONCLUSION

This study determined that a statistically selected panel of 15 biomarkers successfully discriminated presumptive newborns at risk for ASD from those of nonaffected controls.

Characterization of PSA-RP2, a protein related to prostate-specific antigen and encoded by alternative hKLK3 transcripts

Despite the wide use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) as a marker of prostate cancer, analysis of its gene products has not yet been completed. The structure of two alternative mRNAs (0.9 and 1.65 kb) of the hKLK3 gene that retain the third intron is reported here. These partially spliced transcripts were detected by hybridization or RT-PCR in normal prostate tissue, benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and cancerous prostate tissues, and also in the prostate LNCaP cell line. Insertion of the unspliced intron creates an in-frame stop codon and results in a truncated prepro PSA variant of 180 amino-acid residues. This novel variant, designated PSA-RP2, has an alternate C-terminal tail and lacks the serine residue essential for the catalytic activity of PSA. Prepro PSA-RP2 was transiently produced in COS-7 cells and detected in the spent medium using an anti-PSA serum. Secreted PSA-RP2 was glycosylated with an apparent molecular mass of 25 kDa. Our findings suggest that PSA-RP2 contributes to the molecular heterogeneity of free-PSA in the serum of patients with benign or malignant prostate tumors.